Anonymous wrote:Why not fix the schools in your own Ward/district?

This just pisses me off. You are either in your late 20s or just moved to DC in the past 5 years. Right?

As someone who has been leaving here for all my life - let me just say...my mother tried to fix my school and I believe my grandmother tried to fix it before her. If you would like to come over and try to help...we welcome you. But don't just chime on from your high horse on something you know nothing about.

Schools here are broken. And I'm guessing you know nothing about it.

*mumble mumble* Stupid rich white folk *mumble*

425K for a single family house OP? Are you serious that you pay your fair share of taxes? Take a look at Janney IB property values and think again.

Yes you are I can meet you at Eddies or Danny's. Has anyone noticed that the middle school that is bursting at the seams is Friendship middle which is located school boundary for one area but neighborhood boundary another area. Yet is drawing many students from Ward 6 area to be more specific the AA parent base looks toward Friendship MS as their first choice. Why???

Not the poster of the perceived to be offensive comment but really intrigued by the idea that distance on a map might as well be distances in our head. I think there is some truth to that. Although I actually have arranged several playdates and birthday parties with nearby Benning Hights, I think that can for many be a bigger distance than, say, shuttling one's kids to the other end of town. Except for the difference that, once you overcome the mental distance, you'll find that Benning Hights is indeed still closer (within Capitol Hill that is) than the nearby suburbs or other end of town.
So, am I now eligible for the chicken dinner?

Anonymous wrote:It is only viewed as prejudiced because you're in subugatory denial. I will bet you a fried chicken wing dinner with mumbo sauce, if you're anything but a hopeless day dreamer. It is, what it is because the obvious is right there amongst our Capitol Hill Community. Let me ask you this question have you arranged a play date with the parents and children at the DC General shelter. They are a faction of OOB that we conveniently ignore. Is it prejudice? Remember a chicken dinner is riding on your answer.

Not the PP, and totally off-topic, but I always wondered where the expression "Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!" came from, and now I know. Thank you.

It is only viewed as prejudiced because you're in subugatory denial. I will bet you a fried chicken wing dinner with mumbo sauce, if you're anything but a hopeless day dreamer. It is, what it is because the obvious is right there amongst our Capitol Hill Community. Let me ask you this question have you arranged a play date with the parents and children at the DC General shelter. They are a faction of OOB that we conveniently ignore. Is it prejudice? Remember a chicken dinner is riding on your answer.

Anonymous wrote:It just seems that the school boundary and neighborhood boundary would also have its exclusions. I know for a fact that the parents of the Capitol Hill neighborhood would shutter to have make nice with the Benning Heights in boundary kids. They have heartburn with the Potomac Gardens neighborhood children which is included in the neighborhood boundary. So there will never be any satisfaction.

As hard as we are trying to make DC a small town USA community. It's becoming more suburbian than we can imagine. Really, as close as these schools are to each other and the neighborhoods basically overlap each other. Yet, we make it seem like it takes an Orbitz search engine to confirm a play date.

This does not come close to describing my family's experience.

Your impression is completely wrong and as prejudiced as anything I have ever read on this forum.

It just seems that the school boundary and neighborhood boundary would also have its exclusions. I know for a fact that the parents of the Capitol Hill neighborhood would shutter to have make nice with the Benning Heights in boundary kids. They have heartburn with the Potomac Gardens neighborhood children which is included in the neighborhood boundary. So there will never be any satisfaction.

As hard as we are trying to make DC a small town USA community. It's becoming more suburbian than we can imagine. Really, as close as these schools are to each other and the neighborhoods basically overlap each other. Yet, we make it seem like it takes an Orbitz search engine to confirm a play date.

OP here I do pay my share in taxes, I live in Ward 4 off of 16th Street right near Walter Reed, now google the homes in that neighborhood and you will see they are not cheap. Without giving the actual price of my home it was over 425k. Shepard is my neighborhood school, but I felt Janney could provide more for my child.

We're also new to Janney this year and I can understand how the OP feels like she does. We came to the school knowing about 10-12 different families from the neighborhood but many parents come knowing far more because their children attended one of the area preschools that send most kids on to Janney.

I think that unlike preschool (where everyone is new), many (most) families have established friendships when they start at Janney. I've been sort of bummed about this because I was hoping to make friends easily but it seems like most parents (myself included if I'm honest) are barely able to keep up with people they already know. People are VERY NICE (I have yet to meet a cliquey or a snob) but there isn't that "we really want to know you and become good friends vibe" that I found a lot at my preschool where we were all clamoring for friends. Many Janney parents also have 3-4 kids at the school and I'm sure they are tapped out in terms of friends/activities/etc. I am very friendly and social and am starting to make new friends but I have been really direct and purposeful about it. It hasn't just fallen in my lap.

