For city schools, a call for reinforcements

March 7, 2015

Matthew Albright – The News Journal

Many Wilmington students are facing problems at home that put them at an educational disadvantage before they set foot in the classroom.

Some have smaller vocabularies than their more affluent classmates, sometimes because their parents are less likely to have the time or resources to read to them. Some don’t eat unless its the school breakfast or school lunch. Some might wear the same clothes a few days in a row, unless, like the staff at Shortlidge, educators do their laundry for them.

Some are battling psychological trauma from shootings and other violence in their neighborhoods.

…

Elizabeth Lockman, a Wilmington parent who sits on the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee sent her child to a high-poverty Wilmington school even though her family is middle-class. She acknowledges that’s relatively rare these days because most parents believe those schools can’t handle the crime and poverty-induced problems they face and send them to private or charter schools.

“If we had a system that allowed us to address those disparities, I think it would speak to those parents who are on the fence about making that decision,” she said. “It’s a really hard decision to send your child to a school when you know it has those kinds of needs.”