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Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, I take all these witness accounts with a grain of salt. We live in a very "poor me" society today, and it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between painful, traumatizing discrimination and just dealing with being different, through no fault of anyone's.

I was educated in different countries because of my father's job. During one 4 year stretch, I was not only the sole foreigner, but also the sole mixed-ethnicity student of the entire school. I was bullied and teased for a little while, but I dealt with it and made good friends. It felt absolutely no different than later on, when I went to an international, diverse school full of kids of mixed ethnicity.

So suck it up, kiddos. We all have to deal with things.

I'm assuming you didn't hear the NPR discussion. This child sounded visibly upset as she talked about how she would have given up the equity and resources associated with her Whitman experience if she wouldn't known then what she knows now. She talked about how some student were called the "n" word, and how the vast majority of students didn't care about discrimination because they never had to think about it themselves. And that her experience in the Minority Scholars Program was a saving grace.

But good for you, I guess? You assume your experience was similar to hers, and that therefore she should just suck it up. Nice going.

If anyone wants to listen, it's around the 49:00 mark.

https://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio/#/shows/2019-02-28/kojo-roadshow-a-town-hall-on-school-diversity-in-montgomery-county/113756/@00:00

I feel bad for her. Really I do, but unfortunately this can happen at any school where a student is really just one of the few who are like them. I'm Asian and when we first moved to this country, I attended a school where it was predominantly Blacks and Latinos. I was literally one of maybe 3-4 Asian kids (if that) in my grade. I got teased a lot and it was tough. This is why TRULY diverse schools are important.

The two experiences are not completely analogous. I believe you that your experience was tough as an Asian kid in a black/Latino school. However, it likely includes different dynamics than the experience of an AA girl in an all-white, affluent school. It's different for those who experienced a long history of oppression in this country.

-black and Asian PP, and 1st-gen American

It is waaaaaaaay easier to be an AA girl in an all-white, affluent school than being an Asian kid in a black/ Latino, non-affluent school.

If you don't get that...

How can you say that with such authority and conviction when you don't know what she experienced? How can you be 100% her experience was "waaaaaaay easier?"

I'm not the PP.

Her individual experience may be an exception - I don't know. But in general I think the PP's statement is very true.

Why? I want to respond with "citation needed" but I truly and non sarcastically don't understand why you believe that. What goes into that belief?

Let me put it this way:
if you as AA parents, whether they would be willing to put their kids in an all-white, affluent school; or if you ask Asian parent, whether they want to put their kids in a black/ Latino, non-affluent school,
do you think there would be a difference in the answers you get, statistically?

Apparently I do.

That is one way to look at this.

+1
That is a nice/PC way of putting it. Unless your white kid is tough as nails, both emotionally and physically, putting your kid in an all black school in the hood is just a horrible idea. Of course it depends on a lot of variables, but I don't see many people thinking this is a good idea. And yeah being the only AA child in an all white affluent school will be challenging when the preppy brats act up, but it will likely pale in comparison.

Anonymous wrote:The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

Some other things that were social experiments that cost a lot, and not just in dollars:

1. Zoning (going back to the 1920s)
2. Federal mortgage policies (going back to the 1930s)
3. The interstate highway system (going back to the 1950s)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money different school, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

I hope MCPS will take in to account the loss of Title 1 benefits..If they manage to re-arrange the boundaries so there are fewer title one schools, is the county better off. The needing population has not changed but we lost federal $$. This was one of the issues in the RM cluster with re-zoning Twinbrook. Hi Twinbrook family, we are going to move your neighborhood to a different school with better test scores. It is only 15 minutes longer on the bus and the class size is typically 28 kids. MCPS is looking out for you!

I don’t think Title 1 funding for the district will be affected. “Title 1 schools” actually means schools that have a high enough FARMs rate that federal Title 1 funds may be used for school-wide programs rather than being required to be used for targeted programs that specifically aid children in impoverished families. The federal threshold is much lower than the MCPS threshold. The class size policies are how MCPS chooses to use Title 1 funds but they could choose to use them differently or I think they could still use them to reduce class sizes at schools with FOCUS-level FARMs rates.

If they change all the boundaries to diversify the schools I assume the poverty rate at many of the Title 1 schools will go down...the federal dollars will be lost and those same kids who now go to different schools will no longer benefit...while their poverty related struggles have not changed.

Not PP, but the person above you is right and you are wrong. MCPS receives a certain amount of money based on how many kids in the DISTRICT receive free and reduced meals. Then MCPS decides how to allocate those funds. The district has chosen to allocate them in two tiers - Title I and Focus.

Let's try this using numbers. Right now the FARMS rate at Joann Leleck is 90%. That's at TItle I school by MCPS standards. The FARMS rate at Piney Branch ES is 31% . That is a Focus School by MCPS standards. MCPS has decided that the "neediest" 10-12 schools would get the biggest chunk of the Title I federal funds, and then the next tier of schools that still have pretty high FARMS rates will also get a cut of the federal money.

However, even if you could get the poverty rate at Leleck down to 75% through redistricting, it would STILL be a Title I school by MCPS standards. Even if those 15% of kids moved to Piney Branch (which they would not because those are not contiguous), the funds would follow them.