I really feel for OOB families because I imagine how difficult it would be to break in to the community. I would LOVE to meet more OOB families (and I dislike that my world revolves around AU Park) but the reality is that I have 3 kids and an hour or at max 2 after school and driving to NE or Dupont or where ever for a play date is a somewhat overwhelming thought. I hate that I'm that lame but that is what life has come to lately. My kids are not very tolerant of any car time, let alone after school time when they are tired and grumpy. I'll do it but it's far more appealing to just drop them at a neighbor friend's house or just take them home to play.

Anonymous wrote:so you are glad that OOB parents feel a bit left out, yet you are making every effort you can to make sure the OOB kids are included? Sounds right to me. Brent or Maury?

Anonymous wrote:I'm a big supporter of the neighborhood school model and actually a little glad to see this as a problem. I personally feel that when applying OOB in faraway places from your home in search of whatever perfect school you're looking for, this OBB/IB inclusion/exclusion downside needs to be taken into account. Maybe for many a perceived to be better education is a top priority. Fair enough. However, if beyond what you perceive to be a better education, you're also looking for a community, then I think the IB or near-IB route is simply a better bet. Even if your IB school isn't yet where you want it to be, you'll have so much more time and energy left to help shape connections, within the school and beyond, into the neighborhood. Again, this may not matter to everyone but if it does then please factor that in, as much as you do things like school culture, classroom set-up, curriculum, test scores, building cleanliness, ability to get to and from school, etc. It's a trade-off, although happen to I think the opportunities to easily connect beyond the classroom are beneficial for my children, especially in elementary school. It's not a clique thing, it's simply more feasible.
While, as OP suggests, charter schools may theoretically be less prone to an IB/OBB division, I don't think they come close being able to serve as a community as much as neighborhood schools can.
(Please know that this comment comes from an IB parent (at another school, in a whole different part of town), who sometimes spends hours driving her IB child to very faraway playdates and goes to great lengths to see that the OBB classmates have regular opportunities to come over.)

so you are glad that OOB parents feel a bit left out, yet you are making every effort you can to make sure the OOB kids are included? Sounds right to me. Brent or Maury?

I'm a big supporter of the neighborhood school model and actually a little glad to see this as a problem. I personally feel that when applying OOB in faraway places from your home in search of whatever perfect school you're looking for, this OBB/IB inclusion/exclusion downside needs to be taken into account. Maybe for many a perceived to be better education is a top priority. Fair enough. However, if beyond what you perceive to be a better education, you're also looking for a community, then I think the IB or near-IB route is simply a better bet. Even if your IB school isn't yet where you want it to be, you'll have so much more time and energy left to help shape connections, within the school and beyond, into the neighborhood. Again, this may not matter to everyone but if it does then please factor that in, as much as you do things like school culture, classroom set-up, curriculum, test scores, building cleanliness, ability to get to and from school, etc. It's a trade-off, although happen to I think the opportunities to easily connect beyond the classroom are beneficial for my children, especially in elementary school. It's not a clique thing, it's simply more feasible.
While, as OP suggests, charter schools may theoretically be less prone to an IB/OBB division, I don't think they come close being able to serve as a community as much as neighborhood schools can.
(Please know that this comment comes from an IB parent (at another school, in a whole different part of town), who sometimes spends hours driving her IB child to very faraway playdates and goes to great lengths to see that the OBB classmates have regular opportunities to come over.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider yourself lucky that DC has an OOB system or else you'd be forced to actually pony up the same housing cash as others who live IB. You want something better for less and dare complain about the mean moms? I thought this was about the children...

You don't know how much OP pays for housing! It has been many years since Ward 3 has had a near-monopoly on high property values. Many central neighborhoods cost much more, especially on a square-foot basis.

One could also argue that OOB parents chose to live in neighborhoods they like better, while IB parents paid the higher "cost" of moving out of the more urban areas they might have liked better for the benefit of the better schools.

I fully support the lottery process and do not make a distinction between how kids got into a school and actually have no idea, who may be OOB in my DD's class. I also think all kids in the city deserve a high quality education and do not feel it should be exclusive to high SES areas. That said, everyone on DCUM is fully capable of making choices and taking responsibility for their actions and the fact that families are OOB (and have had to go through the stress of the OOB and charter lottery process) is the direct result of choices they have made. I also realize that many people do not have choices and the OOB process provides a means to better educational opportunities. Most of those parents, however, are not complaining on DCUM about feeling left out.