Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The segregation at ACHS is self segregation. The students segregate themselves, often starting in middle school.

This is not uncommon at any school anywhere. Do I like it, not really. But keeping one high school doesn’t negate any self segregation. According to my kids, there is significant tension among AA and Hispanic students. I don’t know why. I wish there wasn’t. What exactly are the school board, city council, the mayor and special interests groups like TWU doing about it? Putting their heads in the sand does nothing. Acting like they’re aren’t gangs in high school or that certain groups “have beef” also does nothing. From what I have heard from several ACHS students is that 47, as well as several Hispanic gangs, are prevalent at the high school. It’s such a shame. But no one does anything about it.

This. But we did notice in elementary. Like kids what to hang out in their free time with like kids. The school can't mandate that away. It's human nature and it just happens even in adults.

I think part of the problem is that the one school would be better than the other. This would force a lot of the liberal parents into a position where they would have to say out loud they are picking the better school and don't really care about diversity as much when it comes to effecting their child's education and college prospects. To avoid that, they could force all students into a random lottery to be assigned to one of the 2 schools. Or as someone else said Minnie Howard could just be totally rebuilt into a second high school. Also part of the no second high school was a belief that they would have students doing virtual learning [this was prepandemic] and thus reduce the need for physical space. The pandemic showed that it would not be a good way to teach the majority of students.

That's not what people mean when they talk about segregation within schools. They mean that poor, POC students are under represented in honors classes, AP classes, etc. More affluent, white kids are getting a different school experience with less disruptive students in their classes, lots of activities that look good on a college application, etc. But that is a problem that starts long before 9th grade and is very apparent when you look at elementary and middle school SOL pass rates by race and income level. It's not like you can take a kid who has been struggling through math since they were 5 and drop them in AP Calculus their senior year and claim victory.

Any student can sign up for honors or AP classes. They can't be forced out of the class either. There are POC students in those classes. If the school demanded that every student take one of the classes, then that would bring outcries of being unfair and militant. There is only so much the school do. Even if they recommend the student take the class, beg the student to take the class, the student doesn't have to do it.

And before you start spewing the progressive rhetoric, please use common sense. Alexandria has many students coming in each year who are recently arrived immigrants or have arrived only a few years earlier. If a student arrives at high school age, the first focus in school is to help them learn English, which they would need to succeed in other courses. Learning English as a teen isn't easy and then to learn complex subjects in a language you barely understand is even more difficult. So you have to accept that there are going to be a large portion of students who just need to learn the basics not because they are being railroaded, not because of their ethnicity, not because no one thinks their smart, but because they have to learn the basics and get up to speed BEFORE they can tackle tougher course and that takes time. Hispanic students make up the majority of POC students btw.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The segregation at ACHS is self segregation. The students segregate themselves, often starting in middle school.

This is not uncommon at any school anywhere. Do I like it, not really. But keeping one high school doesn’t negate any self segregation. According to my kids, there is significant tension among AA and Hispanic students. I don’t know why. I wish there wasn’t. What exactly are the school board, city council, the mayor and special interests groups like TWU doing about it? Putting their heads in the sand does nothing. Acting like they’re aren’t gangs in high school or that certain groups “have beef” also does nothing. From what I have heard from several ACHS students is that 47, as well as several Hispanic gangs, are prevalent at the high school. It’s such a shame. But no one does anything about it.

This. But we did notice in elementary. Like kids what to hang out in their free time with like kids. The school can't mandate that away. It's human nature and it just happens even in adults.

I think part of the problem is that the one school would be better than the other. This would force a lot of the liberal parents into a position where they would have to say out loud they are picking the better school and don't really care about diversity as much when it comes to effecting their child's education and college prospects. To avoid that, they could force all students into a random lottery to be assigned to one of the 2 schools. Or as someone else said Minnie Howard could just be totally rebuilt into a second high school. Also part of the no second high school was a belief that they would have students doing virtual learning [this was prepandemic] and thus reduce the need for physical space. The pandemic showed that it would not be a good way to teach the majority of students.

