We are the students of Duke Ellington who are taking a stand against this.
We are separate from the parent group and from the administration.
This is a statement written by a student at this school who has chosen to stay anonymous.
Duke Ellington has a legacy like no other and there is nothing anyone can do to take that away. With that being said, the spirit of this legacy is being dimmed by the negative powers that be- OSSE. It is not the fact that an investigation is being conducted, it is more so HOW the investigation is being and how it affects the Duke Ellington legacy.
I have been attending Duke Ellington for two years now. Next year will be my last year attending the school before I begin my next phase of life. The most impactful part of attending Duke has been the people I have met. The students here (myself included) really look forward to celebrating and embracing bright futures and doing the same for those around us. We use our art to describe those things that mean something to us and try to spread our ideas around the world. We are not a regular school. We are the exception.
Everyday, I come to school and I feel comfortable in the environment I’m in. I know that no one will judge me. I know my ideas and opinions will be celebrated by teachers and students alike. I know at the end of the day I will leave feeling inspired to do something great. I also know this feeling may be ripped from under me by an organization meant to support great education in DC. Duke has great education. It may not be the most conventional, but in a world that’s forever being innovated and given new representation, why not praise schools that teach the ways of the world and not the ways of a test booklet? Because until you can make good decisions like you’re bubbling in answers on a test, you will only be a good test-taker, but not a well-rounded individual. Duke Ellington School of the Arts makes well-rounded individuals. Not just in Art, but in morality.
This may not seem like much to some, but to me it means the world. If you would at least consider for a moment, if I was your child, how would you feel about someone who stands for the betterment of children belittling and targeting your child’s school creating a toxic atmosphere? Wouldn’t you do everything in your power to prevent a good thing from being taken away from a community that desperately needs it? I’m not asking that students who are committing residency fraud be pardoned of their crimes. I’m simply asking that you search within yourself and ask “What is this really about?” Because if there’s one thing Duke has taught me, it is to look beyond the headline, look beyond the rumours, collect the facts and then arrive at a conclusion. I assure that if you do the research, if you ask the questions, you will discover more than you set out to find. Because pretty, white buildings don’t come as gifts wrapped up in pretty ribbon. They come from having a legacy by the means of hard-working African American individuals who sought to make a better life for generations after them.
Student Statement - sophomore:
The purpose of all these unethical investigations, the driving force behind it is not a noble desire for honesty in the education system. Far from it. OSSE is giving into pressure from Georgetown residents, who have been prejudiced and hostile since the reopening of the campus on R st. They want this building, and the only way they can think to get it is by pushing out children who deserve to be here, regardless of what they paid or where they live.
And while on the subject of who deserves to attend a public institution, I would like to inquire as to why these laws exist in the first place. This school was founded by Peggy Cooper Cafriz and Mike Malone in 1974, to bring arts education to children who would otherwise not have access to it. There are of course, still students who fit that description living in DC. But many of them have been pushed out to Maryland and Virginia. Because of rising gentrification rates, they can no longer afford to live in DC. That does not lessen their worth, their talent or their right to a future in the arts. That is what you are forgetting, OSSE. That we are not data points, or numbers that you can manipulate to steal this building. Each and every one of us has a bright, palpable future. Every student and family that has committed enrollment fraud has their own reasons for doing so. You are criminalizing them and refusing to see the context of their lives which may have impacted their decision.
You are penalizing children for the taxes their parents pay, you are ignoring the simple fact that the blame should be placed on those who made this city too expensive to live in, so that they could have it to themselves, and not those who were brave enough to take this risk for their futures. DCPS, you have facilitated OSSE’S classism every step of the way. Ladies and gentlemen of the Washington Post: you are part of this too. The light that you have painted this school and its legacy in is nothing short of biased.
It is evident that this issue needs to be handled in part by those that it affects the most. That is why, a week from today, on May 30th, we will go down to OSSE headquarters and protest for the rights that as students, we deserve.
As chomsky said, in a debate concerning the places where power and justice differ: “one does not necessarily allow the state to define what is legal. The state has the power to enforce a certain concept of what is legal, but power does not imply justice.”
Student Statement: Senior
For four years this school has been my home. For 50 years this school has sheltered hundreds of kids. Brought us in and made us feel safe, gave us a community, some of us a family, all of us an invaluable education that armed us with the tools and connected us with the opportunities that would change our lives. Regardless of our income, our neighborhood, but on the regard that many of us would not be able to get this education any other way.
It has always been Duke Ellington’s mission to do that, provide a comprehensive pre-professional arts based training and education to those who otherwise may not get it.
