How far will LAUSD parents go to find a better school for their children?
A parent who lives by Palms Middle School chose to send her child to Paul Revere Middle School about seven miles away. This is a heavy traffic drive and the street leading to Revere is a one lane road in each direction.
Why? Because she wants the best education for her child.
Parents go so far as to use someone else’s address. This is a common practice as parents in areas where their home school is not to their expectations find other ways to get their children into a preferred school.
Many years ago, a number of students attending an elementary school were found using the same residential address where none of them lived. People have turned the guardianship of their child over to a relative living in the residential area of a desired school.
There are also students using permits with transfer and taking extremely long school bus rides to attend better schools. There are also students who utilize public transportation to reach a school that their family prefers.
All schools are not created equal.
Read moreIt was the best of schools, it was the worst of schools
I have taught at one of the ten lowest performing schools in LAUSD. I have taught at one of ten highest performing schools in LAUSD. I have taught at schools that are in between.
What is the difference? Is it the community? Is it the dedication of the teachers? It is the experience of the teachers at one school versus the inexperience of the teachers at the other one? Is it the economic levels of the parents? Is it the languages spoken at home by the families?
Is it the expectations and educational level of the parents? Is it the time spent on discipline? Is it parental support for student’s conduct and homework?
It is all of the above!
Read moreWhat happens when there are no veteran teachers left in LAUSD schools?
The senior teachers are being driven out, put into teachers’ jails, retiring early or changing careers because of their dissatisfaction with what public education has become; pretty soon there will only be new, inexperienced (perhaps TFA) teachers on many school sites.
Teachers will tell you that veteran teachers helped them in their early years of teaching and that they in turn helped others along the way.
As an inexperienced teacher you went to the veterans and asked:
“What do I do in this situation?”
“Did this ever happen to you?”
“A parent is……”
“One of the students is….”
And they always knew what to do!
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