Posted on 07/20/2008 7:23:09 AM PDT by wintertime
If NCLB hangs around long enough, they're all going to be failing, because they'll never get 100% of the students proficient, even if they dumb down the definition of proficient. ;-)
Parents not agreeing also comes down to the "local control" and petitioning your school board issue...although, like every other issue with govt., you can't win everything.
Some parents sue when they disagree, and sometimes they win, but I think that ought to be a real last resort, since the district will be defending the suit with your tax dollars...
And...Isn't it true that the school chosen by the parents has to have space available?
My understanding is that the chosen school has to make space available, but that may vary from state to state, just as standards do.
Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy in Colorado has a student body 20% minority, 22% below povery and tons of Army brats, and they are blowing the doors off the standardized tests. It’s new high school had the highest scores in the state, the Junior High had 2nd highest scores in the state.
Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy in Colorado has a student body 20% minority, 22% below povery and tons of Army brats, and they are blowing the doors off the standardized tests. It’s new high school had the highest scores in the state, the Junior High had 2nd highest scores in the state.
Your solution is to petition a school board whose members were pushed forward and supported with **tons** of union money and the union political machine.
Or..You suggest a **law suit** ( but only as a last ditch effort). By the way, I wonder what attorneys are charging by the hour in 2008?
Only the the government could create something that required that much draconian effort just to get choice!
Yet,...If I don't like Kroger and I drive a quarter mile down the road and shop at Safeway. If I don't like Macy's, Penny's is a short walk down at the other end of the mall.
if you don’t like it you move to a different district
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And Marie Antoinette about the peasants, “Let they eat cake!”
Good for them!
Just with the little bit of freedom that charters allow and look at the progress!
Can you imagine what a **great** education children across this nation could be receiving if all K-12 education was privatized?
My former school system in Ohio lost $2 million from out-of-district enrollment, and it’s their own fault.
All you do is find reasons why something can't work. This continually negative view of yours is very telling. Try finding reasons, positive reasons, and move forward. It really seems that like Jimmy Carter you are mired in a bleak dismal past.
:Try showing the conservative spirit of a New day in America, a bright shining future
This is your patented non response, try to show off that the time getting a doctorate was not wasted, I expect a better response form ninth graders, and get it.
So the Virginia settlers were wrong to leave England, and the Pilgrims were wrong to come here from Holland, the Pioneers were wrong to move west.
I know that you like to think this is the old Soviet Union, but here we have freedom.
Don't give me your CR@P about breaking up extended families, or new Jobs (No one except you said that). Moving several miles does not do that. Moving a thousand miles does not do that if you have a decent family.
You are way to invested in the negative.
You have said that you Home schooled your kids for their own good. Well some times it is necessary to pack up the house pick up the kids for their own good.
Like I have said and you refuse to quote, if you want it bad enough you will find a way to do it.
You found a way to home school, don't you think others are smart enough to find a way to move?
Do you think people are so stupid that they can't figure out that if School "A" doesn't meet their needs that moving to District "B" is a solution?
Sorry for being an ignorant Brit here but surely those costs are incurred by parents regardless of what school your child goes to they are in Britain. All parents have to buy school uniform, sports wear, hire or buy musical instruments plus pay for music lessons, not sure of lab fees but you have to pay or bring in ingredients when cooking.
Also in some classes you have to buy your school books if there are not enough to go round or you have to share them so most parents buy the books for their child. Some then donate them back to the school at the end of the course others keep them especially if younger children in the family might need them later on. I even had to pay for some of my public exams because it was not an official lesson run by the school but one that the teacher did on her free periods or after school and we used to attend them during our study period or either at the end of the day or during lunch break.
Sorry for the delay in responding.
Most public schools in the US don't require uniforms, so the students where just about anything. Most schools do have dress codes of some sort, but the students are given quite a bit of latitude. Personally I would prefer to see all of them in uniform, but that is just my opinion.
Depending on the district parents may have to pay for sports uniforms, it may be provided by the school, supported by an alumni or boosters group.
The same is true of the music classes. Although after a certain grade level the students that stick with music generally get their own instrument.
wintertime interesting to note that you have not responded to this interrogatory (That means question)
I guess you inability or unwillingness to answer tells us quite a bit about you.
BTW I don't recall you mentioning what exactly you got your doctorate in, or where you got it.
Philadelphia is a large city. To move out of the district means moving entirely out of the city.
Many people do not own cars in Philadelphia. They are expensive and difficult to manage. I did not own a car until I was in my thirties and had graduated from school. I still would not have bought one except that I moved to Ohio. For the poor in Philadelphia, owning a car is almost impossible. The insurance on the car is astronomical, parking is difficult or impossible to find, and paid parking spaces are very expensive per month. Theft and vandalism of autos is generally very high throughout the city but especially in the poorer areas.
