<p>I was wondering if people could respond if your kids attend an urban public school.
And, could you name your urban district?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Anyone? If you are uncomfortable naming your district, then don’t, but I would like to get a feel for how many posters have kids attending urban public schools.</p>
<p>My kids went to an urban public high school, but they graduated. I do have one kid attending an urban public school now – as a teacher.</p>
<p>My kids are all in urban public school. One daughter graduating, one son starting, another daughter still in middle school</p>
<p>My kids are all out now, but attend urban public schools.</p>
<p>Please define what you mean by “urban public school.” Do you mean any school in a large city? Or are you talking about a school with a socio-economically and racially diverse population that is not located in the suburbs or farm country.</p>
<p>My children attend a Pinellas County, FL public high school. Approximately 2100 students, 70% white, 40% free/reduced lunch, 25 different native languages. There are 16 public high schools of similar size in our school district.</p>
<p>I recently learned (here on CC) that all public schools in FL are cesspools and that by not sending my children to private school I have ruined any chances they might have had to be successful in life. Oops!</p>
<p>My younger daughter attended an inner city high school in Seattle.
Same school as Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, Jimi Hendrix ( and her grandma), but she is not a musician .
</p>
<p>S1 & S2 both attend(ed) the same urban, diverse, public high school. Wonderful experience, both accepted into great universities.</p>
<p>My daughter attended high school in the SF Unified district … long since graduated. (Thank goodness: [900</a> Pink Slips, As SFUSD Preps For The Worst - KCBS](<a href=“http://www.kcbs.com/bayareanews/900-Pink-Slips--as-SFUSD-Preps-for-the-Worst/6434215]900”>CBS Los Angeles - Breaking Local News, Weather & Investigations) )</p>
<p>Both my kids attended public school. The high school is composed of 54% African-American or Hispanic students; 43 are low income and 30% have limited English. But the school is highly bimodal and attracts students of professors and other professionals. The district spends a huge amount per student.
On the whole, my kids had a great experience and were admitted to top colleges.</p>
<p>We live in a community just outside of a major city. Real socio-economic mix from million dollar homes to subsidized housing and food stamps. Real racial, ethnic and religious mix. Seven local neighborhood elementary schools that feed into an 1800 student middle school (7th, 8th and 9th) and then into an 1800 student high school. A melting pot with many of the tensions and dynamics that comes with the territory. When our daughter was in 6th grade, we looked at several highly regarded, very competitive private schools for junior high and high school and she was accepted to a couple. Our daughter, however, refused to attend either of them and insisted that she wanted the diversity of our public middle school. At the tender age of 12, she literally told us that the middle school was the “real world” and that if she didn’t learn then how to “get along with all sorts of different people”, when would she. We let her take the lead. Six years later, she graduated from high school with admissions to very selective liberal arts colleges and universities as well as with admissions to audition based performing arts programs that accept only about 6% of those who apply. Her years in the public school system served her well not only in terms of her formal education but also in her development as a person.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat, that’s very similar to the community we live in, with similar school profiles. Our oldest, who is a senior is going to attend a well regarded large university, she had a great experience at the high school, was comfortable going with her friends to the city to go to museums, restaurants, shopping, etc. She is becoming the person I hope she would be, one who could be in the room with anyone, and have a conversation, and maybe a cup of coffee.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat - good for your daughter and good for you!.</p>
<p>S’s HS is considered urban. 2900 kids 38% free or reduced lunch. 38 countries represented. Considered one of the best in the state.</p>
<p>Sad stat - when he was a freshman, total class was 770, as a junior it is now 550.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at an urban public high school - two blocks from state capitol, it is 50% minority and has 55% eligible for free and reduced lunch. Out of 327 public high schools in our state it is ranked 271st. My daughter graduated last year and is now a freshman at a top LAC. I think out of her graduating class of over 300 (started as freshmen as over 400) only 10 students went out of state to attend college.</p>
<p>Mopinionated: who is posting that all Fl public schools are cesspools? I teach at a nationally ranked IB Florida school that is in the inner city. In addition to IB, our school offers many AP classes, regular level studies, special needs education (special diploma, etc.) I have been teaching there for six years and I guess my eyes have been closed as I never noticed it as being a cesspool. We have all types of students at our school, but even so all of them are expected to take school seriously and act right, no matter what there level is. If you walk into my school, the oldest in the county, you will see it is the cleanest and most organized school in the county. Wealthy parents who kept their children in expensive private schools K-8 routinely pull them out to attend high school at my inner city school. When I was asked to join the “family”, yes family, at my school I spent some time walking through the halls to get a feel for it and I felt as if I had walked into a school from thirty years ago. The sense of pride and respect was everywhere. </p>
<p>My son graduated from this school and my daughter will graduate this year. Both were educated in the public school system since Kindergarten and both are very well educated.</p>
<p>Our son is a HS senior who has attended Boston public schools from K1 on.</p>
<p>calmom, your post rang a bell: we came within one year of missing the budget cuts entirely. I’m very thankful he experienced most of his schooling before the ax came down.</p>
<p>Our school system is an interesting mix. I believe it is actually considered suburban but is very racially mixed, has a percentage of kids from surrounding farms, and have a good portion of kids eligible for free lunches. I was very happy with the schools. They do a very good job with limited funding.</p>
<p>My S is a senior at an urban public school that is 76 % African-American, 20 % white, and eligible for full Title I funds (I couldn’t find the stats on that without digging too deeply). He is in the IB magnet within the neighborhood school and has applied to 6 LACs in small towns. It will be a huge culture shock for him if he gets accepted.</p>
<p>My kids attended/attend an urban public high school in Los Angeles. It’s a Title 1 school and the school hosts excellent magnet programs, but has lots of the kinds of problems you would expect at an urban high school. Three of my kids went on to top colleges (and I expect the fourth will as well) and one currently teaches at an inner-city school in L.A. through Teach for America.</p>