Anonymous
01/27/2014 17:10
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
My favorite insinuation was that we were "squeezed out of schools west of the park and unable to afford private schools."
No other alternatives you could think of?
1. Not interested in schools west of the Park.
2. Able to afford private and not going to send my kid there.
3. Committed to DCPS/public schools.
4. Convinced of the school's educational model.
5. Not worried about child's ability to learn.
6. Committed to making a better DC...
Not all of us are down for all of that, but for many at least part of that is the truth. And this guy thinks we do what we do because west-of-the-Park shut us out or we're poor?
No other alternatives you could think of?
1. Not interested in schools west of the Park.
2. Able to afford private and not going to send my kid there.
3. Committed to DCPS/public schools.
4. Convinced of the school's educational model.
5. Not worried about child's ability to learn.
6. Committed to making a better DC...
Not all of us are down for all of that, but for many at least part of that is the truth. And this guy thinks we do what we do because west-of-the-Park shut us out or we're poor?
Anonymous
01/27/2014 17:05
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Not to beat a dead horse but this Op Ed just kills me. We've lived in EOTP/WOTR since before our kids were born and they are well into grade school. Along the way, many of our neighbors with kids have decamped to Maryland and Virginia for better schools, and I don't begrudge their choices. We have chosen to stay and go the charter route and we are lucky to be at a great charter that happens to be quite diverse. That said, we constantly struggle with whether we are doing right by our kids by not leaving DC. Then along comes Mr. Petrilli who, after doing similar soul searching, decided to move to BETHESDA and tells those of us who chose to stay that we somehow part of a "problem". What a HYPOCRITE!
Anonymous
01/27/2014 16:11
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Let me rephrase the authors' suggestion:
You don't like me moving into your neighborhood and sending my kids to school? Well then, just redline me out. Might as well have a separate "FARMS Only" water fountain while you're at it.
You don't like me moving into your neighborhood and sending my kids to school? Well then, just redline me out. Might as well have a separate "FARMS Only" water fountain while you're at it.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 16:07
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Mike Petrilli on twitter today. Someone tweeted his oped as an" effort to help DC manage the Big Flip" and Mike tweeted back
Michael Petrilli ?@MichaelPetrilli 1h
.@alexanderrusso @samchaltain @RickKahlenberg Well, we hope they can AVOID the Big Flip!
All I can say is that his plan to avoid the Big Flip will definitely work by driving away the middle and upper class from DC awfully quick. Problem solved!
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
You've got your causality in the reverse direction. The school system is not LEADING to segregation. Segregation/Gentrification is leading to the school system changes.
Moreover, even a cursory understanding of the racial composition of the schools in question would lead one to conclude that segregation isn't the concern here: it is about preventing historically majority (exclusively?) black schools from becoming significantly white. That sounds more racist to me than the "Big Flip."
Anonymous
01/27/2014 16:06
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
No-- improving schools in poor neighborhoods so that ALL students have access to excellent schools regardless of their neighborhood in the obvious solution.
If creating diversity in the schools is your focus, use housing policy to increase economic diversity. I'm a Brent parent and yes, I am uncomfortable with the Big Flip that has happened at the school. But I am not so selfish as to think that Brent going from predominantly OOB to predominately IB is the biggest problem in DCPS. "A solution in search of a problem." that nails it. Those of us in the Brent neighborhood have tried to increase low income housing units in the area. that would be a much better "fix" for the "problem" of a comparative lack of diversity at Brent (compared to what is a good question though-- not compared to WOTP schools, but evidently that is OK because . . . those neighborhoods never made much of an attempt to be diverse, so why push them into that now? Is that the story we are going with?)
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:42
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
Two points:
1. We already have significant racial segregation. In fact, I would say the word "significant" understates the problem.
2. "The Big Flip" isn't presented in terms of increasing integration. The assertion is made, unsupported, that allowing a school that is currently more than 50% FARMS to become less than 50% FARMS -- "The Big Flip" -- is inherently bad, and something we as a society should be working actively to prevent. I'm sorry, there's just a really big leap of logic there.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:39
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Mike Petrilli on twitter today. Someone tweeted his oped as an" effort to help DC manage the Big Flip" and Mike tweeted back
Michael Petrilli ?@MichaelPetrilli 1h
.@alexanderrusso @samchaltain @RickKahlenberg Well, we hope they can AVOID the Big Flip!
All I can say is that his plan to avoid the Big Flip will definitely work by driving away the middle and upper class from DC awfully quick. Problem solved!
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
Yes, but a 50% quota only for select areas that are already diverse???
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:38
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:25
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
The objection to a school system that leads to significant racial segregation is not hard to understand. The question is whether you can address this without doing away with the neighborhood schools that attract higher SES families and that they will invest in. Retaining an OOB quota in all schools for which FARM families have a preference seems like an obvious and simple solution.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Mike Petrilli on twitter today. Someone tweeted his oped as an" effort to help DC manage the Big Flip" and Mike tweeted back
Michael Petrilli ?@MichaelPetrilli 1h
.@alexanderrusso @samchaltain @RickKahlenberg Well, we hope they can AVOID the Big Flip!
All I can say is that his plan to avoid the Big Flip will definitely work by driving away the middle and upper class from DC awfully quick. Problem solved!
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:16
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Mike Petrilli on twitter today. Someone tweeted his oped as an" effort to help DC manage the Big Flip" and Mike tweeted back
Michael Petrilli ?@MichaelPetrilli 1h
.@alexanderrusso @samchaltain @RickKahlenberg Well, we hope they can AVOID the Big Flip!
