Forever School 29 / 1965 to Now
August 30, 2024 2:44 PM Subscribe
"public-school enrollment has declined by about a million students" Alec MacGillis looks at a national trend by profiling secondary school closures in upstate New York. (SLNew Yorker)
https://www.propublica.org/article/school-closures-students-charter-schools-home-schooling-rochester
It's a Propublica/New Yorker joint story.
posted by drossdragon at 3:28 PM on August 30 [11 favorites]
It's a Propublica/New Yorker joint story.
posted by drossdragon at 3:28 PM on August 30 [11 favorites]
This is very worrying for those of us who believe that public schools are an important way by which we create and sustain community and shared beliefs and values particularly in a country that is way too damn big. US education historian David Labaree has written about this quite a bit, including this essay about the historical growth of public schools in the US and how it was rooted in communities trying to respond to the growth of industrialism.
posted by ElKevbo at 4:02 PM on August 30 [29 favorites]
posted by ElKevbo at 4:02 PM on August 30 [29 favorites]
The theme of uneven racial impact echoes an earlier Pro Publica piece from almost 10 years ago.
posted by audi alteram partem at 4:02 PM on August 30 [4 favorites]
posted by audi alteram partem at 4:02 PM on August 30 [4 favorites]
Universal literacy was an aim of the Republic’s founders. Damn shame some people today don’t want an informed populace.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:38 PM on August 30 [13 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:38 PM on August 30 [13 favorites]
The article seems pretty clear that the closures are due to reductions in demand due to lower birth rates and outmigration. Other school districts are growing and adding students. I would expect the charter/public school defections will go down as people forget about the covid closures.
Though I don't have kids, anecdotally I'm hearing a lot less confidence in public schools post-covid. I don't think the issue is the school closures, but the fact that those in charge lied about the effects to reduce pushback. When the principal is saying it doesn't matter if your kid is in school or not it's pretty easy to believe them, even when the schools reopen.
posted by hermanubis at 4:46 PM on August 30 [9 favorites]
Though I don't have kids, anecdotally I'm hearing a lot less confidence in public schools post-covid. I don't think the issue is the school closures, but the fact that those in charge lied about the effects to reduce pushback. When the principal is saying it doesn't matter if your kid is in school or not it's pretty easy to believe them, even when the schools reopen.
posted by hermanubis at 4:46 PM on August 30 [9 favorites]
No mention in there of the decades long campaign to undermine public schools, from racist white parents after Brown to the "school choice" movement of the 90s (which was also mostly about racism) to the charter school movement (which is also often mostly about racism) to the previous and current private school voucher movements (also, totally coincidentally, mostly about racism). We can't act like what's happening to public schools now is just about COVID.
Many southeastern US city-county school districts were forced for merge in the 1970s and 1980s as part of ending segregation. It still blows my mind that places in other parts of the country like Rochester have just gotten away with continuing to have a dozen tiny segregationist suburban school districts all these years.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:04 PM on August 30 [38 favorites]
Many southeastern US city-county school districts were forced for merge in the 1970s and 1980s as part of ending segregation. It still blows my mind that places in other parts of the country like Rochester have just gotten away with continuing to have a dozen tiny segregationist suburban school districts all these years.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:04 PM on August 30 [38 favorites]
Yep. My alma mater, a university an hour south of Rochester, has half as many students as when I was there 35 years ago. And it’s going to get worse; plenty of articles out there now about how the whole country is about to fall off a demographic cliff.
posted by Melismata at 5:32 PM on August 30 [2 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 5:32 PM on August 30 [2 favorites]
I went to George Latta School 38 in Rochester in 1977-78. I lived around the corner and I could walk to school. It was the coolest thing and I really liked my school. I have a lot of good memories of that time. Then we had to move out of the area for a few years, and when we moved back a few years later they were closing the school so I had to go to a different school. The building is still there. Sometimes when I drive by I look and remember what it was like. I can point to the unit that houses the space that was once my first grade classroom.
