<p>Jessiehl posts:
“Do you think that such a system would help with the funding inequities that you cite while still helping out schools in poor neighborhoods?”</p>
<p>We actually do have plenty of magnet programs, but gaining admission is hellaciously tough.</p>
<p>Kluge, wealthy districts in NJ are prohibited from raising extra $$$ for goodies. That is the crazy activist judges on our state Suporeme Court at work again. Their school budgets are capped.</p>
<p>“But the schools, as a local governmental agency dealing with people’s children, are put under a microscope and held to a standard that few businesses or other entities could meet, either. And the failure to meet that standard in any particular is then used as an excuse to attack the institution as a whole.” Any NJ resident who reads this statement is laughing loud and hard. There is virtually no accountability in the public schools here. And we have the wealthiest & most highly educated population of all 50 states.</p>
<p>“And the less an individual actually knows about the actual workings of that organization the more certain and emphatic their opinion will be about how badly they are run. Oddly, you rarely hear those cries of outrage from anyone who actually has detailed personal knowledge of the budget decisions and how they are made instead of just isolated anecdotes.” Again, I disagree completely. The more one knows about this issue, the more (justifiably) angry he will become. I may have posted a few anecdotes that you discount, but I’ve lived the issue. I’ve studied the issue. And I’ve acted on it (to the tune of $15,000 & an hour & 20 minute commute twice daily this year) by removing my d from the system in favor of a Catholic high school. </p>
<p>Zoosermom: My county has no magnet programs. You are stuck with your own local public school, unless your child has severe developmental/emotional/learning disabilities & a suitable specialized school is found. Your #198 post is excellent. Good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>“Zoosermom: My county has no magnet programs. You are stuck with your own local public school, unless your child has severe developmental/emotional/learning disabilities & a suitable specialized school is found. Your #198 post is excellent. Good luck to your daughter.”</p>
<p>The rub is that you (the kid, I mean) actually have to gain admission. THere were over 15,000 students going into high school last year who began the 9th grade school year without a high school placement.</p>
<p>We have no access to magnet schools either. There are a couple of interesting charters, all inner city, with residency requirements. So, in my district, we are stuck funding almost our entire education budget on property taxes. Our state aide has all been cut, while money to the city schools has increased.</p>
<p>It is simply untenable, but when reading about New Jersey Abbotts, I feel like I must live in Paradise, even if it is Taxachusetts (because yep, I do pay a salary in RE taxes a year…a decent salary too).</p>
<p>In my community, we have a somewhat interesting situation re magnet programs. I live on an Island that’s somewhat long and narrow. At either end of the Island is a high school. The school on the South Shore is in a community that’s almost 100% white and the school is also. The school on the North Shore is in a community that’s almost 100% minority. There was a consent judgment a few years back (say 12) whereby white students from anywhere on the Island could opt into the minority school and black students could opt into the white school, regardless of where they lived. Ten years later, the minority school is approximately 28% white with unbelievably stellar programs and opportunities (where my daughter is going) and the white school is still almost completely white. So many white kids opted into the minority school that they are no longer allowed to do so, where almost no black kids opted into the white school (even thought it’s a really wealthy school) so they are still able to do so. I have no idea what any of that means but I find it quite fascinating.</p>
<p>I can guess…there is something to be said for going to a school near home…for many it may have been transporation, logistics, a feeling of not being welcome…what goes on in the streets, the attitudes of shop owners, cops, restaurant owners etc, does carry into the class room, and if perhaps one feels as if they would be walking a guantlant everyime the step in the door, well, would you want to?</p>
<p>It is fascinating that white kids felt safe and comfortable in the black school, while blacks may not have felt that in the white school</p>
<p>Lots of dynamics playing and did they ever do any studies to find out why this happened?</p>
<p>I don’t see anything that indicates that the students in either situation were comfortable or not comfortable.
What I would imagine to see if I took a closer look would be the the “stellar” programs the more minority school offered, were enough to attract families from the other end of the island, whereas the school in the Caucasian end of town, didn’t have anything that the kids in the North community felt was worth traveling for.</p>
<p>Now in our district- apparently even though it is still up to the Supreme Court re assignment for intergration purposes in wa state, minority students from teh South end of Seattle are bused to schools outside their neighborhood- by choice.
However, I would think it would be more expensive to bus, than to support those schools closer to their neighborhoods to have programs that they want.
I don’t think that a student necessarily has to have a rainbow of classmates to learn, but they do have to have involved parents & when the school is far away, that makes it much more difficult for parents to be involved & for students to participate in after school activities, have friends from their neighborhood etc.
Beleive me I know the disadvantages, some of my daughters best friends live at the furthest most parts of Seattle from us.It can take over 40 minutes to drive there, and I know all the tricks.FOr someone depending on public transportation, it takes even longer because our public transportaion is awful
Where my daughter is going to summer school ( public high school) is 15 min away by car. However, if she took public transportation, she would have to ride on 3 different buses and it would take at least 1 & 1/2 hrs-
Its much more conducive for community involvement, to have schools that are more accessible</p>
<p><< It is facinating that white kids felt safe and comfortable in the black school, while blacks may not have felt that way in the white school.>></p>
<p>Why would you assume this is the reason that the black kids didn’t want to go to the white school? Did anyone offer information which led to your assertion? Just wondering.</p>
<p>If you read my words I said “may”, i made no assertion…the were may is an opinion. and it was interesting that not one child of color crossed the line into the “white school” I am sure there are a number of reasons, and being a person who thinks, i thought that perhaps the reason could be for a student or two that they felt unsafe or uncomfortable in the all white environment,</p>
<p>Please learn the difference between an assertion and a “may”</p>
<p>I made no such assertion, it was an idea, and yeah, i would bet if they asked the questions, you would find i am not far off the mark on the ideas i presented</p>
<p>You’re right: you did say “may.” I was wondering what led you to the conclusion that they “may” not have felt safe or comfortable, that’s all.</p>
<p>May-be they were afraid of the classroom competition.</p>
<p>Zoosermom:</p>
<p>“We actually do have plenty of magnet programs, but gaining admission is hellaciously tough.”</p>
<p>I’m not just talking about magnets, though I am a big fan. I’m talking about every high school having some sort of magnet program that would attract resources and students to that school (resources which would benefit the school’s non-magnet students too). And more magnets would probably increase an individual student’s chance of getting into one.</p>
<p>Hereshoping posted: “You’re right: you did say “may.” I was wondering what led you to the conclusion that they “may” not have felt safe or comfortable, that’s all.”</p>
<p>I had that question as well. There is no crime in the white area and no studies have yet been done, but I do have my suspicion. Based on observation and nothing else, ok? The minority school is in a dynamic neighborhood with shops, restaurants and things to do. It’s literally steps from the ferry. The white school is out in the middle of nowhere. THe kids are bused in, but there is not a darn thing to do in the area if you don’t live there and not much if you do.</p>
<p>You’ve piqued my curiosity: Where is this island with the two high schools ?</p>
<p>Kluge posted: “You’ve piqued my curiosity: Where is this island with the two high schools ?”</p>
<p>Please note that I did not every say only two on the Island. I said that there are two that were covered by a consent decree based on racial imbalance. The other schools here are more racially mixed and, thus, not subject to court oversight at the time. As the New York Times has noted, the Staten Island Expressway acts as sort of a “Mason-Dixon line” with the North Shore racially diverse and the South Shore almost completely white. With racial flare-ups in the middle! Really.</p>