David Safier

by David Safier

Proposal: Create a second, smaller campus of University High School with a Math/Science emphasis in one of TUSD's recently closed schools. The building will be renovated to make it suitable for high school students, a renovation which will include creating state-of-the-art biology, chemistry and physics labs as well as the highest network bandwidth TUSD can provide. Size: between 300 and 600 students. Opening date: Fall, 2014.

Due to a confluence of events, TUSD is at a golden moment to create a second University High school campus, something which can be accomplished in time for the start of the 2014-2015 school year. University High is ripe for expansion. An article in the Sunday Star makes it sound like the current campus housed in the Rincon High School building is both highly successful and bursting at the seams. It attracted 176 students from outside the district into next fall's
freshman class, the largest number ever. The influx of students helps reverse the District's decreasing student numbers, improves TUSD's reputation in the region and brings new funds to the District — $845,000 from the new crop of out-of-district freshman students. With its ranking as one of the top high schools in the country, University High will most likely continue to attract students from neighboring districts, if space permits. The only reason the school is able to accomodate the extra students in the fall and still
take all qualified TUSD applicants is because Rincon's
enrollment is shrinking, which allows University High to expand.

The court-orded Post-Unitary (desegregation) plan for TUSD will create still more enrollment pressures on University High. The plan requires the District "to increase the number and percentage of traditionally underserved students enrolled at University High School, with particular emphasis on African American and Hispanic students." Over the next few years as the District complies with the order and brings more African American and Hispanic students into the school, it will reach a point where some qualified students will have to be turned away. A new campus will allow the school to grow beyond what is possible at the Rincon facility.

Giving the new campus a Math/Science emphasis serves a dual purpose. It means Tucson's most promising and motivated future scientists and mathematicians will be grouped together with their peers, taking advanced courses and rubbing elbows with students who will stimulate each others' interest, creativity and achievement. It also means the new campus won't get the reputation as a second-choice alternative, an overflow school for students who can't squeeze into the original University High campus. It will be sought after by students who are eager to pursue a math/science education.

by David Safier

I wrote a post a few days ago, BASIS Charter's education model: Success by Attrition. Using the attendance numbers at BASIS Tucson and BASIS Scottsdale, I found that the number of students in the senior class at the two schools is 60% to 71% lower than when the class began as 6th graders. My conclusion was, BASIS has attained its national status as a top high school through a process of attrition where the students are winnowed down year by year until only the most academically successful survive to their senior years.

A commenter, Cynthia Weiss, strongly disagrees with my conclusions, though she doesn't question my data, which I took from Average Daily Attendance reports submitted to the Department of Education by the two BASIS schools. Weiss has written lots of comments defending BASIS charter schools as well as Great Hearts charter schools. She's commented here on BfA, on Diane Ravitch's blog and on Valerie Strauss' Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet. Because Weiss is so determined to have her voice heard, I think she deserves a reply.

Different people can draw different conclusions from the attendance data I've put in the two tables in my earlier post to explain why so many students leave BASIS over the years, but really, the people who know most about it are those who have been closest to the school: students, parents, teachers and administrators, past and present. I've talked with some parents and students, but I would love to hear from others. Please share your experiences and observations in the Comments section — you can adopt a "handle" rather than revealing your name if you wish — or send me an email at safier@schooltales.net. I always honor people's requests to keep their names confidential.

Below I've summarized Weiss' main assertions as accurately as I can (in bold) and responded to them.