[quote=FishGuy]I went to LJES, Muirlands and LJHS, and graduated in the mid-90’s. Not sure if it’s still the case, but at that time there were several hundred students bussed in from SouthEast San Diego every morning.
While many of them took advantage of the opportunity afforded them, a large number brought their gangster ways with them. The gang presence on campus was fairly strong, and graffiti and fights were common.
We had an open campus for lunch and the streets and homes in the surrounding neighborhood were regularly tagged up. I believe the campus was closed a year or so after I graduated due to this problem.
Most of us LJ kids weren’t greatly affected by the gangsters, as the groups remained fairly segregated. A few people did catch a beating for walking into the bathroom at the wrong time, though. Many of us actually liked having them around, as drugs were always readily available.
Again, I don’t know if things are the same today. That was just my experience nearly 20 years ago.[/quote]
Very interesting Fish Guy. This just shows that 20 years ago, there weren’t even enough local kids to fill LJ High. It is possible that there haven’t been enough there for 30-40 years.
I DO know that today’s VEEP transfers now have to get themselves to their distant school as the budget for busing in all Districts is close to nil. They buy a MTS student bus/trolley pass for $36 month. This is a LOT of money for a low-income worker family or a family on TANF, especially since a lot of these kids can undoubtedly qualify for free school bus service to/from the schools in their own attendance areas.
In SUHSD, school bus passes to/from for an academic year are currently $172 or 65 cents per ride, unless the student is qualified to ride free (parent submits tax return and verification of EBT/TANF to the District, and, in some cases, their social worker is called). In addition, the District has shortened the bus routes to accomodate more students, making many of them walk an additional 6 blocks to the bus stop.
For these reasons, most resident students who can’t walk and don’t have rides take the CVT to get to school and back (public transportation for $36 mo).
