Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way the term "Upper Caucasia" is thrown around on DCUM right along with "whitey" is pretty disturbing. Racial slurs don't have a good place anyway. (And, yes, I know some people think it is funny. It isn't.)

+1. As a matter of fact, NW, even Ward 3, if much more representative of our country's population at large than any other part of the city. We don't live in Nigeria, you know?

Don't think so. Where do the Hispanics live in Ward 3?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way the term "Upper Caucasia" is thrown around on DCUM right along with "whitey" is pretty disturbing. Racial slurs don't have a good place anyway. (And, yes, I know some people think it is funny. It isn't.)

+1. As a matter of fact, NW, even Ward 3, if much more representative of our country's population at large than any other part of the city. We don't live in Nigeria, you know?

Anonymous wrote:The way the term "Upper Caucasia" is thrown around on DCUM right along with "whitey" is pretty disturbing. Racial slurs don't have a good place anyway. (And, yes, I know some people think it is funny. It isn't.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way the term "Upper Caucasia" is thrown around on DCUM right along with "whitey" is pretty disturbing. Racial slurs don't have a good place anyway. (And, yes, I know some people think it is funny. It isn't.)

+1. As a matter of fact, NW, even Ward 3, if much more representative of our country's population at large than any other part of the city. We don't live in Nigeria, you know?

Anonymous wrote:The way the term "Upper Caucasia" is thrown around on DCUM right along with "whitey" is pretty disturbing. Racial slurs don't have a good place anyway. (And, yes, I know some people think it is funny. It isn't.)

Anonymous wrote:Hello neighbor. Honest question. Would you have the same hesitation to send your kid to Janney or Lafayette that has the same makeup but switch black and white? Not being snarky, just an honest question.

To answer your question, I don't agree with PP. The school has already changed immensely. The first PK3 class that opened this year was made of 100% neighborhood kids that reflect the neighborhood demos. I would also say that last year's PK and K were similar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, purported "white" person who doesn't want to be around white people. You're wrong again. Ward 3 actually has some decent "skin color" diversity. Which you would know if you ever left Columbia heights or petworth.

After careful consideration and reviewing dcum closely, I am convinced that the many young, often newer-to-DC posters like the above have never actually spent any time in 20015, 20008 or 20016.

PP here. If you're insinuating that I'm not white - I assure you, I'm as white as they come. Mom is a card carrying DAR member.

I spend plenty of time in the 20015, which is where my impressions mostly come from. At brunch and BBQ get-together with our friends (and their neighbors) in AU park, I've been subjected to the echo chamber of how amazing Janney is and what an amazing neighborhood AU park is. I'm happy for you all that you love where you live - there's a lot to be said for that. But when I try to broach the subject that there may actually be a few other acceptable schools in DC, I'm quickly met with doubtful glances. And when I ask about diversity, I'm told the tales of how the IMF and World Bank parents bring all the diversity that's needed. I'm also regaled by stories of the handful of OOB parents and how they don't really "get" the auction, how their kids are often disruptive because of late arrivals by driving "across the city," etc. It's just no an environment I'd like to be in, nor would I want my kids to be subjected to.

I'm sure you're going to tell me that the group of people I've encountered are really not representative of the school, and how everyone's SES and racially diverse and accepting of all skin colors, religions, and paychecks...but I'll give you the same doubtful glance that I get while eating fritatta with those folks.

Let me chime in from another part of 20015 that includes both Ward 3 & 4. We are a current Lafayette family, live in the neighborhood and everything. Same conversations, different details. Same type of insufferable people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't the WOTP schools actually more diverse than Shepherd?

The JKLM's are only around 70% Caucasian, Shepherd is around 80% AA. Not saying either is better or worse, just saying it is not accurate that Shepherd is more diverse.

NW schools are more diverse than Shepherd in absolutely every meaningful way.

Having said that, it is not bad to see some degree of self-delusion and rationalization it is human nature.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't the WOTP schools actually more diverse than Shepherd?

The JKLM's are only around 70% Caucasian, Shepherd is around 80% AA. Not saying either is better or worse, just saying it is not accurate that Shepherd is more diverse.

NW schools are more diverse than Shepherd in absolutely every meaningful way.

Having said that, it is not bad to see some degree of self-delusion and rationalization it is human nature.

Anonymous wrote:Aren't the WOTP schools actually more diverse than Shepherd?

The JKLM's are only around 70% Caucasian, Shepherd is around 80% AA. Not saying either is better or worse, just saying it is not accurate that Shepherd is more diverse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd IB PK poster here. I just want to say that the JKLMM schools sound great on many levels. Students obviously get to go to school with almost universally well-prepared peers, there seems to be a vast array of extracurriculars not available EOTP (unless in charters), and the parent community is a great resource in terms of time and financial support. I know of families in Shepherd Park who are trying to lottery into JKLM schools. And you know what? Their calculus was different from ours, but they're trying to do the best for their kids just like we are.

For us, I think Shepherd was the right decision. For any families who put socioeconomic diversity fairly high on the list of priorities, Shepherd is a good choice. Of course, it's not perfect (e.g., partial kitchen with no stove or oven that a coalition of families are pushing to get renovated, no off-street parking, almost 20% "at-risk" students particularly in the upper grades, etc.), but I have yet to hear of that unicorn school that is truly perfect on every level.

Finally--and I'm probably screaming in the wind here--let's try to be civil. Unless things change re: boundaries (as some posters keep insisting re: Shepherd), many of our kids will be in school together for middle and/or high school.

P.S. Although I tried to be transparent and mention some of Shepherd's challenges, there are many positives as well that have been already mentioned by other posters. Because it's a small school with a little over 300 students, although this is our first year I already feel like I know many of the families there, even in other grades. There's a warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere. The IB curriculum emphasizes critical thinking skills and an international perspective. The only other IB DCPS elementary schools are Cooke and Thomson; for charters there is YY, and for private, there is WIS. There is an engaged parent community--just now I ran out to run errands and passed the school, where Shepherd parents and neighbors of all racial backgrounds have gathered to clean up and beautify the grounds. The test scores are decent and rising, and are the best of any elementary school serving predominantly students of color in DC. If you break out by subgroup, AA students at Shepherd actually do better than those at JKLMM. So there are a bunch of positives that go without saying.

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd IB PK poster here. I just want to say that the JKLMM schools sound great on many levels. Students obviously get to go to school with almost universally well-prepared peers, there seems to be a vast array of extracurriculars not available EOTP (unless in charters), and the parent community is a great resource in terms of time and financial support. I know of families in Shepherd Park who are trying to lottery into JKLM schools. And you know what? Their calculus was different from ours, but they're trying to do the best for their kids just like we are.

For us, I think Shepherd was the right decision. For any families who put socioeconomic diversity fairly high on the list of priorities, Shepherd is a good choice. Of course, it's not perfect (e.g., partial kitchen with no stove or oven that a coalition of families are pushing to get renovated, no off-street parking, almost 20% "at-risk" students particularly in the upper grades, etc.), but I have yet to hear of that unicorn school that is truly perfect on every level.

Finally--and I'm probably screaming in the wind here--let's try to be civil. Unless things change re: boundaries (as some posters keep insisting re: Shepherd), many of our kids will be in school together for middle and/or high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're PK parents targeting Shepherd next year.

I'm honestly turned off by Janney (and AU park) due to its disconnect with the city's racial makeup. There's something really odd to me about a kid going to public school in a city that's 50% black and only having 9% of the school's population of that color. We're white, but I want my kid to understand that the world around him is not all like him.

With regards to "diversity," part of the reason we do like Shepherd is that there is true economic diversity in the school (33% FARMS), with a fair portion in the middle-to-high income part of the spectrum. This is an on-going debate here, but I think that level of financial stability leads to more engaged parents, better student performance, better student behavior, and an all-around better educational experience for all of the kids. But its not like it's a school of rich brats.

And I'm honestly turned off by the growing comfort with white loathing on DCUM, often by people who say they're white.

Here are facts:

Janney has 71% of its students whose parents state that the kids are "all 100% white." It has 29% percent of kids whose parents say their kids' skin is not white, and has different pretty colors that are not white: black,, black and white, yellow and white, russet and white, black and yellow, yellow and russet. Whatever.

Sheperd has 80% of its students whose parents state their kids are "all 100% black." It has 20% of children whose skin color does not line up with the 80% dominant color of skin. That's 20% non-dominant pretty colors at Sheperd, compared to 29% non-dominant pretty colors at Janney.

So using facts, which are often inconvenient and uncomfortable in these kinds of breezy, acceptable anti-whte comments, we see that the reviled Janney has more skin tone diversity than Sheperd. You cannot dispute this.

[as an aside, Sheperd is 80% black in a city whose population is about 48% black at this time. Why is that not "imbalanced" for PP? It's only imbalanced when the white piece of the enrollment pie is outsized, but it's not imbalanced when the black piece of the enrollment pie is outsized, as with Sheperd. Correct, PP? ]

So comments like PPs really distill down to, eh, I don't want to be around white folk.

-- a multiracial observer of DCUM protocol. Who is often assumed to be Greek, or maybe Egyptian, but in fact is neither and has a little black and a little white in her.