Trenton High School Choices (Lawrenceville: renting, crime, how much)

[subetterly]

I am assisting a family that has a 9th grade student enrolled in Trenton High School West Campus. She absolutely hates it. I know that Trenton's schools have serious issues but leaving Trenton is not an option for this family/girl.

Does anyone know if the Central Campus has a better reputation or does a better job with its students?

Is anyone familiar with the Catholic High School choices?

Input would be helpful.......Susan

[jerseyj]

Susan- Trenton Central HS campus does not stack up much better. There are safety concerns on campus and Great schools.com rates it a 1 out of 10. They failed to meet the "no child left behind" criteria for the 4th year in a row.
There is the Daylight/Twilight HS on Belleview Ave. but it too is rated at 1 out of 10 on Great Schools. But might be a better atmosphere.

Villa Victoria Academy is a private Catholic School on Upper Ferry Rd, tuition for HS is $9,000 (they do have limited financial aid).

[subetterly]

Thank you for your helpful reply, but how disheartening. I feel like the entire city is an unacceptable place to try to raise a decent kid. All of Trenton is "Every Child Left Behind" territory. Do you have a website for the "No Child Left Behind" statistic? Is that also from GoodSchools.com? I would like to see this young lady leave the area, even if she can only see her family on weekends.......Susan

[jerseyj]

It is tough for folks who don't have the option of moving.
You might also look into Notre Dame HS in Lawrenceville, another Catholic School. Their tuition is $8550 with limited financial aid and they also have scholarships for high achieving students.
I know a family who lives in the Chambersberg section of Trenton who have/are sending their 3 boys to Notre Dame. The oldest received a scholarship (don't know how much) but Mom and Dad are both working two jobs to do this.
Great schools.com typically mentions No Child Left Behind if the school fails to meet the criteria.
Good luck with your quest and good luck to that young lady!

[coolfusenofool]

Yea, sure is tough if some people cannot move for whatever reason. There is so much to fear for a kid attending some public school in Trenton or these other big cities. But Trenton really isn't that large in population or size. So why all this felonious crime? I don't read about that sorta crime occurring in these other large districts and towns somewhere out in rural Pa. or other states. NOT on this scale! And these parents paying for two schools but while their kids attending only one? Soooo unfair to funnel all these tax dollars into new schools where all most the 'students' will do is use these places to commit more crimes. I mean, why can't they learn just as well in an old building? They need a brand new place so they can wreck that too, like their houses? Oooooh brother are we messed up. I should say these stupid policticians who approved all this. I wonder though if because these certain minorities who are poorer feel they must rob and terrorize others who have more? I have strolled through some pretty darn poor white neighborhoods but was never in fear of being robbed, beaten, or worse. I read here in lots of larger cities that the whites are actually the minorities now. Now we have an even more vicious element moving in to our once lovely looking neighborhoods. I drive around and notice that these 100 plus year old homes that looked great up until say a decade ago. Wow. What happened in a few short years? Now, just a few short years later, they look like dumps. Do not others notice this mass demise happening so fast?

[subetterly]

I think Trenton has had a very long slow decline. The very motto "Trenton takes, the world makes" is so out of date and untrue as to be laughable, yet there is no new positive way to define the city. And most of the schools I have been in are not havens for violence, and are not covered in grafiti or even damaged, they are just depressing dead-end places where many teachers (and many kids) have given up. If no one in your family has a job and is unlikely to get a job, it is hard for any youth to have any optimism for his or herself. It's not a color thing or a minority thing, it's the hopelessness of entrenched poverty and being so disenfranchised that you see no way out. Even a modest goal, like training in cosmetology, becomes unattainable. The kids have optimism for the future in the lower grades and then it slowly bleeds out of them as their awareness of the environment and of their situation increases. I strongly disagree with any post that implies or makes statements about "certain minority groups." Watch one episode of Jerry Springer and you get a sufficient look at poor, undereducated white folk who face the same problems as "certain minority groups" and behave in the same hopeless way.

[christina0001]

The Trenton school district is really bad. If this girl absolutely cannot move, then I think the best you can do is just help her be safe and focus on her studies.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

Why not try to get her a room in someones house in a better school district - renting a room might be cheaper than tuition.

[Capricorn25]

Originally Posted by christina0001

The Trenton school district is really bad. If this girl absolutely cannot move, then I think the best you can do is just help her be safe and focus on her studies.

I mean others may think that Trenton school district is bad. No its not many people have attended the school district and grew up to be very successful.. Yeah you may think its bad because of all the fights. Other then that its all good baby...

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by coolfusenofool

I have strolled through some pretty darn poor white neighborhoods but was never in fear of being robbed, beaten, or worse.

All depends on what you look like, now doesn't it?