Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What cynical arguments. Why not just learn from how Brent is pulling this off and try to replicate? There’s no shortage of Title 1 schools with better buildings than Brent’s, even just on CH, e.g. Payne, Monet JO Wilson.

Ok, but then:

(1) What is Brent doing that other schools should be doing? No one can explain it beyond the demographic issues and having an unusually good principal. How do you replicate that?

(2) What do all the schools that don't have better buildings than Brent do?

I'm with the poster above who said that putting this all on individual schools is going to create a massive political problem for DCPS. Richer schools with nicer facilities will figure it out, and poorer schools in ancient buildings will not, and the existing inequities are just going to get worse and worse.

Bring back bussing.

wtf do demographics have to do with it? seriously.

Anonymous wrote:This definitely isn't the way things should work. DCPS should be helping elementary schools reopen through a phased approach, vs. ignoring them and letting the WTU push teachers who want to return to in-person instruction around. On the other hand, if Brent and other public schools dabbling in in-person learning find a safe way forward, good. Their success with embolden other parents, admins and teachers who support in-person learning before a vaccine is in wide use. Gradually, more cracks in the WTU's shield will appear and pressure on refusenik principals to start moving to reopen will grow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What cynical arguments. Why not just learn from how Brent is pulling this off and try to replicate? There’s no shortage of Title 1 schools with better buildings than Brent’s, even just on CH, e.g. Payne, Monet JO Wilson.

Ok, but then:

(1) What is Brent doing that other schools should be doing? No one can explain it beyond the demographic issues and having an unusually good principal. How do you replicate that?

(2) What do all the schools that don't have better buildings than Brent do?

I'm with the poster above who said that putting this all on individual schools is going to create a massive political problem for DCPS. Richer schools with nicer facilities will figure it out, and poorer schools in ancient buildings will not, and the existing inequities are just going to get worse and worse.

Bring back bussing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS didn’t want Brent demographics, they could have ditched neighborhood schools decades back, e.g. San Fran and Boston. Don’t blame parents and admins for the development of majority white and UMC elementary schools.

I think the arguments about Brent's demographics are in response to the OP, who claimed that Brent could be a model for the rest of the city. But Brent is an outlier -- UMC families with parents who can WFH, a very limited number of kids from the populations most impacted by the virus. And it is not surprising that, due to this, teachers may be more willing to come back and may have a less contentious relationship with administration. Plus Brent has PTO funds to pay for stuff that DCPS is dragging their feet on, to make sure the facility is ready to go.

It's not a criticism of Brent parents per se, but a very clear illustration of why we probably should NOT have neighborhood schools like this, because it allows Brent families to operate in a bubble where they are separated from most of the real problems of the rest of DCPS. We don't need to learn from Brent, unless the less on you want us to learn is "Be richer, live IB for rich school." In which case: thanks, I got it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What cynical arguments. Why not just learn from how Brent is pulling this off and try to replicate? There’s no shortage of Title 1 schools with better buildings than Brent’s, even just on CH, e.g. Payne, Monet JO Wilson.

Ok, but then:

(1) What is Brent doing that other schools should be doing? No one can explain it beyond the demographic issues and having an unusually good principal. How do you replicate that?

(2) What do all the schools that don't have better buildings than Brent do?

I'm with the poster above who said that putting this all on individual schools is going to create a massive political problem for DCPS. Richer schools with nicer facilities will figure it out, and poorer schools in ancient buildings will not, and the existing inequities are just going to get worse and worse.

Bring back bussing.

Good Lord. Give it a rest.
I don't think the middle of a pandemic is the time to blow up DCPS boundaries and start bussing kids on Covid mobiles across the city.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What cynical arguments. Why not just learn from how Brent is pulling this off and try to replicate? There’s no shortage of Title 1 schools with better buildings than Brent’s, even just on CH, e.g. Payne, Monet JO Wilson.

Ok, but then:

(1) What is Brent doing that other schools should be doing? No one can explain it beyond the demographic issues and having an unusually good principal. How do you replicate that?

(2) What do all the schools that don't have better buildings than Brent do?

I'm with the poster above who said that putting this all on individual schools is going to create a massive political problem for DCPS. Richer schools with nicer facilities will figure it out, and poorer schools in ancient buildings will not, and the existing inequities are just going to get worse and worse.

Bring back bussing.

Anonymous wrote:What cynical arguments. Why not just learn from how Brent is pulling this off and try to replicate? There’s no shortage of Title 1 schools with better buildings than Brent’s, even just on CH, e.g. Payne, Monet JO Wilson.

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS didn’t want Brent demographics, they could have ditched neighborhood schools decades back, e.g. San Fran and Boston. Don’t blame parents and admins for the development of majority white and UMC elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, but I think it has less to do with them being "a model" and more to do with being a school with a large population of UMC, highly educated parents, and an extremely well-funded PTO. What Brent is doing is simply not possible at other schools, and it actually just highlights the inequities in the system. Brent is also not a destination school for children from less well-funded or well-functioning IBs, since it is virtually impossible to get a spot at Brent unless you are IB. So another example of how the lottery does not actually distribute resources equally among the city's kids, but allows wealthy families to buy into "good" schools that exclude poor children.

Side note: a Brent parent once told me that "any school" could be like Brent if the parents just put in the effort. So if you are wondering if UMC white people still think their sh*t don't stink, the answer is very much: YES.

Well extremely similar schools are not doing this mere blocks away (Maury) so I think there's something different going on at Brent.

Also I'm not sure why you think Brent is doing something no other school could replicate?

Potentially, but Maury is not as similar to Brent as you think. In the younger grades, yes, but the school is more socio-economically diverse overall and much more so in the older grades. I would also venture that the teaching staff is more diverse as well. Brent is a true bubble.

No it isn't. You must not have children at Brent. There have been at least a few poor minority kids in my upper grades children's classes at Brent all along. The PTA raises dough to have struggling students of all backgrounds tutored.