New Year, New Projects, Same Old Stereotypes

The new year has gotten off to a great start here in Southeast DC at Achievement Preparatory Academy.  Our brand new online application went live on January 2^nd and we’ve already got 10 applications for the 2012-2013 school year.  My old supervisor decided to leave the school, but my new boss is actually someone that worked here before and has just come back.  We’re already forming a great working partnership and I’m shadowing her on school tours for prospective parents so that pretty soon I can start giving the tours myself.  Tomorrow (yes, work on Saturday) we’re going to the DC Charter School Expo at the Washington Convention Center, so hopefully we’ll drum up a lot of interest and get some new applications in.  Exciting!  Recruitment is a huge task that lasts basically the entire first half of the calendar year (while enrollment / registration / paper work follow up / residency verification is the second half) and I’ll be playing a crucial role.  If my APA recruitment is anything like my recruiting new freshman for the Princeton University Band we’ll be sitting pretty for the next school year.

I want to share a story with you, avid readers of our blog, that my boss shared with us yesterday at staff close-out.  A man from an organization that might be giving a grant to our school was here visiting yesterday from California.  He was trying to catch an early morning cab from Dupont Circle, which is a super-ritzy fancy part of NW DC to our school, which is located in notorious Ward 8 of SE DC.  To be blunt, and describe the difference between NW and SE in black and white terms, NW is white, SE is black.  Three different cab drivers turned down the man when he asked to be taken over to Wahler Place SE.  One cabby even told him, “Why would you want to go there?  Nothing good ever comes out of that place.”  And this man, who hasn’t been to our school before but has talked extensively to our leader and founder, and read the press releases, defended our school and said, well let me tell you about this amazing school in this not-so-great neighborhood.  Clearly, you must not have heard of them if you’re going to say things like that.  So maybe nothing else good comes out of our seedy, run-down neighborhood in SE, but WE are a good thing.  A great thing.  Our DC CAS scores show that we have completely eliminated the achievement gap between our students and white students in DC, and gone most of the way towards eliminating that disparity in reading.  I feel like I constantly have to defend where I work to new people I meet, those who are shocked or worried about me for being a young white female working in this community.  And yes, I’ve endured shocking cat calls and harassment at the local gas station and Burger King, but the things that we do within the walls of this school make it all worth it.  I am so proud to be a part of this school and I’m excited to play such a role in the future of the school.  Because truly, the school would not exist without its students, so we need to get butts in those seats!

p.s.  Not to be outdone by Subha, check out my advisory’s entry into APA’s Holiday door decorating contest.  We got second place, but only because 1^st place used a Christmas card that plays music to enhance their door.