YY switches 5th grade trip from China to NYC

[Anonymous]

DC has a Chinatown. Why travel all the way to NYC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The stratification is already there because not all kids are able to attend. The fundraising is only covering a third of the students' costs this year.

Please get your facts straight - I have always understood the school to commit 100% to making sure all students who want to go can go. So whatever fundraising has happened so far, my understanding always was - and the school's been clear I feel - that all kids who want to go will go.

The stratification comes in with regard to parents attending too. Most of us (our family included) wouldn't feel comfortable sending our 5th grader on their own, even with chaperones. So the stratification comes in with regard to parents who don't have the money/haven't raised the money to also send a parent, which the school understandably won't pay for.

Man, charters are such a private, segregated school system. I thought the hurdles and logistics to even apply and attend an OOB/charter school was enough to discourage low-SES families, but this.takes.the.cake. Talk about tale of two cities.

Out of curiosity, for those students on free and reduced lunches, the school would pony up the entire cost of the trip for the student? Or was it on them to peddle fundraising schlock in their low-income neighborhood

No schlock. All fundraising was done as a class (wine raffle, parent's night out, etc.) or school (gala). The cost for every needy kid was covered.

Furthermore, the school guaranteed the cost coverage for any FARMS students. So no, they were not out of luck just because they couldn't raise that money on their own or in fundraisers.

Another YY parent here.

If the school guaranteed coverage of costs for any students at all, this is the first I'm hearing of it. If a family made under a certain threshold (I believe the same threshold as is required for free and reduced lunches), there is a scholarship available totaling a few hundred dollars, and that's available through the educational travel organization that hosted the trip. Also, the fundraising did not cover the entire cost of the student trip. While the school has stated that every student who wants to go should be able to go, the school did not provide additional scholarship to supplement the fundraising and that minimal scholarship through the travel organization. It's possible that most of the stratification or all of the stratification is in fact centered at the cost of the parent trip. It's just hard to know for sure given the obvious privacy concerns and sensitivity about family finances.

Basically it all boils down to this: In the first 2 years of the trip (because this is the 3rd year, correct?), did any low income families who were willing to send their child without a parent NOT receive adequate funding to go? Maybe I've misunderstood, but my understanding was that a family that could show financial hardship for sending their child would have their child's trip covered. The big issue was families not wanting the child to go alone, although a couple of kids have gone without a parent (but of course with chaperones). So has any child in the 1st 2 years had their family say "We can't afford to send our child" and the school didn't pay for that child's trip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Why is not like every YY parent not hosting a chinese exchange student?

House too small. No extra bedrooms. Wish we could!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you invite Chinese kids to stay at your house, you'll probably be invited back!

This is a very good idea. Why is not like every YY parent not hosting a chinese exchange student?

Most have au pairs

Chinese au pairs?

Yes

It is a huge exaggeration to say that most YY parents have Chinese au pairs. Some, sure. But I just posted and as I said we do not have an extra bedroom for an au pair, which is a requirement of the program. And we cannot afford a bigger house.

None of our friends at the school have Chinese au pairs either but I admit it's a small circle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you invite Chinese kids to stay at your house, you'll probably be invited back!

This is a very good idea. Why is not like every YY parent not hosting a chinese exchange student?

Most have au pairs

Chinese au pairs?

Yes

It is a huge exaggeration to say that most YY parents have Chinese au pairs. Some, sure. But I just posted and as I said we do not have an extra bedroom for an au pair, which is a requirement of the program. And we cannot afford a bigger house.

None of our friends at the school have Chinese au pairs either but I admit it's a small circle.

I have a pretty good-sized circle of parent friends at YY, and none of us has an au pair (Chinese or otherwise) either. It is a giant exaggeration to say most do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they just move it to middle school, why is it a huge deal? also, as teenagers the kids could raise their own money. save it for 10th grade.

I doubt it is as simple as ¨move it to middle school.¨ If fundraising is burdensome at YY, it will likely be much more so at DCI. Of the five schools at DCI, YY is definitely lowest in FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they just move it to middle school, why is it a huge deal? also, as teenagers the kids could raise their own money. save it for 10th grade.

I doubt it is as simple as ¨move it to middle school.¨ If fundraising is burdensome at YY, it will likely be much more so at DCI. Of the five schools at DCI, YY is definitely lowest in FARMS.

I agree , and I the children from the other feeder schools will at the same time fundraise for travel to Spain and France.

