Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I also live in Silver Spring and expect we will send the kids to our neighborhood elementary school. I am also interested in hearing about AA experiences in the Silver Spring middle and high schools, as well as experiences at BCC and WJ, which would probably be out target areas to move if we felt it necessary.

OP, I am an African-American, DC-native (grew up in Ward 7). About 5 years ago, we moved to Chevy Chase, MD. My teenage daughter attends BCC, and we are on the first thing smokin up out of there. Please see my recent post under the "Whitman v BCC v Yorktown v W&L" thread of the General School Discussion forum.

Thanks. Can you tell me a bit about her social experience at BCC? What's the AA student population like? Are there many middle and upper-middle class AA students there? On another thread, I had gotten the impression that all the AA students were from the Rosemary Hills section of SS and among the AA students at least, there was little economic diversity. To the extent this was true, was it ever an issue for your daughter?

That is a very informed question concerning the AA population. I would have to disagreee about the economic diversity among AA students. We have been in this school cluster for about 5 years now and I now a good number of working/middle/upper-middle class families. When my daughter attended Westland, there was an inexplicably sharp divide between the upper-middle class AA students and those from the low-income neighborhoods in SS. In BCC, that divide seems to have disappeared. If I were to offer any explanation, it would be purely speculative. However, my daughter has alluded to the teachers and administration making assumptions about her as a student based on the notion you mentioned.

Regarding her social experience, she has become very disrespectful at home, many of her peers openly use foul language, talk about thier drinking experiences, and some are sexually active (I read their Twitter and FB pages, and my daughter's outgoing and incoming texts -- yes, I am a social media and and cell phone spy. She is aware.). Make-up and short/tight clothing are an issue this year. (If you visit the school, it looks more like the young women are dressed for a night-club rather than for school. There is no substantive dress code.) I am fighthing an uphill battle with the peer group influence and her impression that the aforementioned should be considered normal or acceptable behavior. The administration doesn't seem to blink at any of it. I can't comfortably permit her to attend events or just "hang-out" unsupervised because I am so nervous about how inundated she is with ideals that I don't agree with or promote.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I also live in Silver Spring and expect we will send the kids to our neighborhood elementary school. I am also interested in hearing about AA experiences in the Silver Spring middle and high schools, as well as experiences at BCC and WJ, which would probably be out target areas to move if we felt it necessary.

OP, I am an African-American, DC-native (grew up in Ward 7). About 5 years ago, we moved to Chevy Chase, MD. My teenage daughter attends BCC, and we are on the first thing smokin up out of there. Please see my recent post under the "Whitman v BCC v Yorktown v W&L" thread of the General School Discussion forum.

Thanks. Can you tell me a bit about her social experience at BCC? What's the AA student population like? Are there many middle and upper-middle class AA students there? On another thread, I had gotten the impression that all the AA students were from the Rosemary Hills section of SS and among the AA students at least, there was little economic diversity. To the extent this was true, was it ever an issue for your daughter?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I also live in Silver Spring and expect we will send the kids to our neighborhood elementary school. I am also interested in hearing about AA experiences in the Silver Spring middle and high schools, as well as experiences at BCC and WJ, which would probably be out target areas to move if we felt it necessary.

OP, I am an African-American, DC-native (grew up in Ward 7). About 5 years ago, we moved to Chevy Chase, MD. My teenage daughter attends BCC, and we are on the first thing smokin up out of there. Please see my recent post under the "Whitman v BCC v Yorktown v W&L" thread of the General School Discussion forum.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I also live in Silver Spring and expect we will send the kids to our neighborhood elementary school. I am also interested in hearing about AA experiences in the Silver Spring middle and high schools, as well as experiences at BCC and WJ, which would probably be out target areas to move if we felt it necessary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^I know this is OT, but why was it harder on them in college?

OP here. They were just totally uncomfortable around men in romantic situations, because they hadn't any experiences with dating while in high school. So it was functionally like they were teenage girls dating college guys.

Anonymous wrote:^^I know this is OT, but why was it harder on them in college?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer PP ? - my DS is very happy at his new school, it's very diverse, class of maybe 14, and all colors of the rainbow. The blend and interact just fine, first couple months of school he got invited to several b'day parties. At the other school every day was a chore, never got invited to parties, and just pure hell by the other boys.

