How Not to Pick a School

Brigid Schulte, via a reader:

We are a white, middle-class family. Our children attend our neighborhood public school, Mount Vernon Community School, two blocks from our house in Alexandria. The student body is 55 percent Hispanic, 22 percent black and 19 percent white. More than 60 percent of the children are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. More than 40 percent speak a language other than English at home. And the test scores, while passable, aren't among the school district's best.

It's a school with the kind of statistics that can so unnerve some white, middle-class parents that they move to mostly white areas -- or spend tens of thousands of dollars on private schools.

Last week, I held the PTA open house for parents of prospective students. I posted the announcement on our neighborhood e-mail group list. I received some enthusiastic responses from people who know parents with children already at the school. And I also got this one: "We are in the process of starting the research. I am plowing through the state website with the test results now so I will see how this school compares." The writer mentioned two other schools she was considering, schools with more white kids and higher test scores.

The Civil Rights Project.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 5, 2007 6:32 PM
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