HOUSTON – Lamar High school began this academic term with more than 100 additional students, 19 fewer teachers and $1.3 million less to get the job done.
That’s bad math for those…MORE
Monday 26 September 2011
Monday 26 September 2011
HOUSTON – Lamar High school began this academic term with more than 100 additional students, 19 fewer teachers and $1.3 million less to get the job done.
That’s bad math for those…MORE
© 2011 InstantNewsWestU.com
If I were the principal of Lamar, I would vet enrolled students better, or perform sample-based audits after the start of the school year of the student body to assure that students are attending the school in their zoned areas. I know of at least two cases of housekeepers/nannies using employer addresses specifically to get into Lamar. This takes some assistance of their employer, a canceled “rent” check, for example, but I know that these are not one-off scenarios. A simple run down of contact phone numbers provided would provide a good list of students who might need further research based upon the area codes.
Several years back, I sent out hardcopy birthday invites for my child’s party. The handful for which I got no reply happened to coincide with those that had area codes outside of the zoned area, even though their addresses were local.
I don’t begrudge someone trying to get the best education for their child, but not at the expense of my own.
On a positive side, my college courses included class sizes of 200+. It will get them used to the years ahead of them.
It has been a long time since I had a child in HISD, but it can get complicated. If I had someone who lived in my garage apartment and I employed them or even if I didn’t employ them but rented my garage apartment to them, if they had a child I would think the child would have a right to go to the local school. Also, I have heard of grandparents who live in a good school district, letting their grandchildren who live elsewhere, use their address. The people who do this are few and really can’t be blamed for the financial problems of schools.
Lucille,
I am not at all disputing the legitimate renters of garage apartments in a zoned area. I am simply stating that I have first hand knowledge of several incidents of individuals falsifying records to attend the schools of their employers (by simply chatting with other moms who have allowed this with their employees), and with whom they do NOT reside. I personally feel that these incidents are not only NOT isolated but probably pretty common. Unless you have had kids in HISD in the last 10 years, I imagine you would be surprised at how much has changed within neighborhood demographics, disparity from school to school, and even the priorities of the schools themselves.
Using any address other than your primary residence is not allowed. I would be just as unhappy with someone using a grandparent’s address unless they live with that grandparent full-time. It causes inefficiencies because it will over-crowd one school and leave vacant another, while both still cost money to maintain (further it robs the ‘legitimate’ school of funds they should be receiving).
Now if you want to discuss a reform of the current system-that is a different discussion.
I knew a couple whose two kids were in high school and they got divorced. Because of the divorce, the family house was sold. The only way the kids could stay in their high school, was to put their grandparents address. If you had friends who found themselves in this situation, would you want them to take their kids out of their high school and away from their lifelong friends? The rules can’t just be applied selectively. Anyway, if we ever have a working Texas Governor again, maybe the financial problems of Texas schools can be addressed.
Lucille,
Kids have to switch schools for all sorts of reasons, job moves, military parents, re-zoning.. It happened to me and it happens to others all the time. Life brings many changes to all of us and it can be very difficult.
You are right, rules cannot be applied selectively.
Your friends broke the rules.
Unfortunately our state legalizes a lot of reasons kids can cross boundaries. In fact, Section 25.001 – TEA – Grandparent in District ยง25.001(b)(9)
Using a grandparents address is legitament if the grandparent watches the child for at least two hours after school four days / week. (it doesn’t say they have to be under 12) In fact, they can even come from another school district under this provision. My child goes to Bellaire High School (where I am legally zoned) and I know several of his friends from Pershing left Lamar for Bellaire this year; the largest class I know of at Bellaire is maybe 30 kids
A few years back, my youngest, a talented young actress who later had a successful acting stint in college, could not get into HSPVA because there were too many of her gender applying for the theater group, yet had two friends attend whose parents lived in the Memorial Drive area and rented apartments in the district so their kids could take advantage of what my tax dollars provided. One of these same families actually had a relative from out of state who went to HSPVA using the same scam. You have enough money you can do d*mn well what you please. And now there are at least two members of society raised with the same lack of ethical behavior … Just imagine what their kids will be like!
They should put some of the seven assistant princpals and other administrative personnel back in the classrooms to solve the teacher/ student ratio
Okay, so lets not go down the Grandparent and whether these high school kids were being supervised for two hours four days a week by them..
Let’s just say that I play by the rules and am very frustrated when people break them. It frustrates me to see what I believe to be inefficiencies and waste in our school system, lunch programs (breakfast served at the desk during first period!), and administrative policies. It frustrates me that when our children do poorly on tests, the schools cry “we need more money” and nobody seems to question what they are doing with the $7,000 per pupil they get, or why when they spend more, test scores do not improve or only improve marginally.
It frustrates me that there are schools with low attendance rates that the District doesn’t consolidate because of populist backlash. It frustrates me that my neighbor gets picked up in front of their house in an HISD bus to go to a magnet school outside the neighborhood and there is only ONE child on the bus.
It frustrates me that when I pay a five-digit property tax every single year, which covers the District, my teachers tell me there is no money for tissues or hand sanitizer.
It clearly frustrates a lot of others too, because I would guess about half the children in West U attend private schools.
I wish there had been an HISD bus service when my kids went to Lamar. They walked or rode their bikes to West U Elementary and Pershing. Lamar was too far for that, so I got other parents to let me take our kids to school in the morning and then they picked them up in the afternoon. (I worked.) I think it is good to have the bus service now. I don’t think the neighborhood is as safe as it was then.
My son is a freshman at Lamar, and at their open house earlier this week, his Spanish teacher told us his class sizes range from 43 to 47 students. My son’s computer class has 43 students in it, and “only” 42 computers . . . when they’re all working (some of the computers are broken). Ridiculous! This is a real life example of how those state budget cuts are directly hurting the ability of good schools to deliver a quality education in our city.