I don't want either of these types of problems for my child. It seems that there are many other options.

Oh good grief-- I am no fan of entitled Landon preppies but that comment is ridiculous. No one is posting you tube videos of fights between Ghetto Ho Wannabes being ignored by teachers with respect to Landon. That's the problematic violent culture issue at Wilson. Were I upper middle class AA, I'd rather my kid have to put up with drunk white entitled jerks at private school than risk the cultural pressures of a lower SES AA peer group at Wilson.

Anonymous wrote:16:06, I'm the PP with the numbered points. Re: Shepherd, we're there now. The upper grades are majority OOB. Many Shepherd IB families left several years ago when there was a lot of instability and about 6 principals in two years. Under the most recent principal, Mrs. Miles, the percentage of IB families has slowly ticked up, especially since adding the International Baccalaureate program, but still only 34% IB overall. However, the early grades have a lot more IB families (PK3 is 100% IB). And yes there are a handful of J&J families at Shepherd.

I'm not from DC, but I hear all the time from Shepherd alums in the neighborhood how great and sought after the school used to be, and how engaged all the families were. I'm hoping the school continues to gain IB families (although many OOB families are also wonderful, and many live nearby). I think it's on its way to regaining that community feel that it apparently once had.

I'm a total supporter of public schools and we plan on considering Deal--just not sure about Wilson. I saw that the guy arrested for the 7/4 metro murder is a 2014 Wilson grad--I'm worried if lots more of his ilk are at Wilson. Also, husband is pushing for private for h.s., so we'll see.

I was considering sending my DS to Landon, but when I read that George Huguely, a Landon grad from Chevy Chase had killed his girlfriend, I got worried about more of his ilk at Landon.

Anonymous wrote:16:06, I'm the PP with the numbered points. Re: Shepherd, we're there now. The upper grades are majority OOB. Many Shepherd IB families left several years ago when there was a lot of instability and about 6 principals in two years. Under the most recent principal, Mrs. Miles, the percentage of IB families has slowly ticked up, especially since adding the International Baccalaureate program, but still only 34% IB overall. However, the early grades have a lot more IB families (PK3 is 100% IB). And yes there are a handful of J&J families at Shepherd.

I'm not from DC, but I hear all the time from Shepherd alums in the neighborhood how great and sought after the school used to be, and how engaged all the families were. I'm hoping the school continues to gain IB families (although many OOB families are also wonderful, and many live nearby). I think it's on its way to regaining that community feel that it apparently once had.

I'm a total supporter of public schools and we plan on considering Deal--just not sure about Wilson. I saw that the guy arrested for the 7/4 metro murder is a 2014 Wilson grad--I'm worried if lots more of his ilk are at Wilson. Also, husband is pushing for private for h.s., so we'll see.

Understood. My spouse grew up in the neighborhood and actually went to Shepherd before transferring to private. I did hear that Shepherd went through a bumpy period several years ago, causing some families to leave. But every school go through transition periods. I'm sure Shepherd is fine now and deserves a second look from some folk. In the meantime, Deal is great. You'll be pleased. We too might consider private for HS but I'm hopeful that I can keep my money in the bank .

16:06, I'm the PP with the numbered points. Re: Shepherd, we're there now. The upper grades are majority OOB. Many Shepherd IB families left several years ago when there was a lot of instability and about 6 principals in two years. Under the most recent principal, Mrs. Miles, the percentage of IB families has slowly ticked up, especially since adding the International Baccalaureate program, but still only 34% IB overall. However, the early grades have a lot more IB families (PK3 is 100% IB). And yes there are a handful of J&J families at Shepherd.

I'm not from DC, but I hear all the time from Shepherd alums in the neighborhood how great and sought after the school used to be, and how engaged all the families were. I'm hoping the school continues to gain IB families (although many OOB families are also wonderful, and many live nearby). I think it's on its way to regaining that community feel that it apparently once had.

I'm a total supporter of public schools and we plan on considering Deal--just not sure about Wilson. I saw that the guy arrested for the 7/4 metro murder is a 2014 Wilson grad--I'm worried if lots more of his ilk are at Wilson. Also, husband is pushing for private for h.s., so we'll see.

