Education – Truxton Is In Shaw

Property Taxes and Schools

When my spouse was a teen his parents (now both dead) got some friends to fake an address so he could go to another high school in the city where they lived. That was address fraud. The practice is sometimes called residency fraud, but since his parents were in City X, CA and paying City X property taxes, they were residents of City X, let’s go with address fraud.

I’m not going to write about Maryland residents sending their children to DC schools. That’s another rant for another day.

No instead of going back in forth with some stranger on X about property taxes and if they actually go up every year due to assessments, I’m going to create a post. Feel free to fight me.

I don’t blame my dead in-laws. They were paying taxes for all the schools in their city, regardless if they were using them. People without kids pay property taxes which may (depending on the jurisdiction) pay for schools in that jurisdiction. To my knowledge, people in Hillcrest are paying taxes that support schools in Foxhall.

I’m in PG County and my ginormous tax bill tells me how much is going to PG schools. Compared to what goes to parks and rec, not much. Parks and Recreation get over a thousand dollars of my tax bill whereas the schools get less than a couple hundred. I think I get my money’s worth. Got some nice bike trails that kinda go places I want to go and my kid’s in private school. Seriously, no one moves to PG for the schools. And 2K goes to never having guys on the corner selling heroin.

I have heard over and over property taxes are linked to the schools. As I wrote, a small portion goes to education and we’ve got an excellent elementary school. The high school sucks, but there is a nearby charter and another specialty high school up the road that works as an alternative. All for less than $200 a year in taxes.

My aunt lives down the road from me and pays less in property taxes for her condo. Because it is a condo, not a real house. Her tax dollars goes into the same PG Co. pot. I have no idea of the quality of her neighborhood school. It’s PG County, whaddya want?

I’ll end this here by saying. Urban and suburban schools can supported by different tax groups because they could be in different municipalities. Next time someone says the property taxes in one part of town supports the nice school but not the poor school in the poor part of town will need to show that the municipality doesn’t just throw all the tax money in one big pot.

Truxton Circle’s Public Schools

I’m going to reflect as a former resident and as a current parent on schools in Truxton Circle.

When I moved to the TC I was a single woman in my 30s. The neighborhood was gentrifying. I wasn’t concerned about schools. Many of my neighbors weren’t concerned about schools either. They too were single, retired, or gay or lesbian couples unlikely to drop their DINK (double income no kids) status but we cared about schools as much as people without children could care.

In real estate people care about “good schools” and it adds to the property values. That was never an element in the explosion of house prices in the neighborhood. Proximity to downtown, sometimes parking, and transportation networks were our greatest assets.

Dunbar High School taken December 20, 2005

There were one active school when I arrived Dunbar, and it looked like a prison. I don’t count the daycare at Slater. Cook was closed. Armstrong was a husk as was Langston. I don’t think MM Washington was being used. All the school buildings were problems to be solved. As far as education goes, DCPS should have opened an Italian restaurant for all the spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what would stick. Continue reading Truxton Circle’s Public Schools

1968 Map of Shaw’s Junior High Schools

I could make commentary. But I won’t. I’ve lacked skin in this game for about 4 years now.

Shaw School Urban Renewal- Elementary Schools Map 1968

I believe I’ve posted this before. Not sure. These are the elementary schools of Shaw.

Slater and Langston seem to be joint schools.

Memory Lane- John Cook School now Mundo Verde at dusk

Memory lane is the series where I go through my old photos of the Truxton Circle (or Shaw) neighborhood and reflect.

The John Cook School is the building that Mundo Verde PCS now occupies. When the photos were taken in 2007, I believe the school had recently closed, but the city kept the lights on.

Taken November 29, 2007. John Cook School.

Taken November 29, 2007. Boys entrance to John Cook School.

Taken November 29, 2007. Girls entrance for Cook school.

Taken November 29, 2007 at dusk. John Cook School.

Taken on November 29, 2007. Corner of John Cook School at dusk.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 17 Back to the Future

This year for Black History Month we’ll review chapter by chapter Alison Stewart’s First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. This is more Truxton Circle related then this blog’s previous annual looks at Shaw resident and founder of Negro History Week (later Black history month) Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-Education of the Negro. As Dunbar High School is located in Truxton Circle currently taking up all of Square 554.

We’ve finally made it to the last chapter of the book and from the description the students and staff are still in the 1977 Dunbar building. It’s still hovering around the 2010-2011 academic year. The new building was in the process of being built, there was hope for the future of Dunbar.

There are three views of the school. The first takes place in Matthew Stuart’s English class. The second with Dunbar’s football team on Cardozo’s field. The third is back at Dunbar, in the basement.

It’s the start of the class in Mr. Stuart’s room and students are making their way in. Despite a rule against cell phones, one student came in speaking loudly on his. We’re also told less than half of the students enrolled in his class were present. A picture is painted of what Dunbar’s academics are like. Left unsaid is that they are a far cry from Dunbar’s beginnings.

Next, because of the construction for Dunbar’s new field and the change of layout of the school, the football team was at another school’s playing field. Coach Jerron Joe was a former Dunbar student (2004) and knew of other Dunbar alumni who moved on to the NFL. But Coach Joe did more than coach, he was also a mentor.

The last has us in the basement for girl’s track. This time with Coach Marvin Parker, and like Coach Joe, he’s a mentor to the girls, some of whom live under difficult circumstances. He wanted to break the cycle of poverty for girls, which at the time meant babies having babies. We’re told of a success story, Angela Bonham, who transferred to Dunbar and then excelled on the track and got a 4 year scholarship to GWU. Later we’re also told how Dunbar was essentially ignoring Title IX in favor of football, and Parker was an advocate for getting money for girl’s sports.

