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I thought that when my son started. It turned out it wasn't bad and if anything, he learned to stick up for himself quickly. My other kids had to learn to do that in the suburban schools too. But it sounds like you didn't pick a private school either. I don't believe the options empower people chant though. That's a charter school advertisement. You feel bad for those kids stuck in that school. How about making them feel proud of their school?
Is this the OP?
We have magnet schools in Houston that are public schools and not charters. It gives kids in underperforming schools a chance to succeed.
Have you been in a seriously underperforming school? I've taught in two, and been in many under a supervising/observational role. It's a complicated problem and can be a dangerous situation. When I interviewed at a campus in SBISD, the teacher parking lot had a perimeter of razor wire on top of extra tall chain link fence. Yeah...I'm not sending my kid there.
I once had a parent meeting in the evening and the parent showed me a gun, in effect threatening me. Did all the other parents know about that? no. Was he arrested? No. You would be shocked to know what happens at some campuses.
We have magnet schools in Houston that are public schools and not charters. It gives kids in underperforming schools a chance to succeed.
Have you been in a seriously underperforming school? I've taught in two, and been in many under a supervising/observational role. It's a complicated problem and can be a dangerous situation. When I interviewed at a campus in SBISD, the teacher parking lot had a perimeter of razor wire on top of extra tall chain link fence. Yeah...I'm not sending my kid there.
I once had a parent meeting in the evening and the parent showed me a gun, in effect threatening me. Did all the other parents know about that? no. Was he arrested? No. You would be shocked to know what happens at some campuses.
Yes. I have two accounts because I couldn't remember the password to the original and it was done off an old email address. Sometimes it just changes for reasons I'm not sure. I should probably contact an administrator about that... Anyway, yes my son's school is considered seriously underperforming. The drop out rate is high and those people usually end up in night school. It's a city and it is what it is as far as I'm concerned. For the last few years, my son's school has had kids go to Yale, Harvard, RPI, West Point and Annapolis. So if a student is willing to do the work, the opportunity is there. So I get quite annoyed when people write that school off as a place "they wouldn't send their kids to". Those same people vote down school budgets because their kids aren't involved and won't fund extracurriculars because those kids are "failures" so why waste money on them. I totally know how horrific some buildings can be. But I also believe that schools reflect the community and if the community needs help, then lets give it so they can enhance and have good schools. I don't think the current "flight" to charters or magnets is the answer because no way will you get every kid. Plus magnets and especially charters are being thrown out there as "models" when all they really do is avoid challenging kids.
I get you were horrified by the parking lot. But why was the wire there? Was it necessary? Yes astonishing things happen at schools. But I believe confronting the problem is the answer and not running from it. BTW, if you think the suburbs don't have drama, danger, and WTFness - then you're in for a surprise. Our famous school shootings haven't been urban schools. Just saying.
Read up before you actually ask her and make a fool of yourself:
Quote:
About 11 percent of all parents — nationwide, rural and urban — send their children to private schools. The numbers are much higher in urban areas. One study found that in Philadelphia a staggering 44 percent of public school teachers send their own kids to private schools. In Cincinnati and Chicago, 41 and 39 percent of public school teachers, respectively, pay for a private school education for their children. In Rochester, New York, it's 38 percent. In Baltimore it's 35 percent, San Francisco is 34 percent and New York-Northeastern New Jersey is 33 percent.
"Teachers, it is reasonable to assume, care about education, are reasonably expert about it and possess quite a lot of information about the schools in which they teach. We can assume that no one knows the condition and quality of public schools better than teachers who work in them every day.”
“They know from personal experience that many of their colleagues make such a choice [for private vs. public schools], and do so for good and sufficient reasons.”
The report says the school choice movement has begun competitively forcing public school improvement, particularly in cities like Milwaukee, called “a hotbed of school reform,” where 29.4 percent of public school teachers sent their children to private schools, the study finds.
