Reply to s/o Why are parents around here so worried about kids who receive free lunch?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "s/o Why are parents around here so worried about kids who receive free lunch?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have a child at Montgomery Knolls, which has a very high FARMS rate (64%), and I have to take issue with some of the comments on this thread.  DC is not FARMS but loves school and is learning a lot.  B/c the FARMS rate is so high, the school's at-a-glance says last year's average class for K was 17.8, smaller for 1 and 2 grades.  The at-a-glance also says that 2nd graders who are Caucasian have an 84% composite rate.  That's higher than the Caucasian rate at Bethesda Elementary (81%), which had a FARMS rate of 6.7% (and an average 22 kids/class).  So, if your assumption is that "poor" kids drag down the performance of kids from homes with more means, these stats, at least, don't show that.

Also, I know 2 kids in my DC's class have behavior issues.  One of them is a Caucasian kid with two parents at home, and I'm doubtful the kid is FARMS.  So, it may be true in general that poorer kids have more behavioral issues, but wealthier kids can, too.  And if you're considering a high FARMS school vs. a low-FARMS school, I'd think you'd have to consider the class size.  I understand from DCUM that lots of schools have K classes up to 25 or even 28 kids.  Is that classroom easier to manage than one with 18 or 19 kids, 63% of whom are FARMS? I am sure it depends.

Also, FWIW, I am happy to have DC exposed to kids of other backgrounds.  To me, there is a benefit in learning that not every kid lives in a house or speaks English at home.  DC has made friends across color/economic lines, and DC has shown empathy for kids who are not fluent in English.  So, I like that.  If behavior issues ever start to overwhlem the classroom or DC's experience, we'll change schools, for sure.  But a lot of the anti-FARMS sentiment seems, to me, pretty knee-jerk and unfortunate.  There are pros and cons to everything, including being at a high FARMS school.[/quote]

We are also at a SS school with high FARMS rate (above 50%) and I very much agree with this post.[/quote]

Me too.  My kids are thriving.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics