why such high % free/reduced students? (San Antonio, Center: apartment complex, loft, mortgage)

[cjw]

I have heard (can't remember where) that if you fill out the forms for free school lunches you get them. There isn't any checking/monitoring system in place. Also that it makes the lower income kids (that really do qualify) feel better about the "free" lunch because so many kids eat them. Don't know if it's true but I imagine that it is.

[GIAcakes]

Thanks everyone. The test scores are great for these 2 school districts, so I guess that's all that should matter.

[mrstxcop]

i agree to people abusing the free program --- there is a lady in my neighborhood --- her husband is an orthopedic doctor and she has her kids on the free lunch program --- she said that they didn't check their income and so she was going to take advantage of the program ---

really really sad...

[Spock's Beard]

Originally Posted by GIAcakes

I am researching SA for a future relocation. I have narrowed the areas to NISD-NEISD neighborhoods. One thing that I have noticed is, a huge majority of the schools in these 2 districts, have half to over half of the student body receiving reduced/free lunches. Now where I am from this tends to indicate schools that have low income/section 8- housing students. Hopefully, without offending anyone, these tend to be low- achieving schools that you would want to avoid. Does anyone know why the % is so high? I keep reading that these are the 2 good school districts. Please help. Thank you!

It's a simple answer: poor kids whose parents can afford houses yet don't carry the tax burden thanks to the magic of welfare.

For some reason that escapes me, poverty breeds lower academic standards. Logic makes me think that people who are poor would have more to gain from getting better grades. But parents who make careers living off the system tend to have kids who do the same, so education just isn't valued.

[ThisHouseIsYuck]

We have had my daughter in private school since K3 and we enrolled her in the public school in our area for ONE year. It was the biggest mistake we ever made. I put her RIGHT back in private school the next year and was just grateful that she wasn't too far behind after the year she spent away.

Funny thing is, I noticed, as the initial poster did, that the free lunch percentages were high. I don't remember where I found the rest of this but I also went on to do some more research and found that the percentages of people on welfare/government assistance were right about the same.

The teachers at this school spent more time reprimanding children who misbehaved than they did teaching and the ones who let the bad behavior slide did the same for the childrens' education. My daughter consistently came home with papers that were 100s that we found errors on. While her average would still have been a high B or A, there was no actual "teaching" going on because I had to re-explain everything while my daughter explained that "nobody showed her how to do the assignment". In third grade she also fought off her first sexual advances by boys in the same grade.

I'd never been more disgusted. And the school had the second highest rating given by Texas for an elementary school. Of course when the teachers hand out A's the same way the school does free lunches, it's no wonder they rank higly. I wonder how the kids actually do well in testing scenarios based on the teaching efforts (or lack of) that we experienced.

[TXtrkgrl]

I don't know how true this is but....... I "heard" that the school actually gets money (from the gov't) for these kids getting the free/reduced lunches.

I know that at my kid's school they practically beg you to fill out the applications. This year before school started the high school principal had a parent meeting and she brought up the applications for F/R lunches. She said to PLEASE send them back in and that if we had kids in elem or MS she asked that we send the apps to the high school because they get some kind of funding just for the completed apps. I still didn't send mine in because I live in a small town (everyone knows everyone) and I don't like them knowing about my financial business.

[GIAcakes]

Originally Posted by ThisHouseIsYuck

We have had my daughter in private school since K3 and we enrolled her in the public school in our area for ONE year. It was the biggest mistake we ever made. I put her RIGHT back in private school the next year and was just grateful that she wasn't too far behind after the year she spent away.

Funny thing is, I noticed, as the initial poster did, that the free lunch percentages were high. I don't remember where I found the rest of this but I also went on to do some more research and found that the percentages of people on welfare/government assistance were right about the same.

The teachers at this school spent more time reprimanding children who misbehaved than they did teaching and the ones who let the bad behavior slide did the same for the childrens' education. My daughter consistently came home with papers that were 100s that we found errors on. While her average would still have been a high B or A, there was no actual "teaching" going on because I had to re-explain everything while my daughter explained that "nobody showed her how to do the assignment". In third grade she also fought off her first sexual advances by boys in the same grade.

