Thursday, June 23, 2022

San Francisco Backs Down

Lowell High School used to be the jewel in SF's educational crown.  It also previously used merit for admissions.  Then came the 'rona, and the school board killed the goose that laid those gold star eggs and changed the admissions policy to a lottery--you know, for diversity and anti-racism.  That hasn't worked well, and they've had a change of heart:

The San Francisco school board voted 4-3 Wednesday night to return Lowell High School to a merit-based admissions system, two years after it first switched to a lottery-based system.

Beginning with freshman entering in fall 2023, test scores and grades will be used to admit students to Lowell, barring any other changes by the board, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The board first voted in favor of a switch to the lottery system in October 2020 because they said remote learning created a lack of academic data on which to base admissions decisions.

Four months later, the board made the decision to permanently switch to a lottery system in an effort to address alleged racism and a lack of diversity at the elite academic school. That vote faced a legal challenge, which ended in a judge ruling that the district had violated laws related to the Brown Act that regulate public meetings. 

The board reversed the decision to permanently instate lottery-based admissions and then extended the lottery process for another year.

I guess this means the SF school board is for racism and against diversity, right?  I mean, what other explanation could there be?

No comments: