Reply to DC Public and charter - is there interest in year round school?

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Reply to "DC Public and charter - is there interest in year round school?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"When 75% of students are low-income and at risk, the school district needs to adjust to meet and prioritize their needs . Otherwise you are just perpetuating the gaps between rich and poor students."

So we ignore the needs of the smartest and highest-achieving kids who have the abilities to do great things for our city/country?

No, research shows that these kids do NOT do okay when their needs are ignored. In fact, a lot of them end up underachieving and, yes, in jail. (10% of the jail population is gifted, compared to 2-3% of the total population.) [/quote]

Please. Show me how anyone is "ignoring the needs of the smartest and highest-achieving kids." Your post assumes that the 75% of students who are low-income and at-risk are not smart or high achieving and lack the abilities to do great things for our city/country. Why do you assume that there are not kids in that 75% who will benefit from and be able to realize their high achieving status via an extended school year?

I think you sound pretty out of touch with the educational and social needs of a lot of children in this city. I don't doubt that extended year will be resisted in upper NW and the parts of the Hill that are populated by high income families, though I do think that the Hill families may be better acquainted with the needs of at-risk students since there are at-risk students in Hill schools. I don't think you need to worry about your kid missing out on underwater basket-weaving or whatever summer enrichment options the high SES kids are taking advantage of.

I think that a lot of people on this thread are operating in a very different reality than the parents of many kids whose schools are participating in this program. For starters, it sounds like many of you have the option to take weeks-long vacations at least once per summer. If you're talking about any kind of "enriching travel" you have the means to take enriching vacations, including paying for transportation to whatever enriching place and taking the time off work to travel. You are probably taking a paid vacation, which assumes that you work in a position where that's a benefit you have. If you're not taking vacations, and are prioritizing spending quality time with your kids over the summer, it sounds like you are either a stay at home parent or a person who is able to work from home. If you're the SAHP, you probably have a high-earning spouse and your family is solvent on one income.

That isn't true for the vast majority of parents at the schools where the program exists right now, so please spare us the concern about those poor neglected wealthy children and their potential to affect the future being compromised because of an extra 20 school days.[/quote]

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