What are the real (and unavoidable) private school advantages?

[SilverShadow]

There are realities outside of Louisville. Quite a few and the world does not evolve around St. Matthews. Good for you to think it is the best in Louisville, doubtful it would be able to claim that, statewide.

[rockmom]

There are realities outside of Louisville. Quite a few and the world does not evolve around St. Matthews. Good for you to think it is the best in Louisville, doubtful it would be able to claim that, statewide.

 

 

Do you think that this proposal is the best for ALL students in ALL schools statewide? Or, do you think this is the best solution for ALL studentis in PUBLIC schools statewide? I fail to see how this proposal is at all fair to PRIVATE schools statewide.

[Trinity alum]

There are realities outside of Louisville. Quite a few and the world does not evolve around St. Matthews. Good for you to think it is the best in Louisville, doubtful it would be able to claim that, statewide.

No, but the world would do well to evolve toward St Mathews. But evolution is a subject for a different thread.

[SilverShadow]

Do you think that this proposal is the best for ALL students in ALL schools statewide? Or, do you think this is the best solution for ALL studentis in PUBLIC schools statewide? I fail to see how this proposal is at all fair to PRIVATE schools statewide.

 

I take it to mean Prop. 20?

 

If that is the case, no. It is not the best solution or the answer. But, it is the result of frustration and anger. Say what we all will on this site, the most interesting point made to date is NCC Coach Schneider - a private school representative said "Something needs to be done and working towards that.." but not Prop 20.

 

Failure to understand the position of the vast majority of members is not a very smart thing to do. Agree or disagree, the vast majority of members in KHSAA is public schools. There will be changes in rules. I do not think it will be Prop 20, but prop 20 will get darn near 50% of the vote.

 

I think residency rules and transfer rules will be the ongoing debate and rule change proposals for the next couple of years and there will be changes. My opinion, State residency rule will pass all levels.

[HHSDad]

You missed the point completely. There are no "undesireables because we would never describe anyone as undesireable. Trinity has programs to bring these kids along and get them ready for more education. It is expensive, but it is part of the schools mission to do it.

Maybe Trinity works differently from every other private school. Most of the rest will throw you butt out in a heartbeat if they consider you a troublemaker. They also can refuse to accept you if you don't meet their standards. If you don't think selectivity is an advantage, then what is. Public schools spend a huge amount of resources on kids that drop out as soon as they legally can.

[Trinity alum]

Maybe Trinity works differently from every other private school. Most of the rest will throw you butt out in a heartbeat if they consider you a troublemaker. They also can refuse to accept you if you don't meet their standards. If you don't think selectivity is an advantage, then what is. Public schools spend a huge amount of resources on kids that drop out as soon as they legally can.

I want to be clear. Trinity accepts kids from all academic levels. There are no selective admissions. That is more than some public schools in this area can say. I don't say that as a knock on the JCPS for having schools with selective admissions. (I don't think it is a good idea, but that is a different topic.) My point is that selective admissions are not an advantage of all private schools, nor are they an advantage that is exclusive to private schools. Therefore selective admissions form no basis for discriminatory treatment of private school students.

 

There are some kids that make it clear that they don't want to be at our school, but not many. They are not forced to stay. I would agree with you that there are some kids that demonstrate that they don't wish to be in a regular school. The wishes of those kids should be granted. I know that it is hard to establish an alternative school in a small, rural county, but if the choices are to let a small number poison the environment for all or to spend the money for an alternative school, that seems like an easy choice.

[All Play No Work]

Maybe Trinity works differently from every other private school. Most of the rest will throw you butt out in a heartbeat if they consider you a troublemaker. They also can refuse to accept you if you don't meet their standards. If you don't think selectivity is an advantage, then what is. Public schools spend a huge amount of resources on kids that drop out as soon as they legally can.

 

What you say has a lot of truth.

 

But is it (selectivity) unavoidable?

 

Could public schools define a student as "at risk" and "not spend a huge amount on resources on kids that drop out as soon as they legally can"?

 

So what I'm asking is could the public schools become more selective and better use resources to ID and assist kids that will drop out?

 

To me it sounds like you yourself could identify such kids and you know that funds are not being used as best as they could. Are there certain laws that would prohibit such things?

[oldschoolwrestler]

What you say has a lot of truth.

 

But is it (selectivity) unavoidable?

 

Could public schools define a student as "at risk" and "not spend a huge amount on resources on kids that drop out as soon as they legally can"?

 

So what I'm asking is could the public schools become more selective and better use resources to ID and assist kids that will drop out?

 

To me it sounds like you yourself could identify such kids and you know that funds are not being used as best as they could. Are there certain laws that would prohibit such things?

 

Since I teach at one of those alternative school the answer is yes. Every student must be given the same education as the rest. Even if they threaten, push, shove, punch, students and staff. Even if their parents say

"he/she will turn 16 on Oct 8th and I am letting him drop out". We still must keep this student in class, and allow him to disrupt other students, or at least take up the majority of the staff's time.

[HHSDad]

Since I teach at one of those alternative school the answer is yes. Every student must be given the same education as the rest. Even if they threaten, push, shove, punch, students and staff. Even if their parents say

"he/she will turn 16 on Oct 8th and I am letting him drop out". We still must keep this student in class, and allow him to disrupt other students, or at least take up the majority of the staff's time.

