Thompson: "Transformation" Won't Save Centennial High
Policy people are often taken aback when I say that I have lost more than 40 students to being murdered or killing someone over the course of a long career in the classroom. Mongo Allen, principal of Oklahoma City's largest alternative school, Seeworth Academy, has produced a documentary about 300 students who are dead or in prison. Seeworth is only two miles from my old school, Centennial, and so I knew that his toll would include many of my kids. Centennial is the lowest performing school in the state, with an NCLB ranking that is even lower than Seeworth's. Our outcomes are largely determined by Seeworth's capacity. Allen's documentary deals with the