there are systemic issues that make it difficult for students to receive a high-quality education. Only 30% of students are even reading at grade level, and most kids struggle to read aloud at all. grade policies have shifted so that Ds are considered passing instead of Cs. This discourages motivated students from challenging themselves, while others advance without improvement. The Spanish program specializes doesn't allow students to progress half as much as they should, as even-year classes are only meant to review the previous year. The administration often seems to make decisions without prioritizing student well-being. Medical needs are frequently ignored or contested, and discipline policies are counterproductive. for instance, students can be sent to auditorium detention for being even slightly late to first period, which causes them to miss the entire class. Staff sometimes go back on their word, whether about serious issues or small questions.
Some policies are also mismanaged or wasteful. The school spent over $250,000 on Yondr pouches to limit phone use, even though most students bypass them by breaking them, and teachers often allow phones in secret
To address vaping in bathrooms, they locked four out of five bathrooms, forcing kids to walk across the entire school and miss extra class when they need to go. Also never stocked w feminine products. At mealtimes, breakfast or pizza runs out before all students are served. Breakfast is usually packaged treats. And kids are forced to take foods they won't eat of which some can be tossed into a bin at the end of the line, but making an effort to reuse solid foods (like apples) is kinda gross because now they've just touched people's hands for no reason. Assemblies can be inappropriate, many times girls are straight up twerking onstage. Student council members even twerked at the freshman mixer to "excite kids somehow" some teachers have made sexual comments that are unprofessional and uncomfortable for a school environment, especially given the age of the students. (Not about students, but regarding content from in class)
Now many teachers were genuinely good and caring and the social environment can be fun, but the combination of low academic standards, inconsistent administration, and poorly managed policies significantly detracted from the overall experience. There was lots of cyberbullying. Also kids have been caught having sex in the school w/o much punishment and people have snuck in knives read more