Coded Language 101: "free lunch students" means?...

superantigen

superantigen

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[COLOR=#red]Kips Bay Parents Fight Plan to Bring 'Underprivileged' Kids to New School[/COLOR]



KIPS BAY — A new elementary school in Kips Bay has not yet opened — but already neighborhood parents are concerned it’s on track to become one of the “most undesired” schools in the area.
Close to four-dozen parents who live in the new zone created for P.S. 281, which is being built on First Avenue and East 35th Street, signed a petition protesting the lines drawn for the new school, claiming the zone includes too many students eligible for the city’s free-lunch program.

“The projected socioeconomic and demographic breakdown for P.S. 281 will make this school the most underprivileged and the most undesired elementary school in the area,” read the petition, which was submitted to the District 2 Community Education Council.

“We firmly believe that DOE’s zoning proposal sets up P.S. 281 for failure before its doors are even open.”

The petition was drafted using data the Department of Education presented at a CEC meeting in September, said Yoav Ilan, the parent of a kindergartner at P.S. 116 and the driving force behind the petition.

The data in that presentation indicated that the new zoning would give P.S. 281 a student population in which 35 percent of students come from low-income families, making them eligible for free lunch.

That percentage of free-lunch students "in no way reflects the neighborhood demographics and the property values in the area which surrounds P.S. 281," the petition states. "It also has a significant negative impact on the existing Murray Hill community."

By comparison, the new zoning would cut the free-lunch population at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street between Second and Third avenues from 30 percent to 24 percent.

At P.S. 59 in Midtown East, the free-lunch population would drop from 9 percent to 8 percent. And at P.S. 40 in Gramercy and P.S. 267 on the Upper East Side, the population of students eligible for free lunch would remain the same, at 8 and 9 percent, respectively.

In the final zoning proposal, which was approved by the CEC earlier this month, the lines were slightly redrawn, shaving off a few blocks at the southern end so that the zone runs roughly between East 45th and East 26th streets, from Second Avenue to the East River.

The revised lines would pare down the free-lunch population for P.S. 281 to 27 percent from 35 percent. Ilan said that while this is a step in the right direction, the percentages at other neighborhood schools will remain roughly the same as in the original projections, with some between 8 and 10 percent — giving P.S. 281 an unfair burden.

Ella Belotserkovskaya, a mother of two who lives near the new school and was among the first to sign the petition, agreed. “We want to have diverse schools, it’s important. We live in Manhattan — it’s a melting pot,” Belotserkovskaya said. “[But] diversity is not when one school has 30 percent and all the other schools have 10 percent.”

Belotserkovskaya’s daughter will be heading to kindergarten next year, and because of the zoning recently approved for P.S. 281, she is now considering moving her family to the Upper East or Upper West sides.

“I’m worried to send her to a new school with such a disproportionate percentage of free lunch students,” Belotserkovskaya said. “The parents are really the ones who make the school… They’re donating their money. They’re donating their time,” she added. “The parents [of students eligible for free lunch] are not as involved in the school. They don’t contribute as much to the school. Those are known facts, and that worries me.”

Ilan explained that a lack of funding from these parents would mean less resources for students at P.S. 281. “It means that 50 to 70 percent of the people who go there will have to carry the load,” Ilan said. “P.S. 281 from the get-go will be an underdog.”

Ilan clarified that the problem does not lie with the presence of free lunch-eligible students within a school. “There’s nothing wrong with the program of free lunch,” Ilan said. “There is something wrong where you have one school that is above 30 percent for free lunch and you have one school that is below 9 percent. It’s unbalanced. “If we want to do a good job, we have to balance it,” he added.

The CEC holds the power of final approval over zoning plans submitted by the Department of Education, and the council signed off on the proposed lines earlier this month. In a statement, the DOE said it takes many factors into consideration when rezoning schools.

“As much as possible, we strive to maintain diversity while balancing the distance students would have to travel to school, the capacity of each building, and the concerns of the local community," the DOE said. "The new school is projected to serve a similar percentage of students eligible for free or reduced lunch as other nearby schools. Citywide, 75 percent of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch."

The approved plan will shrink the zones for P.S. 40, P.S. 116 and P.S. 59, alleviating overcrowding at schools where teachers and parents have long struggled with large class sizes and a surplus of students.

Ilan said that will likely push him to keep his daughter at P.S. 116, instead of opting to try the new school, because of its established PTA and budget. “P.S. 116 is a great school,” said Ilan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 13 years. “I’d rather stick with something that I know is good than to go to the unknown.”

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...y-free-lunch-kids-at-new-school#ixzz2HbtQemVX
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Just finished reading this and the audacity was too humorous not to share.

It must be nice to be privileged enough to both decide and pass judgement on the educational fate of "less fortunate" children.

*Sigh*



,,,
 
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**Waits for dudes arguing in the AJ McCarron's GF thread to appear and argue about schooling**
 
Can you blame them? Really think about it.  Its about numbers and percentages.  I wouldn't send my kid there if I had a choice.
 
PowerBallin said:
Can you blame them? Really think about it.  Its about numbers and percentages.  I wouldn't send my kid there if I had a choice.
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Chances are, if you live in some of these neighborhoods in Manhattan, then you do have the choice. That's the power of privilege.