That's not what people mean when they talk about segregation within schools. They mean that poor, POC students are under represented in honors classes, AP classes, etc. More affluent, white kids are getting a different school experience with less disruptive students in their classes, lots of activities that look good on a college application, etc. But that is a problem that starts long before 9th grade and is very apparent when you look at elementary and middle school SOL pass rates by race and income level. It's not like you can take a kid who has been struggling through math since they were 5 and drop them in AP Calculus their senior year and claim victory.

This ^^

One of the missed discussions in class segregation is the make up of standard courses. The school system has worked to get more diversity into AP and honors courses, but that is where the work ends. Walk into a standard course and you will see NO white students. It is not like that in other districts such as Arlington. This needs to be a bigger discussion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The segregation at ACHS is self segregation. The students segregate themselves, often starting in middle school.

This is not uncommon at any school anywhere. Do I like it, not really. But keeping one high school doesn’t negate any self segregation. According to my kids, there is significant tension among AA and Hispanic students. I don’t know why. I wish there wasn’t. What exactly are the school board, city council, the mayor and special interests groups like TWU doing about it? Putting their heads in the sand does nothing. Acting like they’re aren’t gangs in high school or that certain groups “have beef” also does nothing. From what I have heard from several ACHS students is that 47, as well as several Hispanic gangs, are prevalent at the high school. It’s such a shame. But no one does anything about it.

This. But we did notice in elementary. Like kids what to hang out in their free time with like kids. The school can't mandate that away. It's human nature and it just happens even in adults.

I think part of the problem is that the one school would be better than the other. This would force a lot of the liberal parents into a position where they would have to say out loud they are picking the better school and don't really care about diversity as much when it comes to effecting their child's education and college prospects. To avoid that, they could force all students into a random lottery to be assigned to one of the 2 schools. Or as someone else said Minnie Howard could just be totally rebuilt into a second high school. Also part of the no second high school was a belief that they would have students doing virtual learning [this was prepandemic] and thus reduce the need for physical space. The pandemic showed that it would not be a good way to teach the majority of students.

That's not what people mean when they talk about segregation within schools. They mean that poor, POC students are under represented in honors classes, AP classes, etc. More affluent, white kids are getting a different school experience with less disruptive students in their classes, lots of activities that look good on a college application, etc. But that is a problem that starts long before 9th grade and is very apparent when you look at elementary and middle school SOL pass rates by race and income level. It's not like you can take a kid who has been struggling through math since they were 5 and drop them in AP Calculus their senior year and claim victory.

This ^^

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The segregation at ACHS is self segregation. The students segregate themselves, often starting in middle school.

This is not uncommon at any school anywhere. Do I like it, not really. But keeping one high school doesn’t negate any self segregation. According to my kids, there is significant tension among AA and Hispanic students. I don’t know why. I wish there wasn’t. What exactly are the school board, city council, the mayor and special interests groups like TWU doing about it? Putting their heads in the sand does nothing. Acting like they’re aren’t gangs in high school or that certain groups “have beef” also does nothing. From what I have heard from several ACHS students is that 47, as well as several Hispanic gangs, are prevalent at the high school. It’s such a shame. But no one does anything about it.

This. But we did notice in elementary. Like kids what to hang out in their free time with like kids. The school can't mandate that away. It's human nature and it just happens even in adults.

I think part of the problem is that the one school would be better than the other. This would force a lot of the liberal parents into a position where they would have to say out loud they are picking the better school and don't really care about diversity as much when it comes to effecting their child's education and college prospects. To avoid that, they could force all students into a random lottery to be assigned to one of the 2 schools. Or as someone else said Minnie Howard could just be totally rebuilt into a second high school. Also part of the no second high school was a belief that they would have students doing virtual learning [this was prepandemic] and thus reduce the need for physical space. The pandemic showed that it would not be a good way to teach the majority of students.

