Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

After that, though, I think your best bet is more policy based. Use every resource and connection you have to push for better training for teachers. Or for a better free breakfast and lunch program, or better and more comprehensive counseling and sped services, because even the greatest teachers in the world are stymied by kids who are starving, abused, homeless. 

What can be done about that, if the school already has free breakfast and lunch? I am preparing to send my kid to our Title 1 dcps elementary and from other threads here i was worrying that any comments or effort about the quality of food served would appear frivolous and entitled.

Yeah. It is really tricky- food is such a fraught issue and there is so much junk science out there about food and dieting and nutrition. I guess I would look at it from more of a global level- talk to the vendors maybe? On the other hand, you also need to provide food that kids will actually eat, and I know some food programs have failed because the kids just won't eat the healthier options. I also might look at providing an after school snack/meal so that kids are getting three meals- or I might try to start a grocery store gift card program, or something. I honestly don't know a ton about how the food programs work so it's entirely possible that everything I suggest is either useless or impossible, so take it with a grain of salt! I feel much more confident about giving classroom suggestions

Our school (also title 1) has a 3x per week fresh fruit and veggie snack. We bring in a fresh fruit salad for a snack once a week to supplement. Teachers love it - it's not an imposition. If you're worried about coming off as imposing, then just ask the teachers or administrators how you can help.

I'm a teacher, Title I school, and would love this. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You say having more trained volunteers to tutor during the school day would be helpful. Does this mean you don't think there's much value to one-on-one tutoring after school or on Saturdays (not by regular tutors, but as you say, by volunteers trained to do it well, eg retirees)? I just feel like the social stuff can only get kids so far. It's needed, but if they are reading Level A books in second grade, I'm not sure free supplies or playdates with higher SES kids are ever going to bring them up to speed.

Weekends are tricky, who is going to supervise the building, provide heat and security for example. Even if teachers worked for free the other staff would not or may bot be able to. Additionally, even DC-CAS Saturday schools are very poorly attended and that is with numerous teacher/parent incentives, it is very difficult to get students to attend Saturday school consistently. Same for after-school, it depends on the age of the students but many older students have clubs already and then you have issues with snacks, who is or is not allowed to be in the building, etc. It is not that simple to use a school building during non-school hours, not to say it can't and isn't being done, but just giving you the reality. If you are going to volunteer it is better to join an already up and running tutoring program as they already have connections with DCPS, even volunteers have to have fingerprints and other checks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You say having more trained volunteers to tutor during the school day would be helpful. Does this mean you don't think there's much value to one-on-one tutoring after school or on Saturdays (not by regular tutors, but as you say, by volunteers trained to do it well, eg retirees)? I just feel like the social stuff can only get kids so far. It's needed, but if they are reading Level A books in second grade, I'm not sure free supplies or playdates with higher SES kids are ever going to bring them up to speed.

Weekends are tricky, who is going to supervise the building, provide heat and security for example. Even if teachers worked for free the other staff would not or may bot be able to. Additionally, even DC-CAS Saturday schools are very poorly attended and that is with numerous teacher/parent incentives, it is very difficult to get students to attend Saturday school consistently. Same for after-school, it depends on the age of the students but many older students have clubs already and then you have issues with snacks, who is or is not allowed to be in the building, etc. It is not that simple to use a school building during non-school hours, not to say it can't and isn't being done, but just giving you the reality. If you are going to volunteer it is better to join an already up and running tutoring program as they already have connections with DCPS, even volunteers have to have fingerprints and other checks.

The principal at our Title 1 school says that the teachers have asked her to open up the school on the weekend. She has agreed to do this once a month for them. I had kind of assumed that the teachers would not want to come in on the weekends, but apparently enough of them have requested this that she is willing to try opening up on Saturdays and see how it goes this spring. So I would say that if a group of parents is interested in something like this, ask the principal how to make it happen. If there is no interest or possibility, move on to other efforts, but don't assume that the answer will be no. My experience with a supportive principal is that she has been supportive of us having open houses after hours. We had a lottery Q&A session a few weeks ago after hours. The only logistical issue was that the security guard goes home at the end of aftercare (6pm) so someone had to stay at the door to let people in and anyone who arrived super late wasn't able to get inside.

[Anonymous]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a teacher, Title I school, and would love this. Thank you.

