Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
I have received this e-mail from kid's school today:
***************************************************************************
The Fairfax Leadership Academy (FLA) is proposing that a charter school be established in the Falls Church area for students in grades 7-12.The school is intended to serve low-income and minority students, and will offer a full-year calendar with a longer school day. The Luther Jackson PTA has invited members of the FLA board of directors to give a presentation on their plans for the school and the approval process that is required to establish a charter school in the county. This is your opportunity to learn more about a school that may be coming to our neighborhood. A question and answer period will follow the presentation, and parents from Falls Church High School will be available to answer questions about programs that are already offered in their school.
***************************************************************************
It is clearly stated that this charter school is aimed at low-income and minority students. Wow... knowing this fact, who wants to send their kids to this charter school???
The "regular" schools are not doing so well with low-income and minority students. That is why people might want to try this school. This school will focus on what these students in particular need. In a big school that has all types of students, these students don't always succeed. Hopefully this school will be small enough to communicate frequently with the parents and offer special programs for parents (so that they understand how to help their children). The parents may feel much more comfortable entering this school and be treated with respect (even though they do not have high levels of education). It is very intimidating for some of these parents to get involved in schools with PhD parents dominating the PTSA. These kids can't help but feel second class and lots of them give up. Let's give this school a chance.
Ding an sich Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 'low-income' I get, but 'minority'? Asuming we're
> speaking about ethnicity and not religion, why
> would being a minority necessitate a separate
> school?
Because in that area, the minorities don't speaka da English.
In that area, the "minorities" are language minorities---which means English is the second language. They are not slow, just slowed down by the language interference issue. A special school can address that without boring the other kids. They can do a lot with an extended day and summer. They will have great results. Just watch. The lack of progress in the "regular" school is not because these students are "troublemaking slow-learners" as "great idea" suggests. This is not what you all think. This is not an inner city charter.
Minority Parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have received this e-mail from kid's school
> today:
>
> **************************************************
> *************************
> The Fairfax Leadership Academy (FLA) is proposing
> that a charter school be established in the Falls
> Church area for students in grades 7-12.The school
> is intended to serve low-income and minority
> students, and will offer a full-year calendar with
> a longer school day. The Luther Jackson PTA has
> invited members of the FLA board of directors to
> give a presentation on their plans for the school
> and the approval process that is required to
> establish a charter school in the county. This is
> your opportunity to learn more about a school that
> may be coming to our neighborhood. A question and
> answer period will follow the presentation, and
> parents from Falls Church High School will be
> available to answer questions about programs that
> are already offered in their school.
> **************************************************
> *************************
>
> It is clearly stated that this charter school is
> aimed at low-income and minority students. Wow...
> knowing this fact, who wants to send their kids to
> this charter school???
In fact, some parents are concerned that this IB charter will be a magnet for the students who have the most academic potential and/or motivation, and who live in the neighborhoods that feed into Falls Church HS, Stuart HS and Annandale HS.
this school will succeed Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In that area, the "minorities" are language
> minorities---which means English is the second
> language. They are not slow, just slowed down by
> the language interference issue. A special school
> can address that without boring the other kids.
> They can do a lot with an extended day and summer.
> They will have great results. Just watch. The
> lack of progress in the "regular" school is not
> because these students are "troublemaking
> slow-learners" as "great idea" suggests. This is
> not what you all think. This is not an inner city
> charter.
The pervasive problem is lack of English skills. It is shocking how many students begin school without any exposure to English. A language other than English is spoken at home and these immigrants live insularly; shop at "their" stores and live without *having* to speak English. Many can't read or write in their native languages, either. So, this culture of illiteracy is handed down.
The children start school at a huge deficit, but again, there's really no motivation for the parents to learn; not when dedicated phone lines in their native language are available, they receive real-time translation services at parent-teacher-conferences and notes home get translated. All the while, the young students get pulled out of class for ESOL (formerly English as a Second Language, now English for Speakers of other Languages...see how much kinder that is?) and do entirely different work and get extra time for tests.
My immigrant grandmother fled post-Nazi Germany and although she always spoke with a heavy accent, she worked daily to improve her English because in her words, "it made her feel more American." Never, ever would she expect others to translate for her and/or make special exceptions. It would have been shameful and hurt her pride.