To add, mixing kids is not a solution, it will just make schools equally bad. The answer is of course early intervention plus poverty reduction but it’s a long shot I know. It seems like more and more poor families just… appear from thin air? Not sure.

OP here. My son is at a middle school that is about 30% FRL and we make do. But they do use tracking (even though they don’t advertise it) so he is mostly with the “good” kids. I am writing this to answer the question of how much poverty is “acceptable” and also about my age.
My post is not intended to be provocative. It’s to alert the clueless parents, who have options yet choose this.
The school I am in isn’t “dangerous”, not in the primary grades at least. The worst things about it are a strong emphasis on discipline (which I heard was also the case with high poverty charters) and lack of intellectual curiosity in kids, combined with low retention of knowledge. I leave it up to you to decide whether you want such environment for the kids.
As to whether I try to improve it. My child used to be at a 65% FRL school and I was clueless then. I invested a lot in that school but the damage was still done. We were lucky to get a spot at a lottery school for 3rd grade and that’s when my eyes started to open.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called "diversity" which sounds better than high poverty schools. Somehow it's supposed to be a good thing.

Do you support forced busing? Because that’s the only way for there not to be high poverty schools.

You people only use phrases like “forced busing” when it’s an alternative to the deliberate racial and economic segregation that is so common in American schools. No one is fooled.

Ok. Are you willing to have your kid spend an hour on the bus every morning?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, not everyone wants to be house poor. Home ownership is much more pleasant for most than being a perpetual renter.

I’d rather live in a small house or commute longer than send my kid to a bad school.

Your decision.

Yep and your decision is to throw your kids’ academics out the window. To each their own.

+1000. Like the parent who wrote this:

Much more bothersome to me is the difficulty of accessing services for kids who are behind academically and the overall low academic expectations. As I've worked to get additional academic support for my kid, I've been told "well, our curriculum is so ineffective that you can't expect your child to be on grade level" and "well all the kids at this school are behind so you can't expect your kid to be on grade level."

I mean WTF, if you’re a parent who cares and can afford better, why would you subject your children to this?

You’re both awful people. Not everyone can afford to just up and move.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, not everyone wants to be house poor. Home ownership is much more pleasant for most than being a perpetual renter.

I’d rather live in a small house or commute longer than send my kid to a bad school.

Your decision.

Yep and your decision is to throw your kids’ academics out the window. To each their own.

+1000. Like the parent who wrote this:

Much more bothersome to me is the difficulty of accessing services for kids who are behind academically and the overall low academic expectations. As I've worked to get additional academic support for my kid, I've been told "well, our curriculum is so ineffective that you can't expect your child to be on grade level" and "well all the kids at this school are behind so you can't expect your kid to be on grade level."

I mean WTF, if you’re a parent who cares and can afford better, why would you subject your children to this?

Oh, so you think any parent who cares and is invested in their child must also have wealth. Got it. I send my child to the school that is our best option. Every single public school and public charter in my city and the surrounding cities is a high poverty/underfunded relative to the needs of the population school. I share custody of my child and cannot move unless I wish to lose custody. I actually invest a lot of time and energy in improving my district, what do you do?

Anonymous wrote:Then stop trying to interfere when school systems try to balance the socioeconomic mix.

When we say " don't send your kid to schools with high poverty "- remember we created these environments.

Some school systems have too many poor children to “dilute” or “distribute” them effectively. Fairfax County for instance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called "diversity" which sounds better than high poverty schools. Somehow it's supposed to be a good thing.

Do you support forced busing? Because that’s the only way for there not to be high poverty schools.

You people only use phrases like “forced busing” when it’s an alternative to the deliberate racial and economic segregation that is so common in American schools. No one is fooled.

Anonymous wrote:It's called "diversity" which sounds better than high poverty schools. Somehow it's supposed to be a good thing.

Do you support forced busing? Because that’s the only way for there not to be high poverty schools.

Anonymous wrote:It's called "diversity" which sounds better than high poverty schools. Somehow it's supposed to be a good thing.

What? No. Plenty of schools are high poverty and not "diverse"

White people aren't immune from being poor.

It's called "diversity" which sounds better than high poverty schools. Somehow it's supposed to be a good thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, not everyone wants to be house poor. Home ownership is much more pleasant for most than being a perpetual renter.

I’d rather live in a small house or commute longer than send my kid to a bad school.

Your decision.

Yep and your decision is to throw your kids’ academics out the window. To each their own.

+1000. Like the parent who wrote this:

Much more bothersome to me is the difficulty of accessing services for kids who are behind academically and the overall low academic expectations. As I've worked to get additional academic support for my kid, I've been told "well, our curriculum is so ineffective that you can't expect your child to be on grade level" and "well all the kids at this school are behind so you can't expect your kid to be on grade level."

I mean WTF, if you’re a parent who cares and can afford better, why would you subject your children to this?

Anonymous wrote:Then stop trying to interfere when school systems try to balance the socioeconomic mix.

When we say " don't send your kid to schools with high poverty "- remember we created these environments.

+100

This is a post intended to be provocative and people fell into it. Lol

Nothing riles up white Americans than the topic of what a good school is lmaooo

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your parents are well educated and connected, and supplement at home and pay attention to what the school is providing, the kids will probably be fine.

It's all the parents who send their kids to school and don't care who are the problem. And, yes, there are LMC and MC parents who don't pay that much attention or care, because they don't think school is important.

I respectfully disagree, as an elementary teacher. You are willfully exposing your child to near toxic levels of stress that NO child should experience. But children who have not had stable homes nor witnessed healthy relationships bring those traumas through the school door every day. Your child will hear language, see behaviors, and possibly receive physical aggression that is confusing and harmful. I would maybe be more okay with it in later high school when they have some ability to understand it. But no way in hell would I put my child into this environment before then. And let me be clear that it’s not okay for ANY child, not just those whose parents can afford better schools/neighborhoods.

Wealthy families have trauma, neglect, drug abuse and sex abuse too... its just more hidden.

Exactly. This behavior is no exclusive to the poor. What an odd way of thinking.

Then stop trying to interfere when school systems try to balance the socioeconomic mix.

When we say " don't send your kid to schools with high poverty "- remember we created these environments.