Monday, April 6, 2009

Parental demographic reform in public schools. No ESL students please!

H/T: Peterborough Politics

The Ministry of Education in Ontario is posting demographic information about students attending publicly funded schools in Ontario.

Don't think that parents don't use this demographic information in deciding which schools their children should attend.

[My edited comment posted on Peterborough Politics]:

Here's an excellent article on how parents use statistics to get their children into certain public schools in Toronto:

Parts of Toronto Life article:

"While the public education system is usually touted as the great equalizer, many neighbourhoods have a Jackman-type [public] school, with better amenities and better test scores than the others in the area. Often, those schools are closed to kids who live out of district. As the troubled schools in this city get more troubled, and the schools with the best scores generate better reputations, parents feel more pressure than ever to give their kids the best the public system has to offer. They’ll lie, cheat and go into extreme real estate debt to make it happen."

...

"'There’s a large ESL component there,' says one father of two who lives in Chester’s catchment. 'There seems to be a lot of Yugoslavians. We spent some time in the schoolyard but couldn’t real­ly relate to the other parents, and we didn’t want to put our kids in that situation.' They enrolled their kids in Frankland, a school similar to Jackman in demographics and test scores. 'We’re not prejudiced. We just didn’t feel comfortable, and people don’t go to schools where they’re uncomfortable.' Jill Worthy, the TDSB superintendent for most of the schools in the Danforth and Riverdale area, said much the same thing: 'What some parents want is a more homogeneous environment, a less multicultural situation. They fear their children will be a minority within a school’s majority culture.'

I will add also that parent councils at different schools raise various levels of funds.

Update: Information about two different schools: #1 & #2.

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