Truth about being three coughs above FARMS at a high performing Charter School

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05/30/2014 19:35

Subject: Truth about being three coughs above FARMS at a high performing Charter School

quote

Anonymous

I am a working class parent of a child that attends a highly demanded public DC Charter School. A school that is sought out by thousands of parents, has long waiting lists, and is the subject of much debate on DCUMD forums. My children have been in several high demand public schools for over 10 years.

I'd like to share a bit about my experience if you are considering sending your child to a highly demanded public school.

I am a parent that:

Finished college;
Has a thankless job, pays taxes;
Takes no government income subsidy to feed my family; and
Is far from wealthy in any form.

With that out of the way, here it goes. At high demand public charter schools, there is a clear understanding that the only families that have a real voice are the wealthy families. They can afford the $2,000-$10,000 donations that quietly roll in. The wealthy families are the ones that can afford the high priced auxiliary programs. The wealthy families are the ones that are not impacted by school being closed on odd days in the middle of the week, or consistently with week long breaks in instruction.

The donations and social leverage of these families ensure that their children are chosen for extra perks, special activities, and instruction. It also puts added pressure on the public teachers at the school to give their children high marks on subjective assessment scales. The children of working parents are relegated to being tracked in "meeting the standard" or "below standard", as it compares to their wealthy peers, who many times supplement instruction with private tutoring.

At a private school, the wealthy charter school children would be one of many with parents of status and influence. The majority of children would have access to private tutoring. The majority of children may summer in exotic locations and have elevated points of reference. Competition to shine would be high; they would actually have to work hard to stand out.

Alternatively, at the high demand public charter school, children of the wealthy and almost wealthy easily stand out in stark contrast to their lower class peers.

Wealthy parents are recognized as "pioneers", "friends of public education","school reformers", and "parent organization leaders". But many are really attention seekers using public education to save money and to generate their own personal relevance. Listservs are abundant at these schools coupled with a clear understanding that a large portion of the school's parents may not have regular internet or technology access.

In a way the gentrification we see in real estate has a parallel model to what we see in the charter school movement; looks good from the outside, but on the inside, the marginalization of the economic classes is apparent. Like H Street, it might look a lot nicer, but the working people who always lived their can now no longer afford to eat there.

And the high demand charter school is an expensive place to eat.

The average cost of private tutoring runs from $30-$50 dollars per hour. Most parents that can afford to pay for private tutoring do so, and offset the public charter school's arbitrary instruction. As many these schools do not receive Title I funds, they are known for hiring teachers with little classroom experience to save money. Your lower income DS or DD will still have just as much chance of having that fresh out of school teacher as any other public school in DC. Be advised that the poorer kids will be routed to the inexperienced teacher a lot quicker than the rich ones will.

High performing charter schools are under little to no scrutiny by outsiders; they ride off the testing performance of the rich kids as if the school is producing/instructing at a higher level. In turn, they are not required to ensure academic assistance pathways for students, unless the student is one to two grades below level or on FARMS.

Low income parent (45-65K), be wary. There is no guarantee that just because your child attends the high demand school that they are truly being taught by highly qualified and capable educators on a daily basis. At times, you will find that your concerns are responded to with arrogance and be tinged with an undercurrent of apathy. You will definitely hear the phrases, "We are a school of choice." and "Well if you don't like what we are doing, go to your neighborhood school."

Do not make the mistake of believing that you just won the golden ticket because your child's name was chosen in the charter school lottery for a high demand charter school. A good school is one where your child can feel physically, socially, and emotionally safe to open themselves up for learning. A great school is one that can provide the environment of a good school, while simultaneously providing well thought out pathways that push every student to their highest potential, regardless of income.

You will have to do the same child advocacy work that you may have expected at a poorer performing school; but without the wraparound services that a poorer performing school would have to provide, due to increased outside versight. Just keep that in mind.

Would I have done anything differently over these ten years? Yes. I think I would have read this post and kept its points in mind.