School District Quells Rumors by Reintroducing 'Urban Legends' Q&A

The has dusted off a document called “Urban Legends” and placed it back on the district’s website in an effort to quell rumors about the reputations and images of its schools.

A link on the district’s website called “Urban Legends 2011” can be found on the left side of the site, and it immediately opens a PDF file.

The list disappeared from the website in June 2010 when the district made changes to all school and district websites. One principal in the district recently asked the district to bring it back because of all the talk going around as NUSD contemplates changing the geographic enrollment boundaries for each school.

The NUSD Board of Trustees voted unanimously in early January to close , redistribute students to the other middle schools in the city and reopen the Hill location on Diablo Avenue as an alternative education center. Hill’s scheduled closure has prompted a wildfire-style discussion about where current Hill students will attend next year and where incoming fifth graders who would normally go to Hill would end up.

District spokeswoman Leslie Benjamin said bringing “Urban Legends” back into a prominent spot on the website will answer some questions raised by the public and address misinformation that trickles back to the district office.

Information covered on the “Urban Legends” list includes facts about the school consolidation committee, gang and police activity on campuses, enrollment and racial statistics, the fate of and the commitment of Superintendent Jan La Torre-Derby to serve the district in her last months before retirement at the end of the school year.