This is where it gets interesting. DD is very comfortable in the W world since that is all she knows. She has no problem being the only one in the class or any setting. It gets tricky is when she and a few of her friends go out, let's say a night at the rink where they meet some cute guys. Like lil girls they all have crushes on these guys, but of course she will always be over looked and would question herself. I have to keep reminding her that it's not her and that people would first always gravitated to their own kid until they get to know you. Thres's so much I could write, but I won't bore you..

I appreciate what you've shared so far. You're DS's school sounds wonderful. I may be pushing my luck, but is it a private or public school? I'm asking because we'd like to find a private school with that kind of diversity. (I'm guessing your DS's school is private because of its class size.)

Like your DD, I'm very comfortable in the W world, too. I understand how she feels, since I went through that until 5th grade.

Anonymous wrote:To answer PP ? - my DS is very happy at his new school, it's very diverse, class of maybe 14, and all colors of the rainbow. The blend and interact just fine, first couple months of school he got invited to several b'day parties. At the other school every day was a chore, never got invited to parties, and just pure hell by the other boys.

This is where it gets interesting. DD is very comfortable in the W world since that is all she knows. She has no problem being the only one in the class or any setting. It gets tricky is when she and a few of her friends go out, let's say a night at the rink where they meet some cute guys. Like lil girls they all have crushes on these guys, but of course she will always be over looked and would question herself. I have to keep reminding her that it's not her and that people would first always gravitated to their own kid until they get to know you. Thres's so much I could write, but I won't bore you..

Anonymous wrote:To answer PP ? - my DS is very happy at his new school, it's very diverse, class of maybe 14, and all colors of the rainbow. The blend and interact just fine, first couple months of school he got invited to several b'day parties. At the other school every day was a chore, never got invited to parties, and just pure hell by the other boys.

This is where it gets interesting. DD is very comfortable in the W world since that is all she knows. She has no problem being the only one in the class or any setting. It gets tricky is when she and a few of her friends go out, let's say a night at the rink where they meet some cute guys. Like lil girls they all have crushes on these guys, but of course she will always be over looked and would question herself. I have to keep reminding her that it's not her and that people would first always gravitated to their own kid until they get to know you. Thres's so much I could write, but I won't bore you..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP with the friend bolded. My DD has been the only AA and minority from K to current 8. All her activities from hockey, swimming, figure skating, softball, wrestling, gymnastics,etc, she's been the only one. She's made some great associates over the course, but no true friends, more like second or third tier friendships. I've had enough of it, and for HS she will be attending a very diverse one.

I'm so sorry your DD is going through that. It's really awful. Do you think it's because of the kids in her class or parental intervention? Also, would you mind sharing if this is a public or private school? No need for names. I'll understand if you're uncomfortable sharing that information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP with the friend bolded. My DD has been the only AA and minority from K to current 8. All her activities from hockey, swimming, figure skating, softball, wrestling, gymnastics,etc, she's been the only one. She's made some great associates over the course, but no true friends, more like second or third tier friendships. I've had enough of it, and for HS she will be attending a very diverse one.

I'm so sorry your DD is going through that. It's really awful. Do you think it's because of the kids in her class or parental intervention? Also, would you mind sharing if this is a public or private school? No need for names. I'll understand if you're uncomfortable sharing that information.

It's private...mind you, DD is having a terrific time and would stay in current school, however I see through the screen. For example, one of the kids we've known since K, we have been to her house and vise versa over the years. In fact DD had a study session at her house a few weeks back. Well two Fridays ago was this kids b'day party, she invited all the other girls to the party and left my DD out, and they were all told to keep it a secret from her. Just hours before the entire class was behaving as one big happ family at a field day. Well DD found out the Monday in school as everyone tried to talk about the party in code around her. She was upset for a minute but quickly got over it, and even up to last week when the teacher gave them assignment to come in front the class and speak of two of you favorite classmates, she choose said gril.

Her younger brother also attended entering in 2nd grade. I had to remove him in 3 for being bullyied. One day at recess one of the other lil boys touched his brow and wipe the sweat off and said while rubbing his fingers - your sweat is not like hours! That was the last straw and he was removed. DD class was kinder and she was left in.

To answer you questioin - it comes from the parents.