I would hope the school district, the superintendent, and Mayor Bowser would agree with that mission. The removal of more than 100 children poses a severe and imminent danger to the social and emotional well being of those children. By going forward with this you will now be fully responsible for the adverse effects of their displacement. You will be responsible for changing their future, you will be responsible for their hurt and the hurt of their families all because OSSE AND THE DISTRICT HAS CHOSEN TO VALUE MONEY OVER THE WELL BEING OF THESE CHILDREN. WHAT MESSAGE ARE YOU SENDING, not one of love and want for us to succeed. YOU MUST CHANGE THAT! YOU MUST SAVE US
Student Statement: Sophomore
I moved to DC on August 1st, 2016 from my home in Central Pennsylvania, and on May 8th, a letter was sent to my Pennsylvania residency saying I am committing enrollment fraud. I feel disappointed in OSSE and DCPS for not recognizing the proofs of residency I provided. I only used that address for enrolling my freshman year, meaning that they went all the way back in my records. They approved me once, why not now? It is also worth mentioning that said home in Pennsylvania is three and a half hours away. I can’t commute from there everyday. It makes you wonder if letters were sent to old homes in Alabama, or Atlanta. The idea of over 100 students committing enrollment fraud is outrageous, and shows the unorganized and incorrect nature of the OSSE and DCPS. My mother pays DC taxes. I am a lawful resident of the District of Columbia.
To be told that the life I’ve built at Ellington has been fraud is an unspeakable feeling. The relationships I’ve created are not something that can be taken away through a guilty or innocent verdict. Duke Ellington is my school, and everyone at this school is rightfully a part of it. Education is not something you can put a guilty label on. Students aren’t either.
Student Statement: Sophomore
The letter that the students have received give more than just the stress of having to “prove their residency.” It has caused not only me, but other students to be distracted at school; instead of fully focusing on finals and end of the year performances, my family and I have to deal with how to fight against this invasion from the school system. This is an attack on high schoolers who are trying to learn and prepare for college and careers, an attack on families who are trying to provide for their children, an a attack our school. It’s time we look at this bigger picture; families who are trying to provide for their children and children working hard from 8-5pm, sometimes even later. What is so “illegal” about that?
This has done nothing but negatively affect Ellington students, not only distracting students and stressing families, but as a student who has received a letter, it is a scary thing to deal with. Imagine working hard all of 8th grade year to audition and test into the school, your family changing their lives, and then families get attacked and threatened in such a barbaric manner. Imagine working hard in school all day and coming home to a letter insulting your work. That's the reality of some of the students at Ellington and as a school, we refuse to let this tear us down.
This is a statement written by a student at this school who has chosen to stay anonymous:
My mother is a DC native and has been a resident the majority of her life. So have I. It wasn't until she had my sister that we had to move to accommodate our growing family. But there was a problem. Houses that were once just seen as "ghetto" were being sold for twice as much as before. There was no where for us to go, at least in DC. So we moved to Maryland, while still keeping our house in DC. My mother still pays DC taxes, and she still works there too. but Due to gentrification, our family could not afford to live in DC. Unfortunately, there is not a school like Ellington in Maryland, or frankly anywhere else. In Duke Ellington, I feel like I belong. It was initially made for inner city kids of color who needed a space where they could be their whole artistic selves. It was never about money, it was about freedom. But ever since this new big and beautiful building has been here. Our mission has been twisted and contorted into this ugly vision by outsiders who won't even take the time to have a conversation with one of our brilliant artistic minds that inhabit this building. As a black kid, I am already conditioned to a certain fate. Being in this school gives me a chance to change that.
Let's be fair because because this "investigation" is not about being "fair".This is not for the benefit of our children. This would not be going on if we were still sitting in the small brown middle school buildings on U street. It's about money. and power. and control. The holy trinity of tools that were used in gentrification, colonization, and CAPITALISM are being used here.
Student Statement:
I have never lived outside of DC. Part of me doesn’t even want to give OSSE any proof. They should have it. If they went so deep, if they looked so carefully. I submitted whatever form they needed, and will do it again as long as it is the Duke Ellington main office I am walking too and not OSSE headquarters. As long as the letter is run through my school’s administration not a faceless, untransparent organization. Why send me one? I remember walking into the main office last summer, at garnet patterson with my mom, brother, and sister, it being hot and handing over documents. We had a water bill that apparently they didn’t even need. We had too much proof. Plenty to re register. Knowing this, and that OSSE apparently saw my parents’ paid DC property taxes from 10 years ago to today, their DC drivers’ licences’ from 20 years ago, and all the bills they’ve paid, and being accused of fraud. It feels like harassment. It is harassment. Why now OSSE? I want to see your proof.