Brian McKinney was reading at a second-grade level when he started classes in Ballou STAY High School.
On Tuesday, he was reading like a pro, testifying at a D.C. Public Schools budget hearing on how the alternative school — STAY stands for School to Aid Youth — turned his life around.
“Before I came to Ballou STAY, I couldn’t read nor spell,” McKinney told D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown. “I was on the second-grade reading level… I had self-doubt and low self-esteem. I was never told I could be anything.
“Now I know I can get through my work. I don’t give up anymore,” said McKinney, who said he is on track to graduate college-ready in 2012.
Many parents cried foul at the hearing — particularly those at top-performing School Without Walls Senior High School, which is slated to lose $2,000 per student in a 7 percent budget cut of $320,490.
At Southwest’s Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, parents were troubled by potential cuts to school counselor positions amid a 17 percent cut of $586,601. Nearly every student knew someone who had been murdered, and carried significant trauma, parents said.
As council members struggled to make sense of the budget — Ward 3’s Mary Cheh called it a “mystery” and Brown decried cuts to any classroom — testimony from students in Ballou STAY was an inspiring reminder of what DCPS is doing right. School officials have proposed a 5 percent budget increase for the program, which caters to many students who have previously dropped out of high school.
Justin Hazer is a senior at STAY. When she was 21, Hazer says she was three months pregnant and living with her parents after dropping out of high school twice during her senior year. “Once I matured, I regretted it,” she said.
Hazer developed a rare condition from her pregnancy that damaged her eyesight and sense of smell. She needs an MRI, and possibly surgery, she said. But staff from STAY are “calling me to see if I am well, and showing me the support.” Hazer said she now understands D.C. history, global warming, and how art and religion are related, thanks to their teaching.
Pregnant at 15, Michelle Willis dropped out of McKinley Technology High School. At 19, she re-enrolled at STAY and is on track to graduate in June.
McKinney said he wants to one day own a gospel music company. He’s been named the “Most Improved” student at the school.
Alfred Graham, another student, testified about how STAY’s vocational training provides services to the community: discounted auto repairs, free dinners to charity — “giving a hot meal to someone who might not otherwise receive one” — and barber and cosmetology offerings.
“That’s pretty much all I have to say,” he said, and the students returned to class.