Since you teach at an alternative school, would you happen to know how many of these kids end up graduating? Do kids get sent there soon enough? Can they attend alternative school through graduation?

[oldschoolwrestler]

My best quess is that 20% graduate. Our alternative school does not allow graduation yet. There are other alternative schools that have graduation. They can however go to the Adult high school and graduate.

 

Our school deals mostly with 7-10, once they reach 16 most are returned to the regular high school.

 

Our school costs the district about $1 million a year. The adult high school costs the district about the same. We service 60-70 students at a time. (10 kids in a classroom at most). There is another program for elementary students.

 

The one stipulation we have placed on ourselves is that kids attending alternative schools may not participate in school events, functions, or sports. They are not even suppose to step foot on the high school campus even for a basketball/football game.

[StThomasMore]

After skim reading a number of the 160 posts in this thread, I have reached the conclusion that most of the "knocks" on private schools are, in reality, good reasons to send a child to a private school.

It may have been mentioned above and I may have missed it but it bears repeating. Most of those paying tuition for private schools are also paying a material amount of school taxes to the public school district in which they live. No one can question the dedication of private school parents to their children and to the private system.

If the St Xs, Trinitys, CovCaths, Rose Hills, Lex Caths, et als. are ever removed from championship competition in the KHSAA, those public school trophies will be very hollow. The publics have one advantage that the privates can never have- the bottomless pit of tax dollars (local, state, and federal). Maybe the publics should just pull themselves up rather than continually trying to set the rules to accommodate lower levels of performance and dedication.

[HDE]

After skim reading a number of the 160 posts in this thread, I have reached the conclusion that most of the "knocks" on private schools are, in reality, good reasons to send a child to a private school.

It may have been mentioned above and I may have missed it but it bears repeating. Most of those paying tuition for private schools are also paying a material amount of school taxes to the public school district in which they live. No one can question the dedication of private school parents to their children and to the private system.

If the St Xs, Trinitys, CovCaths, Rose Hills, Lex Caths, et als. are ever removed from championship competition in the KHSAA, those public school trophies will be very hollow. The publics have one advantage that the privates can never have- the bottomless pit of tax dollars (local, state, and federal). Maybe the publics should just pull themselves up rather than continually trying to set the rules to accommodate lower levels of performance and dedication.

 

 

The public schools with a large percentage of hard-working students through the good fortune of being in a good location where most of the parents work, have good jobs and college degrees, don't have to "pull themselves up" at all. I'm sure Manual, Male, Highlands, Dunbar and others can hold their own with anyone.

 

How would you go about accomodating students who have a lower level of performance and dedication?

[letabrotherspeak]

I guess the schools community needs to get out and work on raising money for there programs. Id guess its much easier to get a handout from Uncle Sam and cry about how much money the private schools raise, than to actually get out and work to raise money for things you want. Id like to see some examples where a bunch of these communities actually put forth REAL effort on raising money for programs.

So if Brian Brohm gets drafted #1 and wants to donate 1 million dollars to Trinity for upgrades...that is a great windfall and I would assume Trinity cna do with it what they like.

If Shaun Alexander wants to give his alma mater 350K for a new playing surface at the football field he can....uh No.

Boone County can not do that by law. Trinity on the other hnd can.

What if the owner of Golds Gym wants to dump a million into Lex Cath's coffers like he did to build baseball/football complex with turf...he can.

At a public shool ...particularly the county schools this can not be done.

That is an advatage that many speak of in regards to raising funds.

How many times has a private school benefitted from bingos and other festivals with booster groups in the past? I would say many. You cannot do that at public schools. I am speaking of athletic funding...

[letabrotherspeak]

I wonder how easy everyone thinks it is to have 1400 teenage boys in a school, and to maintain discipline. :lol:

Probably a lot easier since "due process" is not the order of the day.

What if one of those 1,400 had an IEP that commits arson at your school and you cannot kick the student out because he is a special needs student? If someone attempted arson at Trinity, how long would they last?

[The Professor]

After skim reading a number of the 160 posts in this thread, I have reached the conclusion that most of the "knocks" on private schools are, in reality, good reasons to send a child to a private school.

It may have been mentioned above and I may have missed it but it bears repeating. Most of those paying tuition for private schools are also paying a material amount of school taxes to the public school district in which they live. No one can question the dedication of private school parents to their children and to the private system.

If the St Xs, Trinitys, CovCaths, Rose Hills, Lex Caths, et als. are ever removed from championship competition in the KHSAA, those public school trophies will be very hollow. The publics have one advantage that the privates can never have- the bottomless pit of tax dollars (local, state, and federal). Maybe the publics should just pull themselves up rather than continually trying to set the rules to accommodate lower levels of performance and dedication.

 

You need to take a tour of some of the poor areas of the state and see what they have from the "bottomless pit of tax dollars" you mention. You would probably change your opinion a little. The county I live in has just one high school. It doesn't have a drama class, a band, a music teacher, an art class, to name a few classes that other schools take for granted. Also, most schools have a nice, roomy auditorium to have their meetings and assemblies for their students,...but not our school...we can't afford it. They meet in the gym...sitting in the bleachers....looking at scoreboards and basketball goals.

We are a public school in a small populated mountain county (119th in the state). We are one of the "have nots".