To Coerce Or Comfort

On one side of the spectrum you have financial incentives to encourage parental involvement to increase school attendance, performance and graduation rates.  The incentives are not so much as to be considered gifts, but fall more into the realms of resources.


Through the redesigning of federal funding streams, schools are able to capture more funding to provide resources to the community, basic community resources that slowly have been stripped away over the last few decades due to suburbanization.

DPS seeks more parental involvement

Associated Press / Associated Press

Detroit— Discount retail cards will be offered by Detroit Public Schools to increase parental contact and involvement in the 77,000-student district.

The district said today that 30,000 "I'm In" scan cards will be given to parents visiting seven Parent Resource Centers scattered in schools across Detroit. Parental training, workshops and other services are offered at the centers.

On the other side of the coin, you have the state utilize more traditional methods to forcefully encourage parental involvement.


In this matter, the State of New York uses financial disincentives to encourage parental involvement, school attendance, increased performance and graduation rates.


Simply put, if you do not send your kids to school, we will put them in foster care.

New York State Woman Finds OCFS Policy Brief Does Not Fully Address The Issues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 25, 2010 – A North Tonawanda mother who was falsely charged with "educational neglect"  after her gay teen received death threats at North Tonawanda High School in 2005 is perplexed by a recent policy brief released by the New York Office of Child and Family Services.   

"What their brief does not begin to explore is false filings of educational neglect charges, and why there are no investigations into this aspect. " ~ Rhonda Mangus, North Tonawanda , NY

Getting Teenagers Back to School  Rethinking New York State’s Response to  Chronic Absence

What does this say about the state of affairs in youth education?  


What do you believe works better?  Threats, coercion, intimidation or comfort?  Are parents the enemy or a citizen of the state?  


I think the time has come to evolve to a more sophisticated society and put and end to the barbaric actions of threats.


If a child is not going to school, then find out why and present a solution the benefits everyone.  


Let's do a cost/benefit analysis.  


COERCE:  Call is made to Child Protective Services.  Immediate

• Hourly paid staff, who went through federally funded training
• Electricity is used to answer phone/lights
• Intake information is written on paper with pens
• Referral is made to hourly paid and trained supervisor
• Supervisor used electricity on computer/paper to refer to CPS workers
• CPS workers in state owned vehicles, using gas, drive to parents' house
• CPS workers use time to investigate
• CPS workers write court petition
• Court clerk, hourly paid, uses electricity and paper to process petition for removal
• CPS workers show to court
• Judge takes time out of regular docket to hear ex-parte petition
• Judge makes order, on paper, in a lit courtroom
• CPS workers use gas to pick up child for removal
• CPS workers find Child Placing Agency to place child in foster home
• CPS has receptionist, case worker, supervisor and director on the case
• Foster parents have gone through funded training and paid
• Child is sent to therapist
• Child is medicated with psychotropics
• Child is moved to new school district
• Include portion of fixed costs for all facilities
• Include emotional and psychological irreparable harms

COMFORT: Providing resources through Medicaid expansion.  Training and networking to prevent the next generation for educational deterioration.  Long term investment

• Jobs are created in economically depressed cities
• Quality of life improves through access to better and affordable housing
• School facilities and environments are improved
• Greater community involvement
• People are happy
• More graduate from school
• Regions retain intellectual resources
• Rebuilds infrastructure, bringing in more investment to the area creating more jobs