Anonymous wrote:I don’t blame you, PP—I think a lot of schools that are like 99% black/Latino face these issues. It supports why boundaries should be redrawn when possible so that schools are not this segregated.

I think you mean mostly low income. Your statement is racist on its core. See Banneker, Shepherd (a few years ago).

Anonymous wrote:Damn. I expect it's a tough situation at many elementary schools, for staff and kids alike.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been shocked but it was shocking. I have no idea how they’ll solve it all. I don’t think there is a way to solve it all.

Anonymous wrote:Damn. I expect it's a tough situation at many elementary schools, for staff and kids alike.

If it’s that bad at an elementary school imagine the middle school.

Damn. I expect it's a tough situation at many elementary schools, for staff and kids alike.

Oh and I forgot about the behavior issues. I honestly have no words. Bloody fights were not surprising. Kids would swear and scream at the teachers.

I don’t blame you, PP—I think a lot of schools that are like 99% black/Latino face these issues. It supports why boundaries should be redrawn when possible so that schools are not this segregated.

That was really long. Sorry.

Let me start by saying that I don’t know if our issues were just our school or if a lot of bottom performing schools had these issues. I will also admit that I was very much “build up neighborhood schools. It’s our job to help change things” and obviously that didn’t work out the way I thought it would. I feel guilty about that but I also admit to not feeling guilty enough not to lottery (we lotteried out). This is an elementary school but I won’t be saying which one.

My daughter had subs all of the time. And most of the time no plans were left or they couldn’t even find subs. I lost count of how many times she watched movies throughout the day, how many times her specials classes were canceled, and how many times her class was divided up between other classes.

She was on grade level in math and language arts and a lot of the time she was doing worksheets with no reading group or actual math lesson because the teacher was working with the numerous kids below grade level. I don’t fault her teachers for that, they did what they had to do. But, come on, that’s not a quality education for my child regardless of how you try to cut it.

Now the next two things I assume are a school problem maybe not a problem because it was bottom performing. Every Friday we had to wash her backpack because it smelled like weed. The other kids and their families smelled like it (I’m not saying the kids smoked, just saying their clothing smelled of it) and it made my kids stuff smell. I spoke to the teacher about it and she said she had to open the windows when the kids got to school because it was so bad. And then so many things were canceled day of. Back to school night was almost never held. There would be programs like the winter concert and stuff and it would be canceled and we were told the new date the day before. This was probably an admin issue but then I wonder if they were so focused on other things and those things just slipped through the cracks.

I appreciate the hard work of the staff of the school. They had their work cut out for them. What they are responsible for is awful. With so many at risk kids, they had so many more responsibilities than just educating the kids while they were there. They helped them find housing, helped with laundry, helped with food, etc. They were stretched so thin and it showed. And we tried for a few years but it just wasn’t working for my daughter and our family. I know I’m part of the problem but it’s the truth. The families at the school needed so much. The needs were so great. And it just seemed impossible when looking at the situation. I feel for everyone involved and like I said, feel guilty we didn’t stay and left when we could.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were a policy maker reading that study, my conclusion would be we should be doing our damndest to attract higher-income residents to attend low-income schools.

We aren’t super high SES but we are upper middle class and both of us have advanced degrees. We sent our child to a bottom performing school for two years. Never again.

I’d like to know the specific problems too! And did you move, lottery, private to get your kid out?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were a policy maker reading that study, my conclusion would be we should be doing our damndest to attract higher-income residents to attend low-income schools.

We aren’t super high SES but we are upper middle class and both of us have advanced degrees. We sent our child to a bottom performing school for two years. Never again.

What were the problems? Would more "specials" have helped, or more advanced course offerings (if your child was in later grades)?

Anonymous wrote:If I were a policy maker reading that study, my conclusion would be we should be doing our damndest to attract higher-income residents to attend low-income schools.

We aren’t super high SES but we are upper middle class and both of us have advanced degrees. We sent our child to a bottom performing school for two years. Never again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are simply too few high-SES students in DcpS to move the needle on the achievement gap regardless of how some social planner distrubutes them.

What will be interesting is how DCPS deals with the rapid pace of gentrification in the city (apparently the highest in the country). I'm assuming they look at demographic trends when planning boundary revisions.

The city releases data today shows that the city’s overall population is still growing, but if you didn’t count international immigration it would be falling.

The demographic trends may not be what you think they are.

Interesting. Can you link?

https://wamu.org/story/19/01/30/the-reason-d-c-s-once-dramatic-population-growth-is-slowing-down-and-why-thats-not-so-bad/

That's like saying, "my waistline is expanding, but if not for all the cheeseburgers and ice cream, it would be contracting." But I'm still eating cheeseburgers and ice cream.

What's the point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are simply too few high-SES students in DcpS to move the needle on the achievement gap regardless of how some social planner distrubutes them.

What will be interesting is how DCPS deals with the rapid pace of gentrification in the city (apparently the highest in the country). I'm assuming they look at demographic trends when planning boundary revisions.

The city releases data today shows that the city’s overall population is still growing, but if you didn’t count international immigration it would be falling.

The demographic trends may not be what you think they are.

Interesting. Can you link?

https://wamu.org/story/19/01/30/the-reason-d-c-s-once-dramatic-population-growth-is-slowing-down-and-why-thats-not-so-bad/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are simply too few high-SES students in DcpS to move the needle on the achievement gap regardless of how some social planner distrubutes them.

What will be interesting is how DCPS deals with the rapid pace of gentrification in the city (apparently the highest in the country). I'm assuming they look at demographic trends when planning boundary revisions.

The city releases data today shows that the city’s overall population is still growing, but if you didn’t count international immigration it would be falling.

The demographic trends may not be what you think they are.

Interesting. Can you link?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are simply too few high-SES students in DcpS to move the needle on the achievement gap regardless of how some social planner distrubutes them.

What will be interesting is how DCPS deals with the rapid pace of gentrification in the city (apparently the highest in the country). I'm assuming they look at demographic trends when planning boundary revisions.

You don't have to wait to find out. The demographic trends were available in 2005, when elementary schools throughout the city were being planned for expansion. But, by the time of last boundary review, the Deal/Wilson overcrowding crisis was a problem even then, and left to fester. That crisis will continue to fester for more years, until the next boundary review or the City Council steps in when all the classes are 40 kids. In the meantime, a rapidly gentrifying area like Shaw is being denied its own neighborhood middle school. So, no need to wait to be a cynic.

In the somewhat-bright side, Kaya Henderson is gone, so who knows maybe the new players will push the Mayor to do better than she's done so far.