[quote=Eugene]
They did pour a lot of money into renovating Lincoln HS and increasing its capacity by some 2000 students (SESD/Encanto). But busing is cheaper than building new schools, especially when existing schools would be left underutilized. Scripps Ranch (the area east of Black Mountain and north of Lake Miramar) was the last area in San Diego Unified that experienced any major homebuilding since 1990. The rest was built out long time ago. Any changes in overcrowding since then are due to demographic shifts (and lately due to NCLB).
Take UCHS, for example. University City is an older, established neighborhood. Median age is in the 40’s. Furthermore, it’s mostly whites and asians and neither like to have kids. New kids are mostly made south of the 8. So it was the right size for the neighborhood back in the 80’s when it was built, but now it’s just too big. The same thing happens with Henry High in San Carlos. On the other hand, City Heights, Kensington, etc. used to be populated by whites 20-30 years ago, and now those areas are home to Hispanic and African immigrants, often with 3+ kids per household. The remaining whites choice their kids over to Henry High. The district evens things out further by busing around some minority kids.
As a result of reshuffling. UCHS is, as you say, 37% white, 34% hispanic. Without busing it would be more like Doyle Elementary (40% white, 31% asian, 20% hispanic) or Curie Elementary (60% white, 16% asian, 15% hispanic).
Its accountability card states quite straightforwardly that around 34% of its students come from outside its local boundaries. Some of these choice over from Clairemont High (which sucks quite a bit more than UCHS) but many are bused from inner city. In Clairemont High the percentage is 36%. There’s no data for Point Loma and La Jolla, but I’d expect similar bussing rates.[/quote]
Once again, all the north county schools not in SDUSD that I listed have predominantly white whith % as high as 80+% in case of Canyon Crest. So, if these are predominantly white/asian, why then do they have enough students to fill their schools? I don’t understand your argument about ares having predominantly white/asian not having enough students to fill schools.
I’m glad they renovated Lincoln HS. It was much needed. Do you have prove that schools would be left underutilized if busing doesn’t exist? If anything, it leave some school w/ the right size instead of overcrowding and would show that areas down south NEED more schools.
Once again, even a (60% white, 16% asian, 15% hispanic) demographic is not that staggering when compare to other north county schools. If you want shocking, check out Canyon Crest Academy. All this does is drive those who want better schools out of SDUSD to other school districts. Minority tend to sticks together. Just look at Mira Mesa as a prime example. There’s about 30% filipino and 20% asian. White only account for 20% of the the school. What’s so wrong w/ building more schools down south and have the student go to school close to where they live? We already prevent free choice by not having a voucher system. What good is diversity if it’s purely for diversity sake.
