Step into the brand new Wilson High in Tenleytown and you might think you are in a different city’s public schools. Nearly half the students are white; and as the teaching staff improves and local families get a load of the new facilities, more white parents from the neighborhood will certainly send their precious offspring to Wilson. It might not be too surprising that white families are choosing Wilson. It is, after all, center stage in Upper Caucasia. But white parents across Washington, D.C. are putting their children in public schools, from Shaw to Capitol Hill. Anacostia is next.
News flash: District of Columbia Public Schools are becoming integrated ?– with white people. In D.C. today, diversity means adding Caucasians.
Numbers tell the story. A decade ago the District’s school population was about five percent white. The percentage climbed to seven percent in 2009; the latest statistics show the number is nine percent.
“We may have broken into double digits,” says Abigail Smith, chief of DCPS transformation management. “It’s a big deal.”
The city’s school system is still majority African American, but change is upon us, for two reasons. Young white families are opting to live in the city rather than the suburbs. And school reforms begun under Mayor Adrian Fenty — both the new facilities and the academic changes wrought by Michelle Rhee — are making the public schools more attractive.
Take Garrison Elementary at S and 12th Streets, two blocks south of the U Street Metro and just west of the Shaw station. It is in what real estate agents call Logan Circle. Once all black, it’s turning mocha. Five years ago there were no white kids in the school; now the early childhood classes are mixed.
“Communities supporting local schools, whatever the color, is a positive change,” says Abby Smith. “Having more kids in our city engage a diverse population is a good thing.”
But, Smith allows, “there are growing pains within the schools. How adults relate to one another is the real challenge.”
Some black parents are not pleased about the white influx. An unintended consequence of schools improving and drawing white students is that blacks are forced out in some cases. Take Brent Elementary on Capitol Hill. Black families drove their children across the river from Anacostia for a better education. They were out of boundary. Now white families near Brent are filling the classrooms. There’s no room for the Anacostia kids, who have essentially been pushed out — after investing in the school.
“For these families, the changes are very real,” Smith says. “It creates anxiety, stress, pressure. The solution is to improve schools citywide. Parents are holding our feet to the fire, and that’s a good thing. It pushes us to deliver.”
My Pollyanna side says kids who go to public school in integrated classes will grow up to treat one another with respect and understanding. My realistic side tells me we are in for some serious conflict.
And in a few years, Wilson High could be all white.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
