Anonymous wrote:This thread is nuts. Why would you go out of your way and do unethical things for years just to go to mediocre to subpar schools in DC? Just rent or move to the burbs for much better options if you strike out in the lottery.

Are people really that desperate to stay in the city??

Yes. I grew up in the burbs here and it’s hell on earth. Also, the schools people cheat to get into aren’t bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is boundary fraud actually widespread? Seems like the CH families (not a charter or DCPS application school) now largely go to MacArthur HS which is open enrollment in the school lottery.

I don't think boundary fraud is widespread, for a variety of reasons including the fact that people might find out and it puts your kid in a terrible position. We know multiple people who could have done it (because a relative lives IB for a very desirable school) but chose not to for this specific reason -- they didn't want to have to lie to fellow families at the school, and they especially didn't want their kids to lie (or to lie to their kids).

But even if it's not widespread or enforced, it doesn't make it good. It's one thing to argue that it's not worth discussing because it's fairly rare. Fair enough. But I don't understand the people arguing on the thread that it's actually fine. It's obviously not -- it exacerbates some existing problems within DCPS (like overcrowding at some schools and under enrollment at other, the lack of community at many schools). And it's just dishonest.

I'm not running around trying to hunt down boundary cheats and report them, but some of the comments on this thread in support of the practice are insane. No. It's unethical and wrong. I'm never going to say it's okay, there is always a better answer.

It is absolutely widespread. I know of multiple families in all 3 schools my kids have attended doing this. And if I know about it because they aren’t being careful (some even admitting this to aquaintances), imagine what the real numbers are. It’s disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t CH folks want to go to school with their neighbors? Why do they want to go to school with people they don’t want as neighbors?

Serious question? DCPS doesn't offer appropriate challenge for most UMC students at the middle school level, let alone in high school. You nothing about this problem? In DCPS middle schools, kids who work multiple years behind grade level are lumped in the very same classes with kids who work ahead of grade level. There's no academic tracking, other than for math and maybe English. No advanced middle school offerings in any subject in DCPS schools. People aren't rejecting neighbors at all; they're rejecting lack of vital rigor and order for that matter. You invariably get rowdy classrooms when most of the students are either lost or bored.

S-H has started quietly tracking in math as it's population of kids capable of working ahead has grown. Just like Deal and Hardy track because they have a critical mass of kids ready for it.

So the key to getting tracked classes and more advanced coursework is... to send your kids to these schools in larger numbers.

Ding ding! And yet 400 people will tell you why that's not possible because XYZ

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all the UMC people who think it's fine to lie and cheat to get what you want for your kid understand that this actually contributes to the feeling of lawlessness and decline in DC overall. Like when we talk about problems associated with poor people in DC, like truancy, juvenile crime, and drug use, I wonder if there is any self awareness that a culture that condones one kind of lawlessness necessarily condones the other.

And you wonder why so many DC teens living at or below the poverty line seem to run around with a sense of rage and entitlement? Well this is part of it. The UMC people in the district act like the rules simply do not apply to them, so why on earth should someone who is actually struggling in life follow them? You don't think your kid should have to go to their IB school or play by the rules of the lottery? Cool, then I don't have to go to school at all and also give me your money. The rules don't matter, right? Nothing matters. Who cares.

In a functional society we all agree to follow the rules.

I think this is a silly thread but this poster isn't wrong either. Many, many UMC DC residents think they are entitled to do whatever they want because they see themselves as saviors for living in the city at all. They believe their impropriety helps the cities whereas poor people's crimes are a hazard and fail to see any reasons why their own crimes and moral grey choices may impact the other.

OK, so this PP makes good points. And? Addressing boundary fraud isn't a priority for politicians or ed sector leaders in this particular city, same story for decades.
You want some sort of public information campaign to try to guilt UMC DC residents into behaving better?

We know more than one CH family that quietly rents a studio apt. in Upper NW for access to J-R. These are people who lack a viable public-school alternative after their kids had a miserable time at BASIS and didn't get chosen for Walls or Banneker. I'm not going to blame them for failing to utilize struggling McKinley or Eastern or to clear out of the only homes their children have ever known. These folks should have far better options for high school for their tax dollars. My vote is for them to be ignored. There don't seem to be very many of them and, while they're hardly the moral paragons you guys want as neighbors and DC residents, they're not bad people either.

This is actually a textbook example of believing you are entitled to more in DC than others simply because you have the wealth. They want to keep their larger home and walkability but won't consider McKinley even though their own kid apparently couldn't cut it at BASIS and didn't get into Walls or Banneker? Come on. They've had every advantage and it still wasn't enough so they decided to skirt ethics. That's just privilege with an extra dose of racism.

This thread is nuts. Why would you go out of your way and do unethical things for years just to go to mediocre to subpar schools in DC? Just rent or move to the burbs for much better options if you strike out in the lottery.

Are people really that desperate to stay in the city??

