Entitled EOTP parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. That isn't what I said. I said that I saw nothing wrong with these requests. In the original post, it was suggested that the principal ignores every one of them. Most of these actually shouldn't involve the principal at all. They are simple requests that are reflective of what most halfway decent schools provide. I'm sorry that you don't think your children deserve such basic standards.

The post didn't say the principal ignores everyone of them. Maybe saying that made your point valid.

[Anonymous]

"I hope the principal stops them in their tracks."

[Anonymous]

The point is, these parents are *perceived* as entitled - as in selfish and clueless and privileged. Whether or not is is a platonic truth that Trix yogurt is not served by any decent school does not matter. The fact is that the parents are alienating other parents, and probably not working productively with the administration. I'm surprised that DCUM people have managed to become adults, and presumably successful at their jobs, and have chosen to attend a Title I school, and don't understand this. It does not matter if you believe you are right in a complex system where there are many other legitimate interests at play. You can't just come charging into an established school and start ordering people around - EVEN IF YOU ARE SURE YOU ARE RIGHT. Change does not happen that way. If ALL you want is for Larlo not to be served Trix yogurt once a month, or for Larla to have an extra reading book, then sure, march in and make your uncompromising demands. But if you really want to make the school work for everyone, you are going to have to be more humble, cooperative, and sensitive.

Anyway, I would like to hear from gentrifier parents who actually feel they have a good partnership with their Title I principal and the entire school community.

[Anonymous]

Every time I hear someone whining about "entitled parents" I think the person doing the whining is someone who is complacent, a defender of the status quo, who doesn't give a shit about improving schools and whose only agenda in life is to not have their little boat rocked. There's perceptions for you. Show us you don't own that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking forward to that.

+100

[Anonymous]

Our principal at our title 1 school Powell, is very receptive to us gentrifiers. Its been up and coming school before most of us started attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone whining about "entitled parents" I think the person doing the whining is someone who is complacent, a defender of the status quo, who doesn't give a shit about improving schools and whose only agenda in life is to not have their little boat rocked. There's perceptions for you. Show us you don't own that.

Here's how you can help improve schools in a respectful, non-entitled way: instead of complaining about yogurt once a month, or McDs on a field trip, ASK (the principal or your child's teacher or someone on the PTA) what you can do to help. Don't assume you know better than the people who are supposed to know these things. Maybe they're unable to send home differentiated assignments because they are short of toner for the copy machine. Maybe the art teacher needs construction paper & glue sticks.

If I'm working in a school where a lack of supplies is making it hard for teachers to perform in the classroom, I'm going to be ticked off that you're wasting my time on complaints about yogurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time I hear someone whining about "entitled parents" I think the person doing the whining is someone who is complacent, a defender of the status quo, who doesn't give a shit about improving schools and whose only agenda in life is to not have their little boat rocked. There's perceptions for you. Show us you don't own that.

Here's how you can help improve schools in a respectful, non-entitled way: instead of complaining about yogurt once a month, or McDs on a field trip, ASK (the principal or your child's teacher or someone on the PTA) what you can do to help. Don't assume you know better than the people who are supposed to know these things. Maybe they're unable to send home differentiated assignments because they are short of toner for the copy machine. Maybe the art teacher needs construction paper & glue sticks.

If I'm working in a school where a lack of supplies is making it hard for teachers to perform in the classroom, I'm going to be ticked off that you're wasting my time on complaints about yogurt.

That could be because you are willfully ignorant of the damage caused to children's health by exposure to junk food, and of the fact that poor nutritional early habits have a worse impact on a person's lifelong health than an arts supplies deficiency?

Also keep in mind the totally obvious fact that rather than whine that parents are making demands instead of offering to help, you could ask for supplies/funds, and the very same parents who are worrying about the children's nutrition and screen time will fall over themselves to get you arts supplies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really ridiculous at my Title 1 school. I hope the principal stops them in their tracks. They have no idea what disadvantages some of the kids face. We are a middle class biracial family and are turned off by some of these parents. Gentrification is good, but not when you have parents who don't have a clue or complain about the littlest things.

How are the parents at your Title 1 (up and coming) school?

I'm at a Title 1 school EOTP school. There are definitely some differences in style and focus between the gentrifier parents (including myself). I think that it's also a slight difference in parenting priorities due to the ages of the kids in question. The gentrifiers all have kids in PK3 or 4, so they are almost by definition out of touch with the way things work in the upper grades. In PK, kids are pretty much all on the same level (with some obvious differences between kids who are reading early and kids who are delayed in some way), but as kids get older, the differences in academics become more pronounced. The older kids also have legacy behavioral issues that were tolerated by the previous principal that are not tolerated by the new principal, and this has caused some friction between the new administration and the parents of the misbehaving kids.

