School Boundaries- how poor is too poor?

[Anonymous]

Our school boundary is moving. The community is totally divided.

Currently our school is 40% low-income. Under the proposed new boundaries, it would be 20% low-income (FARMS). There is fierce opposition to the redistricting from the school administration, because they would lose their special resources for being a largely poor school (class sizes would be bigger, too).

The boundaries are changing because the bussing that takes place from far away now doesn't make sense for racial integration purposes (these kids drive by 2 nicer, wealthier, less overcrowded and less diverse schools to get to ours).

It seems to me that having a school jump from 40% FARMS to 20% FARMS is great for the FARMS kids and non-FARMS kids, great for property values. Is the school administration trying to convince the parents to lobby against the boundary change because they don't want their resources cut?

If you could pick a school with class size of 14 and 40% poor, or class size 25 and 20% poor, which would you pick?

[Anonymous]

My SIL teaches 1st grade in MoCo, at a Title I school that is about 80% FARMS, lots of ESL, and has tiny class sizes. (15?)

There is no, no, no question in my mind I'd go with the larger class size and a more balanced student body.

I am basing this answer on lots of long, candid conversations with my SIL, in which she tells me exactly how the day plays out in her class. Her kids, at least, are very, very challenging.

[Anonymous]

PP--Can you please share more insight as to your SIL's observations any why the day is tough, etc.? TIA

[Anonymous]

Of course the administration doesn't want to lose it. Most of the federal stimulus money for education is going into Title I.

I agree with you, OP.

[Anonymous]

You need to read up on historical busing issues - certain cities are known for them and should come up on Google right away. There seems no middle ground with this.

[Anonymous]

PP--Can you please share more insight as to your SIL's observations any why the day is tough, etc.? TIA

I will try to keep this short. Year after year (meaning, this isn't a one-time unfortunate aberration of class roster), she spends a large chunk of in-class time wrangling behavior. Managing behavior, teaching behavior, anticipating behavior, coordinating with MoCo system roving specialists to address behavior .... talking about behavior with the kids instead of talking about presidents or farms or numbers or planets.

Every year, she says, there are 2 or 3 kids per class who don't get as much of her attention as she would like and it kills her. These kids do a lot of independent projects that she has thought up in lesson planing. In the dwindling percentage of time that is not spent dealing with behavior, the class prepares for state tests.

She gets lots of moral and resource support from her administration, btw. Very supportive, seasoned principal. However, there is little to no support from the home. It's all on the teacher. The parents don't come to conferences, they don't answer her calls/emails. They forget to send the kids to school sometimes or they send them on days where there is no school. Some kids come to school with a bag of Oreos for lunch and no coat when it's 35 degrees. Some kids stay up until midnight every day and pass out in class routinely.

Thus, were it my kids, I would aim for a student body with more of a balance in demographics.

[Anonymous]

I think balance in every respect is good in the classroom. Gender balance, demographic balance, wealth balance.

I would support the redistricting.

My kindergartener has about 25 kids in her class, from all walks of life. Except for the fact that in her year, there are many more boys than girls for some reason, the classes have a good balance of ESL, incomes, diversity, etc.

I love my elementary school!

[Anonymous]

My kid is in a class with 19 other students in a school where 74% of the kids qualify for free or reduced lunch. It's a great school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

PP--Can you please share more insight as to your SIL's observations any why the day is tough, etc.? TIA

I will try to keep this short. Year after year (meaning, this isn't a one-time unfortunate aberration of class roster), she spends a large chunk of in-class time wrangling behavior. Managing behavior, teaching behavior, anticipating behavior, coordinating with MoCo system roving specialists to address behavior .... talking about behavior with the kids instead of talking about presidents or farms or numbers or planets.

Every year, she says, there are 2 or 3 kids per class who don't get as much of her attention as she would like and it kills her. These kids do a lot of independent projects that she has thought up in lesson planing. In the dwindling percentage of time that is not spent dealing with behavior, the class prepares for state tests.

She gets lots of moral and resource support from her administration, btw. Very supportive, seasoned principal. However, there is little to no support from the home. It's all on the teacher. The parents don't come to conferences, they don't answer her calls/emails. They forget to send the kids to school sometimes or they send them on days where there is no school. Some kids come to school with a bag of Oreos for lunch and no coat when it's 35 degrees. Some kids stay up until midnight every day and pass out in class routinely.

Thus, were it my kids, I would aim for a student body with more of a balance in demographics.

