[StBernard] Expanding higher ed access for low income students

[Westley Annis]

Wendy,

Before Katrina, St. Bernard Parish Public Schools were every bit as good as
the Catholic schools.  A lot of parents felt that way.  That's why you found
a decreasing enrollment in all the Catholic schools.

I kept my kids in a Catholic school because I wanted them to have a Catholic
education and be exposed to that atmosphere as much as possible.

I am a graduate of Chalmette High and turned down the opportunity to go to
Brother Martin since I felt CHS had everything I was looking for at the
time.

I don't think I started off my adult years any worse off than Brother Martin
or Holy Cross grads.

People look at the educational system when they decide where they will raise
their family.  I don't care how rich or poor, if you truly want the best for
your kids, you will do what it takes.  If it means moving to another city or
state, then so be it.

Unfortunately, I think most people on the poorer side of the scale don't
look at it this way.  Just today, there was an AP story that 5,000 heads of
households that are Katrina evacuees living in Houston are still unemployed
with the an estimate 100,000 jobs waiting to be filled.  That is 5,000
people who deserve none and get no sympathy from me.

As for the "unpaid training", that sounds like an issue for the labor board.
Employers, to the best of my knowledge, cannot require employees to attend
any type of training without their normal hourly compensation.

Westley

-----Original Message-----
Wes,
 
  You are right in that we are allowed the rights to life, liberty, and the
Pursuit of happiness, however, what happens if there are road blocks. You
can't tell me you believe that the private education you are paying for is
equal to that of any public school, otherwise why pay for it. Then, to go to
an overpopulate urban system...come on, you can't believe that even semi
ranks with what you are paying for. If you take one of your kids and one
from a typically schooled urban area, do you really believe that
educationally the will be equals? DO you really believe that they will have
both been exposed to all the promise this world has to offer? If not, then
they have started on unequal terms, hence not equal. Are they equally as
valuable as children, yes, but will they be able to start as equals?
   And yes some of the "process" food have shortened prep time, BUT there
are now larger menus, promotional items that are not always prepped requirng
additional training not paid for- limited time only things. At BK, we lost
the porter position, which now fell to the crew. Porters were specially
trained on servicing equipment, went to classes, special training, they
don't have those now. We have to figure it out from OPS manuals what to do,
why because it is things we don't do it daily, which means we also spend
more time doing those things. ANd with the lack of "loyalty" from workers,
and their ability to just leave, once one is trained and you don't do things
for a while, they leave and the process begins again. Franchises also start
out with a 10-20% cut going to corporate stores, so they have overhead not
seen in corporate run stores which means they now have to absorb those
costs, labor is always the easiest to cut. 
   As to three minutes on chicken....well when my mom worked at church's it
took 15-20 minutes to cook, so chicken stores will always take longer than
burger places....burgers and fries only take 3 minutes to cook.
 
Wendy