In the ongoing debate about the west county school border realignment the WaPo features an article on South Lakes students standing up for their school. If you’re new to this, many parents are concerned that their students attending more affluent schools will be moved to South Lakes:
To persuade skeptics, students say they counter rumor with fact. The Reston campus is diverse, they say, not “ghetto.” Students don’t flash gang signs in the hallways, and they don’t have to walk through metal detectors to get to class.
“I think of this school as a family. When someone talks about South Lakes, I think, ‘You can’t talk about my family like that,’ ” senior Sierra Little said. She represented the school last week in a town hall meeting at Chantilly High packed with about 2,500 anxious residents.
South Lakes Principal Bruce Butler said his student body consists of “kids who come from million-dollar homes on lakes and kids who wear the same pair of pants to school every day.” The school has the largest concentration of students from poverty in the area, with one-third eligible for free and reduced-cost meals. The poverty rates for other schools in the boundary study range from 5 percent at Madison High to 19 percent at Herndon High.
Parents who oppose the boundary change cite many issues with the school. Some are concerned about their kids being removed from friends. Others feel South Lakes is a “social experiment” in diversity.
The plan aims to fill the 800 open seats in South Lakes by moving students from overcrowded schools such as Westfield, a school home to two nationally know murders including Seung-Hui Cho.
Oh and to those who think the principal doesn’t speak English, Bruce Butler is a white American.
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