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Possible way to save urban schools


Coleco

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I just got back from Washington DC and have to chime in on this. I must admit my head spins thinking about what the ramifications what of this type of gift would mean in GRPS.

Couple of random thoughts, some of them related to previous posts:

-I actually do not care if a program like this brought any families back to our district. If we could just stabilize our student population we could not only survive but thrive. Losing 500-900 students every year makes it impossible to run our district.

-My main thought is the psychological lift, the hope, and the promise this would give the students and parents in our district. For most of our families, college is not even a thought in their mind. What if the gift required a parent or guardian to volunteer so many hours per month in the child's school, say 5 hours per month? What if it required parents or guardians to become members of the schools PTA? What if the gift required the parent or guardian to attend every parent teacher conference? Man, the change that could be affected in our school system.

-In regard to what something like this would cost...surprisingly it is not as much as one would think. GRPS currently graduates about 2400-3000 students each year from its regular high schools. I saw a statistic last year regarding the incredible amount of scholarships received by last year's graduating class. I believe it was over $2,000,000. I believe that the gift has a requirement of a minimum GPA, and mininimum number of hours. Looking at the number of graduates, the potential number of scholarships that would be attained, the number of students that meet the requirements, and the phased in approach (meaning graduates would receive a % scholarship depending on how many years they have been in the system) it would take an initial investment of about $50,000,000 to do this in Grand Rapids. If an up front investment of $50,000,000 established a foundation or a trust to cover this program the ineterest earned would cover the program almost indefinitly. One has to imagine that as the school system regains health, student achievement will rise and the opportunity for scholarship will also increase, thus lessening the amount of grant needed.

OK, folks what do we need to do to raise $50,000,000? Let's begin to ante up.

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We just got two letters in the mail yesterday, one from the Art Museum, and the other from the GR Community Foundation, asking for money. It's tough when everyone is looking for money these days. But you're right Dave, if $50 Mil. would get it started, that's more reasonable. It definitely would be an energy boost for the district, and would hopefully keep people from leaving.

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We just got two letters in the mail yesterday, one from the Art Museum, and the other from the GR Community Foundation, asking for money. It's tough when everyone is looking for money these days. But you're right Dave, if $50 Mil. would get it started, that's more reasonable. It definitely would be an energy boost for the district, and would hopefully keep people from leaving.

I do not think or expect folks to begin sending in $50 checks. I do, however, think that a group of GR philanthropists could put thier heads and pocket books together and get something started. In fact as I have been thinking about it over the past few days, those that own a considerable amount of property or business in Grand Rapids should see this as a solid investment. Increasing the viability of our school system will only positively help property values.

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I do not think or expect folks to begin sending in $50 checks. I do, however, think that a group of GR philanthropists could put thier heads and pocket books together and get something started. In fact as I have been thinking about it over the past few days, those that own a considerable amount of property or business in Grand Rapids should see this as a solid investment. Increasing the viability of our school system will only positively help property values.

I fear that most of our GR Philanthropists might do this for Christian Schools and Charter Schools before they do it for GRPS. A lot of Grand Rapids' white culture has been anti-public school for over 40 years, choosing instead to build their own schools for their own kind.

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I think this K'zoo foundation is going about it all wrong, especially if this same concept is applied here in GR. Lets save our elementary, middle, and high school kids from failure before we jump ahead and say, "go learn a skill or trade with your 4th grade reading level."

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  • 3 weeks later...

A short follow up on this...I was listening to the news a few days ago, and apparently colleges are bending over backwards to attract Kalamazoo kids to their schools, some even offering free room and board. This is good for those K-zoo kids and all, but what about everybody else?

Has anyone else heard anything on this?

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A short follow up on this...I was listening to the news a few days ago, and apparently colleges are bending over backwards to attract Kalamazoo kids to their schools, some even offering free room and board. This is good for those K-zoo kids and all, but what about everybody else?

Has anyone else heard anything on this?

Yes, I heard Western was doing that, and it was causing a lot of ruckus.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

From today's Free Press:

Like many urban school districts, Kalamazoo has steadily lost enrollment in recent years. This week, in its first assessment of the new scholarship program's impact, KPS reported a 22% increase in the number of students transferring into the district and a 31% drop in the number transferring out.

