Thread by @Avi_WA

I'm looking right now at a spreadsheet of which parents chose virtual education in Philly and which chose in-person...and I'll say this:

Your assumptions are probably wrong. #PHLed (mini-thread)

Quick reminder: Back in November the district said it would invite students in grades K-2 to attend school in-person...if they wanted.

That never happened. But the district did ask parents to choose between in-person and online learning...

Here are the schools where over 55% of families chose in-person learning:

Keen observers will note that this list includes several schools relatively rich parts of the city: Bache-Martin, Penn Alexander, Meredith, CW Henry...

But wait...here's the list of schools with the highest % of families who chose all-virtual:

We've got schools with the similar demographics in this bunch (Greenfield, Jackson), plus schools in the poorest parts of the city (TM Peirce, Munoz-Marin).

NE Philly and Deep South Philly managed to show up in both groups of schools...

*shrug*

Meanwhile, the schools that had low response rates, included Samuel Powel (University City) and Lewis Elkin (Fairhill/Kensington area)...

Perhaps with deeper analysis (and more granular data) some patterns would emerge.

But at first glance, what stands out to me is the diversity of schools and opinions.

This isn't an issue that seems to break down along predictable demographic or geographic lines.

Even at outlier schools, there were still deep splits in opinion. There wasn't a school where, like, 90% of parents chose one option over another. (Set aside Widener Memorial, which serves students w/disabilities.)

Or to sum it up, parents are not a monolith. So when Philly inevitably takes another crack at reopening (probably soon), don't extrapolate based on a few voices. There are a LOT of opinions out there.

#phled