That's not what people mean when they talk about segregation within schools. They mean that poor, POC students are under represented in honors classes, AP classes, etc. More affluent, white kids are getting a different school experience with less disruptive students in their classes, lots of activities that look good on a college application, etc. But that is a problem that starts long before 9th grade and is very apparent when you look at elementary and middle school SOL pass rates by race and income level. It's not like you can take a kid who has been struggling through math since they were 5 and drop them in AP Calculus their senior year and claim victory.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain why parents would be cancelled for advocating for thier children's safety? It sounds like everyone on this board wants more high schools and has good ideas. What would be wrong with getting some yard signs made and lobbying for these good ideas?

I for one do not want to have to move or find money for private school when my child reaches high school age. No parents should have to worry about thier child being in the wrong place at the wrong time in that giant high school. Not to mention how the students must be feeling knowing that a classmate was murdered in the middle of the school day!

Because progressives in Alexandria believe it's impossible to build more high schools without creating segregated schools. Therefore, anyone advocating for more high schools is a racist and you have to cancel racists.

By that logic, we should also have one elementary school and one middle school. How about a single k-12 for 15,000? Such nonsense.

Should there also be only one fire station? One public park?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain why parents would be cancelled for advocating for thier children's safety? It sounds like everyone on this board wants more high schools and has good ideas. What would be wrong with getting some yard signs made and lobbying for these good ideas?

I for one do not want to have to move or find money for private school when my child reaches high school age. No parents should have to worry about thier child being in the wrong place at the wrong time in that giant high school. Not to mention how the students must be feeling knowing that a classmate was murdered in the middle of the school day!

Because progressives in Alexandria believe it's impossible to build more high schools without creating segregated schools. Therefore, anyone advocating for more high schools is a racist and you have to cancel racists.

All the while benefitting from the current 4,000 person high school that is segregated.

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain why parents would be cancelled for advocating for thier children's safety? It sounds like everyone on this board wants more high schools and has good ideas. What would be wrong with getting some yard signs made and lobbying for these good ideas?

I for one do not want to have to move or find money for private school when my child reaches high school age. No parents should have to worry about thier child being in the wrong place at the wrong time in that giant high school. Not to mention how the students must be feeling knowing that a classmate was murdered in the middle of the school day!

Because progressives in Alexandria believe it's impossible to build more high schools without creating segregated schools. Therefore, anyone advocating for more high schools is a racist and you have to cancel racists.

I think staggered schedules may need to be considered if they continue insisting on one high school only as enrollment grows. I think I’ve heard of some large school districts even having a.m. and p.m. split schedules, which might help students who need jobs to support their families. That might require a longer school year to get enough instructional hours, and there are some benefits to that as well. But, a better long-term solution really would be a second high school and different programming options (STEM, arts, trade school) with a lottery system.

+1 to all this. Where there's a will there's a way and it needs to be done. Enough with the excuses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Having over 4000 kids in one school amplifies any problem because you have twice as many people to get involved in conflicts. It's much harder to spot and identify problems because there are just too many kids to manage. People fall through the cracks because when you have 4000+ kids the cracks are bigger and easier too all through (not just with this type of incident, but also with general academic and emotional support). It's easier to hide bad behavior when you're one of a large faceless number.

FWIW I also think that there are ways to divide the district that don't just fall along a geographic divide.

100% all of this. Arts-focused school STEM-focused school, trade-school--they could be district-wide and open to anyone via lottery or application. Doesn't need to be west side vs east side.

It's lack of will, lack of creativity, lack of ... who knows what. Why are throngs of students outside in the middle of the day? It's not open campus. I'll tell you why: there's too many kids in general + having kids at MH need to travel to King Street for classes daily for classes + inconsistent, unclear protocols on SOL testings days. All leads to various forms of chaos.