Failure at Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia

by Lewis Loflin

On June 5, 2008 Senator Obama paid a visit to Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia. All of his healthcare talk aside, he ignored the fact that this school is another liberal disaster. To quote www.roanoke.com December 17, 2006,

'We're not satisfied' The graduation rate for Roanoke schools is 57 percent, fifth worst in the state, putting pressure on administrators to meet federal and state standards...The 2005-06 school year's graduation rate was 57 percent, the fifth worst in the state, after Cumberland County, Petersburg, Richmond and Bristol...

Bristol Virginia was right near the bottom in the state.

During the 2002-03 school year, 24 percent of Virginia High's 225 freshmen failed, one of the highest rates in Southwest Virginia. The year before that, 24 percent of the high school's 211 freshmen were retained. The press blamed it on not being accepted. to quote student, "I went to high school, and it seemed like everything got worse.

If you don't fit in, you're not accepted. If they don't like the way you look, they tell you that you need to go change your clothes. I wouldn't go because of all the kids." It sounds like a discipline problem to me. Perhaps they should mandate uniforms and strict dress codes. Ref. BHC Aug 15, 2004.

On May 14, 2007 in the Bristol Herald Courier,

Bristol, VA. and Tenn. school officials said graduation rates released by an independent research group are probably wrong. Last week, school officials from both Bristols reviewed graduation numbers from a report released by Maryland-based Editorial Projects in Education, which reported Tennessee High had a 63.2 percent graduate rate and Virginia High School posted 52.1 percent rate.

"That seems very, very low," Bristol Virginia Superintendent Doug Arnold told the Bristol Herald-Courier. "And in reality, I suspect it is." EPE, a non-profit research organization that publishes Education Week magazine, released the report Wednesday. The report shows graduation rates for every public high school across the nation. It also shows high school's enrollment, number of teachers, student-teacher ratio and more.

While Bristol, Virginia claims this is low, I suspect it and others are too high. I've examined the data myself and it's a mess. The The New York Times (March 20, 2008) in an article titled States' Data Obscure How Few Finish High School shows the data in most states is inflated. For more on this visit www.silentepidemic.org. Virginia High is also on the bottom in the Tri-Cities region. Here are some of the other area schools 2006 graduation rates according to the group's report:

Sullivan County schools - 63.7
Washington County, Tenn. - 71.1
Washington Co. VA. - 84.6
Kingsport - 69.9
Johnson City - 76.2
Wise VA - 73.2
Scott Co. VA. - 73.7

Visit the Virginia High School website. As I understand, Mrs. Danko is supposed to be retiring. To quote the Bristol Herald Courier May 12, 2008,

New Virginia High principal targets graduation rates Martin Ringstaff, principal of Dan River High School near Danville, VA., was selected Monday as the next principal of Virginia High School...Among his goals, Ringstaff said he wants to examine Virginia High's rates for dropouts, attendance and graduation. "I think the graduation rate needs some attention. We need to see what's going on there," Ringstaff said...

What they failed to note is Virginia High School is close to the Bristol, Virginia public housing and all of its problems. These projects are something Obama never grew up in, he went to upper-class private schools. His children would never attend a school like Virginia High School in Chicago or elsewhere. They too attend private schools. Obama surrounds himself with wealthy white people, mostly on the far left. The same stupid people that produced public housing and failing schools like this one.

Lewis Loflin openbox desktop
Webmaster Homepage

Reason, Liberty, & Culture

Failure at Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia