Please Read! Are we putting the blame about Prince Georges County on the wrong people?

[Anonymous]

I as a resident am loyal to and love the county, but it is assumed that our high crime rate (in relation to neighboring counties) is because of our proximity to the poor areas of Washington, DC. Also that our low test scores are simply because of the PG "demographic" (Blacks), but is any of this actually true? Look at Baltimore County, the city of Baltimore is located right smack in the middle of it and had a RECORD year in murders yet Baltimore County still managed to have 60-70 percent less murders then PG who only is next door to DC. Not to mention Baltimore County only had 25 murders while the city of Baltimore hit over 300. So is the excuse for the increase in crime and the non prevention of crime as simple as "those people from DC" or is it really an ineffective and unorganized police department? NYC is still seeing RECORD drops in its crime rate..I mean HISTORIC DROPS. If they can do it why not little PG COUNTY? We should be averaging at the most 10-15 murders a year def not 60 plus.

As far as the High schools why dont we have at least one that is a "7" on great schools.com? Our most esteemed school is Roosevelt and that is just a "6"..again you can say the "demographics" (blacks) but look at these majority black HS in Charles & Baltimore County

Charles County:

West Lake HS: 70 percent Black, 11 percent White, 5 percent Hispanic "7"


http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/waldorf/598-Westlake-High-School/


North Point HS: 55 percent Black, 30 Percent White. Also a "7"

http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/waldorf/2554-North-Point-High-School/details/


P.S. They also have 2 other HS (Black population 55 % +) that are a "6" while PG only has 1 Roosevelt (Which is suppose to be a GOLD STANDARD)


Baltimore County:

Western School of Technology and Environmental Science 75 percent Black, 13 percent white, a [b] 10/10 close to 900+ students [/b]

http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/baltimore/331-Western-School-Of-Technology--Env.-Science/


New Town High School 92 PERCENT BLACK rated 7/10 900 + Students (Beats our Science & Tech Gold Standard) its just a regular neighborhood SCHOOL

http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/owings-mills/2371-New-Town-High-School/



P.S. My point we have let PG GOVT use these things as EXCUSES as to why we can't produce high test results and low crimes. Now I know that MD test scores are really high compared to other states so even a school like Duval which is barely a 3 has about 80-85 of the student body proficient in scores which in any other state would give it at least a 5 or 6, but were not in any other state were in MD so why can't our scores match other HS with similar demographics? WE AREN'T THE PROBLEM PG GOVT IS

[Anonymous]

Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

First solution is to actually hold them accountable by showing them that similar demographics are getting better results and stop falling for the "myths" as to why were not. In doing that their will be more accountability, because their doing what we are demanding right next door so it can be done because it is being done.

[Anonymous]

OK so who's electing these people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

First solution is to actually hold them accountable by showing them that similar demographics are getting better results and stop falling for the "myths" as to why were not. In doing that their will be more accountability, because their doing what we are demanding right next door so it can be done because it is being done.

What, you think they don't know they're doing a shitty job? You think they care? There are a lot of people in PG who need voted out. But that doesn't seem to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

First solution is to actually hold them accountable by showing them that similar demographics are getting better results and stop falling for the "myths" as to why were not. In doing that their will be more accountability, because their doing what we are demanding right next door so it can be done because it is being done.

What, you think they don't know they're doing a shitty job? You think they care? There are a lot of people in PG who need voted out. But that doesn't seem to happen.

What do u think about Baker? Do u think he's done a good job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

Different pp. My understanding about this sentiment is two-fold:

1. other ethnic groups are better at standardized tests, so if the schools are more diverse scores will go up- instant school improvement!
2. black people are less likely to vote out crappy black elected officials because they do not want to take a successful black person down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

First solution is to actually hold them accountable by showing them that similar demographics are getting better results and stop falling for the "myths" as to why were not. In doing that their will be more accountability, because their doing what we are demanding right next door so it can be done because it is being done.

What, you think they don't know they're doing a shitty job? You think they care? There are a lot of people in PG who need voted out. But that doesn't seem to happen.

What do u think about Baker? Do u think he's done a good job?