Basically, the short version is that MCPS will still be receiving federal funds because they are allocated by district. If MCPS decided to spread those funds around differently after redistricting to have fewer "Title I" and more "Focus" schools, the amount of money is the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a Centrist Dem- So let's just take all the high achieving minorities from all the other schools and put them into one school ? In an effort to solve one problem, you just created multiple new ones. How about this? Let's put in the effort of making each school as strong as possible by having theme- based schools (like the DCC) and allow kids to go to whatever school they want to based on their interest, as long as it doesn't cause overcrowding at that school. Look at Wheaton. Wheaton HS used to be the school that no one wanted to go to; and now it's quickly turning its reputation around since the implementation of it's Engineering program.

No one wants to go to Wheaton. The DCC is a failure from an integration standpoint. Look at the over selection of Blair and the demographics of Kennedy. Even the Metis report identified the DCC as a failure for its original intent.

You don't sound like a centrist Dem.

So let's put BCC into the DCC. Also why not WJ and Whitman. They're all "down county" by the map.

How would Whitman’s successes help the failing schools in the east? It is full anyway so the likelyhood any Blair or Einstein kids being able to jump ship is slim. And their would never be any kids apart from the magnet kids who would opt out for those schools.

Honestly the only people who would benifit would be silver spring home owners who could pull one over on parent home buyers who didn’t do their homework and underestimate the odds of opting out of their local school.

It isn’t that schools like Whitman are successful but their test acerages are buoyed by the absence of low SES students which is on point

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t she change schools? Are majority black schools overcrowded? They won’t take her?

Why shouls she change school? The y should bus mire black students into Whitman to support her and shut off the racists in the school if it was true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money different school, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

I hope MCPS will take in to account the loss of Title 1 benefits..If they manage to re-arrange the boundaries so there are fewer title one schools, is the county better off. The needing population has not changed but we lost federal $$. This was one of the issues in the RM cluster with re-zoning Twinbrook. Hi Twinbrook family, we are going to move your neighborhood to a different school with better test scores. It is only 15 minutes longer on the bus and the class size is typically 28 kids. MCPS is looking out for you!

I don’t think Title 1 funding for the district will be affected. “Title 1 schools” actually means schools that have a high enough FARMs rate that federal Title 1 funds may be used for school-wide programs rather than being required to be used for targeted programs that specifically aid children in impoverished families. The federal threshold is much lower than the MCPS threshold. The class size policies are how MCPS chooses to use Title 1 funds but they could choose to use them differently or I think they could still use them to reduce class sizes at schools with FOCUS-level FARMs rates.

If they change all the boundaries to diversify the schools I assume the poverty rate at many of the Title 1 schools will go down...the federal dollars will be lost and those same kids who now go to different schools will no longer benefit...while their poverty related struggles have not changed.

Why can’t she change schools? Are majority black schools overcrowded? They won’t take her?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, I take all these witness accounts with a grain of salt. We live in a very "poor me" society today, and it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between painful, traumatizing discrimination and just dealing with being different, through no fault of anyone's.

I was educated in different countries because of my father's job. During one 4 year stretch, I was not only the sole foreigner, but also the sole mixed-ethnicity student of the entire school. I was bullied and teased for a little while, but I dealt with it and made good friends. It felt absolutely no different than later on, when I went to an international, diverse school full of kids of mixed ethnicity.

So suck it up, kiddos. We all have to deal with things.

This.

+1

I am not White and grew up in a White area. Then went to an incredibly diverse college. Both had their issues.

People of all races, religions, skin color, etc face issues. Kids face issues due to their height or their weight. You just have to deal with it. Quit with the victimization. It helps nobody.

+2.

Not only it doesn't help. It makes things worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money different school, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

I hope MCPS will take in to account the loss of Title 1 benefits..If they manage to re-arrange the boundaries so there are fewer title one schools, is the county better off. The needing population has not changed but we lost federal $$. This was one of the issues in the RM cluster with re-zoning Twinbrook. Hi Twinbrook family, we are going to move your neighborhood to a different school with better test scores. It is only 15 minutes longer on the bus and the class size is typically 28 kids. MCPS is looking out for you!

I don’t think Title 1 funding for the district will be affected. “Title 1 schools” actually means schools that have a high enough FARMs rate that federal Title 1 funds may be used for school-wide programs rather than being required to be used for targeted programs that specifically aid children in impoverished families. The federal threshold is much lower than the MCPS threshold. The class size policies are how MCPS chooses to use Title 1 funds but they could choose to use them differently or I think they could still use them to reduce class sizes at schools with FOCUS-level FARMs rates.

Anonymous wrote:The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money different school, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

I hope MCPS will take in to account the loss of Title 1 benefits..If they manage to re-arrange the boundaries so there are fewer title one schools, is the county better off. The needing population has not changed but we lost federal $$. This was one of the issues in the RM cluster with re-zoning Twinbrook. Hi Twinbrook family, we are going to move your neighborhood to a different school with better test scores. It is only 15 minutes longer on the bus and the class size is typically 28 kids. MCPS is looking out for you!

Here was what happenedin another city: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/02/18/387298763/after-a-racial-attack-a-south-philly-school-tries-to-heal
I know one of the kids who was attacked. People move if they can.

The whole thing sounds like a giant social experiment. One that will cost a lot, and not just in dollars We keep hearing how this will benefit low-income students, and close the opportunity gap. They've been trying things to close the opportunity gap for decades, and nothing has worked. While I do support programs to help close the opportunity gap, I believe our Title One schools and Focus schools, already have extra money, smaller class size and extra programs, what will it do for everyone else? Will it help them to rise, or bring them down? Show me the data please!

Anonymous wrote:No, Pp. what we see if people calling anyone a liar if they are too uncomfortable with what they are saying.

It’s not clear that anything easy said beyond cliches and wanting to let down your hair with your own people.