Comments on: CSD Releases Updated “Pro/Con” Enrollment Zone List

By: Donna

Donna — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:30:50 +0000

You obviously did not read my response correctly. It goes far beyond the “Building”, in fact the building has nothing to do with it. Perhaps you should read what I wrote. Actually I do work with children as a therapist so hopefully that will put your mind at ease in regards to my thoughts on consistency and transition for children. Again read what I wrote!

By: CSD Mom

CSD Mom — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:46:04 +0000

I’ve often thought that I wish my middle-class white kids could go to school not only with lower-income non-white kids, but also with middle- or upper-class non-white kids so that they don’t end up assuming all non-whites are economically disadvantaged. A real problem here in Decatur.

Interestingly, the lily-white Gwinnett high school I attended in the late 80’s, early 90’s (we had one black student in a school of almost 2000 students), from which I ran screaming for the more diverse Decatur, is now more economically and racially diverse than CSD!

By: karass

karass — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 20:25:36 +0000

Donna: I hope you realize none of us here are experts; just folks relating our own experiences and life lessons. Whatever option happens, in whatever school or school system you are in, public or private, you should spend the time and effort to make sure that you understand the options for your child and his/her particular needs, including state and federal law and regulation (see I.D.E.A. and F.A.P.E. just as examples), the timeframe required for evaluations and appropriate educational plans, the accomodations and interventions required, etc. Even if you come to the conclusion that what your child is getting is adequate, you’ll feel better that you were able to determine that yourself.

By: karass

karass — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 19:59:16 +0000

Re parents having to help out in classrooms: This is a sign of needeing more paraprofessional help. Parents, bless their hearts, are great to involve in their school because parent involvement helps the individual child and garners political and financial support for CSD as a whole, but they are NOT the sufficient or equivalent to the kind of support that is needed in classrooms that are diverse in terms of needs and performance so must “differentiate” the instruction. There’s only 60 minutes in an hour and if there’s 20 kids with diverse needs, that’s only 3 minutes per child on average. Paraprofessionals, “specials”, and special ed teachers, including gifted instructors, are critical to delivering truly differentiated instruction.

By: nelliebelle1197

nelliebelle1197 — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:07:24 +0000

From some of the stories I am hearing from parents of last year’s crop of pre-K’ers, I think that closing that early achievement gap is beyond important. A lot of parents I know who worked part-time or not at all are helping in classrooms because the teachers are having to spend so much time catching up the kids who didn’t get pre-K. I wish there was more money for good public 0-4 education & care -on a sliding scale or however it best works- for everyone