We found this school to apply to. Some friends have a child there and by all reports is a good school. It’s not that far from the house so she won’t have to get up like she is going to the shipyard. That was a worry for me. It’s a Catholic school and I have a public school mentality but this school is established and stable. I feel good that the faculty won’t be experimenting with my baby trying out all of their new techniques hoping to impress the state board so they can take over my school charters. If she gets accepted into this school I think I can live with it.
The problem is that the pre-k program only holds 80 kids. My application was the 44th one received. Once the applications pass 80, everyone goes into a lottery. We won’t know the lottery results into the middle of July. That means that I have to come up with another option and hope that the second option isn’t as loaded with applications as the first. It’s looking like if she doesn’t get into this school then it’s off to the Recovery District or spending money on another private school. Either option sucks to me. When I was turning in the application, the receptionist who took reviewed it told me I needed to either change my income amount or increase the number of people living in my household. I’m thinking to myself what the hell is going on in this city when a man gets penalized for making extra money. Normally I would feel bad for lying on the application and taking a spot from a less fortunate child. Then I thought about it and said what the hell. It’s not like I am that far from being poor myself.
I am starting to think that the city just doesn’t care if the working and middle class live in the suburbs and let the city rot from the inside. I could move twenty minutes away from where I live now and send her to a state of the art school for free. I know too many people who live within the city limits that use too much of their income to pay for private schools so they can help their kids escape the Recovery School District. Some people say the charters schools are better and have all this innovation and creative methods of teaching. That could be true but since the only thing I know of those is the flyers stuck in the grass at the stoplights, I can’t endorse them yet. Someone is going to read this and think I am tripping when I say that there is no way this would happen if it wasn’t little poor dark children going to these schools. Most white people in New Orleans don’t send their kids to public school unless it’s a magnet like Lusher or Ben Franklin. All the uppity negroes who are supposed to be leaders send their kids to private school. None of them care. If they did they would never have given Lusher the Fortier building after Katrina. That was the biggest and least damaged public high school building on the Eastbank and I am still pissed about seeing those kids in the 7th Ward standing at the bus stop at 6:30 AM to make it all the way to Edna Karr across the river. No one is experimenting with their children. Those will be the same people a few years from now accusing these guinea pig children of being animals and ruining the city and we’ll have to build a bigger prison and tear down some more public housing.
If you think this post is negative or unfair…my bad. I guess I should apologize for thinking a city that lost so many decent families because the parents didn’t want to bring their kids back to this school calamity would have that in mind when they started making plans on how to make things better. You shouldn’t have to take a week off just to research the locations and qualifications of every school in the city.
4 comments:
I agree with you. As a tax payer you are correct in that one would expect schools in which one can get a good education without paying tuition. I also have an issue with public school students having to take public transportation. I took the RTA to school and sometimes it would take and hour or more to get to school. Where are the school buses? Its not reasonable to expect young people to navigate the RTA and make multiple transfers.
As for your concerns about the catholic schools. My mother scrounged for our tuition and we took RTA to school. The results? I am an atheist. I found that Cabrini and the other school I attended taught values. (not a bad thing) but kept religious teaching separate and distinct from academics. We learned evolution in science and creationism in religion class. And when you get to high school there is something to be said for single sex schools. You aren;t distracted by the opposite sex, no worries about how you look. Less clickish.
Black man you know the education system is the MAIN reason I haven't returned. I don't live in a busy place like New Orleans and I miss it everyday, but where I do live my children are attending wonderful schools and they don't have to navigate RTA, I love to see the yellow school bus' pull up. I say move 20 minutes from where you live so Princess can go to a State of the Art school.
in a post katrina world, i am glad as hell i do not have any children. i say move 20 minutes away and put the little ones in a state of the art school.
shan
Not negative. Honest, unfortunate and NECESSARY.
The next time people ask why there are so many poor people in New Orleans, they should remember this. Even when you are "middle class" you don't stand a chance.
And I don't care who thinks you're tripping. They know DAMN WELL that New Orleans has NEVER given a damn about the education of poor dark children. NOT EVER.
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