[Anonymous]

Basically it all boils down to this: In the first 2 years of the trip (because this is the 3rd year, correct?), did any low income families who were willing to send their child without a parent NOT receive adequate funding to go? Maybe I've misunderstood, but my understanding was that a family that could show financial hardship for sending their child would have their child's trip covered. The big issue was families not wanting the child to go alone, although a couple of kids have gone without a parent (but of course with chaperones). So has any child in the 1st 2 years had their family say "We can't afford to send our child" and the school didn't pay for that child's trip?

If you asked the school directly whether there was additional funding for low income families beyond the scholarship and fundraising, the answer was no. Not necessarily criticizing the school for that -- there were a number of reasons for it, I think -- but I don't want to assume that everyone who did not go on the trip did so because they couldn't afford the cost of the parent trip.

Also, in response to another post above, the size of the trip this year meant less funds raised per student. It's also not clear what the fundraising total will be until many payments have already been required.

Finally, there are other costs and challenges related to getting a passport, visa, travel vaccines, etc. that may be challenging for low income families.

I'm not against the trip, by the way. Just think it's important to be clear about the financial picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Basically it all boils down to this: In the first 2 years of the trip (because this is the 3rd year, correct?), did any low income families who were willing to send their child without a parent NOT receive adequate funding to go? Maybe I've misunderstood, but my understanding was that a family that could show financial hardship for sending their child would have their child's trip covered. The big issue was families not wanting the child to go alone, although a couple of kids have gone without a parent (but of course with chaperones). So has any child in the 1st 2 years had their family say "We can't afford to send our child" and the school didn't pay for that child's trip?

If you asked the school directly whether there was additional funding for low income families beyond the scholarship and fundraising, the answer was no. Not necessarily criticizing the school for that -- there were a number of reasons for it, I think -- but I don't want to assume that everyone who did not go on the trip did so because they couldn't afford the cost of the parent trip.

Also, in response to another post above, the size of the trip this year meant less funds raised per student. It's also not clear what the fundraising total will be until many payments have already been required.

Finally, there are other costs and challenges related to getting a passport, visa, travel vaccines, etc. that may be challenging for low income families.

I'm not against the trip, by the way. Just think it's important to be clear about the financial picture.

Wow. I guess at this stage, after this year, the trip will be a thing of the past anyway... but if what you say is true, it rings huge huge alarms about stratification that I hadn't been aware of on this issue before. I thought all low income students were guaranteed to be able to go. If that was not the case, wow, I dunno that just seems horrifically unfair to low income students when pretty much even middle-income parents were struggling to raise all the money. The model you are describing pretty much guarantees everyone in the lowest SES groups at the school will not be able to go - how else do they raise the money to go?

I'm not happy the trip is gone, but if it was this unfair, I understand that it's more fair for all if it's not a school-supported event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has a Chinatown. Why travel all the way to NYC?

Agree. Why go to NYC to see Chinatown? It's not like they speak more Mandarin there than they do in DC's Chinatown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has a Chinatown. Why travel all the way to NYC?

Agree. Why go to NYC to see Chinatown? It's not like they speak more Mandarin there than they do in DC's Chinatown.

Didn't someone upthread mention an exchange with other NYC Mandarin-language schools? Sounded like that was part of the idea (in terms of why not just stay in DC). Besides, there are many occasions that YY students go to Chinatown over the years at YY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has a Chinatown. Why travel all the way to NYC?

Agree. Why go to NYC to see Chinatown? It's not like they speak more Mandarin there than they do in DC's Chinatown.

Didn't someone upthread mention an exchange with other NYC Mandarin-language schools? Sounded like that was part of the idea (in terms of why not just stay in DC). Besides, there are many occasions that YY students go to Chinatown over the years at YY.

While getting rid of the trip to China is understandable, the things mentioned to replace the trip sounds lame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has a Chinatown. Why travel all the way to NYC?

Agree. Why go to NYC to see Chinatown? It's not like they speak more Mandarin there than they do in DC's Chinatown.

Didn't someone upthread mention an exchange with other NYC Mandarin-language schools? Sounded like that was part of the idea (in terms of why not just stay in DC). Besides, there are many occasions that YY students go to Chinatown over the years at YY.

While getting rid of the trip to China is understandable, the things mentioned to replace the trip sounds lame.

Totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone broken the news to Michelle Obama?

[Anonymous]

YY has always had a stratified school. Look who's in the non-immersion classes.