I am an ESOL teacher in Fairfax County, and I would have to agree with a lot of what this pp is saying. Teaching ESOL is a whole different ballgame and there is so much that goes beyond the students just learning English - familiarizing them with American schools when they have never been to school, teaching them certain expectations that are common to most American students - raise your hand before speaking, stay in your seat, come to school on time, come to school every day unless you are sick, etc, etc. In the past, I have also had issues with students not bathing or wearing deodorant or washing their clothes. And yes, it is true that many parents of these students are not involved for a variety of reasons - they are working multiple jobs, they don't speak English so they are afraid to come to the school, or they are not used to parental involvement in their child's education. In many countries it is up to the teacher to make all the decisions for the child and the parents don't question it or get involved at all. All of these things are in addition to the English these students are supposed to learn in order to be mainstreamed into regular classes. In my school, we have self-contained ESOL classes at the lowest level which it doesn't sound like they do at this school (or maybe any elementary school?). So it is a little easier for us to work on different issues within the classroom with our students. We also don't have SOLs at the lowest levels of ESOL and there is no specific amount of time they can stay in ESOL 1 - they have until they are 22 before having to leave our school if they are still in ESOL. I would have to think all of this would be different in elementary school as you cannot have a 10 year old in 1st grade (can you?). So, it would be up to the teacher to deal with all the cultural, academic, and social issues, as well as trying to ensure they move up to the next grade at the end of the year. All that said, I do love teaching ESOL and my students are great for the most part. But I would have to think it would be extremely challenging to have a significant number of ESOL students in an elementary classroom if it was not self-contained. Good luck to your sister-in-law, she sounds like a dedicated teacher who is doing the best she can with a challenging population.

[Anonymous]

13:59, 74% FARMS, and no problems? Tell me more!

Is this a special program, a really special teacher, or just a great group of kids? Do you have a lot of parental involvement in your school? Any of the other problems mentioned above?

[Anonymous]

When we were looking for schools in MoCo, we wanted to find a district that had racial and economic diversity. But we were not able to find any schools that had true economic diversity-- that is, they were either all wealthy (less than 10% FARMS) or at least half FARMS. It seems there is some sort of tipping point for families, where if it reaches 30% FARMS, it jumps immediately to 50% through wealthier families moving or going private. If they're still bussing, they should buss some folks to Bethesda or Potpmac!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:59, 74% FARMS, and no problems? Tell me more!

Is this a special program, a really special teacher, or just a great group of kids? Do you have a lot of parental involvement in your school? Any of the other problems mentioned above?

It is a regular old public elementary school in PG county.

It's not perfect. Our test scores are not great. We have many ESOL learners. Some famillies are hungry (there is a food pantry at the school).
But, it's small, has a terrific sense of community, a great principal, good teachers (mix of many years of experience and newbies), and involved parents. The children are learning. My son is thriving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we were looking for schools in MoCo, we wanted to find a district that had racial and economic diversity. But we were not able to find any schools that had true economic diversity-- that is, they were either all wealthy (less than 10% FARMS) or at least half FARMS. It seems there is some sort of tipping point for families, where if it reaches 30% FARMS, it jumps immediately to 50% through wealthier families moving or going private. If they're still bussing, they should buss some folks to Bethesda or Potpmac!

There are several schools like you describe in Silver Spring. The elementary school in our district is about 20% FARMS.

[Anonymous]

We are Jewish. Our 2 kids are in an elementary public school that is extremely diverse from all walks of life. We are ABSOLUTELY THRILLED about it. Could not be happier. Our kids are making friends with children of every possible race, creed, religion, origin, etc,.... We love our elementary school. This is the primary reason we did not send them to a Jewish day school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we were looking for schools in MoCo, we wanted to find a district that had racial and economic diversity. But we were not able to find any schools that had true economic diversity-- that is, they were either all wealthy (less than 10% FARMS) or at least half FARMS. It seems there is some sort of tipping point for families, where if it reaches 30% FARMS, it jumps immediately to 50% through wealthier families moving or going private. If they're still bussing, they should buss some folks to Bethesda or Potpmac!

There are several schools like you describe in Silver Spring. The elementary school in our district is about 20% FARMS.

Yes, I think Rosemary Hills is about 15-20% FARMS, Takoma Park is about 20% FARMS, and Oakland Terrace is about 30-35% FARMS (and I think Oakland Terrace has smaller class sizes to compensate).