City Living

Anyone that talks to me for a bit doesn't have to wait long for me to start raving about my public education. Magnet schools are such a great resource in Buffalo--they are the option my parents took for both me and Val. Admission was not based strictly on test rank. Affirmative action was also a factor. (Though I'm not sure if this still the case because there were several lawsuits contesting racial admissions "bias" in the nineties.) The result was a very diverse population of above-average performing students with parents who were enough invested in their education to enroll them in the test. I can't imagine how different I would be had I not gone to Olmsted and City Honors.

Still, my fellow City Honors alums have long debated the fairness of testing into Buffalo's magnet schools. It was fantastic for those few students that made it in, but what did it do to the remaining population of Buffalo Public school students whose honors populations were reduced? CHS and the other magnets are championed as some of the best schools in the state and even the country, but where does this leave the other Buffalo Public Schools and their students and communities?

There are magnet and Montessouri schools in Rochester, but unlike Buffalo the city uses a lottery system. I'm torn about this. On the one hand, it's great that all kids have the kind of opportunity I had. On the other hand, I question whether these schools spend more time with lower-performing kids or behavior problems. Does it dilute the advanced curriculum to have these schools open to all students regardless of ability? Does that even matter as long as previously tracked underperformers end up doing much better because they are in a more challenging and academic environment?

Harrison and I went to the neighborhood elementary school #42 yesterday to vote. It's a nice looking school. It's older, made of brick, and doesn't have that factory look of most modern schools. It's like the schools I went to. It's well maintained and the inside is cheery and decorated with projects, artwork, and plants. We went around 3:15 when school was getting out. The student population is racially diverse. Lots of parents were there picking their children up and the other kids were being led out by teachers to their cheese buses. Everything seemed normal and encouraging. On its face, it's certainly no public hazard that requires investigation by Jonathon Kozol.

Doug and I talked about 42 school when he got home and are entertaining the idea of sending Harrison there. That may be the backup plan if we cannot get him into one of the Rochester magnets or the city's montessouri. The regular city schools also use a lottery system. Seventy percent of seats in neighborhood schools are set aside for the attendance of neighborhood kids. Once the lottery has filled those vacancies, the remaining 30% of seats is opened to other children in your school zone. There are three zones. The magnet and montessouri programs are completely based on lottery and open to all children regardless of zone. What this means is that the high-performing schools tend to have many applicants and that many children end up at lower performing schools because of space issues at their first, second, or third choice schools.

Montessouri starts at age 3, which would mean that Harrison could start in September 2007. It may sound a little crazy to start thinking about this so far ahead, but the plan for Harrison's schooling has to be factored in when we start thinking about baby #2. It's going to be really tight (read: impossible) financially if we have two kids in daycare or private school.

Here are the stats I found for 42 school:

Has a passing rate of 50.8% on the grade 4 English language arts exam (2005) and 54.7% on the grade 4 math exam (2003).

Now, I am the daughter of a public elementary teacher and I want to stress that I do not put that much stock in standardized testing. Still, without much else to go on, I have to say this is TERRIBLE.

The stats for the public magnet/Montessouri are absolutely encouraging

Has a passing rate of 100% on the grade 4 English language arts exam and 75.0% on the grade 4 math exam (2003).

But will we make the cut? What if we don't make the cut at any of the magnets and end up at one of the schools with a 20% passing rate? What if my kids end up at two different schools?

I am furious that this is an issue—that there even is a decision that we will someday soon have to make about this. It makes me want to sue someone. That's already been done here in New York State (http://www.cfequity.org/) but so far nothing has changed. The bottom line is that kids that live on one side of an imaginary line get tracked into the Ivy League, while kids on the wrong side of that line are lucky if they make it through highschool. If that sounds like a dramatic exaggeration, it's not: 70% of kids that start in the Rochester City School District end up dropping out.

I am not worried that Harrison will be a dropout. I understand that dropout rates are directly tied to poverty and parental education and involvement. I am worried that Harrison will not have the access to the quality of free public education that he deserves--just like every other child. I am upset about what this means for my family and for society in general.

One of the reasons Doug and I chose to live in the city is to take a stand against sprawl and white flight. One of the ways we can support this city and hopefully turn things around here is to send our kids to public school. That is our goal for now, and I hope that we can make it work.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. What are your plans for your kids? What are your experiences with public education where you live? I'm turning comments back on for now, but if I get deluged with comment spam again, they'll be turned off.

Update: Sorry. Had to turn comments off again. Damn you comment spam!