I like a lot of things Baker has done. I think the school board is basically out of its depth. They are just not qualified to be handling a school system of this size. I think there are major financial shenanigans going on, but we just don't know what they are. We are paying a lot in taxes, and when I look at my local school it is struggling, in a dilapidated building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

I don't think this is a "black" issue. It's a socio economic issue. Lots of kids growing up in broken homes with no emphasis on education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

Different pp. My understanding about this sentiment is two-fold:

1. other ethnic groups are better at standardized tests, so if the schools are more diverse scores will go up- instant school improvement!
2. black people are less likely to vote out crappy black elected officials because they do not want to take a successful black person down

umm so why are those 70 plus percent black schools in other counties out performing all our OURS..even ones with a significant "other" population like Bowie HS & Roosevelt? This myth was the whole point of my post and people are still falling for it. Being a majority black county is NOT the reason for the low test scores especially in HS, Charles & Baltimore County prove that. We dont have one school that matches their majority black HS test scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

I don't think this is a "black" issue. It's a socio economic issue. Lots of kids growing up in broken homes with no emphasis on education.

So is this only in PG County? and in no other part of Maryland with a significant black population? The kids at Roosevelt & Flowers dont come from broken homes, nor do most of the ones at Duval or Oxon Hill yet they dont test nearly as good as similar racial demographics in other state counties

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK so who's electing these people?

I understand your point. All I ever heard was PG needs to become more diverse..translation less black so the school system can improve, but looking at those links that's totally B.S. The racial demographics aren't the problem, when it comes to crime or schools.

Different pp. My understanding about this sentiment is two-fold:

1. other ethnic groups are better at standardized tests, so if the schools are more diverse scores will go up- instant school improvement!
2. black people are less likely to vote out crappy black elected officials because they do not want to take a successful black person down

umm so why are those 70 plus percent black schools in other counties out performing all our OURS..even ones with a significant "other" population like Bowie HS & Roosevelt? This myth was the whole point of my post and people are still falling for it. Being a majority black county is NOT the reason for the low test scores especially in HS, Charles & Baltimore County prove that. We dont have one school that matches their majority black HS test scores

PP you are responding too- I agree, it's a cheap cop out. But are the schools you are comparing Bowie and Roosevelt also similar socio-economically? I also get the sense that the high-achieving students in PG county are pulled out of the public schools and put in private well before high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. And what do you propose we do about it, OP? I see a post about a problem, but no solutions coming from you. And we all know that PG County's government and the school district have had problems with accountability and corruption. I don't think anyone believes, given the high taxes we are paying, that our children are getting our money's worth.

First solution is to actually hold them accountable by showing them that similar demographics are getting better results and stop falling for the "myths" as to why were not. In doing that their will be more accountability, because their doing what we are demanding right next door so it can be done because it is being done.

What, you think they don't know they're doing a shitty job? You think they care? There are a lot of people in PG who need voted out. But that doesn't seem to happen.

What do u think about Baker? Do u think he's done a good job?

I like a lot of things Baker has done. I think the school board is basically out of its depth. They are just not qualified to be handling a school system of this size. I think there are major financial shenanigans going on, but we just don't know what they are. We are paying a lot in taxes, and when I look at my local school it is struggling, in a dilapidated building.

Well maybe thats it the size of the school system. Its much bigger then Charles County, and bigger then Baltimore so maybe that's a big part of the problem

[Anonymous]

I live in Charles County and live near both the high schools you mentioned. My children are zoned for North Point.

I think you need to examine the SES for the schools in PG vs. the CC schools that you've cited -- you are not making an apples to apples comparison (except on race -- which is problematic)

The FARMS rate of PG High Schools have been trending upward significantly in the last 10 years (33% in 2004 to 56% in 2015)

The FARMS rate of Charles County HS has increased too -- but it's about half of PG's at 29% in 2015. North Point only has 17% and Westlake is at 32%. Roosevelt is at 42.5%.

(Got all of the above data from http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/)

Even though the kids in these CC schools are predominately black, these are not poor children. They are middle to upper-middle class children. The neighborhoods feeding into NP and WL are subdivisions that are typically less than 30 years old, have at least 1/4 acre lots, and 3000+ sq ft McMansions. Go to city-data.com and look at the discrepancies in wealth, housing, and education between the zip codes feeding into NP and WL (20601, 20603) and Roosevelt (20770)

The issue isn't that the kids are black - it's that they are poor.