Letter to the Editor: Admission standards at Bflo's top schools

Parent activist Sam Radford loses all credibility with me when he proposes moving students from Buffalo's poor performing schools into it's top schools. In his warped logic, he thinks it makes sense to move a student from Burgard or East High School into City Honors. And this man actually has people following him? 

The reason City Honors or DaVinci HS are what they are is because they do have standards to get in. Disruptive students are not welcome there. I don't understand how Radford thinks moving low performing students into a high performing school will benefit them. And what about the student who loses their spot to one of Radford's "low performing" followers? Watering down the few successful schools in Buffalo is not the answer, and I agree 100% with this letter writer...

Keep admission criteria at Buffalo’s top schools

Part of the Buffalo Board of Education’s long-term plan for dealing with low-performing schools includes “reconsidering the admission standards” for schools such as City Honors, Hutch-Tech and Olmsted. That sounds ridiculous.

The reason these schools have excellent reputations is precisely because they have admission standards. Allowing students to attend without having a certain level of academic ability, a constructive attitude to education and good attendance would make a high-performing school mediocre, at best.

That is without taking into account the deleterious effect of academically oriented students being cheated out of a quality education, as teachers have to deal with disruptive, unmotivated classmates or those who cannot handle the coursework.

You can probably make a pretty good sausage by mixing high-quality meat with some poorer cuts of meat and adding spices. The same recipe does not work for schools.

Larry Finkelstein
East Amherst

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