Kids want to ride the bus across town?
I've asked a number of times why Envision Schools chose the Newcomer
High School site for its Metropolitan Arts & Technology charter high
school. Metro is specifically intended to serve low-income students of
color from southeastern San Francisco. It was previously located in a
church in north Bernal Heights. When it needed a new site, SFUSD
offered the Gloria R. Davis campus in the Bayview, in the heart of the
community that Metro is committed to serve. Instead, Envision chose
the Newcomer site at Jackson and Fillmore, firmly ensconced in one of
the nation's wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods. (They have a
one-year lease, so this is a temporarly location -- the site needs
millions of dollars' work to be legally, permanently used as an SFUSD
school, under the terms of the Lopez settlement.)
It's mystifying.
Someone posted in a comment on this blog that the Metro students were the
ones who were allowed to choose between the two sites, and that
students prefer a school located in a high-end neighborhood, even if
they have to take the bus across town.
This was such an interesting observation in light of the many
discussions about neighborhood schools that I have to share it. Even
though I'm a proponent of SFUSD's all-choice enrollment process and of
encouraging diverse schools, I wouldn't have expected students to
PREFER a faraway school when they could choose to have the same school
located in their own community. Interesting.
... Hmm. While I was posting this blog item another anonymous poster responded that's NOT Envision's strategy and that the kids just didn't want the Gloria R. Davis site. That contradicts the previous post. It's more and more confusing.
High School site for its Metropolitan Arts & Technology charter high
school. Metro is specifically intended to serve low-income students of
color from southeastern San Francisco. It was previously located in a
church in north Bernal Heights. When it needed a new site, SFUSD
offered the Gloria R. Davis campus in the Bayview, in the heart of the
community that Metro is committed to serve. Instead, Envision chose
the Newcomer site at Jackson and Fillmore, firmly ensconced in one of
the nation's wealthiest and most expensive neighborhoods. (They have a
one-year lease, so this is a temporarly location -- the site needs
millions of dollars' work to be legally, permanently used as an SFUSD
school, under the terms of the Lopez settlement.)
It's mystifying.
Someone posted in a comment on this blog that the Metro students were the
ones who were allowed to choose between the two sites, and that
students prefer a school located in a high-end neighborhood, even if
they have to take the bus across town.
This was such an interesting observation in light of the many
discussions about neighborhood schools that I have to share it. Even
though I'm a proponent of SFUSD's all-choice enrollment process and of
encouraging diverse schools, I wouldn't have expected students to
PREFER a faraway school when they could choose to have the same school
located in their own community. Interesting.
... Hmm. While I was posting this blog item another anonymous poster responded that's NOT Envision's strategy and that the kids just didn't want the Gloria R. Davis site. That contradicts the previous post. It's more and more confusing.
Labels: Charters
4 Comments:
When I posted this question elsewhere, a respondent said Metro kids didn't want to go to school in the Bayview because "there are shootings there." Of course you can't really have it both ways, if the Pacific Heights campus is being portrayed as being in "the inner city."
the only person who portrayed newcomer as "inner city" was that dipstick nevus....
envision has stated correctly the kids are FROM the inner city* ( true) but they never characterized newcomer as inner city!!
*except the BMW drivin' latte drinkin' MSAT marin kids!
Just for the record, it was an Envision parent who used the term "inner city":
Talk about irony," says Daniel Sonkin, a Marin psychologist, who jokes that he became the "bus czar" for the Marin transfers. "Busing kids INTO the inner city."
you are right.. that was a stupid comment; but at least it came from a misguided parent ( who had a few other dumb comments in the article), and not envision!
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