[quote=sjglaze3]Hi I just had to reply to this thread. My daughter attends Muirlands and is going to LJHS in the fall. She is a VEEP student and takes a school bus in the morning (yes BG the district is still running free school busing). There was no academic requirement, high or low, for being a VEEP student, just being in the right cluster area (we live in South Park). I have been very impressed with the academic rigor at Muirlands and its very strict no tolerance policy on bullying, drugs etc. Incidentally my daughter has a 3.8 GPA and her local bused in friends are likewise doing well academically. Just my 2 cents.[/quote]
Thank you for your post, sjglaze. I note that “South Park” is among the most expensive communities in urban SD … for several reasons. (UR, correct me if I’m wrong here.) IIRC, McKinley is one of the elem schools that service South Park and it is?/was a very good school. Upon their children reaching MS/HS age, a South Park resident shares schools with other communities which have underperforming schools.
I did touch base today with one of the PH (92139) parents I am familiar with whose kids attend SR schools. They are actually CHOICE students and not VEEP. They stated their kids did not have free transportation but alternatively ride public transportation and get rides.
I wanted to point out here that students who VOLUNTARILY take 45+ minutes to get to/from a distant public school (one way) in SD County (whether an intra or interdistrict transfer) don’t do it for the thrill of it or just because they CAN. They do it because the distant school offers programs or classes (AP/IB/magnet, etc) that their home school does not, or does not to that degree.
I can assure you that they would not do this if they weren’t confident that they could excel at the distant school.
WHY??
Especially in HS, a CA college-bound student would have to successfully complete those unavailable classes (offered at the magnet or distant school but not their resident school) with a GPA better and in some cases (ex LJHS) MUCH better than they would have had to attain had they stayed in their home-area school and taken the A – G requirements and whatever AP classes were offered. By at least UC admission standards, there is no incentive to leave one’s home-area school, even if “underperforming” for a much better-performing school for admission purposes.
Why would a good student bother to go thru all that daily inconvenience as a “Lincoln HS attendance-area resident” (for example) to attend LJHS if he/she could easily obtain a GPA in the top 12.5% of the graduating class in their home school and thus be “guaranteed admission” as a freshman to a UC campus?
It would be pure folly for a (good Lincoln HS student, for example) to take a chance that their same class ranking could be attained at LJHS (having a GPA in the top 12.5% of their Junior* class).
* End of Junior-year GPA used for college admission purposes in CA.
I believe the VEEP and choice transfers do it solely for programs/classes not offered to them in their respective attendance areas and also possess the confidence that they will be very successful in said classes. Otherwise, if CA college bound, there is really no incentive to transfer out of their resident-school.
