Anonymous wrote:LOL at no-nothing parents accusing parents who actually understand nutrition as "entitled." It's not like informed parents are telling anyone what to do on their private time -- feel free to eat all the sugary snacks you want (and pay the consequences). But when it comes to a government-run school, educated parents have every right, if not a social obligation, to set the school straight. Especially when the school isn't even following its own rules when it comes to health.

The finger-pointing by no-nothing EOTP parents looks very similar to non-studying kids making fun of smart kids for being smart. Maybe the non-studying kids also view the smart kids as being "entitled," when in reality what the the smart kids are doing is being successful.

Again, as someone said upthred, the breakfast\lunch is provided by the District, NOT the school itself. Stop blaming the school! Email Kaya or whomever to get your point across. The school has nothing to do with this. They have better things to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL at no-nothing parents accusing parents who actually understand nutrition as "entitled." It's not like informed parents are telling anyone what to do on their private time -- feel free to eat all the sugary snacks you want (and pay the consequences). But when it comes to a government-run school, educated parents have every right, if not a social obligation, to set the school straight. Especially when the school isn't even following its own rules when it comes to health.

The finger-pointing by no-nothing EOTP parents looks very similar to non-studying kids making fun of smart kids for being smart. Maybe the non-studying kids also view the smart kids as being "entitled," when in reality what the the smart kids are doing is being successful.

On behalf of gentrifier parents who let their kids eat icecream and watch tv from time to time: please stop. Devote your concern to figuring out what the teachers lack and need. If you really believe the administrators are such idiots then you should probably not be in that school at all.

One of the most important things a parent can do for a child is NOT send the child to a defective school, you're right about that! But if the school is acceptable and you send your kid there, and the school should be doing more to serve healthy food, then it is ALSO your obligation as a parent to make the school do better. It's not just good for your kid, but everyone's kid, whether every singe parent realizes it or not.

And, again, no one is saying you can't spoil your kid while in the comfort of your own home. No one is saying you can't. The main point is to make sure that government services are provided properly.

Anonymous wrote:LOL at no-nothing parents accusing parents who actually understand nutrition as "entitled." It's not like informed parents are telling anyone what to do on their private time -- feel free to eat all the sugary snacks you want (and pay the consequences). But when it comes to a government-run school, educated parents have every right, if not a social obligation, to set the school straight. Especially when the school isn't even following its own rules when it comes to health.

The finger-pointing by no-nothing EOTP parents looks very similar to non-studying kids making fun of smart kids for being smart. Maybe the non-studying kids also view the smart kids as being "entitled," when in reality what the the smart kids are doing is being successful.

On behalf of gentrifier parents who let their kids eat icecream and watch tv from time to time: please stop. Devote your concern to figuring out what the teachers lack and need. If you really believe the administrators are such idiots then you should probably not be in that school at all.

LOL at no-nothing parents accusing parents who actually understand nutrition as "entitled." It's not like informed parents are telling anyone what to do on their private time -- feel free to eat all the sugary snacks you want (and pay the consequences). But when it comes to a government-run school, educated parents have every right, if not a social obligation, to set the school straight. Especially when the school isn't even following its own rules when it comes to health.

The finger-pointing by no-nothing EOTP parents looks very similar to non-studying kids making fun of smart kids for being smart. Maybe the non-studying kids also view the smart kids as being "entitled," when in reality what the the smart kids are doing is being successful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It may look trivial to complain about yogurt/McD/TV, given all the issues Title 1 schools have to address; it clearly rubs people the wrong way. But maybe those are the obvious things "gentrifiers" feel comfortable addressing. They hardly can march in there and start demanding whole-scale curriculum change - imagine the reaction to that. Let it go - a donut here and there isn't so bad, but a regular diet of junk food isn't so good - if there is a way to use funds to promote healthier eating habits, why not? Or steer the energies towards things like art supplies, like one poster suggested. Sounds to me like, if parents want to help, want to make an investment in the future of a school, why is it so important to fight it? Pick the things that need fixing and go for it. Together. That's the goal, right?

The thing is, it doesn't matter what the specific change is, or however merited the request may be -- it's the "marching in" that rubs people the wrong way.

If you don't want to come across as entitled, muster some humility and ask how you can help, rather than assuming you know what needs to be changed.

Oh please. I am so tire of everyone trying to warn high SES parents about how to behave etc. so as not to offend the other parents. Lets have a reality check. At my title 1 school, most of the parents are immigrants from countries with completely dysfunctional civic institutions. Its not just low income that keeps them from speaking up. They don't have a culture of participating or "questioning authority" etc. Parents advocating and setting high expectations of school admins is not entitlement its part of a social contract in a community. I expect the teachers to be good, and the admins responsive. the rising tide lifts all boats in my opinion. I will also advocate for my kid and that in turn helps the other kids. I don't care if you are offended. Get over it.