I got curious to see just how many black households with income above $250k there are in DC -- not the percentage, but the raw number. It seems that number shouldn't be hard to pull from Census or other data sets, but I could not find it. Can any DCUM data sleuths help me?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Affluent AA's in DC send their kids to private after elementary school.

Ummm...I'm thinking you're either not AA, you don't have a kid at Deal, you're stuck in 1987 or, you're just talking out of your "arse." Of course there are affluent AA's who send the kids to public schools in the city. Just like many affluent white families do. And just like white families, a lot depends on where you live in the city and what schools you're zoned for.

Not PP, but I think there is actually some truth to PP's point about private being a bit more preferred among affluent AAs than among affluent white families in this city. Others have made these points, but here they are summarized:

1) many of these families are DC natives and went to private schools themselves (when DC public schools were in an even worse state than at present), so that may just be what they're familiar with. (As an example, one affluent AA, a DC native, recently told me that no DCPS or DCPCS schools were acceptable to their family except LAMB, but they had bad lottery luck twice--they're now at a Big 3 private.)

2) only very recently have EOTP schools in the "Gold Coast" area, along with Shepherd, Cleveland, Eaton, etc., started turning around and gaining some traction among more educated families.

3) some AA educated/affluent families may be concerned about their children being especially susceptible to negative influences from peers, perhaps moreso than white families of the same SES. There was a thread on this topic sometime within the past year but I don't recall the name of it.

I don't agree with some of your assertions particularly #2. Shepherd was THE school back in the day for those on the Gold Coast who didn't go private for elementary. As a matter of fact, most went to Shepherd for elementary and then transferred to private for middle. In those days, Eaton and Hearst (which only went to 3rd grade) were the other options for middle/upper class blacks.

With regard to #1-- if you're talking about your DC native, Jack & Jill set-- they're majority private but, I believe some with younger kids are definitely taking a serious look at some of the city's public schools. They wouldn't have done this a few years ago, but they too see the changes taking place across the city.

As for #3. I agree. Most affluent AA's do not want their kids exposed to negative influences any more than our white counterparts. However, that's simply not an issue at schools like Eaton, Shepherd, Hearst, and Deal. Of course there are "negative influences" everywhere-- including private-- but the student populations at schools like these just don't have a critical mass of kids with the issues that negative behaviors stem from. At my kids' school, there are a few that present with negative behaviors but because they are not in the majority they are forced to conform.

I was on the playground one day last year and one little boy (maybe 4th grade) was wearing his pants low. Another boy looked at him and said, "Yo man, pull up your pants!" And he did. None of the other boys on the playground dressed like that.

Majority rules .

Again, it depends on your location. Like white families, if you live inbounds for Deal or are in a Deal feeder, and you are not already in private, it's makes sense to test drive Deal before you shell out money for private middle school. One of my kids is at Deal now and we are extremely happy with that option--and yes, we could have gone private like some of our neighbors. I'm not sold on Wilson for my oldest but it may be a consideration for my younger kids. In the meantime, I would most definitely consider Banneker or School Without Walls. College tuition and real estate prices are way too out of control for me not to use good public school options that are available to me. I personally would prefer to put that money towards college and a down payment on a house which they will probably need when that time rolls around.

I would agree that the poster "07/13/2015 13:11" is very knowledgable. She has made informed recommendations about Hearst, Eaton and Shepard. If you are thinking about one of the JKLMs I would strongly recommend Murch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm black and did pretty well on SATs (almost perfect score on verbal) but I'm also 1st generation American. There are numerous factors that are associated with lower scores among AAs, such as stereotype threat, less $ to pay for prep courses, families not even realizing prep courses are a thing (like my parents), etc. I don't think most serious people think that there's like a genetic difference in intelligence between the groups--except, perhaps, the authors of The Bell Curve, lol.

Also agree with PP before me. Lower expectations for AAs are huge too. Which is why for us it was important to have our kid surrounded by other high-achieving AA kids who are well-prepared for school. We are at one of the DCPS elementaries already mentioned, but will consider private for high school if we feel that's necessary when the time comes (in lieu of Wilson--a little spooked by talk of the 'Yale or jail' trajectory).