I'm well aware. This is obviously a pet peeve of mine. Conservative publications like the ones listed here thrive on knowing this because they want to defund public education. So not only do I feel these teachers not believe in their product, I feel they are selling public education out when they make that decision. The fact that they can collect a check in a "concerning" atmosphere that is too "dangerous" for their kids says a lot about them. I am not coming up with a "plan" of how I will ask this person, I'm saying it will probably slip out. I'm fairly smooth in these things and am pretty sincere (at least I come across that way ). Thanks for your concern though.
Last edited by Anchorhead1977; 11-18-2015 at 04:48 AM..
There are lots of places I'd go that I wouldn't want my kids spending 35 hours per week. The obligation to one's own children far supersedes the obligation to the workplace or even community ideals.
There are lots of places I'd go that I wouldn't want my kids spending 35 hours per week. The obligation to one's own children far supersedes the obligation to the workplace or even community ideals.
Which is why I chose the obligation to find a decent public school system when I bought my house. I also made the choice to be involved in my son's urban system since he was going there. To think that I put anything before my kids is ridiculous. A good community school system is good for everyone which will you in turn safer. You have chosen to isolate yourself. So when your community or workplace comes down because you chose not to get involved. what does that get you?
Yes. I have two accounts because I couldn't remember the password to the original and it was done off an old email address. Sometimes it just changes for reasons I'm not sure. I should probably contact an administrator about that... Anyway, yes my son's school is considered seriously underperforming. The drop out rate is high and those people usually end up in night school. It's a city and it is what it is as far as I'm concerned. For the last few years, my son's school has had kids go to Yale, Harvard, RPI, West Point and Annapolis. So if a student is willing to do the work, the opportunity is there. So I get quite annoyed when people write that school off as a place "they wouldn't send their kids to". Those same people vote down school budgets because their kids aren't involved and won't fund extracurriculars because those kids are "failures" so why waste money on them. I totally know how horrific some buildings can be. But I also believe that schools reflect the community and if the community needs help, then lets give it so they can enhance and have good schools. I don't think the current "flight" to charters or magnets is the answer because no way will you get every kid. Plus magnets and especially charters are being thrown out there as "models" when all they really do is avoid challenging kids.
I get you were horrified by the parking lot. But why was the wire there? Was it necessary? Yes astonishing things happen at schools. But I believe confronting the problem is the answer and not running from it. BTW, if you think the suburbs don't have drama, danger, and WTFness - then you're in for a surprise. Our famous school shootings haven't been urban schools. Just saying.
We moved from a highly ranked suburban school that I taught at, into the city. Again, we picked a middle of the road school. The high stress suburban district that mostly focused on testing was not right for my child either. The gifted program was pull out and she was not getting her needs met.
I'm really not trying to bad mouth city schools. My own child goes to one. I'm just trying to point out that every child is different and parents should be able to find the school that matches their child whether they are a teacher or not.the campus my child attends now is very safe. The suburban school was safe. The two inner city schools I taught at were not. Some inner city schools are safe and some aren't.
I also think the problems with inner city schools are not going to be fixed by teachers sending their kids there. Would it be great if they did? Sure. But even if a group of middle class people sent their kids to the school, it still wouldn't fix the issues. It's too complex.
If you really want to fix the schools, I would start a mentoring/tutoring program and get the community involved. Mentoring/Tutoring programs are great for reaching individual kids. Also, start advocating for an alternative learning center where the worst offenders can be educated in a more supervised setting. It really works. Creating magnet programs within a struggling school can help too. It's called a "school within a school" model. While it won't improve the school for everyone, a greater number of successes can occur. Then address teacher turn over and student movement. If a student can be tied to a school if they are happy with it, when they move they can still have the same classes/teacher. Some years I would only have a quarter of my original class left by the end of the year. Some kids would go to three or four schools in one year. How can they get a decent education that way?
Also, breaking up gang families can help. We had a principal waiver for one family who had many members in a certain gang. The child was bussed across the districts of they were out of that environment. Uniforms can help with combatting gang colors, but it's hard to combat gangs because recruitment starts before age 5. Those kids know gang signs in kindergarten. They have family in the gangs. It's tough.
Last edited by Meyerland; 11-18-2015 at 07:09 AM..
