Anonymous wrote:

We can't afford to move to the burbs and even if we could we wouldn't abandon our community. Who's the asshole here? You got your comfy four bedroom house and yard, so the hell with the rest of us, right?

I think you sound a touch too dramatic without ever realizing it. "Communities", if such a thing even exists, do not belong to anyone. People come and go. If you go, Columbia Heights will still stand. If everyone in Columbia Heights moves elsewhere, others will come to take their place and the sun will still come up every day. There is no "rest of us." There isn't even an "us". You have interests, and at this point of time, they happen to overlap with interests of others at your block, so it gives you this false feeling of cohesion. The minute your interests begin to diverge, people will do what is best for them individually, just as they always do and should.

Don't pretend there are obligations and loyalties ("abandon our community"?) where none exist.

Answer the question. Are you in at a good charter? Probably. You guys always get righteous and preachy because your kids are taken care of. And moving into a neighborhood where you've displaced long-standing residents hardly makes it your community, asshole.

Not the PP to whom you directed this, but bullshit. It's just as much my community as anyone elses. And in my 9 years in Columbia Heights, I've done a lot more for the community than most of those "long-standing residents" ever did, considering the shithole the neighborhood was for years. The reason we're even having this conversation about whether OP would want to stage her $600,000 row house for families or young couples has a lot more to do with the relative newcomers to the neighborhood than the "long-standing residents."

Anonymous wrote:There are tons of people with kids here, mostly under 5.

Yes, the local school is not good but CH is very well situated (better situated than anywhere else EOTP?) for the charters. Some people keep bringing up the fact that the schools aren't good, but this is true for almost everywhere east of the park! From what I hear from colleagues /friends there seem to be more professional families in CH than in the other 'transitional' neighborhoods (petworth, shaw, bloomingdale...)

The fact that charter schools are nearby doesn't mean anything. There is no proximity preference for charter schools and, as another PP pointed, out, several of the charter schools in CH are moving out of the neighborhood to more permanent space.

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Anonymous wrote:We just moved to CH. Have two school age kids. We were able to get into a charter and found a house we liked in CH. Not much of a yard but you have the trolley park and Upshur park. Getting to Carter Barron for sports is so easy! Great place to be if you have the school situation figured out.

Only people who get in to charters are cheerleaders for Columbia Heights. There's many more of us who haven't/won't get in and are looking for a way out.

Is this an invitation to a pity party?? Because it isn't an answer to OP's question.

Are you in at a good charter? You assholes never care about others once your kids are taken care of. The hell with others, right?

We can't afford to move to the burbs and even if we could we wouldn't abandon our community. Who's the asshole here? You got your comfy four bedroom house and yard, so the hell with the rest of us, right?

Answer the question. Are you in at a good charter? Probably. You guys always get righteous and preachy because your kids are taken care of. And moving into a neighborhood where you've displaced long-standing residents hardly makes it your community, asshole.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My best friend's husband teaches at Tubman and he is flat out disheartened by it.

Based on the conversation on this thread, the admin. at Tubman could be proactive and plan some outreach to families in the area.

I think they do a fine job with outreach to families in the lower socioeconomic levels. Given that many of the higher SES parents have already written the school off, I agree that it's a poor use of resources to specially target those that haven't learned about the school already but who might potentially be open to hearing about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My best friend's husband teaches at Tubman and he is flat out disheartened by it.

Based on the conversation on this thread, the admin. at Tubman could be proactive and plan some outreach to families in the area.

Not disagreeing, but given everything on their plate might not be a priority. After all, they're at capacity and probably growing, and have had a trajectory of success over the past few years with students they have. Due to that success they've been recognized and able to access resources. So from their perspective, what is to gain to make that a priority, versus investing limited time/resources in their existing students? I have no inside knowledge, just trying speculate. It's not like they're Garrison, Seaton, etc. who are struggling academically or enrollment-wise, and the last thing they need to do would be to alter their plans to accomodate a bunch of high-maintenance high SES parents. If they enroll, great, but why the need to perform outreach other than to boost test scores?

Anonymous wrote:My best friend's husband teaches at Tubman and he is flat out disheartened by it.

Based on the conversation on this thread, the admin. at Tubman could be proactive and plan some outreach to families in the area.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people will say whatever they can to make themselves feel better about their choices. At the end of the day Tubman is a failing school and I cannot in good consciousness send my kid there. I could talk self-righteously about the AA kids and Hispanic kids who've been stuck going there because they truly have no other options, so I feel like a civil rights hero by sending my kid there. But in reality, those kids were/are cheated and so would my kids. I just cannot do it. I love CH, but Tubman is not good. It may get there, but it is not there now and I cannot let my kids go to a shitty school right now. We'll continue to try lottery while we look to move to MoCo and VA. The other sucky reality is inventory is bad in those areas as like minded families scramble for a space.

I find it interesting that people lable Tubman a failing school. I don't have the results in front of me, but the last I recall their DC-CAS math scores were impressive, around 65% proficient, and that's for a school over 95% low-income. Compare that level of proficiency among that subgroup to EL Haynes, Cap City, Yu Ying, Stokes, etc. They might be comparable, but probably not much better. So something good is happening there, and the reading scores, while needing improvement, are similar. Their principal was awarded principal of the year by the Meyer foundation. Bottom line: there is excellent instruction happening inside there, and that's good for everyone, regardless of race or SES.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just moved to CH. Have two school age kids. We were able to get into a charter and found a house we liked in CH. Not much of a yard but you have the trolley park and Upshur park. Getting to Carter Barron for sports is so easy! Great place to be if you have the school situation figured out.

Only people who get in to charters are cheerleaders for Columbia Heights. There's many more of us who haven't/won't get in and are looking for a way out.

Is this an invitation to a pity party?? Because it isn't an answer to OP's question.

Are you in at a good charter? You assholes never care about others once your kids are taken care of. The hell with others, right?

We can't afford to move to the burbs and even if we could we wouldn't abandon our community. Who's the asshole here? You got your comfy four bedroom house and yard, so the hell with the rest of us, right?

Charters are moving. MV moves next year and most likely CM will move the folowing year. Same for IT they are currently finishing year 1 of a 2 year lease.

There are tons of people with kids here, mostly under 5.

Yes, the local school is not good but CH is very well situated (better situated than anywhere else EOTP?) for the charters. Some people keep bringing up the fact that the schools aren't good, but this is true for almost everywhere east of the park! From what I hear from colleagues /friends there seem to be more professional families in CH than in the other 'transitional' neighborhoods (petworth, shaw, bloomingdale...)

My best friend's husband teaches at Tubman and he is flat out disheartened by it.