Tuesday, December 17, 2013
EPA students may be allowed to attend schools closer
In a plan being considered by the Sequoia Union High School District, all East Palo Alto students will be given the same opportunity to attend Menlo-Atherton High School and no longer be forced to go Carlmont.
The proposed plan would take all of the graduates from the Ravenswood City School District and route them all to the same high school. Ravenswood students are currently assigned to three different district high schools, depending on where they live - Carlmont, Woodside and Menlo-Atherton.
While discussions are still in the preliminary stages and a new boundary map will not be put into place before the 2014-2015 school year, district Superintendent James Lianides said Friday that on Sept. 25 the school board considered letting any Ravenswood City School District graduate who wants to go to Menlo-Atherton High next fall to do so.
The district also held community meetings in May to discuss the potential changes, and how they would affect both students and the community. Officials sought guidance on facilities planning for the district, which anticipates a growth of 20 percent in the next decade. Current enrollment is 9,247.
“The message that came back clearly as the number one priority from all those meetings was the need to strengthen connections between any given eighth-grade graduating class and, if possible, a single high school where the students would go,” said Sequoia Trustee Alan Sarver of Belmont.
Sarver indicated that the district plans to keep the popular open-enrollment program, which gives families the opportunity to apply for a school other than the one to which they were initially assigned. On a typical year the District usually gets about 700 of those requests, and approved “upwards of 500 of those,” he said.
In the past, the open enrollment program has been used often by Ravenswood families, with 60 percent of East Palo Alto students already attending Menlo-Atherton.
Repositioning of students started in the 1980s, after East Palo Alto’s high school closed because of declining enrollment and deteriorating facilities. Since then, district officials decided to distribute Ravenswood graduates among the four high schools.
The proposed move would end the long daily journey that students make on a daily basis. In July, the Bay Area chapter of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights released an analysis saying that the District’s assignment system fails East Palo Alto students, who are suffering physically, socially and emotionally for having to commute long distances in order to get to school.
During the Sept. 25 meeting, the board also considered altering the boundaries for middle schools, in order to allow all students attending Tierra Linda Middle School in San Carlos to move onto Carlmont. About two-thirds already do, said Lianides.
All of these new proposed attendance boundaries could be critical for the future of the Sequoia district, as it is projected to be responsible for upwards of 10,000 students in 2020.
Lianides also said the board may pursue a facilities construction bond next June to add classrooms and facilities to the District’s high school campuses and possibly build one or two specialized high schools for students in need.
It remains to be seen if any of these proposed moves come to fruition, but it is clear that the district is striving to make decisions with it’s student’s best interests in mind.
http://issuu.com/scotscoop/docs/full_issue_september
Luke Horst - What life seems to be like on this side of the pond
Imagine packing up and leaving everything behind, taking your established life in a place you’ve lived your entire life and saying good bye.
Meet Carlmont junior, Luke Horst. Aug. 11 of this past summer, he left his home of Egham, England and moved to San Carlos. Horst moved from England to come live with his dad in California. “The most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. Left all my friends and my old way of life.”
Coming from Egham to San Carlos is a massive change in itself. Both are located on a commuter belts to larger cities, London and San Francisco respectively, but that’s where the similarities stop.
Egham is a small English village, about a quarter of the size of San Carlos with a main street and a few residential areas. Horst described it as, “A quiet place with lots of places to eat. Having a college right next to Egham attracts a lot of teenagers to the area.” One huge difference is the Bay Area climate, which Horst gave high praise, “I appreciate this good warm weather after living in a miserable damp climate 24/7.”
Horst listed off the general adjustments that he’s had to make in his short time in America, “What people do for fun here, the massively different food, and the fact that people drive on the wrong side of the road.”
Perhaps the biggest adjustment Horst has had to make is acclimating to the bustling academic life that comes with being a junior in an American high school. Horst is enrolled in everything mandatory for a junior plus biotech and a online Modern European history class.
Being thrown right into the storm that is junior year, Horst has had to adjust to the tolling workload, “The schoolwork here is four times what I did in England, but here its absolutely essential to graduate. In England, you can get away with passing the one and only exam at the end of the year.”
Horst had been to two schools through his high school period back in England, one private and one public, and both required uniforms.
“The private school was very strict, but the state school I attended was much more relaxed and work could be done without struggle,” said Horst.
Socially, Horst has also had an adjustment. “I had a real life over there, so its really hard to leave that and have to start from scratch,” he said.
Although he does feel like he has become close friends with a few people, overall he feels like he is not fully settled yet. Horst said that for the most part teenagers in America are easier to get along with and generally more laid back.
When asked what Horst did for fun in his old home, “Partying is up there, people like to have a good time, but generally just hanging out and having a good time with friends.”
In coming to America, Horst also had to abandon his spot in the Aldershot Town Football Club’s youth academy. “I had a spot in the academy. We would play prestigious teams such as Arsenal, and travel as far as places such as the Netherlands and Spain.”
Horst was also an avid supporter of the London based club, Tottenham Hotspur. “I still follow Tottenham here in the United States, but I’ve also started to watch a bit of American football.”
Horst explained that his new found allegiance lie with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, “mostly because they have England in their name.”
Horst also explained his interest in playing soccer for the men’s soccer team here at Carlmont, and has attended numerous off-season workouts.
“So far things in America and Carlmont have been unpredictable, but I’m looking forward to staying the course and growing as a person in my new home.”
http://issuu.com/scotscoop/docs/full_issue_oct
http://issuu.com/scotscoop/docs/full_issue_oct
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