Do wrap-around resources, 3 free meals, after-school activities, etc. move the needle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think it makes a dent. My school is very diverse in terms of SES and race. The number of middle class kids getting inter agency counseling has risen dramatically. I think it is a combination of the break up of the family and the direction our culture has taken. Schools are now expected to provide for kids the way families used to.[

This, bolded is precisely the problem. We aren't encouraging parents to break out of the cycle of poverty. In fact, in my experience in social services, more is expected by the parents. More services create additional problems. Schools are expected to feed, clothe, supply and waive fees for low income students. Parents expect translation services, parent liaisons, free programs, access to charity outreach. Instead of a one time emergency help situation, aid goes for PreK-12.

I'm a teacher in District Heights and I have a sincere question for anyone opposed to school services like these: what would you have the children do though? Let them stay hungry and cold and left out of enriching extra curricular activities?

I think many in our schools would do whatever we can to help students: I (like many teachers I know) keep a drawer of granola bars, water bottles, socks, pads, crackers, etc. for students to grab if they're in need. They can't learn if their basic needs aren't met!

To answer your question, yes, that's what I think should happen. Because it will take something like that happening for parents to understand that they have to provide for their child.

I have no doubt if schools stopped all those services that parents would be breaking down the doors complaining that the school isn't doing their job. I think they truly do not understand that it is their job as a parent.

I think if you never, ever end the freebie cycle that kids never see their parents providing so you end up with another generation of kids who feel they are entitled to have schools provide food, snacks, school supplies, uniforms/clothes, hair cuts, extra curricular, etc...

I see you have read Ayn Rand (and that's probably all you've read). Congrats! You're an asshole!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think freebies move the needle. It’s like if you start feeding stay cats, they tell their buddies where to find the food and suddenly more show up.

The resources have to be tied to be limited and come with strings. I’m all for setting time limits on aid and requiring that those who receive aid attend parenting, personal finance, English language, job training, or other classes that will help lift them out of poverty.

Most of the people you are thinking about are already living quite well financially working as gardeners, house cleaners, nannies, all under the table. However they are illiterate and often too busy to parent. Plus, no point of buying books- yet, they take kids to Disneyland and buy them game consoles and smartphones.
Trust me, I know, my child is in school with their kids.

Maybe, your kid, from being in school with their kids, will learn things about other people's lives that you haven't learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Caveat: I am one of the few conservatives in MoCo. Yet, I cannot deny a child food when they are hungry. It is a sad reality that there are some recipients of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) that sell their EBT cards "food stamps" for cash to unidentified third-parties or trade the funds for drugs. In cases like these, their children are the ones that end up recieving little-to-no food because their parents are exploiting the system. In other cases, the parents end up using the funds to support new boyfriends/ girlfriends/ family members that are ineligible to apply for their own assistance because they are otherwise disqualified. Again, the children are the ones who end up suffering.

What we need to do is change the law, so that this is not happening at such a great frequency. In 2011, FL enacted their drug testing policy for people applying for assistance. In short, every person that was applying would have to pay for a drug test. If the drug test came back as negative, then the state would refund them the cost of the test with the first assistance payment. If the person tested positive and the applying party had minor dependents, the state would release the funds to a responsible person who could pass a drug test.

Understandably, FL is not a great model for much of anything because Lord knows we all read about the crazy shit that only seems to happen in FL. Yet, they have seen positive results with this policy, which led the way for others to make similar policies in their states. Yet, Maryland is incapable of holding people accountable. They enable the bad choices and bad actions of many residents on assistance. Again, the children are the ones that suffer. So until there is a real change in policy, we are forced to supplement the diets of children.

Is it a little irksome that people are essentially double-dipping into food assistance (getting welfare and children are fed)? Yes. Nevertheless, have you heard a poor child's stomach rumble so loudly because they have not eaten all weekend (besides a bag of Cheetos)? It is heartbreaking. I used to complain at great length about older children in no costume on Halloween, until someone said to me, "maybe they cannot afford a costume and maybe that full-size snickers bar is the only thing they are going to eat until tomorrow when they go to school."

Not only are the children undeniably hungry, but in many cases they do not know when they will eat again. Stress and hunger are two important factors that lead to poor performance in schools, which cause children to fall behind. When children fall behind, they may stop attending or become distracting in general education classrooms (where your own child may be trying to learn how to multiply or diagram a sentence). If they stop attending, then it is likely that other negative consequences will occur, such as pregnancy, making criminal choices, or engaging in other self-harming activity, like experimenting with drugs. The cycle continues and they become that shitty parent unable to take care of their children, which means you have to do that for them. The other option is that they end up in jail and we pay for their food and lodging in prison.

So as a conservative, I am all in favor of giving economically disadvantaged students their meals at school and supplementing the cost of an after-school activity if it dwindles the chances of them becoming a parasite on society for the rest of their natural lives.

I feel similarly to you. It's hard because the kids are the ones who suffer. Ultimately I would like to see parents be parents and not the government be their parents. I've witnessed firsthand abuse of the system. It is so prevalent and it's sickening. The teacher who said that her Students mom was getting manicures every week while signed up for the angel tree, but happens all the time. I would love to see a system where I need your help and the abusers were kicked out or reprimanded so that they will stop abusing the system.

( on a sidenote, I'm impressed at how civil this discussion has been.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think freebies move the needle. It’s like if you start feeding stay cats, they tell their buddies where to find the food and suddenly more show up.

