Reply to Truth about being three coughs above FARMS at a high performing Charter School

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Reply to "Truth about being three coughs above FARMS at a high performing Charter School"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Agreed and impressed on multiple fronts, but -- do you regret it? Is there a different/better option for your child? I am in a similar situation, just accepted into top charter school and thrilled about it, despite some serious doubts. Would my (or your) child be better off in the struggling neighborhood DCPS that is actually doing a good job of educating a wide range of kids with little fanfare or self-congratulation? Sincere question. I wonder if we are choosing right for our own child in this situation.[/quote]

OP here, I know this is farther down in the thread, so I hope that the person will get to read my response to the questions asked earlier.

Do I regret enrolling my child in a high-demand charter school?  Sometimes I think about what it would have been like.  There is something to note about the stability of knowing that the principal will be the same next year, or that your school won't be closed due to politics or some other reason.  I do wish I'd not been so naive about academic program implementation however.  My best suggestion is to supplement as much as you possibly can with outside enrichment.  In that way no matter which way it goes, your child has a better change of not being behind his or her peers.  Even if the progress report says "Satisfactory" or "A" or "On Grade Level"  I'd encourage every family to take the documents with a grain of salt, and supplement as much as you can.

To address the additional responses:

I do concur that EVERY high demand charter school may not present ALL of the challenges with economic marginalization that I mentioned, but this has been my experience and echoed by several friends who have been through the trenches.  It is rare to find school administrators and boards that are truly committed to implementing pathways for every type of student, regardless of income.  I remember hearing an administrator say once, "If a child can't learn to read here then we have not found enough ways to teach our children to read."  He was adamant about  public schools serving ALL of the public and not only SOME of the public. On either extreme.  Many schools cater to the affluent and the most indigent, leaving the rest of the kids in the middle to sink or swim.

As stated earlier, I wish I could have read something like what I wrote a few years back.  The barriers to accessing free, low, or moderately cost enrichment opportunities are real for so many working parents, yet beyond understanding for those who have never had to struggle to survive on either end of the spectrum.   To over simplify and dismiss the concerns of those who struggle with these issues  is the equivalent to saying "Let them Eat Cake", with an obliviousness to an sub-culture of separatism and inequity.

To that end, Thanks for reading.
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