And of course I can blame them. Everything about this is ridiculous and unjust. These parents are up in arms, jimmies all rustled, because they don't want their kids sharing educational spaces with children hailing from less than fortunate circumstances. You think this is fine?

It's obvious that this is more of a "prestige" issue than an educational issue. Were it not, then the minority of less-privileged kids cohabiting a learning space with the more fortunate kids wouldn't have been an issue to begin with, as all parents--irrespective of class status--want their children to have access to quality education programs.



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If they're so concerned over the amount of students that will be coming from underprivileged backgrounds then why don't they send their kids to a private school instead?
 
AirCommanderMarsFiend said:
If they're so concerned over the amount of students that will be coming from underprivileged backgrounds then why don't they send their kids to a private school instead?
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Because they're what I like to call "fake affluent". They have enough money to feel like they can **** on poor people, but don't have enough money that they can just not associate themselves with poor people all together.

The type of people to spend all their money to get a C-Class Benz just so they can say...."I drive a Benz".
 
SuperAntigen said:
[COLOR=#red]Kips Bay Parents Fight Plan to Bring 'Underprivileged' Kids to New School[/COLOR]


“I’m worried to send her to a new school with such a disproportionate percentage of free lunch students,” Belotserkovskaya said. “The parents are really the ones who make the school… They’re donating their money. They’re donating their time,” she added. “The parents [of students eligible for free lunch] are not as involved in the school. They don’t contribute as much to the school. Those are known facts, and that worries me.”

Ilan explained that a lack of funding from these parents would mean less resources for students at P.S. 281. “It means that 50 to 70 percent of the people who go there will have to carry the load,” Ilan said. “P.S. 281 from the get-go will be an underdog.”

Ilan clarified that the problem does not lie with the presence of free lunch-eligible students within a school. “There’s nothing wrong with the program of free lunch,” Ilan said. “There is something wrong where you have one school that is above 30 percent for free lunch and you have one school that is below 9 percent. It’s unbalanced. “If we want to do a good job, we have to balance it,” he added.
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She has a point tho.
 
Oh right because being poor automatically makes you a bad person 
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 Seriously what kind of world  do we live in. If it's that much of an issue these parents should send their kids to another school which it sounds like they can afford to.
 
they are so right!!

 a schools integrity is judged by the percentage of how many kids eat free meals..
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As a caring parent, you'd want the best for your child which means you'd want good schooling as well. I can see where they're coming from, but couldn't they just transfer their kids to a better school around there? 
 
Honestly, I don't see how yall don't see what Truth is saying.

People with money are not trying to send their kids to school with poorer families. What is hard to understand about that?

If YOU were one of those parents with $$$, I am pretty sure you would be VERY selective as to where your kids would be spending 8 hours out of the day.

But continue making that idea out to be foreign if you want.
 
GatzbyGordon said:
Fantastic4our said:
aka "We dont want our kids to be in classes with poor black and brown kids"
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yup and judging by the people they interviewed last names

it seems like the area is either eastern european or some other type of foreigners..
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The area isn't dominated by a particular ethnic group. Its a residential area of East Midtown. The problem with this is that the school is built by taxpayer money. It is a PUBLIC school. If they are worried about sending their children to school with those who are poor and whose families do not contribute to the classroom and PTA, then they need to send them to private school. The thing is that they cannot afford to send them to private school. They're walking around with the aura and belief that they are with money when in reality they are a couple lost paychecks away from depending on the free lunch.

Devils advocate time. Public schooling in New York City is terrible. The system is among the worst urban systems in the United States. When do you have a good school, you want to do everything possible to keep it that way. A school like this, because of its location, will get the best funding, teachers and the overall experience will be better for everyone involved. The parents of the underprivileged kids tend to be less involved because of their socioeconomic status and as a result, some of these kids have behavioral problems among others. When the "free lunch students" converge to this area, their problems and issues will also converge. They'll disrupt the status quo that has existed. Its why parents who can afford to send their kids to private schools do so. To get them away from that element. When we are parents, we'll look at it from this end.

Regardless of how they feel, they need to suck it up and deal with it. Anyone who is a resident of the county/city is eligible to attend its public schools if its not specialized. If they don't want to deal with "free lunch students" then they need to start a nest egg so that their kids can go to private school.
 
DCAllAmerican said:
They don't have to suck it up and deal with it. They CAN send their kids elsewhere.
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No they can't which is why they are complaining. If they could, their children would be in private school which is where most people with money in NYC send their kids. When you understand the issues from their side, you can see why they are upset, but in sending your child to a public school in New York City, you understand that this can happen. This is happening in every neighborhood, but it is only a problem when it happens in a neighborhood that is "affluent".
 
That lady should just move to the UES if she can afford it.

The Community Board for the Kips Bay/Gramercy/all other neighborhoods in that area only allow bars to stay open till 2 
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jhawk826 said:
No they can't which is why they are complaining. If they could, their children would be in private school which is where most people with money in NYC send their kids. When you understand the issues from their side, you can see why they are upset, but in sending your child to a public school in New York City, you understand that this can happen. This is happening in every neighborhood, but it is only a problem when it happens in a neighborhood that is "affluent".
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Well I was more so speaking of those that can afford to send the kids to private schools
 
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