The New York Times and the Hearst Connecticut Newspaper Group weigh in and depict poverty and education in Greenwich: Part I

Greenwich Ave where upscale retail and 

less expensive rental apartments share space

The Sunday editions of the April 14th New York Times Magazine and the Stamford Advocate have enlightened us on  how great the divide is between the rich and poor  in Greenwich (The Times)   and on the struggles of a low-income income Greenwich resident  to send her kids to the town's schools (The Advocate).

In The Other Greenwich, New York Times writer Adam Davidson reports that nearly 4 percent of the town's population of  about 61,000 live above or below the poverty level. These people mostly labor on the estates as cooks, housekeepers, landscapers, etc. 

Though these workers can get cheaper rents in Stamford and across the border in New York, many opt to rent units above the stores on Greenwich Avenue and in small low income apartments built after World War II. 

What motivates these parents is that their kids "have everything-music, sports, art,drama." They are even taught ice-skating. 

A Rand corporation study concluded that "the poorer children in wealthier schools cut their achievement gap in half compared with their peers in poorer schools." 

Here are some amazing stats to ponder: in Greenwich where about 13% of the students come from low income homes, "more than three-quarters of those students scored at or above proficiency on the most recent statewide 10th -grade performance tests. At nearby Stamford High School, where nearly 70 percent of students are on the lunch program, almost half the students failed to meet the proficiency levels." 

So why don't more school districts integrate their schools on an economic basis?  According to studies, about 80 school districts with a student population of 4 million already do. However, this figure only represents about 10 percent of all students in the U.S. 

What this article fails to discuss in detail is just why rich school districts have greater success than poorer ones. Is it because of the wealth of the parents, the stability of the families, the quality/stability of the schools or a combination? 

Davidson's enlightening article is an apt prelude for the Hearst Newspaper Group's five-part series on Poverty and Riches,; the first installment presents a bio of a impoverished single mother with four children struggling to raise them in Greenwich. 

I will cover this news story in my next blog.