The resources have to be tied to be limited and come with strings. I’m all for setting time limits on aid and requiring that those who receive aid attend parenting, personal finance, English language, job training, or other classes that will help lift them out of poverty.

Most of the people you are thinking about are already living quite well financially working as gardeners, house cleaners, nannies, all under the table. However they are illiterate and often too busy to parent. Plus, no point of buying books- yet, they take kids to Disneyland and buy them game consoles and smartphones.
Trust me, I know, my child is in school with their kids.

Maybe, your kid, from being in school with their kids, will learn things about other people's lives that you haven't learned.

+1. My kids go to school with "their" kids, too. To say any of these people are living quite well financially is a huge stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think freebies move the needle. It’s like if you start feeding stay cats, they tell their buddies where to find the food and suddenly more show up.

The resources have to be tied to be limited and come with strings. I’m all for setting time limits on aid and requiring that those who receive aid attend parenting, personal finance, English language, job training, or other classes that will help lift them out of poverty.

Most of the people you are thinking about are already living quite well financially working as gardeners, house cleaners, nannies, all under the table. However they are illiterate and often too busy to parent. Plus, no point of buying books- yet, they take kids to Disneyland and buy them game consoles and smartphones.
Trust me, I know, my child is in school with their kids.

Maybe, your kid, from being in school with their kids, will learn things about other people's lives that you haven't learned.

+1. My kids go to school with "their" kids, too. To say any of these people are living quite well financially is a huge stretch.

Well, I can’t afford to take my kid to Disney world! Neither can I buy him a new game console.
But he does have books, attends afterschool activities, and visits museums.
Some people are as naive as I was before I started seeing many things first hand.

[Anonymous]

Oh and their parties, and the number of kids they have.
I still try to give the kids books though. Because their parents don’t think it is necessary.
It’s not lack of resources, it’s poor management of the said resources.

[Anonymous]

Title One teacher here. ITA about. The mismanagement of resources. Many of my students' families prioritize things which I consider luxury items like big screen TVs, expensive gaming systems, the newest phones for the entire family, iPads for little kids, etc. Some of them even call our school family coordinator because they have run out of money to pay bills. One of my students went back to the D.R. for 6 weeks with her mother and 4 siblings but yet they qualify for a free lunch. I can't afford 2 tickets to fly to FL. Up yet they somehow can fly their family to the Caribbean. My DD wants an Xbox but I don't have the money for it. But my students who all qualify for a free lunch have gaming systems, their own phones (they are in 3rd grade) and their own tablets. So these families are getting the money from somewhere (under the table I assume) but instead of buying school supplies, books, etc, they spend it on things they won't help them academically. They all have internet access at home but few of them read books on RAZ Kids using our school account.

[Anonymous]

I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

Ehhhh, let's take a closer look at who, exactly, is inviting these "cats" into the country and local areas in the first place. All the posters complaining about the kids in their schools whose parents work as gardners and nannies under the table should probably ask themselves who is employing these gardners and nannies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

Ehhhh, let's take a closer look at who, exactly, is inviting these "cats" into the country and local areas in the first place. All the posters complaining about the kids in their schools whose parents work as gardners and nannies under the table should probably ask themselves who is employing these gardners and nannies.

And who is allowing ten people to live in a two BR apartment or take in day laborers only at night?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

Ehhhh, let's take a closer look at who, exactly, is inviting these "cats" into the country and local areas in the first place. All the posters complaining about the kids in their schools whose parents work as gardners and nannies under the table should probably ask themselves who is employing these gardners and nannies.

Disclosure: I am a Hillary-voting, pussy-hat wearing resistance voter.

This, to me, has always been the most hypocritical of progressive arguments: "All of these immigrants keep our economy going, doing jobs citizens don't or won't do." But, of course, citizens would do these jobs at some price point, far above where it is now. And then, yes, much of the middle class would no longer be able to afford the stuff and domestic help we have now, and then there would be an even bigger child care crisis and housing crisis. And THEN, maybe, we would see the needle move on parental leave and affordable child care, because it would be the American citizens who could no longer afford or find cheap enough ways to deal with these issues.

I think the anti-immigrant folks are right when they argue that open immigration depresses wages. If wages go up, and we still don't have enough unskilled or lower-skilled workers, then we can talk about open immigration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

You are calling children stray cats. Do you have any religious or moral belief system? Or just “I want to keep my taxes low even if that means stepping over starving children in the street”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

You are calling children stray cats. Do you have any religious or moral belief system? Or just “I want to keep my taxes low even if that means stepping over starving children in the street”?

I’m a very compassionate person, but I don’t believe handouts are the answer. Too many parents are relying on the government teat to feed their children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

You are calling children stray cats. Do you have any religious or moral belief system? Or just “I want to keep my taxes low even if that means stepping over starving children in the street”?

FFS. Why don't you just say that you believe all money should go to helping poor children first, and every other service and priority we might have in the US be damned. Frankly, that is probably the moral position. But it isn't the way I'm willing to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the feeding cats analogy. If FCPS (and other school systems) give so many free resources, the world will show up on the doorstep. That is exactly what has happened and the quality of our school system has suffered because of it.

You are calling children stray cats. Do you have any religious or moral belief system? Or just “I want to keep my taxes low even if that means stepping over starving children in the street”?

It's an analogy. Don't take it literally.