I don't really see the gentrifiers as being entitled or clueless. They just come from really different backgrounds and, as you said, don't have a clue what some of the kids face outside school. Their complaints seem small when taken in the context of larger issues faced by kids in class, but for them, issues like kids getting yogurt with a lot of added sugar for breakfast or Dora the Explorer being shown in aftercare once a week are really big deals. Privilege is what it is.

to me these are big deals, and are big deals especially for poor kids who rely on school to get their meals and to get their education and safe playing time. kids from high SES families have likely breakfast at home, are never hungry and eat healthy meals everyday. they are less likely parked in front of the TV at 3, but grow up with educated parents who read to them daily and go to enrichment classes (music, dance, martial art, arts, and whatever else you can think of) since they are babies. to me, fighting so the school provide kids with healthy breakfast instead of a piece of junk full of sugar (which the school pays anyway, maybe the same they would pay an healthier alternative) and the time at the aftercare is spent doing some meaningful activities instead of being parked before the TV is not a matter of being entitled, is fighting for everybody and especially for the more vulnerable among the kids. a lot of them face a very hard life, but gentrifiers, as they are called here, do not have a magic wand and what they can do is limited. certainly they cannot buy a house for a homeless child. Title 1 schools are supposed to receive substantial additional funding, which pay for things like meals and aftercare. making sure this money is well spent for the kids is important IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mega monster entitled aspiring dcps parent here. My head would effing aesplode if dcps fed my child McDonalds.

FWIW, my child was at an fancy Bethesda daycare for two years before starting PK3 at our EOTP IB school this year. Guess where they eat on field trips at both schools? McDonald's.

Yes I don't love some of these things--the occasional McD's, the odd screen time in aftercare, a bit too much candy for my taste around holidays, etc. We don't eat junk food ourselves and we're pretty much a TV-free household, but there are bigger fish to fry. Before I go requesting significant changes I want to make sure I'm doing so in a respectful manner so that there's a greater chance of a positive reception. My tact is laying low for the most part our first year to get a feel for the school and to build good relationships with the school principal and others.

[Anonymous]

This conversation about the relative merit of Trix yogurt or McDonald's provided to kids on field trips should not last too long, given the fact that it is ILLEGAL for DCPS to provide such unhealthy foods to kids on school time. Please see the D.C. Healthy Schools Act, which serves to control teachers' food distribution choices:

http://dchealthyschools.org/

For those of you who don't understand that Trix yogurt and McDonald's is poison food, then you'd best educate yourselves, in order to comply with DCPS law if you are an educator. We can't do much about under-educated or under-informed parents other than show then where the water is, and hope they drink the message and figure it out. But to criticize those who understand healthy food as "entitled" is just plain ignorant.

[Anonymous]

The yogurt was on the menu one time. Say it with me "one time". Gesh ppl you are acting like it was given to the kids every day or every week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mega monster entitled aspiring dcps parent here. My head would effing aesplode if dcps fed my child McDonalds.

FWIW, my child was at an fancy Bethesda daycare for two years before starting PK3 at our EOTP IB school this year. Guess where they eat on field trips at both schools? McDonald's.

Yes I don't love some of these things--the occasional McD's, the odd screen time in aftercare, a bit too much candy for my taste around holidays, etc. We don't eat junk food ourselves and we're pretty much a TV-free household, but there are bigger fish to fry. Before I go requesting significant changes I want to make sure I'm doing so in a respectful manner so that there's a greater chance of a positive reception. My tact is laying low for the most part our first year to get a feel for the school and to build good relationships with the school principal and others.

PP here. Just to clarify, my child's DCPS class had only one trip to McDonald's this year. It was actually unplanned, due to a change in the field trip schedule. Every other time we've been asked to either pack a lunch, or they eat school lunch when they get back to school. In contrast, at the Bethesda daycare, they ate at McDonald's after pretty much every field trip (only a few times a year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This conversation about the relative merit of Trix yogurt or McDonald's provided to kids on field trips should not last too long, given the fact that it is ILLEGAL for DCPS to provide such unhealthy foods to kids on school time. Please see the D.C. Healthy Schools Act, which serves to control teachers' food distribution choices:

http://dchealthyschools.org/

For those of you who don't understand that Trix yogurt and McDonald's is poison food, then you'd best educate yourselves, in order to comply with DCPS law if you are an educator. We can't do much about under-educated or under-informed parents other than show then where the water is, and hope they drink the message and figure it out. But to criticize those who understand healthy food as "entitled" is just plain ignorant.

The "educators" at the school aren't responsible for the breakfast or lunch provided to she students. Maybe you should educate yourself on that issue. Furthermore, is DCPS not complying with it's own Act?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mega monster entitled aspiring dcps parent here. My head would effing aesplode if dcps fed my child McDonalds.

FWIW, my child was at an fancy Bethesda daycare for two years before starting PK3 at our EOTP IB school this year. Guess where they eat on field trips at both schools? McDonald's.

Yes I don't love some of these things--the occasional McD's, the odd screen time in aftercare, a bit too much candy for my taste around holidays, etc. We don't eat junk food ourselves and we're pretty much a TV-free household, but there are bigger fish to fry. Before I go requesting significant changes I want to make sure I'm doing so in a respectful manner so that there's a greater chance of a positive reception. My tact is laying low for the most part our first year to get a feel for the school and to build good relationships with the school principal and others.

PP here. Just to clarify, my child's DCPS class had only one trip to McDonald's this year. It was actually unplanned, due to a change in the field trip schedule. Every other time we've been asked to either pack a lunch, or they eat school lunch when they get back to school. In contrast, at the Bethesda daycare, they ate at McDonald's after pretty much every field trip (only a few times a year).

Who cares what Bethesda does? What's your point?

In D.C., McDonald's or Trix provided by DCPS is flat-out illegal. You think a judge is gonna let you off just because you tell her you only shoplifted once? Of course not. The point is, poison food should not be provided by DCPS to our kids, ever, not even once. There are lives at stake.