Jesus, are you really that clueless? Don't you remember the Latino janitors marching a few years ago? They are the backbone of any remaining labor movement in this country.

So go ahead with your individualistic "advocacy" for your snowflake. Just don't fool yourself into thinking you are doing anything for the rest of the kids, and don't complain when you are called entitled and privileged.

I think the thing that the "entitled gentrifiers" seem to have a hard time understanding is that there are differences between their enlightened, organic-only, no-screen-time-or-added-sugar parenting style and the parenting styles of other people in the world, not to mention the school their kids are attending. I understand where they're coming from, as I'm with them on some issues, but at the end of the day, I don't think that Trix yogurt every once in a while at school (which, even if it happens once a month, is still hardly eating poison all the time) or 45 minutes of TV on a Friday afternoon in aftercare are that big of a deal. I understand that these things are off-putting to potential new gentrifier parents, but complaining about them in a way that sends the message "the way you are raising your kids is irresponsible and wrong" to parents who don't think it's the end of the world is off-putting as well. The 45 minute TV block doesn't mean that the aftercare teachers aren't interacting with the kids. My child comes home talking about the books they read at aftercare a lot more often than she tells me about the shows they watch on Fridays. They have specials, they have outside time, they have books, they have snacks. I am all for a well rounded, enriching aftercare experience and that's what she's getting, even with the tiny TV block at the end of the week.

One thing that the former principal of my EOTP school said last year when asked about parent engagement was that parent engagement doesn't always look the same to everyone. Some parents may be comfortable volunteering in their kid's classroom. Some parents may be comfortable donating money or running a fundraiser. Some parents may be more comfortable bringing food to events. She was off track about a lot of other things and was not very receptive to parent involvement overall, but she wasn't wrong about this.

And PP, stop saying that sugared yogurt is "poison." It's not poison. It's not healthy, and personally I'd love it if it wasn't on the menu, but I'm not going to make a cabinet crisis out of it and calling it poison just makes you sound hysterical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It may look trivial to complain about yogurt/McD/TV, given all the issues Title 1 schools have to address; it clearly rubs people the wrong way. But maybe those are the obvious things "gentrifiers" feel comfortable addressing. They hardly can march in there and start demanding whole-scale curriculum change - imagine the reaction to that. Let it go - a donut here and there isn't so bad, but a regular diet of junk food isn't so good - if there is a way to use funds to promote healthier eating habits, why not? Or steer the energies towards things like art supplies, like one poster suggested. Sounds to me like, if parents want to help, want to make an investment in the future of a school, why is it so important to fight it? Pick the things that need fixing and go for it. Together. That's the goal, right?

The thing is, it doesn't matter what the specific change is, or however merited the request may be -- it's the "marching in" that rubs people the wrong way.

If you don't want to come across as entitled, muster some humility and ask how you can help, rather than assuming you know what needs to be changed.

Oh please. I am so tire of everyone trying to warn high SES parents about how to behave etc. so as not to offend the other parents. Lets have a reality check. At my title 1 school, most of the parents are immigrants from countries with completely dysfunctional civic institutions. Its not just low income that keeps them from speaking up. They don't have a culture of participating or "questioning authority" etc. Parents advocating and setting high expectations of school admins is not entitlement its part of a social contract in a community. I expect the teachers to be good, and the admins responsive. the rising tide lifts all boats in my opinion. I will also advocate for my kid and that in turn helps the other kids. I don't care if you are offended. Get over it.

Anonymous wrote:It may look trivial to complain about yogurt/McD/TV, given all the issues Title 1 schools have to address; it clearly rubs people the wrong way. But maybe those are the obvious things "gentrifiers" feel comfortable addressing. They hardly can march in there and start demanding whole-scale curriculum change - imagine the reaction to that. Let it go - a donut here and there isn't so bad, but a regular diet of junk food isn't so good - if there is a way to use funds to promote healthier eating habits, why not? Or steer the energies towards things like art supplies, like one poster suggested. Sounds to me like, if parents want to help, want to make an investment in the future of a school, why is it so important to fight it? Pick the things that need fixing and go for it. Together. That's the goal, right?

The thing is, it doesn't matter what the specific change is, or however merited the request may be -- it's the "marching in" that rubs people the wrong way.

If you don't want to come across as entitled, muster some humility and ask how you can help, rather than assuming you know what needs to be changed.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, a juice box isn't healthy for kids either. It's all sugar. Better to give the child the actual fruit to eat.

