You may want to consider homeschooling. A number of parents find themselves in your predicament. The public schools sucks but they may not be able to afford private school.
The problem with Homeschooling is that the kids are smart as hell, but are socially stunted...I went to HS with several, and that was the case..I also know of 4 others, all socially stunted adults...
You may counter with "the parents try and ________", but believe you me, parents today, are not parents, and cannot teach children how to deal with today's social settings....most parents today don't even know good table etiquette. Kids have been taught in social settings with other kids since there was school for a reason...