Ex. 5 principals in 4 years, no posted test scores, AP exam scores not posted due to administrative incompetence. 60% graduation rate of freshmen, etc. It is not enough to say they are the same as the other schools, especially if this is the best OUSD school.

And although I am an A’s fan, the A’s are a horrible team this year. Hate to use Sara Palin as an example, but this is just “lipstick on a pig.”

I’m incredibly proud of what my 19-y-o Skyline graduate has accomplished in his freshman year of college. And he has autism, received Spec. Ed. supports in all of his mainstream classes at Skyline. Our family had no expectations or plans for him to attend a four-year university, but he got into CSUEB, and he’s thriving there.

I’m looking forward to my 14-y-o GATE kid starting at Skyline this fall. We’ve been to two welcome/orientations for him, and I think he’ll be challenged and successfully educated over the next four years.

Nextset (from clues he’s dropped on this blog) seems to have moved from Oakland to Orinda for his children’s education, but it seems to have been a very long time ago. So, I doubt he has any real ideas about what’s going on in any OUSD schools or the quality of the schools based on his own experiences.

Our family has recent experience with the schools I mentioned as “good” schools above. I know those schools. I’m comfortable talking about the OUSD schools I’m familiar with, and don’t discuss the schools I don’t know. I also don’t discuss other district’s schools (like Orinda for example) because I don’t have any experience with them. But hey, some people like to hear themselves talk so much that they’ll talk about anything, even things they don’t know.

Just my perspective on the value of Nextset’s views. When he’s telling us about Orinda, it’s probably worth paying attention.

Here it is: When you place these schools in a worthwhile vs. worthless context, you implicitly are telling society: You don’t have to care about these schools. You can abandon, defund, ignore, mock these schools full of children and not feel bad about it, because they were “not good” or “not schools.”

“OUSD High Schools are something else” — this is just ignorant garbage. Even from an elitist “white collar career” point of view, it is just silly; after all, every year I watch students from Skyline go off to MIT, Stanford and Cal. What do those schools see in our students that you can’t?

Is SF State “not a school” because it is not Harvard? Are the A’s “not a baseball team” because they are not the Yankees? Is asparagus “not a vegetable” because it is not an avocado? Really, this is silly.

Here is the stark reality: The average public high school in California only graduates 60% of its freshmen, which is about what we do at Skyline. The problems here are the problems of the state, and yes, it is a microcosm. Roll up your sleeves and help us out instead of just bashing.

What is the rate of college and military enrollment for the grads? I douby there are stats on employment for those 2 and 5 years out – but what stats do you have – by race – for Skyline to demonstrate the school isn’t a failure factory?

And then there’s the issue of the cessation of the counseling staff and other little things about OUSD schools thet tell us these are “schools” in name only. And the deportment issues we seem to have at OUSD “schools”. And so on.

Sorry, Piedmont, Lowell, and the other public Ivy’s are schools. OUSD High Schools are something else. It’s charming that people are loyal to their factory but facts are facts. We must realize that the schools in Oakland – OUSD – closed long ago leaving us with the factories. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it will remain until people open their eyes and deal with reality. Those that have have taken their children elsewhere – Orinda perhaps.

Brave New World.

We will just have to disagree. Your use of the test scores is itself an example of the kind of almost whimsical judgement of society on such complex institutions. The reason we have no API score posted this year is because of the accusation that one teacher with one class of kids may have let them have access to a textbook for a few minutes while he left the room. Yet somehow that is a sign of a complete failure of a school?

And 100 kids? Taking all those myriad APs, yes, maybe, but far more than that take some, and do all the other stuff, too — hell, our jazz band won the prestigious Reno competition last year, we put on two musicals, our debate team is a rising power, we have a monthly newspaper, a terrific ceramics program, an Education Academy, a Computer Academy, a Green Academy … I mean, what is this good/bad dichotomy? We are what we are and my point still stands — comparing this to Piedmont or O’Dowd is just silly. Our school is free and you don’t need to live in a pricy area to come here, and that has real value for many.

As for sports, we hold our own, and better than that in certain sports, such as track. But my point was the opportunities for kids, not whether we are a threat to De La Salle. Many smaller schools simply can’t provide all these activities.

