CA Public Schools are Running a Socialist Business Model that is Scaring (not Utilizing) High Achieving Families

We knew a high achieving Public School honor student and track star named Connie Smith (not her real name). As a senior, Connie wanted to take one less high school class (she’d exhausted all the AP offerings) and take a class at the local JC. The Public School threatened to not allow Connie to participate in sports if she took that JC class. Various Public School intimidations and mediocrities are driving community-minded families like the Smiths into private schools, while students like Connie should be used to help struggling kids (and market the school).

Lately, the families of high-achieving public high school students such as “Connie” must be thinking “no good deed goes unpunished”, as they are met with intimidation in exchange for seeking higher educational opportunities. Instead, the “Connies” could easily partner with lower-income kids and help market the school.

The Background: At this point, let us profile three public high school students in California:

1) Connie (an academic/athletic high achiever, whose parents could afford to send to private school, but choose public school since they are community-minded). Connie is now at UCLA Medical School. Though the average cost to educate a high school student in CA is $15,000, Connie probably costs the school $16,000 (a bit more because of her AP classes), but could easily bring in money to the school or lower the cost of educating other students, using a good business model. First, the Connies could be enlisted to help struggling students, and second, they could be the poster girls that…