[quote author="no_vaseline" date=1259196502][quote author="ocresident73" date=1259150611]
Yes, I did mean it, but because I speak from experience, not from some inherent sense of Irvine snobbery. I lived in East Orange for 10 years. I found most of my neighbors, as well as many of the Old Towne historic society people to quite bigoted and intolerable. I attended the raucous school board meetings about 10 years ago, shortly after I moved there, when the El Mo student who tried to start an LGBT club was villified for engaging in beastiality. No, I'm not kidding. I hoped this was just a fluke until I got to know more of my neighbors, and later regretted that, for similar reasons. At the time, Orange Unified teachers were the lowest paid teachers of any district in the county. Now they're about in the middle, but it will take years for morale to improve.
When Steve Rocco was elected to the school board for, as far as anyone can tell, indicating "Educator" as his occupation, I finally knew that Orange residents deserve what they wish for - a poorly run district that thrives on intolerance. While some El Mo parents may very well be involved parents, when they teach their children the kind of horrid stereotypes and ignorance that I heard firsthand, I can only say that I fear for our future, since those kids will be in charge one day.</blockquote>
Thank you for your expanded response. Not to parse words, but what you wrote here (which I agree with) isn't what you wrote here (which I don't).
[quote author="ocresident73" date=1258684857]The elementary schools in that area rank pretty high, but if they stay through high school, they'll be at El Mo - one of the crappier high schools in the county. </blockquote>
Bigotry and racism aside (I live in Orange and get the Foothill Sentinel so I know what you are talking about) an 86 is not crappy!</blockquote>
Point noted. However, while it is true that I noted the ranking of the elementary schools, I wasn't referring solely to academic ranking when I characterized ElMo as "crappy". I'll admit that I have no current knowledge of the school's API rankings, other than what has been cited in this thread. I haven't bothered to check that in several years. My opinion was based more on the social and environmental factors that create the school culture, as noted previously. Frankly, a school like that could rank a 100, but if there is new teacher turnover every 2 years and your parents continue to elect schizophrenics to your school board, your test scores won't do you a whole lot of good when you head off into the world and realize that your community was full of ignorant bigots who intentionally stifled legitimate public discussion of important issues because it didn't jive with their Christian ethos.