We moved from a highly ranked suburban school that I taught at, into the city. Again, we picked a middle of the road school. The high stress suburban district that mostly focused on testing was not right for my child either. The gifted program was pull out and she was not getting her needs met.
I'm really not trying to bad mouth city schools. My own child goes to one. I'm just trying to point out that every child is different and parents should be able to find the school that matches their child whether they are a teacher or not.the campus my child attends now is very safe. The suburban school was safe. The two inner city schools I taught at were not. Some inner city schools are safe and some aren't.
I also think the problems with inner city schools are not going to be fixed by teachers sending their kids there. Would it be great if they did? Sure. But even if a group of middle class people sent their kids to the school, it still wouldn't fix the issues. It's too complex.
If you really want to fix the schools, I would start a mentoring/tutoring program and get the community involved. Mentoring/Tutoring programs are great for reaching individual kids. Also, start advocating for an alternative learning center where the worst offenders can be educated in a more supervised setting. It really works. Creating magnet programs within a struggling school can help too. It's called a "school within a school" model. While it won't improve the school for everyone, a greater number of successes can occur. Then address teacher turn over and student movement. If a student can be tied to a school if they are happy with it, when they move they can still have the same classes/teacher. Some years I would only have a quarter of my original class left by the end of the year. Some kids would go to three or four schools in one year. How can they get a decent education that way?
I agree with you, Meyerland, but this is hopeless. 180 posts in and the OP, under two different names (I can imagine what would happen if I did that, LOL), has not once said "I see your point" (not meaning just you but all of us); or even "Maybe you have a point"; or "I hadn't thought of that"; or anything of that nature. It's just all, "I'm right, right, right and the rest of you (and this has been pretty unanimous; it's just the two OPs who agree) are wrong, wrong, wrong".
Which is why I chose the obligation to find a decent public school system when I bought my house. I also made the choice to be involved in my son's urban system since he was going there. To think that I put anything before my kids is ridiculous. A good community school system is good for everyone which will you in turn safer. You have chosen to isolate yourself. So when your community or workplace comes down because you chose not to get involved. what does that get you?
But if you got a job teaching in a different city school, why not move there? Even if it's a crappy school district... if it's good enough for you to work in, it's good enough for your kids to go to school there, right?
Things change. In the 10 years we've lived in this area, I've seen the schools go from "A" rated to failing, and now they're "B" rated, I believe. There are also several private schools to choose from, and a very large network of homeschoolers (LOL at your isolation remark). So there are lots of options. We did not worry much about the public schools when we moved, because we were pretty confident that our kids would not be using them anyway.
In my area, there is school choice. So you can send your child to any school in a three-county area, as long as you are willing to provide transportation (and as long as there's room). There are many teachers teaching in one school but purposely sending their children to a different one.
I'm not too concerned about my community falling apart because I chose not to utilize the public schools, though. I'm not sure what kind of clout you think you or any individual teacher has... but it seems a bit delusional. The school is not going to be any better if the principal sends her kids there. It would just be a less-than-ideal environment for her own children. (Based on the Catholic school providing something that the public schools are not... otherwise, why would she spend her money sending them there?)
Please report back when you find out her reasons, though. I'm sure that by now, we're all curious!
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Anyway, yes my son's school is considered seriously underperforming. The drop out rate is high and those people usually end up in night school. It's a city and it is what it is as far as I'm concerned. For the last few years, my son's school has had kids go to Yale, Harvard, RPI, West Point and Annapolis. So if a student is willing to do the work, the opportunity is there. So I get quite annoyed when people write that school off as a place "they wouldn't send their kids to". Those same people vote down school budgets because their kids aren't involved and won't fund extracurriculars because those kids are "failures" so why waste money on them. I totally know how horrific some buildings can be. But I also believe that schools reflect the community and if the community needs help, then lets give it so they can enhance and have good schools. I don't think the current "flight" to charters or magnets is the answer because no way will you get every kid. Plus magnets and especially charters are being thrown out there as "models" when all they really do is avoid challenging kids. 
). Thanks for your concern though.