In the interest of full disclosure, my brother’s program, while administered by the school district, is at a private school.
However, I don’t think it’s valid to say that I don’t have a valid opinion since I haven’t experienced the school system directly. That’s an argument that some people like to bring out to shut down opposition to whatever they are saying - “You weren’t in the military? You can’t comment.” or “You haven’t had an abortion? Don’t talk about them.” It is valid for me to say “the school district I grew up in was a ‘good’ district and yet had X, Y, and Z problems” because both those facts were well known in my community. I personally worked with the father of a student suspended from the school because a pipe bomb was found in his locker. I went to Sunday School with students who literally could not read and yet had high enough GPAs to keep them on their sports teams.
OK, I stand corrected and apologize to Jen for my comment.
I also realize that Jen is not one of the ones that constantly trashing those of us involved in the public school systems, although she is supportive of those that do.