Parents Protest for Return to Merit-Based Admissions At Prestigious School

Parents of students at Lowell High School showed up to protest the school’s new admission policy. The elite school in San Francisco moved from a merit-based admission system to a lottery system earlier this year.

The parents who showed up to protest were responding to a new report that the school had given more failing grades than before the admission change. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Of the 620 students in Lowell’s freshman class, 24.4% received at least one D or F grade during the fall semester, compared with 7.9% of first-year students in fall 2020 and 7.7% in fall 2019. In total, the number of Lowell ninth-graders with a D or F grade tripled from 51 in fall 2020, the first full semester of remote learning, to 152 in 2021.”

The principal told the paper, “There are way too many variables that contributed” to the school’s rise in D’s and F’s.” He contributed in part to the transition from distance to in-person learning.

Pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic fast-tracked the board’s decision to move the school from merit-based admissions to a lottery system. Many other public schools in San Francisco use a lottery admission system.

Lowell High School reported that this year’s freshman class was the most diverse in years, with an uptick in Black and Latino students.

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Sarah Abrams

Sarah is a wife, new mom, and proud American living in Austin, Texas. She hopes her writing inspires others to seek truth and uphold the values that make this country great. When she is not writing about politics and culture, she enjoys cooking, trying new restaurants, and spending time outdoors with her family.