Anonymous wrote:
My kids attend “these schools”. 60% of my kids’ ES is ESOL. We have a high FARMS rate. And you know what? It’s a great school. My kids are thriving. These newcomers have families who work hard - some with multiple jobs - and are invested in education. They love being in this country. These are the kids who will grow up to be contributors to their communities and this country, just like generations of immigrant children before them.
As a tax payer, this “support” doesn’t bother me. These are future teachers, doctors, plumbers, scientists. They’ll give back.
You know what does bother me in terms of freeloading? When taxpayers have to subsidize the healthcare and food intake for workers at incredibly wealthy companies like Wal Mart because the company pays people working full time dirt wages. Or tax cuts for billionaires who mine federal subsidies and tax payer paid infrastructure to build riches. That’s the kind of corporate welfare that every American should be outraged by because there is very little “trickle down” or benefit to anyone beyond a select number of shareholders.
But Trump and the GOP have very effectively kept their base focused on the “outrage” of desperate Latinos fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. Never mind that most illegal immigrants in this country are here because they overstayed their visas and came here through airports, not the southern border. Hence 54+ pages of this thread...
Have you monitored the attendance and drop out rate of FARMs students? By the time many hit secondary schools, grades and attendance fall and graduation is questionable.
This is a good article which talks about the truth behind the numbers - source.org/2017/poverty-poses-obstacle-to-100-percent-graduation-rate-expert-says/589190
Until poverty eliminated, schools won't graduate 100 percent of students, expert says
It focuses on CA, but we all know we have mini CAs in our area. And CA was mentioned as one of the "welcoming" states.
Russell Rumberger, a professor emeritus at UC Santa Barbara who directs the California Dropout Research Project, said poverty is too big an obstacle for some students to overcome. Although the graduation rate has increased, more than 50,000 students drop out of high school each year, he said.
. . .
Rumberger said Latino and other student groups who have historically lagged behind have made “remarkable” graduation gains, but he cautioned that “a high school diploma is really a blunt instrument and it doesn’t really tell us too much about what a student has learned.”
. . .
One of the concerns he wants to explore further is the rising use of “credit recovery” or online courses that students are taking in some districts, including Los Angeles Unified, to make up for more traditional semester-long courses that students may have failed.
“The rigor of that (credit recovery courses) is questionable,” he said, adding that districts still have a lot of discretion in what they require of students before giving them diplomas.
So your perspective is limited. I hate to burst your bubble. The information presented in this article only reinforces what's happening in our local schools.
It ain't working.