I might drop all of my academy classes. All that's left now is Ty and Ms. Pullen. And we could explain to them why were going. The only decent other person, Ms. Earl, is over at Mcclintock now. Ms. Pullen is the only remainaing PPA staff that I'm loyal to. I mean, Ms. zinke, but she took off on us for a half a year, right when we needed some hardcore leadership. I mean, Ms. Boles was a piece of shit as far as leading us. She got a huge salary, and drove a tiny car she hardly fit in and wadled up and down the halls trying desparately to look like she was i control. And now, the only remnant of the PPA is the ridicule. And I'm done with this shit. And this whole 'PPA' is unfair thing is bullshit! Complete and total! Come take these tests! Score as high as the lowest scorer in the whole damn PPA! Then say we're unfair! Because it's only unfair if we're barring you from doind soething you normally could! Normal people could not, never, no way hold up in a PPA class. Especially one of Zinke's or Pullen's. I know kids, ten times smarter than me, who study all night, do homework all day and devote their lives to school, thing I could never do to the same magningtude, try, and sometimes fail. These things push us to our limits, and now the only thing we get for it is ridicule and the belief that all we are a bunch of slackers? Hell no. Sure, we could just do it for the education. But, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but, this is reality. The education doesn't matter. It's the little slip of paper that say's you have the education. It's the stream of electrical pulses in a computer, the record they have, the transcript that gets sent to college, that little framed diploma with Ph.D. that really determines who ypou are. People don't give a fuck what's in your head. I'm sorry people, but we're the ones who get stepped on, beat up in gym class, canned afterschool, and mistreated by every slob with a group of cronies to back them up. Tjhat's who we are. That's who we'll be. But you know what? There's one thing that makes it all better. The knowledge that when they're 45, burnt out from booze, drugs, partying, whatever they did every night of they're young lives, there'll be nothing left. But we, my fellow academy students, will have our jobs, we'll have our homes, and our families, and really, what more could you ask for? I don't want a billion dollars and a penthouse at the top of the ritz carlton. I want a house, in a nice, temperate state, in the suburbs, and a minivan. You have to know when you're happy. I might be getting a little down the road from where we are right now, But it's what they've been telling us, it's what we've been telling ourselves: The choices you make today will affect the rest of your lives. Well, I believe em. So, in conclusion, fuck off, PPA. Go to hell. Go crawl in some hole and die, put yourself out of our misery. Becauase we're done. Done withthe lies. And that shattered dream.

Very nice :) Very, very, very nice. If you do decide to drop your Academy classes, others should follow suit. And if so, you need to move out of district too... hit them where it hurts: test scores. Sure, one or two won't make a difference.... but imagine 150 of the top students just leaving. What would that do? A hell of a lot!

"I don't want it to exist if its going to fuck up the future of so many brilliant students." -Janet Zhou
You know, Janet, that's the best thing anyone has said all year.

Alan,
I applaud your entry. I honestly do. Everything we were promised when the class of 2005 first started... came true. For a year. And after those few months of happiness, came destruction and horror. The pain that we all suffered should have never been inflicted on us. What wrong did we commit? We were intelligent. Well, fuck you. We're sorry. WE'RE SORRY WE ARE SMART. WE'RE FUCKING SORRY.
All the PPA has brought in the past two years has been pain and suffering. Why continue it? It has ruined the lives of the class of 2005... will it ruin the class of 2006? Probably.

::sigh::
I suppose we all learn from our mistakes.
We were told that we wouldn't be guinea pigs. Test animals. But inevitably, that's what we were. Animals being tested on.

This topic never ends. I was quite excited about the academy when i came to it about three years ago. It seemed very different from middle school and i was in love with the environment around me. People were accessible and friendly. All the teachers knew each other and all the students. If i had a problem i could always go to ms. steenson and she always seemed to have something to say that made everything better. Blah blah blah....i can talk about it for a long time. The good old times.

Then it all went down....most of us were there....most of us saw it. It was obvious. Some of us saw it and became angry, some saw it and accepted it and yet some others simply chose it ignore it.

The view that i held for many years (everybody hates ppa!) is very far from the truth. The truth is 95% of the parent and student population doesn't care and a large proportion of this 95% doesn't even know that a ppa exists.