Of all the people working in my office in the large inner city clinic in which I worked in 1999, I was the only employee with a car. The clinic had several large professional offices and it seem that within our neighboring offices only the doctors had automobiles. The full-time security guard that patrolled the outside of the building watched these automobiles.
As one moves out of the city, rents, housing costs, and real estate taxes increase. The trains leaving Philly are more expensive than the city buses, trolleys, subway, and elevated. When I lived there a person had to pay for the train leaving the city, and then again for the city system. Transfers did not exist. ( This may have changed in the 9 years that I worked there.)
Then there is the time needed to travel. City traffic is very congested. My brother's girl friend lives just outside of Philadelphia in Upper Darby. He had an operation recently at Nazareth Hospital in the Northeast section of Philly. It took her an hour and a half to reach the hospital by public transit. When a friend would drive it would take about half that time.
Then there is the cultural aspect of family living in Philadelphia. Large extended families living in small neighborhoods are common. There are also ethnic enclaves that are centered around the churches. Leaving this tightly knit community is not a trivial decision, and not made casually. The children especially lose a lot when separated from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I am assuming, Gabz, that you haven't had a lot of experience with inner city living. If you did you wouldn't so causally suggest moving. Moving, even for the middle class, is often almost impossible, and means changing jobs. There is the expense of moving, **significantly** higher public transportation costs, the expense of buying a car when one was not needed previously, and **much** higher housing costs and taxes.
For the very poor, and many of the sick and disabled in Philadelphia, moving is no more possible than flying to the moon.
Then there was my experience with rural Cecil County, Maryland. To move to a new district means moving entirely out of the county. This is more that a “few miles”. I need to check the map but I believe that Cecil County is about 40 miles wide. In some Western state the counties are as large as some smaller Eastern states, so moving out of these counties means very great driving distances to and from work. And...Where are they going to move to? The next county over doesn't have schools or policies any better than their neighbor.
Only the government could create a system soooooo bizarre that moving would the parent's only “choice”.
For the poor in inner city Philadelphia, tell a parent to move just to get choice is like Marie Antoinette saying, “Let them eat cake!”
Oh,...By the way, using disguised potty language does not strengthen your argument with me or the very intelligent readers on Free Republic.
Thanks for the info
It seems to me that if the people in inner Philly are that poor, private schools would not be an option because they wouldn’t be able to afford the tuition.
Improving the public schools would help them a lot, however.
For the record the use of the word crap is potty language only to those whose minds are in the gutter...and you are the only one that took exception with it.
And once again you you are still not addressing the issue" You have said that you Home schooled your kids for their own good. Well some times it is necessary to pack up the house pick up the kids for their own good. Like I have said and you refuse to quote, if you want it bad enough you will find a way to do it. You found a way to home school, don't you think others are smart enough to find a way to move? Do you think people are so stupid that they can't figure out that if School "A" doesn't meet their needs that moving to District "B" is a solution?
In addition to this you are not going to convince me that every school in a district is bad, you find one that is good and you move into that neighborhood.
You also neglected to mention what your doctorate is in and where you got it.
I am assuming, Gabz, that you haven't had a lot of experience with inner city living.
Madam, one can not get much more inner city living experience than being born, raised, and educated through 16 years of school than doing so in NYC.
If you did you wouldn't so causally suggest moving.
I don't believe I suggested moving, I did say it was a possibility for some.
Moving, even for the middle class, is often almost impossible, and means changing jobs.
I never said differently.
There is the expense of moving, **significantly** higher public transportation costs, the expense of buying a car when one was not needed previously, and **much** higher housing costs and taxes.
Of course there is the expense of moving, duh. Public transportation costs may or may not be higher. Purchasing a car is a budgetary item. As to **much** higher housing costs and taxes, I'd like to know exactly what type of fancy schmancy suburbia you are talking about. When I moved from NYC to Dover DE my living and transportation expenses nosedived. And when we moved to VA, my property taxes alone dropped by 75%. And I didn't live in some fancy place in Dover, we had a townhouse in a neighborhood consisting of primarily section 8 rentals.
So once again you have used your personal opinion, based upon your experience to make a declarative statement implying fact. I am using my personal opinion, based upon my personal experience, not as fact, but to show that your experience is just that, as mine is just that as well. Both equally as valid.
Yes, it was accidental. I meant to say “verga”. My sincerest apologies. ( Really)
Thank you for catching that error.
I lost this part in my previous post. Not all counties are the same. Just to the east of Cecil Cty is little tiny only 3 county Delaware. 19 school districts, plus the vo-techs.
Now, the county I live in in Virginia is the same as Cecil in that it is one district for the entire county, but in comparison to this rural county Cecil county is a major metropolitan area, and in fact it is considered part of the greater Wilmington metro area.
You also neglected to mention what your doctorate is in and where you got it.
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I have previously posted where I got my doctorate. If I were to give my profession I and my family could **easily** be identified. I had this unpleasant experience on one of the MSM message boards.
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