Anonymous wrote:So wait, my taxes are ok to support a non existing police force that lets shop lifters and violent criminals off the hook but I can’t rent a second home to have my kid go to a school that’s better than the one where math proficiency is 37%??

If the system was functional, I would GLADLY use it. But it’s not.

Are you actually suggesting that you should be allowed to cheat and break the rules so long as someone, somewhere, at some point, broke a different rule? I would hope that your child would know better, even if you don't.

Sure, rent in W3 and actually live there. Fine.

Anonymous wrote:So wait, my taxes are ok to support a non existing police force that lets shop lifters and violent criminals off the hook but I can’t rent a second home to have my kid go to a school that’s better than the one where math proficiency is 37%??

If the system was functional, I would GLADLY use it. But it’s not.

You can but it’s fraud.

Anonymous wrote:So wait, my taxes are ok to support a non existing police force that lets shop lifters and violent criminals off the hook but I can’t rent a second home to have my kid go to a school that’s better than the one where math proficiency is 37%??

If the system was functional, I would GLADLY use it. But it’s not.

Are you politically active? Do you go to ANC meetings or testify at before the council or campaign for someone besides Bowser to become mayor?

If you are not working to improve the governance, then no, you can't use the non-functional system as an excuse to cheat (though I acknowledge that renting a second home is better than flat out lying).

So wait, my taxes are ok to support a non existing police force that lets shop lifters and violent criminals off the hook but I can’t rent a second home to have my kid go to a school that’s better than the one where math proficiency is 37%??

If the system was functional, I would GLADLY use it. But it’s not.

NP. Don't bite, PP. Not worth responding.

Anonymous wrote:No, I'm not a cheater. But I understand the phenomenon after 30 years in Ward 6 and a decade in DCPS.

This has become a pointless thread. Super judgmental without being grounded in reality or focused on identifying the practical changes necessary to beat back the culture of cheating.

You are the only person in the thread aggressively defending the practice of boundary cheating while offering no practical proposal to dissuade people inclined to lie and cheat to stop doing so.

Your lament seems to be that people can't possibly be expected to send their kids to weak IB schools so it is of course understandable if they cheat to send their kids elsewhere. It makes no sense. If you don't like the MS and HS options on CH, there are a whole variety of options to you within the rules. You can lottery into a feeder school for a MS or HS you prefer. There are charter MSs including some that are very well liked by the families who attend, like ITDS. You can lottery into one of the DCI feeders if you are willing to do immersion. You can move IB for your preferred school, even temporarily while renting out your "forever house." You can send your kid to private. You could also work with your neighbors to invest in your IB schools, if you are so deeply invested in your surrounding community, that's precisely how schools like Maury increased their IB buy in and built strong reputations in the first place.

It's entirely unclear why, given all of these options, you are still defending the idea that some people simply have NO CHOICE but to lie about their residence in order to cheat their way into schools clear across town. You are twisting yourself into knots to justify a choice that is not really justifiable.

Anonymous wrote:Is boundary fraud actually widespread? Seems like the CH families (not a charter or DCPS application school) now largely go to MacArthur HS which is open enrollment in the school lottery.

No, as far as I can tell, not widespread, particularly since MacArthur opened and a number of Ward 6 elementary schools improved by leaps and bounds in the last 5 years or so. It's just a twisted fixation of holier than thou types on these threads.

Anonymous wrote:Is boundary fraud actually widespread? Seems like the CH families (not a charter or DCPS application school) now largely go to MacArthur HS which is open enrollment in the school lottery.

Boundary fraud, where someone lies about their address or otherwise, is extremely rare compared to residency fraud for Pre-k or JR. There is pretty insane residency fraud at our charter for pre-k. Some of it is obvious, some is marginal “they have their grandparent’s address” stuff (which… I’m mostly ok with, grandparents are doing most of the parenting in those cases anyway).

Anonymous wrote:Is boundary fraud actually widespread? Seems like the CH families (not a charter or DCPS application school) now largely go to MacArthur HS which is open enrollment in the school lottery.

I don't think boundary fraud is widespread, for a variety of reasons including the fact that people might find out and it puts your kid in a terrible position. We know multiple people who could have done it (because a relative lives IB for a very desirable school) but chose not to for this specific reason -- they didn't want to have to lie to fellow families at the school, and they especially didn't want their kids to lie (or to lie to their kids).

But even if it's not widespread or enforced, it doesn't make it good. It's one thing to argue that it's not worth discussing because it's fairly rare. Fair enough. But I don't understand the people arguing on the thread that it's actually fine. It's obviously not -- it exacerbates some existing problems within DCPS (like overcrowding at some schools and under enrollment at other, the lack of community at many schools). And it's just dishonest.

I'm not running around trying to hunt down boundary cheats and report them, but some of the comments on this thread in support of the practice are insane. No. It's unethical and wrong. I'm never going to say it's okay, there is always a better answer.