"You know what? This sickens me. But that's life, isn't it? Smart people, gay people, asians, blacks... you name the minority group... they'll always have it tough. They're all just numbers... freaks... people you cater to when you need political support, then drop like something the dog dragged in. We'll always be the losers. Anything we work for... believe in... it'll always be sacrificed for the greater good."

I can't disagree more. The elitist bastards from mountain pointe (i say that with conviction....you call ppa elitist? then these people will make you wanna throw up) are also a minority. These people have no clue what they are talking about when they go to board meeting. They simply jabber about "inequality." Some of these people used to be good friends and to some degree still might be considered friends. I don't really blame them because they did the exact same thing i did. Someone sent out an email saying "they are going to shut down ppa! save it now! go to the board meeting!" Another person sent out an email "They are going to close your extracurricular programs down! Show up to the board meeting!" People from mountain pointe, people from PPA, people from Tempe high...they were all there. I saw them. However, i am sure no one there knew exactly why the others were there. It all seems like a sad story now. A story that is over because people have moved on.

PPA was impractical and it had to be closed down. It is a fact. It is not any politician's fault but the fault of some idealist. Even though you might not agree with me on anything i have said thus far, you will have to agree that ppa has been a failure. I am glad that it DID exist because i have made some really good friends, learned many valuable lessons and changed quite a bit in a very positive way because things were the way they were. Most of us have moved on to better things and those who have not done so will it do very soon.

Do people still remember amyn? Seriously...I thought that kid was absolutely awesome!

Now for a cruder entry:

You know what pisses me off? "We're sorry. WE'RE SORRY WE ARE SMART. WE'RE FUCKING SORRY."

Please quit feeling sorry for youselves...nobody else does...i don't either.
Have you ever heard anybody say "oh...those poor smart kids...i feel sorry for them"
i haven't either.
you know why? because that is stupid.

smart kids = not a sad little minority that gets trampled over

quit depicting yourselves as such!

Hey Akshat,

That was sarcasm. Everyone in this situation has thought that at one point. And honestly, what WAS our crime? Why did we have to get thrown into all this bullshit? Hence the sarcasm of that statement. We're sorry that we can't help it.

Don't start a fight with me. And who asked you to feel sorry for us? Not I.

Hmmm... let me explain. (Dammit Alan, small fonts hurt my eyes)

"We're sorry" was meant as, "Well what the fuck do you want us to do? Be sorry? For what?!"

Well, alright... this is what I've been thinking for a long time... most of what Alan covered, but I didn't want to say anything because everyone seemed more optimistic about the coming year. Or maybe everyone's been thinking it and no one has said it.

Honestly? I don't want to lay blame on polititians, idealists, or otherwise... maybe it was no ones fault... but that part doesn't matter because no matter who caused it, it's the 150 students that get screwed over... a miniscule percentage of the district that few will ever come to care about.

My own best friend fought to have us torn apart... why? Couldn't tell you. Maybe we should have bailed when it started... maybe we should have stayed at our home schools and been among the Payne Academy-haters that rallied at the board meetings. But it's too late for that.

My problem now is... I don't know what to do. It's all great and all that Alan can say that... but dammit, you're leaving... and it's no longer your problem. The rest of us are still among the ruins trying to figure out how to piece them together to resemble... at least some sort of victory.

I don't know about the rest of you... but it feels like there's no more 'fight' left in me... that I'm so sick and tired of it... that... sure it'll suck like hell but... there's nothing more to do... and I can't... force myself to another argument over this subject.

and to respond to Akshat "PPA was impractical and it had to be closed down."

Maybe so... maybe our existence wasn't reasonable at all... but just because we found faith in this 'impractical' idea... did we deserve all this? Like Janet said, 'what was our crime'? When we could have been among the others that 'don't give a damn'.

You, Akshat, might be on to bigger and better things... you might have moved on... but as long as the rest of us remain at this sorry excuse for a school... we can't.

Largely in response to Akshat... so what if we're feeling sorry for ourselves? like he said, 'no one else does', and personally I can't think of a better excuse or group TO feel sorry for ourselves. Honestly what's the harm? It's been said over and over again but you can't deny that we've been screwed... I mean that's putting it loosely. A golden opportunity to atually belong somewhere other than in the massed ranks of the general population, not just a number or a freak anymore, and then in the middle of production to have it torn away via loopholes and political handling... The irony is that we had enough time to create a family, to make friends to just the right degree that having those ripped away from us because of the nature of the things we fought for most hurt like nothing else... but hell it's not right to cry over your lot, I mean comon, let's just get over it, guys. Everythign Alan said in his entry is absolutely true (you know what, I say fuck all of those other schools even if I'm in the academy)... but hell I don't want to feel SORRY for myself, oh no! How about we leave how to feel to the people who are actually immersed in it, and cut the criticism from the people who aren't. Like vicki said, as long as you're out of it that's fine, move on, but we're not, so we can't, so leave the judgement to someone else.

