OT: Skool tout

[lpjohnso]

Hi ocrenter! Regarding San Marcos being absent from Newsweek’s list:

“San Marcos schools have ranked high in other national media surveys. Peterson said Newsweek placed San Marcos High at about 500 out of 1,500 top schools in the nation in 2009 and was in the 500s out of the top 1,300 in the nation in 2008.

When they noticed an error in the survey in 2010, Peterson said the district contacted Newsweek, but did not hear back.

Since then, the district has opted out of participating in the magazine’s survey.”

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/san-marcos-district-unsure-how-inaccurate-school-data-got-to/article_f7f33cb7-81b9-5285-96be-8895a6568110.html

[ocrenter]

[quote=lpjohnso]Hi ocrenter! Regarding San Marcos being absent from Newsweek’s list:

“San Marcos schools have ranked high in other national media surveys. Peterson said Newsweek placed San Marcos High at about 500 out of 1,500 top schools in the nation in 2009 and was in the 500s out of the top 1,300 in the nation in 2008.

When they noticed an error in the survey in 2010, Peterson said the district contacted Newsweek, but did not hear back.

Since then, the district has opted out of participating in the magazine’s survey.”

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/san-marcos-district-unsure-how-inaccurate-school-data-got-to/article_f7f33cb7-81b9-5285-96be-8895a6568110.html%5B/quote%5D

I wonder how many of the “missing” opt out of participating.

[UCGal]

[quote=CDMA ENG][quote=UCGal]I see a migration of school obsessed families migrating from Carmel Valley and 4S to San Marcos in the near future.

Pleasantly surprised to see UCHS is third in the district, 66th in the state, 371st in the nation by the criteria of US News… I’m not planning on moving so it’s good to see that by at least some criteria the local school doesn’t totally blow chunks.[/quote]

I heard some bad things about UCHS from a neighbor. He was very down on the school citing bullying, gang activity, and mediocre academics. He was also very down on the magnet school too so I am not sure if he was just anti-UC or if it was an individual issue. What would your comments be UCGal?

CE[/quote]
We have a neighbor who’s also really down on UCHS because her daughter got beat up, more than once, by some girl gang and the administration did nothing about it. This happened a few years ago. But the issue is real. Not sure how widespread it is.

Since we’re not planning on moving it looks like UCHS is in our future. Because they’ll both (hopefully) be attending a seminar program in a different cluster next year, I could let them continue on to i-Middle and Madison… but I don’t think that’s better than Standley and UCHS. At this point I’m in full denial.

I have friends who’s kids have thrived at UCHS… but like you, I’ve also heard about gang issues at UCHS. I’ve also heard that the problem may be lessoning, ironically due to budget cuts. This may sound racist, or socio-economic-classist… but the reduced funding for busing will change the makeup of the school. Standley and UCHS have a lot of bussed kids. Not saying the white-bread UC kids are all angels… I suspect there are home-grown thugs in UC too.

But I’ve got another year before I have to figure it out for middle school. My 5th grader didn’t make it into High Tech Middle (lottery to get in), but should be allowed to continue in the seminar program till 6th… so I’ve got another year before panic sets in.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=UCGal]…But I’ve got another year before I have to figure it out for middle school. My 5th grader didn’t make it into High Tech Middle (lottery to get in), but should be allowed to continue in the seminar program till 6th… so I’ve got another year before panic sets in.[/quote]

UCGal, there’s no cause for “panic,” you’ve got boys, no? UC is a very highly regarded school in the SDUSD, as is Standley. I think both of them are awesome schools as is the environment around the UC community. Just keep applying to the lottery every year and enroll your kids locally. Keep it simple and easy for yourself. It doesn’t get much better than UC … not even in LJ. CHOICE and VEEP students are likely bussed into EVERY HS in SDUSD, depending on programs offered. As you know, no one but the district brass are in control of this. Perhaps UC (like LJ, PL and Henry) doesn’t have enough HS students in its attendance area to fill the school so HAS to bus-in to keep the school financially viable. This is likely due to most of the homeowners in its attendance area being boomers and beyond. There’s nothing anyone can do about this. Consider yourselves fortunate that your area is stable and nearly devoid of distressed properties (SFRs). For the residents of UC with school-age kids, I would think that keeping schools in older areas open (like UC) would be FAR preferable to closing it and having their children force-bussed elsewhere or dividing them into different schools – a little in each one (like they did when Lincoln Prep was under construction).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_High_School_%28San_Diego,_California%29

For five years, HS students who all lived on the same block in the SD areas of Sherman, Southcrest, Shelltown, Logan Heights and Mtn View had to be bussed to up to seven different high schools! Imagine that!

Keeping a HS open in an older area of town serves a purpose . . . the most important one in keeping its surrounding community cohesive, IMHO.

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