Dalllas Private School Choice for Multi-Racial Family (Dallas: neighborhood, buy)

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by DealingInDallas

Does Dallas have a visible, affluent black community? In the private schools where diversity exists, is there a contingent of black, professional parents who influence the school culture? I ask this because, as a newcomer to Dallas and specifically Preston Hollow, this contingent is not readily visible to me.

That's an interesting question. FWIIW my family is white. Both my son and daughter, Jesuit and Ursuline, attended school with kids from several professional and wealthy black families. Maybe because Jesuit and Ursuline integrated so long ago/have had many black students for so long or maybe because of other factors in neither case did black families seem to band together to influence either school.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by BLDSoon

Oh yes, I didnt have Catholic privates in mind when i said that. The Catholic Diocese has always been very good (and genuine) about maintaining economic diversity in their schools.

I don't really think other private schools (The one's i was thinking about are the two OP is interested in and St Marks though this is probably true for most privates) can match that.


That said (Off Topic) Its way past time for DFW to get a one-campus K-12 Catholic school... preferably for girls.

Ursuline was K-12 for decades moving to 9-12 in the middle '70s IIRC. It seems to me Jesuit, Ursuline and to some degree Cistercian and the K-8s have come to a quite agreement that things should stay as they are.

The change after 8th allows the schools to disassociate from kids who are poor academic fits. I know K-12s do this when the have too but it's seriously painful.

[DealingInDallas]

Originally Posted by EDS_

That's an interesting question. FWIIW my family is white. Both my son and daughter, Jesuit and Ursuline, attended school with kids from several professional and wealthy black families. Maybe because Jesuit and Ursuline integrated so long ago/have had many black students for so long or maybe because of other factors in neither case did black families seem to band together to influence either school.

Thanks for all the replies. I suppose I should have been more nuanced in my question. I wanted to draw a distinction between schools with just visible diversity and schools where diversity is explicitly discussed and influences the programming and even the curriculum. Parents from diverse backgrounds could drive these initiatives; but school leadership and other parents could also influence it. I think it is meaningful to encourage parents of color to take on leadership roles and become involved at these schools; so diversity takes on more communal depth than just the percentage of non-white (or otherwise diverse) students. I am curious to research more about the history of blacks and education here in Dallas.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Ursuline was K-12 for decades moving to 9-12 in the middle '70s IIRC. It seems to me Jesuit, Ursuline and to some degree Cistercian and the K-8s have come to a quite agreement that things should stay as they are.

The change after 8th allows the schools to disassociate from kids who are poor academic fits. I know K-12s do this when the have too but it's seriously painful.

Ahh I see.

Its a bit of a logistical inconvenience to have them split the way they are sometimes. Also i feel there is an underrepresentaion of girls-only private schools in DFW. The Catholic church has been running such schools for probably longer than anyone and would be in the best position to give Hockaday some competition in that arena. (Not that i want Hockaday to be competed with )... but it could only help the education of girls in the metroplex if another K-12 girls' school materialized. There's definitely demand thats for sure. Boys have way more (excellent) options.

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by DealingInDallas

Thanks for all the replies. I suppose I should have been more nuanced in my question. I wanted to draw a distinction between schools with just visible diversity and schools where diversity is explicitly discussed and influences the programming and even the curriculum. Parents from diverse backgrounds could drive these initiatives; but school leadership and other parents could also influence it. I think it is meaningful to encourage parents of color to take on leadership roles and become involved at these schools; so diversity takes on more communal depth than just the percentage of non-white (or otherwise diverse) students. I am curious to research more about the history of blacks and education here in Dallas.

Again, you're looking at Greenhill all the way here. In the preschool interviews, a family basically HAS to say that one of their favorite things about Greenhill, if not the most important thing, is the commitment to diversity (race, religion, income, etc).

Of course, the only school that probably matches exactly what you're asking about is Canterbury. But it's inconvenient to where you live. It's located in Desoto, which is the only affluent suburb in Dallas that is also predominantly black. It's south of downtown.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by DealingInDallas

Does Dallas have a visible, affluent black community? In the private schools where diversity exists, is there a contingent of black, professional parents who influence the school culture? I ask this because, as a newcomer to Dallas and specifically Preston Hollow, this contingent is not readily visible to me.

No. While there are many successful black families here in DFW, they don't all live in a concentrated area or use the same schools. As someone who used to work for a Fortune 500 company here that has had an oversized share of black C-Suiters, including CEO ("oversized" compared to the company's corporate and field demographics), all but one person chose Southlake, Plano, Frisco, etc over living in Dallas + private schools.

There is also some historical background where just as middle class & affluent whites fled the city of Dallas (and it's public schools) in the 1970's because they had become the district minority, middle class and affluent blacks have mostly fled the city of Dallas since 2000 because they have become the district minority. In 1970, DISD was over 50% white, by 1990 it was over 50% black, and today its 70% Hispanic. As families pass over the public schools, they rarely consider living in Dallas and choosing Dallas privates and prefer to live in the suburbs where their socioeconomic peers live. There are entire neighborhoods that were historically black and are now Hispanic, and even a few in and around Uptown that have now completed the gentrification cycle and are full of mostly white young professionals.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by DealingInDallas

Thanks for all the replies. I suppose I should have been more nuanced in my question. I wanted to draw a distinction between schools with just visible diversity and schools where diversity is explicitly discussed and influences the programming and even the curriculum. Parents from diverse backgrounds could drive these initiatives; but school leadership and other parents could also influence it. I think it is meaningful to encourage parents of color to take on leadership roles and become involved at these schools; so diversity takes on more communal depth than just the percentage of non-white (or otherwise diverse) students. I am curious to research more about the history of blacks and education here in Dallas.

I can say Hockaday and Greenhill do that to an extent.

My experience is that they do recognize, teach and practice more than the usual suspect holidays/ traditions etc to ensure their students are more aware of other cultures and living situations around them. They do this not just through admissions, but weave it through the curriculum at both schools. I believe both schools have a programs for African-American students/families as they are the smallest minority...where they discuss and advocate for challenges unique to them with staff members and school faculty. I'm not certain now but I'm pretty sure i read that someplace. You can validate that with the individual schools.

That said... its difficult to 'Influence' the curriculum at these schools. At least not in any visible way. Both schools welcome parent suggestions but both also have a "You either trust us or you dont" stance when it comes to such things. That's not to say they wont hear you out; but they wont let you make too much noise either. They both have a very progressive curriculums to the chagrin of some parents, but it is what it is.

I will tell you parental involvement and engagement is a requirement at both schools and is expected of all regardless of creed. The boards of both schools (though Greenhill wins out by this measure as well) is diverse too so that is a point in their favor(s).

[stan4]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

Again, you're looking at Greenhill all the way here. In the preschool interviews, a family basically HAS to say that one of their favorite things about Greenhill, if not the most important thing, is the commitment to diversity (race, religion, income, etc).

.

We never said that.

[BLDSoon]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

Again, you're looking at Greenhill all the way here. In the preschool interviews, a family basically HAS to say that one of their favorite things about Greenhill, if not the most important thing, is the commitment to diversity (race, religion, income, etc). .

I dont know about the 'most important' thing... but one should say that on an application because they actually do. I assume a family that doesn't care for diverse schools would be miserable at Greenhill especially since the no-uniforms thing would make the differences between the kids all the more obvious. ( I personally love the uniform thing)

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by stan4

We never said that.

Perhaps assumed, since you are non-white (at least I thought so, based on posting history)