I'd never been more disgusted. And the school had the second highest rating given by Texas for an elementary school. Of course when the teachers hand out A's the same way the school does free lunches, it's no wonder they rank higly. I wonder how the kids actually do well in testing scenarios based on the teaching efforts (or lack of) that we experienced.

Well, that scares me!

[RecovringKrspyKremeAddict]

Public schools also get funding for the number of kids they have enrolled in "special education" programs, as well as the food programs. We shouldn't be "scared', but we should start standing up to our elected officials about this. (personal soap box of mine...) And people wonder why parents drag their kids out of public school in favor of home schooling. It's because many parents simply cannot afford private school and have no other choice. (And don't make the mistake of thinking that it's only "christian" parents who want their kids out of public school.) Public school is rapidly becoming (if not already) more of a baby-sitting service than anything else. I could go on and on here.....but I'd better stop in the best interest of my sanity! (btw....past public school teacher here!)

[Primo]

Originally Posted by GIAcakes

I am researching SA for a future relocation. I have narrowed the areas to NISD-NEISD neighborhoods. One thing that I have noticed is, a huge majority of the schools in these 2 districts, have half to over half of the student body receiving reduced/free lunches. Now where I am from this tends to indicate schools that have low income/section 8- housing students. Hopefully, without offending anyone, these tend to be low- achieving schools that you would want to avoid. Does anyone know why the % is so high? I keep reading that these are the 2 good school districts. Please help. Thank you!

NISD and NEISD are the 2 wealthy districts in San Antonio. Your findings do not surprise me..and the root cause of this is our former Mayor Henry Cisneros. He is the one that decided that section 8 housing should be spread all across the city(especially to the nice N/NE sides of town). Through various incentive programs...most apartments in San Antonio have section 8 housing(except the extremely high end),and some nice apartment complexes completely converted to section 8.
Clark high school is a prime example...some of San Antonio wealthiest neighborhoods feed into it (Dominion, Shavano Park, and Bently Manor), but all the Medical Center apartments also go there and those are mostly section 8. It wasn't this way 20 years ago. In another 20 years SA will be much like the east coast, where all college bound kids go to private schools..and the public school will be only for the gangs, and soon to be drop outs
They tried to start this up again in Stone Oak about 2 years ago...and it raised a huge stink.
NISD and NEISD are both great disticts to be in. Reagan, Churchill and Clark are all great schools. Good luck in your relo.

[JohnnySixString]

Originally Posted by Primo

NISD and NEISD are the 2 wealthy districts in San Antonio. Your findings do not surprise me..and the root cause of this is our former Mayor Henry Cisneros. He is the one that decided that section 8 housing should be spread all across the city(especially to the nice N/NE sides of town). Through various incentive programs...most apartments in San Antonio have section 8 housing(except the extremely high end),and some nice apartment complexes completely converted to section 8.
Clark high school is a prime example...some of San Antonio wealthiest neighborhoods feed into it (Dominion, Shavano Park, and Bently Manor), but all the Medical Center apartments also go there and those are mostly section 8. It wasn't this way 20 years ago. In another 20 years SA will be much like the east coast, where all college bound kids go to private schools..and the public school will be only for the gangs, and soon to be drop outs
They tried to start this up again in Stone Oak about 2 years ago...and it raised a huge stink.
NISD and NEISD are both great disticts to be in. Reagan, Churchill and Clark are all great schools. Good luck in your relo.

You hit the nail on the head there. Section 8 is a cancer the city spread. I grew up in one of the first areas infested. We moved into a decent, mostly military subdivision around 1977. A few years later Section 8 came along. After a short while the entire neighborhood was a poverty and crime ridden ghetto. Of course it wasn't called "ghetto" back then; it was the "barrio". It was, and is, one of the best examples of what Section 8 housing can do to an area.

I remember back starting with kindergarten, in the morning the teacher would collect lunch money from everyone. Most of the class would walk up and take turns giving her our money. Each year less and less kids were walking up there with me. By 5th grade it was two of us and only one kid in the class had a lunch box.