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BPS could shut Hyde Park high school because its test scores continue to suck
By adamg on Wed, 10/06/2010 - 6:30pm
Channel 5 reports Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson wants to shut the entire Hyde Park Education Complex at the end of the school year - along with several elementary schools - because they continue to "underperform."
Students would be moved to other schools with better scholastic records. The School Committee will make a final decision next month, after public hearings on Oct. 16, 19 and 26.
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Comments
Hyde Park High School
I believe Hyde Park High School should now be the first school in Boston which only allows local children from the neighborhood to attend. Call it an experment, call it whatever you want, they should at least try to turn this school system around with different strategies and making another local high school would be a start.
I agreee 100% with you
I agreee 100% with you because Social Justice Academy (one of the 3 schools) is the only school that i would like to go to because its walking distance. Everyone else should go to a school within the range of their homes
whatever it takes
a) we have to fix the schools
b) we have 10% fewer students compared to 10 years ago - but we have about 5% MORE schools - we could probably drop 15-20 schools across the system (and all the bureaucracy and overhead that goes with them) and not miss a beat. Once the charters get up to speed we could close another 10 schools and pump millions of dollars into the system from the state rebates for lost students which would allow us to focus our resources where they are really needed.
Indeed. All the smaller
Indeed. All the smaller schools that were created out of Dorchester, South Boston, Hyde Park and other high schools have principals, assistant principals, and other administrators at pretty high salaries so instead of one bureaucracy in a building, there are 3. This was all done chasing money from the Gates Foundation. Constant reinvention and renaming is a distraction.
The system operates like it
The system operates like it was still 1985. If these school can't be for local neighborhood kids, what purpose do they serve? What purpose does it serve (other than to provide jobs for bus drivers, administrators, and clog up crowded city streets) with busing a kid from across town to H.P. or W.R.? Stop this BS of shipping kids all over the city. If the original intention was to give them a more diverse environment, it's failed. Most city high schools in 2010 are minority ghettos, with most students from so-called lower class socioeconomic backgrounds. The whole thing is ridiculous.
I'm not H.P. but live here at the moment and I'm all for getting rid of the clogged streets and other issues that surround busing kids across town to attend school.
You'd still have busing
Not every neighborhood has a high school: In particular, in that part of the city, Roslindale and Mattapan (and let's not forget that while West Roxbury has a high school, it's in the middle of nowhere and most kids would still have to take a bus to get there). The last thing I'd want to do right now is encourage Charles Yancey to start yelling again about getting a Mattapan High School (which he actually tangentially did during a Mattapan community meeting on the four murders last week before he started yelling at the mayor about community centers).
Plus, we haven't had large monolithic high schools for a few years now (with the exception of the exam schools): The campuses are now broken up into three or four specialty schools, which seems like a more valid reason for busing than desegregation these days, not that we've actually had race-based busing for some time now.
There's rather a big
There's rather a big difference between busing and taking a bus. I took two buses to West Roxbury, and a streetcar,a train and a bus to Roxbury to get to school - before busing. Obviously, the city didn't empty out because kids were riding buses to get to school.
There is no reason Rosi kids couldn't get to W.R.H.S. Westie kids went to Rosi high for decades. You don't need a high school 'in every neighborhood.' You just need to send kids to their local schools, wherever they are. Some kids always had to travel further than others. If you look at the JP High School yearbooks from the 1950s that are online, you'll find kids from Roxbury, Dorchester, Brighton and even from the suburbs. They got to school with no special buses.
Got my buses confused
When I was thinking of "busing," I was thinking mainly of T buses - such as the one the kidlet takes home in the afternoon with her student CharlieCard, and the ones that transport most of the kids to West Roxbury. Yeah, I should have known better given what "busing" means in Boston.
The point being to repudiate
The point being to repudiate the general 'the children can't get to school without the yellow buses' meme. Children - like me - traveled all over the city to get to school decades before court-ordered busing. 'We can't live without school buses' is a tactical claim of those against local schools - it has no basis in fact. Nor are schools in every named district necessary. West Roxbury didn't have a high school of its own until after the schools were no longer local. There's irony for you.
That could be step two.
Start another high school with just residents from Roslindale and West Roxbury and have them go to West Roxbury High school. I believe the student population is diverse enough where race would not be a factor.
Hyde Park
People are completely unaware of the progress that the schools have made over the last 5 years. The Engineering School was one of two schools that actually met their AYP last year and had some excellent MCAS scores. A restructuring is one thing, but to shut down an entire school is completely unfair.
It was not even considered as a turn around school. This proposal is an outrage and I hope that the faculty, parents, and students that belong to the Hyde Park Educational complex will unite and fight against this injustice.
hyde park
I am a hydepark high senior from the social justice academy and i feel as if the school district comittee is calling the students there dumb bcuz the fact that were a low performing school and I kno and so does everyone else kno that were not dumb...we are strong individuals that will do whatever to save our school.
When you're representing your
When you're representing your high school as a senior, it is important to write at a high school level.
Looks like a comment
made from a mobile device.
But by all means anon, continue being a miserable asshat.
Social Justice Academy? Well
Social Justice Academy? Well there you go.
S.OS. (Save.Our.Schools)
Don't you remember what it was like when you were in high school? On days when you felt alone and down was their not a teacher their you could speak to besides a counselor? In Social Justice Academy we are more then just classmates,we are like one big huge family. We might not all get along with each other , we all look different from one and other , but when push comes to shove we're their for each other. You know more then half the people in schools name , you have more then one favorite teacher , their are role models, and no we're not perfect nor do we try to be. We all combine we are Hyde Park High thats who we want to be.
Say No Way SAVE SJA ???
The comments on this thread
The comments on this thread from existing Hyde Park students shows EXACTLY why the school is being closed for non-performance: you can't articulate a thought with correct grammar and spelling, even in a pitch to save your school! Making the school all neighborhood kids does nothing but promote the group mentality of non-engagement in your classes, disruptive behavior, etc. If you were participating in class and actually making an effort to perform, the school would not be closing, regardless of the composition of the population of the school. It's too late now, so the best you can do is get into some school where you can apply yourself and get the best education you can in the limited amount of time you have left in high school!
If you are going to call out "grammatical errors"
... perhaps you should avoid making any of your own.
Comments is plural, therefore it should be "the comments ... SHOW".
I normally don't give a flying fig for grammatical correctness; however, I can't resist noting these things when somebody slights others on grammar and usage and spelling while totally screwing it up.
(No subject)
Dear Social Justice Academy Students and Staff,
Superintendent Johnson is going to close your school; have you ever entertained the idea of moving Social Justice Academy into another school?
English High School has only 800 students and could accommodate your program intact. All the permanent teachers at English were excessed, so there are teaching positions available for your teachers. English High administrative staff, with a few exceptions, has little seniority, so there is room for your administrators.
English is not far away from your current building in Hyde Park. English High would benefit because the test scores of Social Justice Academy students, would help to increase the overall school test scores.
BPS is moving CASH intact into the Cleveland Building with the Harbor School. It is only fair that they let you move together too! It might be a compromise everyone could live with.
excessed??
If they used "excess" as a verb, maybe they deserved this?
Excessed??
Hi Ron,
"Excessed" is a term used by the Boston Public Schools. I first heard it when Superintendent Johnson used it at a community meeting regarding Turnaround Schools removing 50% of teaching staff. The word is salted in various documents and places on the Boston Public Schools website.