Dunbar may never be the academic powerhouse for Black education as it once was. But it is well known for it’s football team. Maybe it’s next chapter will be with athletics over academics. That’s fair. When I was looking at predominately Black private schools in the DC area, I stumbled upon a football schedule where a school I never heard of and couldn’t find was playing against DeMatha. What little I could find seemed to say the whole purpose of the school was for boys to play football. There are parents who value a school based on the school’s athletics. As a parent myself, I’m not going to fault another parent for their values, even if they strongly differ from mine. During the Covid shutdowns, there were Black parents who were very concerned about their sons’ high school sports careers. I found no fault with them.

When I was at the hair dressers getting my hair did, someone mentioned Dunbar. My first thought was for their dismal academic record. However, the barbers and the hairdressers spoke glowingly and lovingly about their football team. And again, I found no fault in them.

Let me conclude and get back to the book. This is a good history of Dunbar. It is not 100% about Dunbar. The author provides a lot of background information, necessary to understand and appreciate the parts that are about the school. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the great history of the school beyond a Wikipedia entry.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 16 New New School

In late 2011 the wheels started moving to create the 3rd Dunbar building. It was supposed to be the complete opposite of the 2nd Dunbar building. That was a success. The old 1970ish building was a Brutalist prison like structure and the new, current building looks like it belongs on a college campus. It is well lit, has lots of glass, open in a good way.

View of Armstrong Parking Lot from Dunbar High School window. Taken April 2018.

One part of the DC government to take credit for this change for the better is the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) which was formed in 2007. OPEFM wanted to have a nod to the 1916 building, which there is. The old building was along 1st St, the 1977 was closer to New Jersey Avenue. The current building is at the corner of 1st and N St NW.

The new building was planned to reflect current values but also make alumni happy. It was planned to be a LEED building. It was in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There was space for metal detectors… we’re not about to forget about the crime. You kidding, we’re still in Shaw. There were nods to great Dunbar alumni built into the building.

Not mentioned in the chapter was another great change with the new building. O Street was reopened. Dunbar II ate O Street. It was not there. The neighborhood gained some extra street parking. It was good.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 15 The Fall

So it’s 2010 and Dunbar is going down. In flames. Figuratively.

Literally it was a hot mess. In the previous chapter the building was not only ugly as sin, it was also in meh to poor condition in need of serious repairs. The open classroom concept worked against classroom management and made it hard to teach. In a school. Where the whole point is to teach students. Crime was a problem. The crime around the school was also inside. Drugs and gambling were inside. And there was a publicized sexual assault of a student in a stairwell.

Mayor Fenty lost to Vincent Gray in 2010. With that polarizing Superintendent Michelle Rhee was not able to remain, even after being heroically portrayed in Waiting for Superman. Gray removed a lot of Fenty’s work, including the Friends of Bedford managing Dunbar. Rhee was replaced by Kaya Henderson and the FoB were replaced by interim principal Stephen Jackson.

Alumni did not seem to care for Jackson because he was a FoB hire. They did not care for the New York connection. Jackson survived that and was able to stick around for the plans for a 3rd Dunbar building.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 14 From Bed-Stuy to Shaw

The Bed-Stuy in the chapter title refers to a New York neighborhood from which the group Friends of Bedford hailed. It was the earlier part of the Fenty mayoral administration, which meant the Superintendent was Michelle Rhee. This was an environment for trying new things, hiring consultants, throwing more spaghetti at walls. The pasta in this case was Friends of Bedford who were tasked with fixing schools like Dunbar High.

The school building was in poor shape. The Friends of Bedford noted the unsatisfactory ADA compliance, bad interiors, dirty carpets, an unstable aged roof and ‘fair’ electrical system. FoB had a Summer Blitz where there was cleaning and fixing. Unfortunately, a lot of Dunbar’s history got ditched in the frenzy. Yeah, that happened.

In 2010 there was a very heated race for the mayor and Fenty was replaced by Councilman Vincent Gray. The chapter pointed out that Gray did not like Rhee. A lot of people did not like Rhee. I suspect some did not like her because she wasn’t Black. But many more probably didn’t like her because of all the school closures and other shake ups.

Gray was a Dunbar graduate (1959), but a post-desegregation Dunbar grad. So he didn’t have the same love or romance for the school as the legally segregated Dunbar. He was asked to be the commencement speaker for the class of 2010. Fenty was on the same platform. Both addressed the students. Fenty was booed.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 13 Children Left Behind

This chapter starts in 2008. It’s the Fenty era and Michelle Rhee is the first, and so far only, Asian American DC school chancellor. The chapter name refers to President Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ program.

The author covers the poor education students received in 2008. It didn’t improve. I covered Dunbar’s PARCC scores in 2019 and they are depressing.
PARCC by Race

PARCC Scores 2018-19, % meeting & exceeding expectations
	Black	White	Hispanic	Asian
ELA 2018-19	16.5%	N/A	n<10	N/A
Math 2018-19	.5%	N/A	n<10	n<10
Males ELA	13.4%	N/A	n<10	N/A
Males Math	.9%	N/A	n<10	n<10

ELA- basically covers English and Language Arts, that would be reading and writing. And Math is math, numbers, adding, subtracting, figuring out sales tax or a 20% tip. Less than 1% of Dunbar students were proficient in Math.

The chapter covers the school from the 1980s to the aughts. The author mentions the school’s challenges as well as a few success stories as it is not all doom and gloom, despite dismal academics. But there was a clear academic and cultural difference between pre-desegregation Dunbar and post.

That difference also showed up in a division in the alumni association. The old Dunbar alumni who were held to higher standards and expectations had trouble connecting with the younger alumni. It is not as if the Old Dunbar did not help the New Dunbar students. There were scholarships and a story about a student who was accepted into Amherst College revived a Amherst-Dunbar connection and money flowed to the student.