Alan, I have to comendyou an a thoroughly covering entry. You've hit most of the points directly on the nose... repeatedly... with a very big hammer. In reality, we don't have a lot left at payne... but again as Vicki said we're still here... tired of fighting... trying to pick up whatever scraps we can... and really there's nothing else to do, nowhere else to go. As far as we know this is our lot, and all we can do is look at the horizon and keep going... no matter how tired we are of fighting. PPA's not a school anymore, it's a people. You know what I mean

I am sorry if i offended people. My last entry was mainly directed towards the class of '05 which to my understanding has mostly isolated itself from PPA. My point was (still directed towards class of '05) that at this point in time there isn't any need to feel sorry because a lot of people from the class of '05 have already left and others will soon graduate. For the class of '06, um.... i don't really know what to say. I mean you guys still have two years of high school left. My suggestion...go somewhere else. And for those of you still from mcclintock....well you know what to do.

Other than that, Good luck.

Wow, lots of comments.
This is good. This is very good. Keep posting opinions.

First of all, just because I'm gone doesn't mean I don't care... it just means that I made a concious decision to pull myself from the fight. Call me a coward. Call me practical. I don't care. I'm out, so what happens doesn't involve me. But don't say I don't care about the Academy... because I still do... or at least, I care about the Academy that was.

Akshat, I agree with you. After the first year... things got really bad really quick. And I guess I didn't want to see it... I mean the Academy was what I had put my future into. It's not easy to admit that the thing you've given so much for isn't working... or is betraying you.

Ask my opinion as an outside observer... the Academy needs to be shut down. Now. Before it ruins anymore lives (Yes, that is pretty much quoted from Janet). I mean, there's nothing left for the students.

But ask my opinion as an alumni... a PPA alumni (not a stupid MHS alum)... and I'll say there needs to be an Academy. Even if the classes are shit... the teachers are shit... the administrators are shit... where else are you going to find a group of peers quite like this? High school isn't only ABOUT what you learn in classes, what homework you do, or what classes you take... it's also about learning about yourself, about growing as a person, about friendships and life lessons. That is one point in which the Academy has excelled beautifully. Just shut us down and forget about that? Maybe. But I think that right there means the Academy deserves a chance to live... no matter how meager that existence.

Okay, I admit it, I'm torn on this topic. The Academy has been good to me. I was there for the one year of bliss, and two years of hell. But still, it gave me something. I don't regret my decision to go to the Academy, or to fight for it. I mean, I love that place, and it's not as easy for me to call for its closure as you might think. No, it won't affect me... but at the same time, it will.

"My last entry was mainly directed towards the class of '05 which to my understanding has mostly isolated itself from PPA." If anything, the class of '05 is the one that will be most affected by anything. We were the first freshman class. We saw what the Academy could be... should be. We were there for three years, watching everything turn into shit and fall apart. No offence to all you sophomores and juniors, but you aren't really fighting for the school... even if you think you are... you're fighting for your friends, for the relationships you've developed in your past one or two years. You... you never really had a school. You never saw what the Academy had the potential to be. You never experienced it, therefore, you are not fighting for it. I'm not saying that's bad... I'm just saying you're not fighting for the same reasons as us. Friendships, sure, but '05 is fighting for more than that.
Or at least... were fighting.

Okay, I don't know what I'm writing anymore. Vicki is the writer... not me. I can't even get a simple thought down on paper (or typed up) well. So yeah... I will leave you with that. Which really doesn't say anything, but meh

We should all go to UHS in tucson...
its not screwed up there like here.