Thank you

[Anonymous]

Isn't it kind of odd to ask teachers and principals to come in on Saturdays? I find it odd that so many people seem to think it's normal to ask principals and teachers to give up their one real day off (most educators I know spend a significant of time planning on Sundays). There have to be solutions that don't involve contributing to DC's burnout problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it kind of odd to ask teachers and principals to come in on Saturdays? I find it odd that so many people seem to think it's normal to ask principals and teachers to give up their one real day off (most educators I know spend a significant of time planning on Sundays). There have to be solutions that don't involve contributing to DC's burnout problem.

I'm the PP who said not to discount this. What I was told by teachers at my daughter's school was that they did want to come in on Saturday - not every week but at least once a month. They had been unable to convince the old principal to make this happen. The new principal is making it happen. It's not all teachers and it's not required, but don't assume that no one wants to go. Talk to them first and make your decisions based on your specific situation.

[Anonymous]

PP here who brought up Saturday school earlier. May be time for a new thread on this, but since teachers are reading this one... What is the one thing that would most help the 2nd grader who's reading A level books get up to grade level? We have a lot of kids like this at our Title I (
I know from the graphs of the kids' reading levels that they hand out at the APTT meetings). I know teachers at our school work very hard, so maybe there isn't nothing more to be done. But it kills me to see how far behind they are already and know its just going to get worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here who brought up Saturday school earlier. May be time for a new thread on this, but since teachers are reading this one... What is the one thing that would most help the 2nd grader who's reading A level books get up to grade level? We have a lot of kids like this at our Title I (
I know from the graphs of the kids' reading levels that they hand out at the APTT meetings). I know teachers at our school work very hard, so maybe there isn't nothing more to be done. But it kills me to see how far behind they are already and know its just going to get worse.

Convince DCPS that teachers are not miracle workers and it is not our fault, test scores tied to teacher's IMPACT scores is ridiculous for schools that are title I and have a high percentage of students years and years below their grade level. If we could at least admit that it is impossible for teacher's to single-handedly do this then we can get it experts to work with the designated students in pull-outs, specials, and maybe offer family literacy programs. As long as administrators keep saying it is the teacher's fault or responsibility only then it is a non-starter. Stop blaming teachers and tell parents and students the truth, no more passing failing students or dumbing down tests. Differentiation cannot work in content classes at either ends of the spectrum, especially at the low end and with students who also have unaddressed behavior issues. At many DC high schools, students are on average reading at a 4/5th grade reading level, how is possible for those students to be in AP English classes and graduating high school? DC's graduation rates will look atrocious for a few years, but the only way forward is to be honest, once we are really honest about what students actually don't know we can attempt to fix it. Firing Jason Kamras wouldn't come amiss.

A former DCPS teacher.

[Anonymous]

DCPS manages to spend more per student than any other district in the nation. I think they need to revisit their finances and figure out where in the hell the money is going, since it certainly doesn't seem to be going into the classrooms where it belongs.

There's probably more than enough money going into bogus contracts for cronies that could pay for staff to run summer programs, weekend or after school programs with math and reading tutoring, life skills et cetera for the kids that need it.

[Anonymous]

Do some basic research. DC does not spend more than any other school district. DC is both a state and LEA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do some basic research. DC does not spend more than any other school district. DC is both a state and LEA.

The overall figures say yes. But what's your justification for whitewashing it by saying it's both a state and an LEA? That admin bloat at the expense of the kids is fine?

[Anonymous]

Yeah. It is really tricky- food is such a fraught issue and there is so much junk science out there about food and dieting and nutrition. I guess I would look at it from more of a global level- talk to the vendors maybe? On the other hand, you also need to provide food that kids will actually eat, and I know some food programs have failed because the kids just won't eat the healthier options. I also might look at providing an after school snack/meal so that kids are getting three meals- or I might try to start a grocery store gift card program, or something. I honestly don't know a ton about how the food programs work so it's entirely possible that everything I suggest is either useless or impossible, so take it with a grain of salt! I feel much more confident about giving classroom suggestions

I don't understand this? If a kid is truly hungry they will eat what you give them, healthy or not. Have you ever been to a country where people really are starving? They're not picky about what they eat. And if kids really aren't that hungry why are we providing free meals?

[Anonymous]

quotes should be around first paragraph above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No, you're not stuck. You could move to Arlington like everyone else does.

The problem then is that we have no improvement- we have self-selection based on resources and the cycle continues. If DC schools could attract a REAL range of families with incomes at all levels this could lead to some real and long lasting change.

Nobody wants to push all the lower income students out. But if schools had a strong mix with a good cohort of higher SES students then the change could be long term.

Who wants to risk their children's education to "fuel the change" for the next crop? No one.