Need candid responses about Title I schools please

[Anonymous]

Hi- touchy issue here. I want to support my local MoCo Title I elementary and send my kids there. We could afford private, but DH and I are both public school kids and would ideally have public school children ourselves. Our neighborhood school is more than 60% free lunch (very low income). None of our immediate neighbors have stayed there past first grade, opting for non-elite privates, magnets, or immersion programs. I have often heard that advantaged kids will thrive in any environment. But do any of you have experiences you could share about staying in or opting out of a Title I (largely low-income) school? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I am in the exact same situation - our assigned school is a Title I school and we are undecided about what to do. I don't have any first-hand experience to share, but I did have a useful conversation with a friend who is a teacher in the MoCo system. She pointed out that in general Title I schools usually are assigned the strongest teachers/administrators, are afforded additional resources, and generally have better-than-average summer programs. My friend suggested meeting with the principal and observing a few of the classes, which we are going to do. Luckily, my mother was a public high school principal so she is an expert at teacher observation/evaluation and I'll drag her along with me. At this point, we are leaning towards the public school. Good luck with your decision.

[Anonymous]

Hi. I live in Baltimore and have some friends who are teachers in Title 1 schools. It is true that they receive a lot of extra help in the form of more teachers, assistants, resources. But many of the students have discipline issues which eats up time and the teacher's patience. I wouldn't send my child to a Title 1 school unless it was my only choice after hearing about my friends' experiences as teachers.

[Anonymous]

It is true that they receive a lot of extra help in the form of more teachers, assistants, resources. But many of the students have discipline issues which eats up time and the teacher's patience.

I don't think discipline problems are an issue across the board in Title I schools - my understanding is that it can vary greatly from school to school, hence the need for an observation of your specific school.

[Anonymous]

I recently moved out of a Title 1 school district b/c kindergarten was just around the corner for my DS. Two of my neighbors (in my old neighborhood) work at the Title 1 school, and both said it wouldn't be a good fit for my child. While both said the principal and teachers at the school are wonderful, they cautioned me about the drawbacks -- particularly related to the social aspects -- of sending DS there. My sister also teaches for MCPS and she echoed the concerns of my teacher-neighbors. Specifically: classroom distractions related to behavior; who would my son be friends with? would we as a family develop a good social network at the school (in terms of carpooling, playdates, etc.). To be clear, the situation in my old Title 1 school district was pretty bad. Multiple apartment complexes in an area that was labelled a police hot spot (ie: the county rec'd federal funding for extra police presence) fed into the school. Would I feel comfortable sending my kid over there for playdates? Most of my neighbors sent their kids to private school or got their kids into specialty programs through the county. I think socioeconomic factors played a larger role in the decline in enrollment as opposed to race (the school was around 30% caucasian 6 years ago and down to nearly 10% most recently). My African American neighbors sent their three kids to private school instead of the Title 1 school -- my neighbor was concerned about the high rate of low-income kids and the neighborhood the kids came from (I mention this to illustrate that it isn't "white flight" -- but is perhaps tied to high crime low-income areas). She was primarily concerned about her oldest child and the high rate of gang activity in our local middle and high schools.

[Anonymous]

We live right down the street from such a school in Virginia -- we chose to go private after speaking with neighbors who have chosen to go public at this school. These neighbors have actually been very positive about the school overall -- the school is small (because many higher income folks in the neighborhood choose private) so the class size is good and there is a real "community" feeling to the place. The kids are VERY diverse which is a big positive, and the teachers and administrators seem like very kind, caring, experienced people.

So why did we not go there? We were just not comfortable with the academics. Close to 40 percent of the kids at the school enter K not speaking English. So a great deal of attention goes to teaching these kids English and reading and writing. As a taxpayer I fully support this mission, but I gather from talking to my neighbors that their kids are often "bored" or less challenged than they could be. We decided that we wanted to provide DC with a more challenging academic program, particularly in the early years when he is still totally motivated and loving school.

But if money were more of an issue, I think we would feel very comfortable sending our child to the public Title I school.

