Quote:
|
horrid. all big city districts in ohio are among the worst in america
|
Before someone wrongly takes advice from a generalization with no supported evidence shown...
Here is a map of the columbus city school district boundaries. Notice the areas of yellow far out from the main city and beyond suburbs. Those are the areas, "pockets", that this poster is living in.
I have written many many posts on Columbus City Schools.
There are some very good schools in the Columbus City district. The district has an open enrollment policy. The district is the largest in the state. There is just a lot of people who really know little about the district. Many in the suburbs lump the district into one big concept when really it is the largest district in the state and has many schools that rank good and poorly.
Generally, most of the 'good' schools are on the central/northern side and NW side. The far east side schools (the one your child is assigned) vary. Generally, the Far East side ones are very African American.
Nearly all of the Columbus schools (due to open enrollment) have a diverse student body
Columbus has schools that rank on par with the suburbs.
The schools that are known for being the best are diverse but along the lines of more 60-70 percent Caucasian, 20-30 percent African American and other minorities. Their test scores can closely mirror a suburb and there are schools that have very high level of special/alternative classes and learning methods.
You will need to talk to the district and try to enroll your child in one of the schools which better suits your needs and wants (test scores/demographics)
When looking at High Schools I really recommend Columbus Alternative High School. The school is diverse and nearly even black and white and is ranked as one of the best high schools in the metro.
Columbus Alternative H.S. gets a A level ranking from the state yearly. That is better than some other suburban area High Schools. This is why it is so important that you do the research so you can know your many options of schools (for your child to attend) and by using the tax money you pay the district yearly.
Columbus also has great schools like
Spanish/French Immersion
Fort Hays arts high schools (downtown)
K-8 intensive studies schools (like Indianola is ranked high by parents)
I have a friend who graduated from Fort Hays, people actually choose to attend fort hays part day instead of suburban schools. She was from Worthington and she got into one of the hardest art schools in the country (in Chicago)
Also, the schools on the far east side rank higher than many other ones in the district, are out of academic emergency, and the middle/elementary schools on the far east side have completely new state of the art buildings. So there is something to consider, maybe, even at the assigned school.
The Columbus school district has many options for all schools k-12. There is, also, a science/math intensive school that you can attend if your part of the district that is run by the county. That county run school is free for all Columbus students but is a high school only. Students there learn multiple languages and go into advanced college math and science courses.
HERE IS THE COURSE THAT I RECOMMEND
1. Read about and visit the school that your child is assigned to by the district before writing it off. Decide if after visiting the school, the reputation for fights/bad students is maybe a few bad kids or is that reputation justly deserved.
If you rule out the assigned school…
2. Go to the district website.
Columbus City Schools -- Homepage There you can search though a profile of all the possible schools that your child can attend for their grade level. Look at the schools that interest you. Then contact the district and schedule a visit and ask for test scores, etc..
3. Compare your research on the Columbus City Schools that you liked to visits/research on your private school options.
If you choose the city schools (or a combination) lay out a plan.
Your plan could look something like this…
K-12
Maybe you liked an elementary school in Columbus, say Winterset Elementary on the NW side (a very good elementary school by the way)
Middle School
Maybe you like the Columbus magnet middle school called Indianola Alternative in Clintonville.
High School
Maybe here you would decide there’s this great private Catholic School, St. Charles, near Bexley that you would use for High School or the county run Metro High.
Of course your “education course” could look different than this but this is just an example (though all those schools mentioned are good). This way you can kind of see how your child’s education would be shaped and what type of schools you will use to do so.
The key word here is "applying" you need to apply for a lottery spot at the school you decide on and the district will provide busing for your child to attend that school.
I urge you to look at the district website and start to see the school profiles.
Greatschools.net has school profiles. You should use that site with the district’s site and visits to the schools and maybe some other sources.
Also, you should not feel that it is your fault that you did not know that the district had open enrollment and that you could chose from a wide variety of schools that specialize in an interest like the arts, literature, science, and foreign language immersion schools. You live within the district boundaries and the district has made little effort to contact you.
That is a summarization of the Columbus City Schools; once you learn about the district and how to maneuver within it you can give you’re a child a great education. You just need to approach them first.
Regarding how and why your area of the suburbs attends the city schools here’s a response i did for another post:
Quote:
In 1985 the city of Columbus school district wanted to continue to have the students that would soon live in many of the developing and growing areas that were annexed by Columbus. The suburbs, though, would have had these students if they had remained townships and were not annexed.
Thus an agreement was reached in 85. Columbus said that ANY area that was soon to be developed and annexed BEFORE 1985 would go to the suburban district that it would have gone to had it remained a township.
Anything annexed AFTER 1985, once developed, would go to COLUMBUS.
Now you ask, what about those areas of Columbus annexed after 1985? Well those have just started to develop now (1999 and on). Thus, you literally have pockets of areas OUTSIDE of the suburbs that are busing students into Columbus schools.
These pockets exist on the NE side, SE side (yours), and far west side. The schools that the kids are being bused to are not bad schools but they are not in the kids neighborhoods. The district is looking at building schools in these “pockets” in the NE side and SE side (your neighborhood)
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
How bad are columbus schools ?
Linear Mode
