At his CNN town hall March 9, Governor Glenn Youngkin waxed wistful about the teachers and experiences of his youth, and has taken to shooting baskets for a series of PR releases, remembering his days as a high school basketball star at the private Norfolk Academy.
Youngkin and his Sec. of Education Aimee Guidera also comment that students should have an excellent education “no matter what zip code.”
Both Youngkin and the appointees he has selected to run the Virginia Department of Education firmly assert that “school choice,” will improve the opportunities for students they call “trapped in failing schools”, and they maintain we must make decisions about schools based on data.
So, what could we learn from taking a look at the basic data for Youngkin’s alma mater and the public school that occupies the same zip code, Lake Taylor High School?
Basic Numbers
Norfolk Academy and Lake Taylor High School are two schools, each with just over 1,000 students in the same zip code (23502) in Norfolk Virginia.
Lake Taylor is a public school which opened in September 1967. Norfolk Academy is one of the nation’s oldest private schools founded in 1728. One has predominantly minority students with a 13% white population. The other is predominantly white, with a 24.8% minority population.
Cost per pupil/tuition
Norfolk Academy tuition is $24,900 for grades 7–9 and $26,100 for grades 10-12 (Isuu). These fees include lunch, athletic fees, publications, and field trips.
Lake Taylor, total per pupil spending is $9582 (school digger) This includes local, state, and federal funding. The 671 students on free and reduced lunch are subsidized. The remaining students pay their own lunch, athletic fees, publications cost, and activities fees.
Income
The per-capita income for area 23502 is $35,664 per year while the per-capita income for Virginia is $43,267. The average income for Norfolk Academy families is not available, but is likely to be higher than the $43,267 of the average Virginian, given the cost of tuition.
Demographics
Norfolk Academy student population is 1,181. The school's minority student enrollment is 24.8%, and the student-teacher ratio is one teacher to every 10 students.
Lake Taylor student population is 1,075. Minority Enrollment 86.6% ; Free and reduced lunch 66.3%. The student-teacher ratio is one teacher to every 12.73 students.
General Conditions for students
Norfolk Academy website declares they are “Committed to the principles of academic freedom, and in accordance with our philosophy and objectives, our faculty develop course content so that students and teachers alike will be stimulated to continue to teach, learn and explore, to think practically and creatively, and to move toward understanding and wisdom.’
Lake Taylor website states: “By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, 100% of students will show growth in their critical reading and thinking skills. We will measure growth using coming formative assessments and End of Course assessments. Seventy percent of students will show growth from one tier to the next, and 30% of students will show growth within a tier.” This goal reflects requirements they are held to in a 20-page “School Improvement Plan” imposed by the state, and strict adherence to the Standards of Learning.
Lake Taylor students are required to wear uniforms. At Norfolk Academy
responsibility for appearance rests with the parents and the students themselves.
Norfolk academy offers numerous semester electives which enables students to sample a wide range of academic interests. Lake Taylor offers mostly year-long courses as required by the Virginia accreditation standards.
Chronic absenteeism is a problem (38.08%) at Lake Taylor. No mention is made of attendance issues in Norfolk Academy’s website or materials.
Behavioral Expectations
This graphic is the picture of expectations for Lake Taylor students.
Norfolk Academy expresses their behavior expectations this way.
“Older students sign the pledge for graded assignments and assessments: “I pledge that I have acted honorably in completing this assignment.” The Honor System’s goal is to instill a deep sense of honor in each student and in the Norfolk Academy community as a whole. Honesty, empathy, respect, and integrity make this a uniquely supportive environment that feels more like a family than a school.” Noteworthy is that this closely mirrors the Honors program for UVA students.
Specialty Programs/Travel
The Norfolk Academy’s International Program provides opportunities to travel abroad through seven different programs.
Lake Taylor High School offers in house visits from career colleges and end of year visits for some programs to Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion.
Sports
Lake Taylor’s football team won their division Virginia state championship in 2012, 2014, and 2019. The Lady Titans basketball team won the state championship in 2010 and 2013. Boys varsity basketball finished as runners-up in 2016, and won the state title in 2018. (photo of state champs)
Norfolk Academy has 27 sports and 72 teams. They have won numerous private school state championships in multiple fields such as Tennis, rowing, and field hockey. Their state private school men’s basketball championships were in 1985 (Youngkin’s year) and 1992.
Norfolk Academy private school state champion Field Hockey Team 2021.
Lake Taylor’s mascot is Titans. Norfolk Academy’s is Bulldogs. Lake Taylor’s rival is Booker T. Washington High School. Norfolk Academy’s rival is Virginia Collegiate in Richmond.
Policy Implications
Assuming that Norfolk Academy represents an excellent education, as the Governor has maintained, the question becomes why don’t the practices at Lake Taylor more closely mirror those just down the street? Or more broadly, why does the state require public schools to use practices that restrict how they serve their students in repressive and choice narrowing ways?
If the students at the Academy are presumed to be honorable and trustworthy, why are the less affluent kids down the street presumed to need stricter requirements and more rigid rules?
Is the problem with the schools or with the economic sector that provides such low paying jobs to most parents?
Governor Youngkin maintains that “school choice” would solve the dilemma, but how would providing partial stipends to families, or funding fledgling charters with no higher funding than is currently provided by the state resolve the huge disparity between just under $10K per student and $26K per student? Would draining state money from Lake Taylor by sending it to other privates improve conditions for students and families in the community?
If the Governor’s policies are not about economic segregation and systemic bias, why do we have this bifurcated structure so close in a single community? Why has nothing been done by the state to provide the kind of funding, teacher to student ratio, and enrichment programs that the students from Youngkin’s alma mater enjoy?
Disclaimer: This comparison is not meant to label or demean the students and faculties of either Lake Taylor High School or Norfolk Academy. Each school and all the students in itt deserve. It should be noted that the administrators of Lake Taylor are not for the most part in control of how much money they are budgeted or how they are allowed to spend it. All students and staff deserve respect, an excellent learning and workplace, and the chance to make the most of their lives.
And Congratulations to the teams from both schools who won their championships!
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