[Anonymous]

One of the PPs here again. One of the things I most hate about this issue is that in my experience, it is not uncommon for certain social/economic/racial biases to either consciously or subconsciously sway the decision. For example, when we first moved into our current house, one of our busybody neighbors told us right away that we just "couldn't possibly" send our kids to the Title I school down the street. When I pressed her for objective facts on the school (eg. quality of teachers, state of facilities, test scores, etc.), she said that she thought the makeup of the school presented really limited social opportunities for her kids. She then went on to tell me that there were kids who spoke over 80 different languages at the local high school (which I consider an amazing benefit, though she clearly didn't). She also finally admitted that there were a lot of a certain race that went to the Title I elementary school and she didn't want her kids mingling with them. This is just one example of the type of feedback I've received.

I guess the point it that when I make a final decision about public vs. private schools, I am going to make a concerted effort to do it based on objective facts and my own personal observations rather than hearsay and vague "social" concerns.

[Anonymous]

So why did we not go there? We were just not comfortable with the academics. Close to 40 percent of the kids at the school enter K not speaking English. So a great deal of attention goes to teaching these kids English and reading and writing.

PP here AGAIN (sorry). This is obviously an issue of concern, but in our local school, non-fluent English speakers get that need extra attention with English language through separate ESL-type classes. They aren't taught as part of the daily curriculum to students for whom English is a first language or English fluency has been achieved. It's worth checking in to though, because that would be a big negative, in my view...

[Anonymous]

9:54 again. Yes, I agree completely with pp. Being concerned about whether your child will have friends and who those friends and their families might be is a red flag that perhaps you are not comfortable with diversity. Little kids are little kids and they all enjoy approximately the same activities, jokes, etc. -- particularly at this age. Your child will definitely have good friends at a Title I school and you will meet some amazing parents too. You will also meet people you do not wish to associate too closely with ... as is also the case at the most exclusive, elite schools!

[Anonymous]

9:54 AGAIN!! I am enjoying our chat PP! You are right that most schools do separate pull-out work for ESL kids. Unfortunately, our school does not because they do not have enough total students at the early grades to justify the additional staff. This is in part because so many upper-middle income folks in the neighborhood go private and thus contribute to the problem that they were reacting to in the first place. It makes me feel bad to contribute to that problem, but in the end, we decided to at least try a few years private and see how it goes.

I try to be very clear about my support for the local school when chatting with neighbors. I really do feel it is overall a good school and not one that people should be actively avoiding at all costs. It is actually quite a bit better academically (in my opinion) than a nearby parochial school.

[Anonymous]

OP, my kid went to public school in DCPS though her school was not a Title I school. I know that sometimes schools look worse from the outside than they actually are. Other times the schools are in fact pretty bad. And then there's the question, that regardless of whether it's a good school or not, is it a good fit for your dc?

While it's not a bad idea to get general advice from other people about Title I schools, you really need to go observe the classes (although I realize that's hard to do in summer), talk to the principal, talk to some teachers and talk to parents at that particular school.

I know I always feel better when I have more information about a problem. Makes it easier to decide and to feel good about my decision.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

"Being concerned about whether your child will have friends and who those friends and their families might be is a red flag that perhaps you are not comfortable with diversity."

I think this comment was directed at me, so I'll respond (I'm the 9:24 poster who moved out of a Title 1 school district). I am very comfortable with racial diversity and socioeconomic diversity -- just not to the extent that it leaves my child being the lone white middle class kid in a classroom. My son went to a very diverse nursery school, we lived in a very diverse neighborhood for 6 years, and now we live in another diverse neighborhood -- albeit in a significantly better school district. To be clear, the majority of the kids in the Title 1 school district we left come from huge apartment complexes that are notorious for violent crimes. The gang problem in that neck of the woods is abundantly apparent. Kids have been assaulted at the middle and high schools. People are routinely mugged at assaulted at the local metro station and area shopping centers. After the drug bust at a house down the street from us, we opted to pack it up and move to greener pastures. (And our African American former neighbors are trying to do the same thing -- which I think illustrates that this isn't racially motivated white flight -- it has more to do with low-income people in areas where violent crime occurs frequently). Perhaps the violence isn't trickling down to the elem school level, but the attendant behavior issues certainly do affect the classroom environment (as reported by the teachers I know at that school and others in the county).