They want to believe they're good parents and their kids are getting something for their tax dollars. And the school system protects itself when it resists accountability. It doesn't serve parents. Average, at best Across the city, parents struggle to grade the job the school district is doing. But Hale's assessment is hardly universal.
Many parents complain that mediocre is as good as it gets at most district schools.
And for more and more of them, that's not good enough. Patricia Armijo has waited for years for the district to do something about schools in the South Valley, which are traditionally some of the poorest, lowest-scoring in the district. A generation later she is still waiting. She decided not to let her son attend neighborhood schools. Instead, she and her son's father Mike Flores, hand-picked what she considered stronger schools in other parts of the city.