Anyone send their kid to Blake High School?

[MortonR]

She most likely did not teach in the magnet part. Very different environment.

RM

[floridagirl777]

Originally Posted by MortonR

She most likely did not teach in the magnet part. Very different environment.

RM

True. She did not.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by floridagirl777

True. She did not.

And therein lies the problem. The magnet programs are isolated from the general population of the school, which creates some serious tension between the groups. They share common areas like the cafeteria, so there are often conflicts in these parts of the school between the two groups.

It's like when they used to bus kids from East Tampa out to the suburbs. I worked in one of the A+ rated suburban schools who had a bus load of "satellite" students brought in daily. I clearly recall a neighborhood parent saying to me one day, "I don't understand why they are so angry."

Hmm.

I pointed out to them, "If you got shipped out of your neighborhood daily and sent to another place where the people were much better off than you, then at the end of the day you were sent back to your neighborhood, where having a stable home life, regular meals and no crime were the exception rather than the rule, wouldn't you be angry?"

'nuf said.

RM

[floridagirl777]

Originally Posted by MortonR

And therein lies the problem. The magnet programs are isolated from the general population of the school, which creates some serious tension between the groups. They share common areas like the cafeteria, so there are often conflicts in these parts of the school between the two groups.

It's like when they used to bus kids from East Tampa out to the suburbs. I worked in one of the A+ rated suburban schools who had a bus load of "satellite" students brought in daily. I clearly recall a neighborhood parent saying to me one day, "I don't understand why they are so angry."

Hmm.

I pointed out to them, "If you got shipped out of your neighborhood daily and sent to another place where the people were much better off than you, then at the end of the day you were sent back to your neighborhood, where having a stable home life, regular meals and no crime were the exception rather than the rule, wouldn't you be angry?"

'nuf said.

RM

Agree. But if I had the choice to send my child to a school with a magnet program not mixed in with the troubled kids or a school with a largely untroubled population, the latter would win all the time, hands down. I taught for several years in an inner city public school in Memphis. It took YEARS before my students learned to trust me because I was white, and even then I knew they'd probably knife me if it came between me and something they really wanted. I KNOW what goes on in those kinds of places, and back then I vowed do whatever it took to keep my kids away from that kind of environment.

I would NEVER want my kid to be surrounded by violence, swear words, and wicked behavior throughout the school day. Most parents would feel the same. Is this elitist? Probably. But my child's safety and well-being is one of the most important things to me.

[CubsFan20]

Originally Posted by floridagirl777

I would NEVER want my kid to be surrounded by violence, swear words, and wicked behavior throughout the school day. Most parents would feel the same. Is this elitist? Probably. But my child's safety and well-being is one of the most important things to me.

I would agree with this. Even if the magnet kids are kind of separate from the rest of the kids most of the day, i'm sure there's enough fights and violence which spills over to the magnet kids, no thanks

So on a serious note, this endeavor has shown me that it appears Hillsborough County purposely puts "magnet" programs in inner city schools. After realizing this, is it JUST to artificially prop up school grades? It appears that way. So you have a school which is 70% inner city kids just going through the motions and failing and 30% magnet kids getting A's?

Seriously? And no one has caught on to this?

Blake
Middleton
Leto
King

All pretty much "hood" schools

Even Robinison and Jefferson are borderline

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by CubsFan20

I would agree with this. Even if the magnet kids are kind of separate from the rest of the kids most of the day, i'm sure there's enough fights and violence which spills over to the magnet kids, no thanks

So on a serious note, this endeavor has shown me that it appears Hillsborough County purposely puts "magnet" programs in inner city schools. After realizing this, is it JUST to artificially prop up school grades? It appears that way. So you have a school which is 70% inner city kids just going through the motions and failing and 30% magnet kids getting A's?

Seriously? And no one has caught on to this?

Blake
Middleton
Leto
King

All pretty much "hood" schools

Even Robinison and Jefferson are borderline

There is no secret about this, it's been this way since the inception of the magnet school program.

This was HCPS' way to comply with the federal desegregation rulings from the 1970s. There was nothing in the least done to disguise or sugar coat it. It has nothing to do with school grades, it's all about demographics. The schools are graded separately despite being physically together. Middleton HS gets a grade based on the neighborhood students, Middleton Magnet gets a grade based on the magnet school students.

For what it's worth, this was one of MaryEllen's first big administrative jobs, too. Not that it matters.

The really sad thing is that while it skews the numbers to show that there are white students being schooled in neighborhoods of color, so to speak, it just continues the "haves/have nots" environment due to the way it's structured.

Also, the magnets don't have a lot of parental involvement due to the locations and logistics. If you live in New Tampa and your child attends Progress Village Magnet school of the Arts, you're probably not going to traipse across town on a weeknight to attend a PTA meeting, are you? Not to mention the concerns about safety in the neighborhood.

My son attended Progress Village in a special ed program before it went magnet. It was great because enrollment was really low, so his program had plenty of room and was isolated from the rest of the students (a good thing so there weren't any behavior problems.) The School District came in and told us his program was being moved because they needed the space for the magnet school. His program had just been moved there the year before from Eisenhower. No way.

We met with the Area Director and asked them what a regular middle school student would expect as far as being moved between schools in the three years of middle school. "Uh, not at all, typically."

"Then I guess you won't be moving the program, will you?"

They left it in place. So much for doing things "for the kids". :roll eyes:

RM

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by CubsFan20

I would agree with this. Even if the magnet kids are kind of separate from the rest of the kids most of the day, i'm sure there's enough fights and violence which spills over to the magnet kids, no thanks

So on a serious note, this endeavor has shown me that it appears Hillsborough County purposely puts "magnet" programs in inner city schools. After realizing this, is it JUST to artificially prop up school grades? It appears that way. So you have a school which is 70% inner city kids just going through the motions and failing and 30% magnet kids getting A's?

Seriously? And no one has caught on to this?

Blake
Middleton
Leto
King

All pretty much "hood" schools

Even Robinison and Jefferson are borderline

It's not a grades thing, it's a demographic compliance thing, the magnet grades are separate from the regular school grade in terms of fldoe accountability.