Don't Take Your High School for Granted

If having an adequately equipped high school in the nearby vicinity is something that's always been available to you and your children, perhaps you should consider yourself lucky -- for students in the downtown Sacramento area, the push for a comprehensive high school continues. Community members from downtown and extending through East Sacramento, McKinley Park, Tahoe Park, College Greens, Oak Park and River Park are not taking no for an answer: their children need a school nearby, with all the music, sports, arts and other goodies that every high school student is entitled to.  

A Multi-Layered Problem

The story behind the debate goes as follows: Sacramento High School, located nearest to the Oak Park neighborhood, existed as a public high school for over 150 years. In 2003, it was closed by the SCUSD Board of Education. The Board hoped to improve the school's low performance by re-opening it as a charter school associated with St. Hope Public Schools. Following this action, a lawsuit was opened by parents and teachers. The court ruled that the creation of the charter school was not in compliance with the law, and a court-ordered settlement required that the SCUSD create a new public high school by September 2008, which would encompass at least 500 students. The school would be called the Consent Decree High School.  

The Board's solution to this? Community leaders and the SCUSD board recently proposed the opening of a new high school at Marian Anderson Elementary School, a 6 acre site that currently holds a preschool and an elementary school for emotionally handicapped students. Many parents and community members feel that this location and proposal is inadequate. While the former Sacramento High School could accommodate up to 2800 students and had amenities such as a gymnasium, theater, swimming pool and sports facilities, the new high school would only be able to encompass 500 students, with very few extracurricular activities -- students would have to go to Hiram Johnson for sports. 

Many Parents Want a Different Solution

At this point, no comprehensive public high school has been created, or even proposed, to serve the neighborhoods of Midtown, Oak Park, East Sac, River Park, College Greens and Tahoe Park. The former Sacramento High School site now houses St. Hope's charter high school, with about 1100 students enrolled -- even though the site has space for 2800 students. Less than half of these students are former Sacramento High students. With the cry of "Where's my high school?", students, parents and teachers are insisting that a new public high school, with the same enrollment capacity and  variety of amenities, be opened to replace Sacramento High School. In addition, parents are upset that although all the former amenities still exist at St. Hope, students from neighboring public schools aren't allowed to use them -- even though this school and all the amenities were paid for by taxpayer money, by families living in the surrounding areas. Even if the students were allowed to use these amenities, what parent has the time to cart his or her children around from one school to the next? 

Is the Current Solution Working?How has the closing of Sacramento High School affected your children? What other options has your family explored in response? If your child has attended or does attend St. Hope, what was his or her experience like?  Should the students be allowed to use the amenities at St. Hope, or is there a better option? What should parents do in the meantime, before a new high school is created? What do you think is a good compromise to this situation, if there is one?   

Get Involved! Interested in signing the petition for a new comprehensive public high school? Sign the petition here: www.ipetitions.com/petition/newhighschool/ To find out more about this issue, visit the "New SCUSD High School" issue online: http://newhighschool.wordpress.com/To learn more about the current Sacramento High School, which is part of the St. Hope charters, visit their site here: http://www.sachigh.org/