Jason can go to UHS, but the PPA is still pretty damn good... MHS and the whole north of Tempe is better off because of the PPA. Because without PPA, I would have almost no AP classes. That would suck. Did you guys listen to the statistics at the board meeting? AP classes at Tempe, 10, Marcos 2, and McClintock at least larger than 17... I think it's somewhere in the 20's. Our family has 1 car, and I'm not about to go ask my parents to drive me to the boondox everyday for my AP classes. Let the $^%*#)(@ at MP (Mounds of Poop), and DV (Dung Veichle) have their classes, but I'm not about to let my education go down the drain since I don't live in the right area. And maybe the combining with MHS will have some benefits, like Ms. Pullen actually having a department to talk to about History and such. And maybe we were elitist, if not unknowingly. Academy Senate was poorly named... Senate came from ancient Roman times, and the senators were these rich guys who by birth did not have to do any real work. And the yearbook... Why not just get a spot in the MHS one, and not offer a completely competeing publication? But classes aside, it will suck. We won't have a real community anymore, with many of us now finding it easier to have lockers elsewhere because we DON'T HAVE CLASSES IN UNIT 5... In fact, we don't have classes in any kind of reasonable arrangement, they are just wherever the teachers who host us are. Say, will we have a pre-school-year party thing to welcome the Freshmen? Or can I use my new powers as upperclassmen to "escort" their heads to the toilet?

Alright, it seems like I missed this entire converstaion at it's peak, but I think it's about time i stepped in. I need to get something straight here.

Firstly, anything I say here, I don't say to make enemies. You all know me. This is Amanda we're talking about. You know I am not trying to get in anyones face, nor am I trying to get anyone mad at me. SO please no hate emails afterward, okay? :-P

Alright, why am I sitting amidst a great big group of pessimists. You guys are honestly making me feel really sick in my stomach, not because of your behavior, but because you all are focusing on all of the f-ing bad things that have happened in the past. I thought we were finished talking about this oh-so--fing-depressing subject, or at least, until next year. I too have been here from the start, another class of 05 kid, and you know what all of you, the ppa may not be the same as before, but you f-ing know what, anything will be better than last year. don't keep looking down, especially when down is the lowest of the low. why the hell are you all beating yourselves up and torturing yourselves over something like this. it's f-ing summer, enjoy it, leave the fights alone. they can wait for next school year, when we are actually sure of what we are dealing with. we are here, maybe not a school but instead a program,but there's nothing that can f-ing change that anymore. the board decided that already, we can protest, and i promise from the bottom of my heart that I will try and get what you all want. if you feel that we arent capable of showing all those stupid dumbasses over at mtp or dv and everywhere else that we can come out okay, and showing everoyne that we are a strong, capable group of smarties, then go ahead and do what the first commenter said to do. leave. i dare ya. but i know you all won't because i know that despite how much you all bash it and try to make it seem like there is no hope, we still have a place left in our hearts for the ppa, or the upa, or at least the people of the upa. i am not trying to cover up all of our troubles and pretend that nothing is wrong, nor am i trying to make you all have the same opinions as i do. i dont blame mrs. zinke for our troubles, just because she got a fullbright scholarship. please, it's an f-ing fullbright scholarship. those things are not easy to come by, and she deserved it...sure it was bad timing, but you canNOT blame her just because she won something that she seriously deserves. however, i do feel you guys when you talk about our "politician" (Not buchanan, heh i like you phrased that alan) and how this person "helped us." I am also angry about these things, just like you guys. but still. right now is not the time to be worrying about this. it really disheartens me when you all act like the world is over and we may as well grab a big butcher knife and gut ourselves, because we will never have a happy year/few years left at high school. don't even guys. i am going to wait till school starts to get all fired up about this. and believe me, i will ;-)

Amanda

PS: To the first commenter, please, leave a name. be courageous. if i am willing to get verbally beaten up like i know i will for posting MY comment, then at least have the courage to leave your name as well.

er, i just read over what i wrote and it is alot harsher than i meant it to be.

"If anything, the class of '05 is the one that will be most affected by anything. We were the first freshman class. We saw what the Academy could be... should be."

Alan, I wholeheartedly agree with you. this quote is why i referred to the ppa as "upa" in my previous comment. i dont know anymore...i am not exactly an eternal optimist, but i guess i am one of those people with big heads that refuses to acknowledge myself as making the wrong choice. especially when i have benefitted from this "wrong choice", as a matter of fact, benefitted more than anything else i have ever done. Maybe now that it'll be my senior year I'll see the consequences of my enrolling in the PPA as I apply for college, and maybe not stil lsince I'm not aiming for Harvard or anything like I know a few of my fellow 05ers are. I don't know if I see PPA as a mistake, but rather something that relates to me more as a "wild ride." Because, yes, I hvae actually learned stuff from PPA. The only teacher which i havent really learned from would be Mr. Barkdoll, and he isn't even a PPA teacher. But that's besides the point, I just said that because I'm bitter towards him...grr... ANYWAY, MOVING ON, what I was trying to say in my prev comment is that I don't want to depress myself right now with this sad, very sad, information, because this topic has completely tired/stressed me out all last year. I am getting sick of this, as are you all. I am very angry about all of this. I could write an essay about how pissed off I am about everyhting. Maybe I will. :-P Who knows. It might be a bestseller. I'll call it "PPA: The story of a school that never existed."

