Lowell High School principal resigns in San Francisco, in latest setback for elite high school

Elite public schools, which admit students by exam, are under attack in many places.

In San Francisco, that would be Lowell high school, whose principal has just resigned.  SFGate has the story.

Principal at Lowell High School abruptly resigns, rebuking SFUSD in resignation email  by Joshua Bote

"The principal of Lowell High School — the highly selective, highly controversial school at the center of this year’s San Francisco school board recalls — has resigned, rebuking the school district in a farewell email sent Wednesday.

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“While I deeply appreciate you all for the community and support I have received in the last three years, the decision to leave SFUSD is solely based on my desire to apply my passion for education in a district that values its students and staff through well organized systems, fiscal responsibility and sound instructional practices as the path towards equity,” Dominguez wrote in the email.

"Statewide budget cuts, due in large part to decreasing student attendance, have hit San Francisco Unified hard this year, with Lowell being affected by a pause of funding to its Advanced Placement program — perhaps where the allusion to “fiscal responsibility” in Dominguez’s email comes from.

"In the past year, Lowell made national headlines when the decision to replace its GPA- and test score-based admissions policy with a districtwide lottery was approved by the previous school board, receiving criticism from parents who said that they were “caught off guard” by the decision. The move, intended to increase racial equity and diversity on campus, was put on hold by a San Francisco court in November 2021."

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Here are some earlier related stories about the troubles at Lowell and in SF:

More School Board Drama Looming, as Lowell High Sticks to Lottery-Based Admissions Another Year  2 DECEMBER 2021

"The SFUSD superintendent says there’s not enough time to implement a court order to re-vote on admissions changes at Lowell. That’s likely to further infuriate the alumni groups that sued the district to win that court order."

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The SF Chronicle covered the first act of this play in three acts:

S.F.'s elite Lowell High School would permanently switch to lottery admission under fast-track proposal  by Jill Tucker  Jan. 30, 2021

"San Francisco’s elite academic public high school would no longer admit students based on top grades and test scores, and instead use a random lottery system for admission, if the school board approves a measure fast-tracked for a vote."

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And here's an earlier post that touches on similar developments in Boston and NYC:

Monday, March 22, 2021

Elite public schools move away from exams