I'm aware of that, but I still give them juice on occasion. It's things like the PP talked about, a bad of chips for lunch every day, that's really problematic. Not an occasional box of juice, yogurt, or cupcakes.
In fact, a childhood without some of that seems unnecessarily bleak.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It may look trivial to complain about yogurt/McD/TV, given all the issues Title 1 schools have to address; it clearly rubs people the wrong way. But maybe those are the obvious things "gentrifiers" feel comfortable addressing. They hardly can march in there and start demanding whole-scale curriculum change - imagine the reaction to that. Let it go - a donut here and there isn't so bad, but a regular diet of junk food isn't so good - if there is a way to use funds to promote healthier eating habits, why not? Or steer the energies towards things like art supplies, like one poster suggested. Sounds to me like, if parents want to help, want to make an investment in the future of a school, why is it so important to fight it? Pick the things that need fixing and go for it. Together. That's the goal, right?

Whether rich or poor, parents do not make curriculum decisions - especially in the age of grant money, and both DCPS and many DCPCSs have received lots of it.

The idea that anyone can "march in there" and make curriculum changes betrays genuine ignorance. Stop it. If you hate the idea of your children being in school with greater than 20% FARMS students then move or go private.

(My money is where my mouth is. I've already put one child in private.)

The parents in question were not complaining about the low income children or the curriculum, they were standing up for all the kids and asking for more healthy practices. They absolutely should do this, whether in a Title 1 school or a private daycare. Schools should not be provided kids with non-nutritional food and television. This is not an income thing. Everyone should feel entitled to ask of that. If is sad that don't feel they have the right to insist. These are small changes that take absolutely nothing from the resources of the schools.

Seriously, a juice box isn't healthy for kids either. It's all sugar. Better to give the child the actual fruit to eat.

Anonymous wrote:NP here - I find it pretty hard to swallow that it's really that many poor families who "can't afford" a $3 raffle ticket - every school morning I see a long line of kids coming from the nearby subsidized housing projects and lining up outside CVS on their way to their majority FARMS school waiting to buy candy, chips, junk food... (they make them wait at the door to prevent shoplifting) It's not "can't afford" to support the school as much as it is "don't care and don't want to" support the school.

I seriously think most of the posters making their commentaries are either being disingenuous or don't actually know half of what goes on.

When I used to work in DC my heart would break to see kids bring in huge bags of junk food (we're are talking about 8 to 10 serving bag in a bag here) to school off and they claim that that was their lunch and I'd force them to go through the cafeteria line and get a real nutritionally balanced lunch. Bringing in junk food or having Lunchables was a major status boost for children. I think that was why families prioritized spending money on that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm more of a Stoneyfield or Chobani girl myself, but has anyone looked at the nutrition information for Yoplait's "Trix" Yogurt? It's not like we're talking about Cheetos, people.

http://www.yoplait.com/products/yoplaittrixyogurt

Seriously, this is less sugar than that box of organic juice you give your kids.

Have never in my life given my kid sugar water to drink. He's had it at a party or from a well-meaning Aunt. But it is a low bar to use as a standard to judge food provided by a SCHOOL!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michelle Obama can lead a child to plain, unflavored, sugar-free, greek-style yogurt, but she can't make him eat it.

And most won't if it isn't something they've been eating at home. It will be more food wasted. Seaweed anyone?

Have never fed my kid seaweed at home. Him and all his classmates happily gobble up seaweed chips at school. I saw one aftercare provider persuade a little boy to try something (can't remember what). He was reluctant but then ate it all. Schools SHOULD be filling their minds and bellies with good stuff no matter what home they come from. Good food isn't just for rich people.

Anonymous wrote:It can't go both ways - there can't be complaints about the achievement gap and then complaints about parents efforts to bring changes that help eliminate the achievement gap.

The little things do matter. It's hundreds of those little things that added up are making sure that higher SES children are achieving more than lower income counterparts.

By itself, Trix yogurt doesn't seem like a big deal but school is an excellent place to teach kids the basics of good nutrition and healthy eating. It's something that the high SES kids will learn at home but that might not be true for the low SES kids. In addition to it just being useful everyday knowledge it introduces children to science concepts and scientific vocabulary.

Watching one TV show a week might not be a big deal but instead of that one tv show if the staff instead took the time to talk to the kids or even read books out loud that would increase vocabulary exposure for low income kids and that in turn could help with academic success in a way that watching Dora never will.

If you think Trix yogurt and an episode of Dora are causing the acheivement gap, you are both dumb and entitled.