All I can say is that his plan to avoid the Big Flip will definitely work by driving away the middle and upper class from DC awfully quick. Problem solved!
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
This. Many times over. But I'm a racist gentrifier from 2002, so I'm sure there are many points I'll be accused of not understanding.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:15
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yep. And the people who complain the most about evil gentrifiers are usually those who have paid the least in DC taxes for how ever many years they have lived in DC. For decades-- DC soaked the rich to allegedly "help" the poor thru the region's most generous safety net-- while most of those tax dollars were siphoned off through a bureaucratic kleptocracy. Now there is a growing middle class that is getting large enough to make demands, and the kleptocrats do not like it-- thus the race baiting anti-gentrification smokescreen.
+1 Been in DC for 23 years and bought a home 15 years ago in a newly hot EoTP neighborhood, yet get called a gentrifier just because I am white and expect more from DCPS for my children. i personally embrace all the true gentrifiers who will pay top bucks for homes around here and also have high hopes for decent neighborhood public schools.
15 years ago no neighborhood EoTP was 'hot' as I lived here 15 years ago too.
Adams Morgan?[/quot
PP here -- I should have said "NOW newly hot neighborhood" -- it sure as heck wasn't then!
Anonymous
01/27/2014 15:12
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:Mike Petrilli on twitter today. Someone tweeted his oped as an" effort to help DC manage the Big Flip" and Mike tweeted back
Michael Petrilli ?@MichaelPetrilli 1h
.@alexanderrusso @samchaltain @RickKahlenberg Well, we hope they can AVOID the Big Flip!
All I can say is that his plan to avoid the Big Flip will definitely work by driving away the middle and upper class from DC awfully quick. Problem solved!
I'm with Scott Pearson on this ("A solution in search of a problem.")
Tell me again why a Big Flip is something we need to avoid?
Anonymous
01/27/2014 14:51
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Venting about this awful proposal on DCUM is all well and good.
But do we think Catania or Evans etc can make good use of this? This could be pretty risky for Gray, especially if Henderson is seen to be tacitly in approval... maybe some good can come out of this.
But do we think Catania or Evans etc can make good use of this? This could be pretty risky for Gray, especially if Henderson is seen to be tacitly in approval... maybe some good can come out of this.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 14:36
Subject: Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
My $0.02 on the proposal (reposted from another thread):
Clusters are way too big for all families to make it work. I am self-employed and work from home. Kid is in an OOB school 30+ min away because we didn't get into our IB school across the street. Taking him to and from school blows 2 hours a day I could be working.
Factor in lack of flexibility in work schedule and lack of reliable transport for poor families, and even a cluster commute could be a huge burden.
Clusters are way too big for all families to make it work. I am self-employed and work from home. Kid is in an OOB school 30+ min away because we didn't get into our IB school across the street. Taking him to and from school blows 2 hours a day I could be working.
Factor in lack of flexibility in work schedule and lack of reliable transport for poor families, and even a cluster commute could be a huge burden.
Anonymous
01/27/2014 14:26
Subject: Re:Today's Post OpEd from DCPS consultants
Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all the comments here, but I'll chime in. I totally understand why people wouldn't want their kids to be the guinea pig of some sort of educational policy shift and would have concerns. However, one thing I have noticed is that many, many cities move towards this approach, and sometimes it works. It isn't always perfect, and sometimes it can be a complete mess that doesn't serve anyone well (not that the neighborhood school model serves everyone well, anyway, though). In Chicago, for example, the selective admissions high schools (Payton, Young, Northside Prep, Lane Tech, etc. which are very very strong strong schools) weight entrance criteria based on socioeconomic status, with different standardized test score cutoffs for different groups. The idea is that those to whom much has been given in the way of enrichment, test prep, good K-8 schools have the means to get better scores. Does it piss parents off who are high SES because their kids have to be essentially perfect to attend one of those schools whereas someone from the ghetto has to make a much lower cutoff? Sure. But proportionally, it seems to represent talented kids from different backgrounds and essentially levels the playing field. A lot of wealthy parents who don't want to play this game and don't have the money for private school in case it doesn't work out ditch the city and move to the suburbs. However, for very talented kids, the top selective admissions schools offer wonderful, enriching curriculums and this weighting of socioeconomic status doesn't seem to affect the rigor of the school, college admissions, and other measures of success. It doesn't fix the problems in the rest of the school system, and it really doesn't serve average to slightly above average kids of high SES, though.
In Austin, I know of a school that is a rigorous, public all girls prep school that just opened a few years ago that has to be 75% FARMS. Their greatschools score remains 10/10. They have a lottery for qualified candidates (I believe they need to test proficient on state exams), and they do have a bit of a weeding out to self-select for those who don't take school seriously (with some concerns about this "weeding out" process regarding discipline). But they have a good track record with academics and college admissions.
Finally, I know Berkeley moved to a cluster system not long ago, and it seems to serve high SES parents well, for the most part. It seems like more parents are comfortable sending their kids to at least elementary school in Berkeley than in the past.
This program may be a mess, and might not fix anything. But it's not doomed to failure, it depends more on how it is implemented, the changing demographics of the city, and a number of other factors. The number of charters also offers a lot of alternatives to neighborhood schools.
These don't seem at all analogous to what the WP Op-Ed was suggesting. The first two you are mentioning have admissions based on test scores. We're talking lotteries for 3 and 4 year olds based on luck.