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Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

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Some Milford parents have too much money. And class issues.

So, I keep up with my hometown paper, the Milford Mirror, pretty regularly.

Today, I read this gem about parents who don't want their special children getting redistricted to the "bad" school in town (which I went to!)

You can read that article here. In a nutshell, it says that our middle schools have really different enrollments, that to equalize, some kids may get moved, and that of course, some parents are pissed that their kids may go to the "bad school". I will note that they cite slightly lower standardized test scores, but really nothing else as evidence. I will also note that this "worse" school has higher numbers of minorities and is certainly of a lower-income bracket, and I can't imagine that these factors escape the parents who are complaining. I can't see this as anything more than a class issue, where these parents are using their money, power and privilege to get their way (and not contribute to the good of the community as a whole).

Anyway, I got really pissed. It reminded me in some vague way of the accused Duke lacrosse players, whose families has personal lawyers within 5 seconds. While it's certainly not a just analogy, I was bothered by who has lawyers (and that kind of money) at their disposal, and who doesn't.

Might I add that Milford fought off low-income housing several years back, and the NAACP got involved, so taking care of those in our communities who are in the lower-income brackets doesn't seem to be our strong suit. I'm so glad we're keeping up our awesome reputation of leaving the lower classes behind.

Anyway, below is the letter of response I sent. Who knows if they'll publish it, but dammit, I will! I wanted to be more sarcastic and angry and make fun of these parents some more, but that would probably not help my getting published.
__________________________________________

This letter is in response to the group of parents who may sue over their children being moved from Harborside to West Shore Middle School.

Let me see if I have this right: West Shore is so terrible, that these parents would rather have their kids in more crowded classrooms at Harborside, than smaller classes at West Shore?

As an alum of Simon Lake, West Shore and Jonathan Law, I have heard so many times that I was in the “worst” schools (and believe me, I always understood that that was a code word for lower class, and more minorities). However, I and many of my classmates were wildly successful academically. I owe this to the great teachers and administrators at these schools.

The lower test scores these parents cite is nothing else but a smack in the face of hardworking students, parents and educators who are the West Shore Community. The lower scores cited probably have more to do with the socioeconomics of the community than the inherent ability of the teachers or caliber of students.

The sense I get is that these parents feel that their kids are “above” going to West Shore; that, this detour, going to school with the “riff-raff”, will surely stunt their academic growth and keep Little Bobby or Suzie from getting into Harvard or Yale.

I hope the Milford school system stands its ground and says that money and lawyers can’t buy everything. I hope that we realize that its not one side of the tracks versus the other, and that our school system must grow together instead of growing apart, or we will leave parts of our community behind.

To let certain schools languish because of perceived underperformance hurts those who don’t have the luxury to pay their way out of those schools. To allow this group of parents to use their power and privilege to “opt out” smacks of elitism and classism. Milford’s money and efforts are much better spent equalizing the performance and yes, numbers of these schools.

Steve tells me its what I'm best at...

Steve gives me a hard time because I never post. I say I usually don't have much worth saying.

He then reminds me that I go on angry rants all the damn time, shouldn't I just post them (I guess as opposed to venting them in his direction)?

Well, I got a couple under the belt, so here we go...

I'm new here, don't hurt me.

Boy, I wonder if my life is exciting enough (to others, that is), that I'd be able to keep up a blog?