Same for us, but we didn't consider private. Tried out Wilson this year and now DD will be attending Banneker for 10th grade. Too many distractions along with being in the "in" crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm black and did pretty well on SATs (almost perfect score on verbal) but I'm also 1st generation American. There are numerous factors that are associated with lower scores among AAs, such as stereotype threat, less $ to pay for prep courses, families not even realizing prep courses are a thing (like my parents), etc. I don't think most serious people think that there's like a genetic difference in intelligence between the groups--except, perhaps, the authors of The Bell Curve, lol.

Also agree with PP before me. Lower expectations for AAs are huge too. Which is why for us it was important to have our kid surrounded by other high-achieving AA kids who are well-prepared for school. We are at one of the DCPS elementaries already mentioned, but will consider private for high school if we feel that's necessary when the time comes (in lieu of Wilson--a little spooked by talk of the 'Yale or jail' trajectory).

This is us too and my DD is leaving Wilson for Banneker. Too many distractions along with being in the "in" crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Affluent AA's in DC send their kids to private after elementary school.

Ummm...I'm thinking you're either not AA, you don't have a kid at Deal, you're stuck in 1987 or, you're just talking out of your "arse." Of course there are affluent AA's who send the kids to public schools in the city. Just like many affluent white families do. And just like white families, a lot depends on where you live in the city and what schools you're zoned for.

Not PP, but I think there is actually some truth to PP's point about private being a bit more preferred among affluent AAs than among affluent white families in this city. Others have made these points, but here they are summarized:

1) many of these families are DC natives and went to private schools themselves (when DC public schools were in an even worse state than at present), so that may just be what they're familiar with. (As an example, one affluent AA, a DC native, recently told me that no DCPS or DCPCS schools were acceptable to their family except LAMB, but they had bad lottery luck twice--they're now at a Big 3 private.)

2) only very recently have EOTP schools in the "Gold Coast" area, along with Cleveland, Eaton, Hearst, etc., started turning around and gaining some traction among more educated families. Some of these schools used to have a good reputation, but fell out of favor for various reasons, and are now once again attracting educated families, AA and other.

3) some AA educated/affluent families may be concerned about their children being especially susceptible to negative influences from peers, perhaps moreso than white families of the same SES. There was a thread on this topic sometime within the past year but I don't recall the name of it.

Whoops, again, w/o typos, and w/additional info.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Affluent AA's in DC send their kids to private after elementary school.

Ummm...I'm thinking you're either not AA, you don't have a kid at Deal, you're stuck in 1987 or, you're just talking out of your "arse." Of course there are affluent AA's who send the kids to public schools in the city. Just like many affluent white families do. And just like white families, a lot depends on where you live in the city and what schools you're zoned for.

Not PP, but I think there is actually some truth to PP's point about private being a bit more preferred among affluent AAs than among affluent white families in this city. Others have made these points, but here they are summarized:

1) many of these families are DC natives and went to private schools themselves (when DC public schools were in an even worse state than at present), so that may just be what they're familiar with. (As an example, one affluent AA, a DC native, recently told me that no DCPS or DCPCS schools were acceptable to their family except LAMB, but they had bad lottery luck twice--they're now at a Big 3 private.)

2) only very recently have EOTP schools in the "Gold Coast" area, along with Shepherd, Cleveland, Eaton, etc., started turning around and gaining some traction among more educated families.

3) some AA educated/affluent families may be concerned about their children being especially susceptible to negative influences from peers, perhaps moreso than white families of the same SES. There was a thread on this topic sometime within the past year but I don't recall the name of it.

Anonymous wrote:Affluent AA's in DC send their kids to private after elementary school.

Ummm...I'm thinking you're either not AA, you don't have a kid at Deal, you're stuck in 1987 or, you're just talking out of your "arse." Of course there are affluent AA's who send the kids to public schools in the city. Just like many affluent white families do. And just like white families, a lot depends on where you live in the city and what schools you're zoned for.

My DD went to Eaton-Deal-Wilson. The parents of a lot of her AA friends are lawyers, professors, feds, and other professionals. Some live in boundary and others drove across the park every day.

Eaton seems to accommodate more OOB slots than other WOTP elementaries, but I think about half of the slots every year go to PK and K siblings of OOB kids already at Eaton.

Affluent AA's in DC send their kids to private after elementary school.