The San Benito High School District set up a meeting to discuss
the academic relationship between SBHS and San Andreas Continuation
High School Thursday, but San Andreas administrators didn’t show
up.
The San Benito High School District set up a meeting to discuss the academic relationship between SBHS and San Andreas Continuation High School Thursday, but San Andreas administrators didn’t show up.
The meeting was called to develop ways to increase the similarity of the two schools’ curriculum, so students who attend San Andreas have the opportunity to transition, at some point, back into SBHS.
“From what I understand, San Andreas is designed to be an alternative school with a formal education, not independent studies,” SBHSD Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said. “We have to match the credits. If they have different graduation requirements, then why would the students ever want to come back to the high school?”
As of this year, it’s difficult for students to transfer back to SBHS because of the difference in course work. SBHS requires students take 235 units to graduate, and San Andreas requires 190, according to Slater.
Assistant Principal Santiago Echaore also pointed out that if a student left SBHS during the fall semester, and wanted to come back in the spring, they would have to take summer school to catch up. Getting in would be tough, he said, because SBHS students have first priority.
Another reason SBHSD is concerned with San Andreas’ curriculum is because the district is accountable for their test scores. Technically, continuation schools are part of the same districts as the high school they supplement.
For example, on the 2003 High School Exit Exam, 18 percent of San Andreas students and 41 percent of SBHS students passed, according to the department of education. When SBHSD is being evaluated as a district, both schools’ scores are combined. If for some reason test scores from SBHSD come back low three consecutive years, the district can be labeled as an under-performing district. This would give parents the right to pull their children out of SBHSD and place them in another district.
“If a school isn’t doing well the entire district is affected,” Slater said. “We have much accountability with San Andreas.”
County Superintendent Tim Foley has arranged an Alternative Education Summit for mid-September where the two schools can discuss the curriculum further.
