Competitive Academic Program ‘Too White’ For Sacramento City School District Officials
Parents say white and Asian kids were purposely removed from program lottery
In early March, parents of Sacramento’s C.K. McClatchy High School took to social media expressing their outrage and frustration when their kids, who had already received letters congratulating them on being accepted to the school’s rigorous academic Humanities and International Studies Program (HISP), were then called by district officials telling them that they were mistakenly notified.
But it has escalated beyond social media frustrations. Now, parents say a whole group of qualified caucasian and Asian students were removed from even being considered for the program, prior to the lottery. Parents have told me they were told by district officials the HISP program was considered “too white” by the Sacramento City School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. And that isn’t his only problem, as California Globe recently reported in “Sacramento Unified School District on Verge of Insolvency While Super Takes $35K Junket to Harvard.”
“Last week we received a letter stating that our son was accepted into the HISP program at McClatchy,” one parent said. “Last night we received a call from the enrollment center stating that they had made a mistake and he should not have received the letter, he is not accepted into the program.”
Parents of the newly-rejected students compared notes. “It is unconscionable to take back an acceptance letter,” another parent said. “It’s also unforgivable that my child did everything she was supposed to and is currently out in the cold.”
As another parent said, “It’s quite a different conversation…‘my child was not accepted’ vs. ‘my child was never considered/excluded.’”
The district took the admissions process over from the high school this year and now runs it from the central district office. And that’s when the troubles began. The HISP program is unique to only C.K. McClatchy High School, so many parents wonder why the district took it over after decades of the successful running program.
A teacher weighed in on the social media thread: “Sacramento City [school district] does not support the programs it has, therefore will no CONTINUE READING: Competitive Academic Program 'Too White' For Sacramento City School District Officials - California Globe