The Shifting School Equation

Putnam, can we talk about the parent involvement thing. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard the FG stroller set complain about the PS 20 principal. With the biggest complaint being that he doesn’t let parents in the school. What public schools do? Do parent really expect to be able to drop in on their kids and watch them through an observation screen all day like they do at the Dillon Center?

The ironic thing is, I hear complaints from long time families of PS 20 about how the principal bends over backwards for these new white and mulatto students.

So basically, one man, is preventing dozens and dozens of families from enrolling their kids in PS 20. I find that absolutely amazing..

I thought the gentrifiers had more fight in them than that.

bedstuy11216 – I am not saying that “funds and wherewithal” can not make ANY difference and you are right that we as a society can’t simply write-off all those whose backgrounds could retard their potential – BUT – $ an effort SIMPLY CAN NOT completely make-up the ‘gap’ in the majority of children and therefore simply redirecting the huge sums spent on private schools into public schools along with some extra parental effort wont “solve” the issue and is unsustainable in the long run. People are ALWAYS going to be most loyal to their immediate family so you have to balance that impulse with societies overall responsibilities and aspirations.

quote:

I am SICK TO DEATH of childless people insisting that parents send their child to some random sucky public school to “improve” it. As a public school parent

boo! no! hiss! you dont get a pass from us cuz our taxes go into those public schools, so of COURSE we want them to succeed. it’s us too you know who have to deal with the little brats every day, and if they turn out rotten we have to deal with their crimes and mooching off the system.

so there im saying it! just because someone doesnt have kids doesnt mean they have no input on the public schools. society as a whole has to deal with your little crotchfruit, so we have just as much of a right to discuss school issues.

*rob*

fsrq-

I have seen “funds and wherewithal” achieve miraculous things. Children can succeed despite the shortcomings of their immediate home environment. Community organizations, churches, other family members and SCHOOLS provide a safety net for the child who has the innate ability but maybe not the means or family support. That is what the American success story is supposed to be founded on, right? That the situation you are born into does not determine the heights you can achieve.

I am not some pie in the sky optimist removed from reality. I am very aware that some of these children have home situations ranging from not so good to heartbreaking. I am also aware of how much work is involved and how challenging an effort it is. But when the doors close, it is the schools turn to try and engage and nurture and support these children. And it is the community’s obligation to support the school in its efforts (even if you don’t have a school aged child). We can’t catch every child, but it is in everyone’s best interest to try to bridge the gap and move a family forward.

OK… rant over for the day going back to work.

Faithful – I think you and I talked about PS 261 on Brooklynian – feel free to PM me there if you want to talk about the politics of getting into PS 261.

The strum and drang in this thread is only somewhat illuminating in that it seems most of posters don’t have children. Colonel Steve Austin (!) as I posted earlier many new residents of FG/CH have been making efforts with the local schools, particularly PS 20 and PS 11. What that seems to reveal is that parental involvement means nothing if it is not welcomed by the principal. Also different parents value different things – for some order and respect are more important than creativity and change (I think I am being unfair in even positing it that way).

I would also agree that elementary school seems more important to me than later schooling.