My girls got accepted to magnet school

[BamaGirl]

Got the letters today. You know what? This is not going to make any difference in their education. We have 11 elem schools and 4 middle schools. As of next year, we have 2 magnet middle schools. Four middle schools and 2 of them magnet schools?!

I went to school in Dekalb Co, Ga in the 70s and 80s. I graduated from Redan in 91. A lot of people on this board will be familiar with that school in that time period. That school, when I was there, was what everyone wanted to have. I repeated my first three years of college from stuff I'd already done at Redan. We don't always do education wrong in the South. Believe it or not.

The system my kids are in, however, is a totally different story. I was really, really pissed (still am) when the city came up with this adding a magnet school thing. No one will ever admit it, but this is about race. The elem school we are zoned for is the only majority white elem school, the only majority white school in fact, in the district. It's interesting actually. Our elem school sits right next to out middle school. Now there are 3 other elem schools that feed into this middle school. But we go from an elem school that is 60% white to a middle school that is about 73% AA. When my girls started middle school more than half their friends were pulled out and sent to private school. I didn't care about the racial makeup of the school. All I cared about was were my kids going to be challenged.

But when you listen to the school board justifying turning 2 of 4 middle schools into magnet schools it's clear the justification is keeping white kids in the system. And ya know I would think that was good if they were keeping all the kids mixed together. But creating a system that benefits some more than others is an issue.

So keep your magnet schools and your charter schools and your merit pay to yourself. The only reason my girls are going to the magnet school is cause it's the school 2 miles down the road.

[BlooInBloo]

1. White folks have come up with lots of ways to re-institute de facto segregation.

[BamaGirl]

2. Ain't that the truth n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I taught in a magnet school

Not only did we have the white kids, we had the stuff. Brand new building, glitzy materials, way too many extra teachers. It was the Cadillac program.

Then I finished my masters and changed jobs and was assigned to a building that had never been magnitized. Shifty furniture, broken water fountains and restrooms, no air conditioning and noisy boiler heat. Oh and of course it is 90% minority.

Racism is alive and well in our public school system.

[lonestarnot]

4. What is a magnet school?