Parents focused more on school performance than neighborhood safety

A recent study of elementary school enrollment of children living in Weinland Park, conducted by KidsOhio, revealed some surprising findings. The most interesting was that parents who enroll their children in schools other than their `assigned’ school did so not because of perceived safety issues in the assigned school’s neighborhood, but because of academic performance. In other words (the report’s), `Parents sought different schools for reasons tied to concerns inside the school, not outside, and most were directly related to learning’. (Emphasis theirs)

Let’s dwell on this a bit. According to the study, crime in Weinland Park is not the reason that parents send their children to another school. Instead, the primary reason is that Weinland Park Elementary is not a good school. However, we must consider that the survey population consists entirely of parents who live in Weinland Park, so it's not like these are people who are purposely avoiding living in a crime-free neighborhood in the first place. So, in essence, these are parents who are making the best of a bad lot. They live in an unsafe neighborhood anyway (and presumably are unable to move to a safer one) so they are making the logical, informed choice to send their children to the best-performing school available anyway.

Mr Chairman

I've been asked to serve as the new chair of the Communications Committee.