Comments on: It’s About More Than A Great School District

By: Polski3

Polski3 — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:35:11 +0000

I might add, check to see if the district administration and school board are dictators or if they allow their teachers to use approved materials the teacher believes and can demonstrate, are best for their students (as opposed to canned programs like Open Court or some of the math programs).

Also, are the teachers and board constantly fighting over the teachers contract? Or, are state-allocated COLA’s routinely added to the teachers salary ? Are the teachers in the district happy to be there? Or are they generally not happy because of the way they are treated/regarded by district administration and the board?

By: Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Mitchell — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:55:40 +0000

You are very right Rory. The students make all the difference.

By: Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Mitchell — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 23:55:05 +0000

Thanks for the great suggestions Mike.

By: Rory

Rory — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:21:00 +0000

The difference between a good school district and a great school district is the students… not the schools.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:30:16 +0000

As a high school English teacher, I have a thought or two on this topic. Primarily, be concerned that the district provides the best possible opportunity for students to learn. Test scores or state ranking may or may not reveal anything about this.

Find a district where football (and programs that support it) are not the primary reason for the existance of the district.

Find a district that recognizes that students and parents bear at least 50% of the responsibility for a student’s education. If all a principal can talk about is diversity, social justice, tolerance, etc., you’ve probably not found such a school.

Ultimately, the trick is to find a school where genuine American values such as personal responsibility, hard work, honesty, reliability and integrity matter. If these values are in play, your child will likely have the opportunity to get a fine education. The rest will be up to your child, and you.

By: Mommy Dearest

Mommy Dearest — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:49:19 +0000

Homeschooling is a wonderful alternative, and you don’t have to worry about school districts (except for those property values…).

By: Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Mitchell — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:59:40 +0000

Thanks for sharing your comments and experiences. It seems to be an ongoing struggle to balance all the needs of the family, including good schools.

By: Jennifer, Snapshot

Jennifer, Snapshot — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:38:36 +0000

I agree. When we have bought our last two homes (in different states), we did look at schools, because we thought it would matter then (but we moved right before she started school), and so we knew it would matter now. We’re in a good district, but what I’ve found from talking to others around, is that our elementary school is really great. The teachers seem to have a respect for their jobs and for the school and teachers. I love it, but I don’t know if I could have predicted that, unless you actually want to go to the schools and talk to the teachers or parents and see why they like it so much.

Good luck.

By: kailani

kailani — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:52:32 +0000

I am currently going through this debate with myself. We live in a newer part of an older neighborhood that does not have a good school system. In fact, there was a planned drive-by shooting at the nearby high school last month. We will try to get a district exemption to a better school but if we can’t, then we may have to move.

Here via Carnival of Family Life.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:50:19 +0000

It gets even more tricky to pick a good school district when you consider that different districts have different specialties. I grew up in a large city with very mixed income classes. Within the same exact high school, you could see a huge difference in the teachers that taught the honors classes than the regular or remedial classes.

And it showed in the test scores, the “smart” kids were really smart and the rest did not do nearly as well.

And how do you know where your kids will end up when you try to pick a school when they are young.