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID.../602010328/1122

The article is full of references to the superbowl, but I thought this paragraph had some great news.

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This is good for Kalamazoo, I think Kzoo is a city that doesn't get enough attention, because it's over shadowed by Detroit and Chicago, and locally by GR. I think it's going to be interesting to see how this all turns out. I feel an influx of residents, will be good for the schools and the city, I think it will reverse a negative trend, and turn around an ailing school system. It will, if things go the way they have been reported, increase the cities tax base, and more than likely increase investment. Kalamazoo is in a position already to step to the next level, as a classy city, It could give GR a run for it's money from what i've seen. I feel if you were to draw a line down Michigan, around lansing, the future, lies west. We are over here along the 131 corridor, in a much better position to move ahead, and gain national renown. Kzoo is no exception.

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I go back and forth on this kind of strategy. In some ways, it's great that it seems to be working, but in other ways, a "giveaway" for nothing is not a great long-term strategy. Another thing is that this probably won't attract any upper middle class families, because they probably have an education savings plan already set up. I would not feel comfortable entrusting my kids' education to a "promise" program that could fold at any minute, or get changed at any time, or come with "strings" attached. And what if my child wanted to go to an out-of-state school and we had not put any money aside for that situation?

Families should be attracted to GRPS because it's a great school district and a great investment, IMO.

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I guess my question becomes then, what do you do about GRPS image problem, the district has been embattled for years, and has a reputation almost on par with the DPS. It seems the district is shrinking at a rapid rate, all of the upper middle class families that live in the city send their children to the many private schools. Are we in a catch 22 here?

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Well, some of the ideas brought up on the other thread are things to think about. You have to "seed" middle to upper middle-class families back into the district (and not by giving out handouts). It's the only way to turn things around, IMO.

How would you go about 'seeding' families without giving handouts? What would the draw be for non idealists?

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You have to start with idealists. If they can change the momentum to go the other way, all the other "non-idealists" will follow if they think it's "safe" or "cool".

I don't know about anyone else, but if the "promise" program were available currently to my family, I would not take it. There is no way I would take the risk of not saving for education for my kids.

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Well one can't argue with being shrewd, but what if you saved, and when the time came, your childrens education were in fact paid for, it would have then been in fact worth it. I guess i'm with Gary, on the how, part of all of this. I guess it would start with idealists. But that in itself would take decades. Would there be even a school system to save at that point. Do you think a PR campaign would help. If there were to be some kind of public service, "help support GRPS, our future partly hinges on it not going belly up"?

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You have to start with idealists. If they can change the momentum to go the other way, all the other "non-idealists" will follow if they think it's "safe" or "cool".

That makes sense. How do you go about formally clumping these people in the same neighborhood? Who would be responsible to formalize the concept?

I don't know about anyone else, but if the "promise" program were available currently to my family, I would not take it. There is no way I would take the risk of not saving for education for my kids.

I would take it, but I wouldn't stop saving. Some neighbors of mine had saved for their daughter's college, but she ended up with a full ride to DePaul. They took the extra cash and bought her a new condo to live in while attending school.

You'd have to have that kind of attitude about it. If its there great; if it isn't too bad, but not totally unexpected.

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Well one can't argue with being shrewd, but what if you saved, and when the time came, your childrens education were in fact paid for, it would have then been in fact worth it. I guess i'm with Gary, on the how, part of all of this. I guess it would start with idealists. But that in itself would take decades. Would there be even a school system to save at that point. Do you think a PR campaign would help. If there were to be some kind of public service, "help support GRPS, our future partly hinges on it not going belly up"?

You can't frame it as charity work. Then the families moving in would have the attitude that they're the "saviors" like Dave said. It would create a lot of friction with the families that are already there. You have to start with idealists who are already considering it, and make it that much more easy and enjoyable for them. I think a lot of families are starving for neighborhood interaction, especially stay-at-home Moms. You should see all the book clubs, playgroups, study groups, bunco clubs, poker groups, etc. in my neighborhood. :rolleyes:

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