I wish I had had more time at a neighborhood school. It was awesome to live in this area that still had some wild areas and creeks, there was a corner store where I could go buy candy, I was learning to ride a bike and could get to Grandma's house whenever I wanted. It was really cool to be able to bike to the beach and I really liked the winters.
posted by disconnect at 5:43 PM on August 30 [10 favorites]
I wish I had had more time at a neighborhood school. It was awesome to live in this area that still had some wild areas and creeks, there was a corner store where I could go buy candy, I was learning to ride a bike and could get to Grandma's house whenever I wanted. It was really cool to be able to bike to the beach and I really liked the winters.
posted by disconnect at 5:43 PM on August 30 [10 favorites]
I wish I had had more time at a neighborhood school.
Neighborhood schools are amazing; growing up in Edmonton mine literally assumed you'd have a mom at home to make lunch so we all had to walk home, eat, and then walk back to school (since my mother was working, I went to a nice Mennonite lady across the alley).
That was retrograde as fuck even back when I was a kid, but nevertheless having the school intentionally located within the casual walking distance of all the students was amazing. Just the level of access to facilities, by itself, with no reference to education, was remarkable.
posted by aramaic at 5:59 PM on August 30 [19 favorites]
Neighborhood schools are amazing; growing up in Edmonton mine literally assumed you'd have a mom at home to make lunch so we all had to walk home, eat, and then walk back to school (since my mother was working, I went to a nice Mennonite lady across the alley).
That was retrograde as fuck even back when I was a kid, but nevertheless having the school intentionally located within the casual walking distance of all the students was amazing. Just the level of access to facilities, by itself, with no reference to education, was remarkable.
posted by aramaic at 5:59 PM on August 30 [19 favorites]
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1tjtb
rough estimate of age 0 - 15 in the USA, showing the baby boom, baby boom echo starting in 1990, and where we are now.
posted by torokunai at 6:34 PM on August 30 [2 favorites]
rough estimate of age 0 - 15 in the USA, showing the baby boom, baby boom echo starting in 1990, and where we are now.
posted by torokunai at 6:34 PM on August 30 [2 favorites]
That’s how schools are located in Toronto too. My kids both walked to elementary. My younger son’s middle school is further (he’s in french) but he can bike on a bike path. + one street route, or take transit.
The weird retrograde lunch thing was in place in 2011 when my oldest went to grade one…they had a lunch reservation I’m but we got an actual letter discussing the importance of a home cooked lunch. In 2011!!
Anyways that is how the principal learned that parents had a group chat going. No more letter.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:50 PM on August 30 [7 favorites]
The weird retrograde lunch thing was in place in 2011 when my oldest went to grade one…they had a lunch reservation I’m but we got an actual letter discussing the importance of a home cooked lunch. In 2011!!
Anyways that is how the principal learned that parents had a group chat going. No more letter.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:50 PM on August 30 [7 favorites]
Thank you, hydropsyche. There definitely has been (and still is) a decades long deliberate dismantling of quality public education, particularly in urban areas, with the intended result of perpetuating racist attitudes.
posted by Scout405 at 7:36 PM on August 30 [3 favorites]
posted by Scout405 at 7:36 PM on August 30 [3 favorites]
The RCSD has been struggling for a long time, the pandemic just accelerated things a bit. As the article mentions, it's had a problem with retaining superintendents, some not even lasting a year before moving on to another school district. The school board seldom seems willing to work with the superintendent. It's hard to blame them for moving somewhere they can get things done.
Adam Urbanski, the head of the teacher's union, is notoriously difficult to work with. His self-assessment that his decision on when to return to in-school instruction was correct was totally in character.
Parental involvement is low. My wife worked as a tutor and frequently had to work with students on the front porch of their house since tutors were not allowed to meet with students indoors if a parent or guardian was not there.
Better funding would help, but the city tax base will never be able to fully fund the district even with federal aid (which is set to end). Families that can afford to leave for the suburbs, further eroding the tax base. It's going to take more than the school district to change any of this but I don't see that happening in today's political climate.
The effect of the pandemic on childhood education cannot be underestimated. I teach at a private university in the Rochester area. Each year the age at which incoming students experienced the pandemic goes down. And each year the percentage of students qualifying for disability accommodations goes up. While that helps, something needs to be done for these kids before they reach college age. Poorly-funded city school districts can't do that.
posted by tommasz at 5:40 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
Adam Urbanski, the head of the teacher's union, is notoriously difficult to work with. His self-assessment that his decision on when to return to in-school instruction was correct was totally in character.
Parental involvement is low. My wife worked as a tutor and frequently had to work with students on the front porch of their house since tutors were not allowed to meet with students indoors if a parent or guardian was not there.
Better funding would help, but the city tax base will never be able to fully fund the district even with federal aid (which is set to end). Families that can afford to leave for the suburbs, further eroding the tax base. It's going to take more than the school district to change any of this but I don't see that happening in today's political climate.
The effect of the pandemic on childhood education cannot be underestimated. I teach at a private university in the Rochester area. Each year the age at which incoming students experienced the pandemic goes down. And each year the percentage of students qualifying for disability accommodations goes up. While that helps, something needs to be done for these kids before they reach college age. Poorly-funded city school districts can't do that.
posted by tommasz at 5:40 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
So is the shift from Public to Private or are more students being official 'Homeschooled' (I put that in quotes because aside from not being in Public School I don't know if there is a universal definition for Home Schooled ?).
Also could this move away from Public schooling also be coinciding with the TradWife phenomenon?
Assuming there are a million students now not attending Public school - are there any stats showing where they are now?
posted by Faintdreams at 5:43 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
Also could this move away from Public schooling also be coinciding with the TradWife phenomenon?
Assuming there are a million students now not attending Public school - are there any stats showing where they are now?
posted by Faintdreams at 5:43 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
I had the neighborhood school experience for a while (NJ, 70s) and it was truly awesome. we used to walk home for lunch as mom was SAH, so we could have grilled cheese, or some other hot food. going in to school early or staying late for extracurriculars was no biggie. I'm sad for the kids today that will never know that experience of walking to and from school together with the group of kids in your neighborhood that you played with all year around.
posted by supermedusa at 10:14 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 10:14 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
Or riding the yellow bus to school together. I live near a school and it's infuriating, the parents all jockeying for position and wasting so much fuel idling their SUVs with the AC on, waiting for their kids (who I understand are being protected from any evil influences they might encounter if they were allowed/forced to get to school on their own, as I was).
posted by Rash at 10:36 AM on August 31 [3 favorites]
posted by Rash at 10:36 AM on August 31 [3 favorites]
Rash in my district we have a severe shortage of bis drivers. Many parents have no choice but to drive the kids because they don't want their 11 year old walking almost 2 miles to school considering how horrible people are driving since the pandemic.
posted by nestor_makhno at 12:41 PM on August 31 [3 favorites]
posted by nestor_makhno at 12:41 PM on August 31 [3 favorites]
Neighborhood schools are amazing. It's what I grew up with, and what my kids had as well. An immense amount of energy is wasted having non-neighborhood schools or large amounts of people who are not permitted to or are incentivized against attending their neighborhood schools.
Rochester Public Schools have every force against their attendance count: non-replacement birth rate, domestic emigration (to the suburbs, Texas, Florida, etc.) high in relation to domestic and foreign immigration, and school choice (charter schools and interdistrict transfers). Closing buildings and consolidating and closing administrative-entity schools is unavoidable.
posted by MattD at 6:34 AM on September 1
Rochester Public Schools have every force against their attendance count: non-replacement birth rate, domestic emigration (to the suburbs, Texas, Florida, etc.) high in relation to domestic and foreign immigration, and school choice (charter schools and interdistrict transfers). Closing buildings and consolidating and closing administrative-entity schools is unavoidable.
posted by MattD at 6:34 AM on September 1
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posted by grumpybear69 at 3:21 PM on August 30