The reality is, while I have had five principals in four years during my time at Skyline, I have no doubt that the school has grown stronger in that time, somewhat miraculously.

Of course, when we just cut ONE MILLION DOLLARS out of the school budget (roughly 15%) after several years of smaller cuts, and potentially more cuts this Fall, it is rather astonishing to think we are still a going concern at all.

Point again is not to whitewash, but to oppose the all-or-nothing magnet elite/dumping ground false dichotomy. Skyline is the largest high school in Oakland, and if folks in the community want to glibly write it off as a “failure factory” based on phony intel, we are in big trouble.

The school had a longtime principal who retired at the end of 2002. The next principal lasted four years, which is not bad, considering the general climate emanating from 2nd Ave. with the district being revamped by a bunch of know-it-all Broad Foundation outsiders who had been sent in by the state.

I don’t know exactly why that principal left abruptly, but I heard from a good source that it was because she was utterly frustrated with hiring problems that were caused by downtown. So it wasn’t exactly “Skyline’s” fault.

The next principal was supposed to be a short term fill-in while a formal search was to be conducted. But, to the dismay of a number of parents, the district leadership (state administrators) decided not to conduct a search, and instead kept a person on for two years who wasn’t very good. Once again, it wasn’t “Skyline’s” fault.

That principal’s exit at the very, very end of her second school year, once again, left a situation where only a very rushed principal search could be conducted. When it’s July, and you’re just starting the hunt from scratch, there isn’t much to choose from. As a result, the principal who was selected was not good at all and he only lasted one year. That wasn’t “Skyline’s” fault either.

By this time it was the the summer when Tony Smith was about ready to start. But the interim superintendent was leaving her position soon and wanted a principal placed before she left. So she tried to push a candidate on Skyline whose total extent of administrative experience was one year as an assistant principal.

People at the school were wise to reject that candidate and insisted that an experienced interim principal be assigned to Skyline a real search could be finally be done throughout the year. It turned out to be a good decision, because that principal knew exactly what to do to satisfy WASC, who ended up giving Skyline a 3-year accreditation. It’s very likely that would not have happened if the inexperienced candidate had not been rejected by “the school.”

The search over 2009-10 resulted in Troy Johnston, the current principal who is experienced, enthusiastic, and knows what he’s doing. He also has a group of assistant principals who want to be on his team. But there is no doubt that Johnston did enter a school in disarray, something which was caused by decisions downtown. He’s doing a good job with putting the pieces back together, considering the sad state of the district’s budget and everything else going on.

Bashing an Oakland school which is doing pretty much about the same as any other similar urban school in the U.S. is totally, totally tiresome.

However, Skyline is the obvious starting point for an academic high school. All AP courses throughout the District could be concentrated there as a starting point.

Are there many poorly-performing students at Skyline? Yes. Has the school had a ton of leadership turnover? Yes. Are there some crummy things about the school? Sure.

Yet just like Berkeley High, Oakland Tech and many other big urban high schools, you have to see all the amazing things happening amidst the swirl. At Skyline, you have a world-class performing arts program operating on a shoestring, a slew of competitive sports teams, a wide variety of strong AP teachers and course offerings, functioning career academies, true economic and ethnic diversity, and a stunning campus in the woods, among other strengths.

To belittle a real-world urban public school of 100 teachers and 1900 students as just a place to learn “ghetto English” is to show a sickening disdain for the hard work of both. No, Skyline is not Piedmont nor is it Lowell, and perhaps your teacher friends think they can do better for their kids — and all power to them –but it certainly a place many kids manage to get a good education, whether their goal is to get a white-collar job or not, and those kids who throw themselves into AP or the many extracurriculars can get a great education.

(BTW, Teaches: Your recent grad could have taken three years of AP English if he/she wasn’t challenged in the “Prep” level courses. Many Skyline grads end up with close to a dozen AP courses on their transcripts and pass the associated tests.).

Asa far as the Cyberbullying – If the schools cannot summarily dispose of a student who threatens staff, are we to believe they can effectively deter and punish those who would attack teachers on their websites – or the other students?

I’d love for readers to explain any instance they see of effective discipline in the OUSD involving teens. Maybe it does occur, I hope so.