Amanda

Amanda... you can say "fuck."
F-ing sounds weird -_-

Anyway... uh... I see where you're coming from. You're sick and tired of everything. I am too... that's why I left early. Had the PPA been like it was Freshman year... for the past three years... I would definetly have stayed a senior year, even if just for AP classes and for the community. But it's not. So I left.

"but you f-ing know what, anything will be better than last year. don't keep looking down, especially when down is the lowest of the low."
I have to disagree with you there. Last year... at least we had each other. A community. Someone to go to. This year, there's nothing. The community is gone, students spread out all around the school. Our counselor is gone. Dannette is gone. We've got Pullen. And Ms. Earl and MHS. Woot. Sure, academically, things will improve... but be honest: are any of you still there for the academics?

As for the first commenter not leaving a name, it's not beacuse they didn't want people to know who they were... it was another reason. Trust me.

you know me, i dont like to cuss :-P

i see your point, and yes, i do see that things will in fact not be better next year. i know i cant pretend, i know no one can pretend, that it will be better. i don't know anymore, i don't know what there is to look forward to anymore. except it being the last year. the last year of...what? i don't know, but i do know that one more year...and it will be finished. but will it really be? I can be ignorant and rpetend that everyhting will be all fine and good next year, but in reality, you're right. it won't.

argh i dont know anymore. we should have another one of those nello's meetings like we had last school year. that nellos meeting actually helped a lot. hmmm....*thinks*

Amanda

"The only teacher which i havent really learned from would be Mr. Barkdoll,..."

I correct myself when i say that. i learned nothing from madsen. and when i say nothing, i mean "nothing."

*remembers* "okay class, what is the meaning of nothingness?" !!!!!!!! O_O O_O O_O

Amanda

We learned stuff from Madsen! Like not give a mad phyiscist a clock problem... Even though it did kill 2 days... God that guy was crazy, but we did understand our physics after that.

Uh... YOU understood your ohysics after that. WE sat around BSing our way through the labs and final.
Despite the fact that I got the physics award (which should have gone to you, BTW), I remember zilch from him, and I had to bs the last few labs because I had no idea what he was doing, what the purpose was, or what to write up.

But yeah.... back on topic. Amanda, that's a good idea. You can arrange it :-D

(Puts on sing-songy voice) "Kilogram meter per second squared..." (Physics reminiscing over...) Nello's? As in Pizza? Yum. But what will we do? And who organizes last year's freshmen? (I doubt they read this...)

haha, yes, and i am the one who bsed the final lab grade, which alan and brian just happened to be absent from because seniors dont come to the last week or so of school. joy, that was fun. :-P Haha, well, I guess understanding physics is something...to...be...proud...of? O_O haha, it is...especially from madsen...thats quite an accomplishment.

Amanda

PS: I will organize a nello's meeting. that is such a great idea. i am so full of good ideas, aren't i? :-P just kidding

i am part of the 95%.

josh, if you sing the kilogram meter/per second squared song one more time, i am going to hit you over the head with a stick. mark my words....!!!!!!!

:-P

welcome back nelly!

Amanda

Oh come on! It's a fun song!

WOW!!! you all are right on!!!! I dont have much to say.. I echo your comments. You all were promised much more than what you are going to get this school year. I am excited for a few of the classes. I can say that in conversation with teachers, they are getting it... they know that PPA students are better then their honors classes. That there is a disctinction in the curriculum and how much you all can do!! Most of them have commented to me, that after teaching for 10years, they realize that they have not been up to par and they are excited to get there. Your English deptartment is going to be awesome... i am a litle concerned for Juniors.. sorry... hound ms zinke if things suck there... math is going to be GREAT!! no more mr holeva or part timer types... history has always been strong... go ms pullen!!!... and science... chemistry will ROCK... biology.. i am not sure.. we will see how that goes... but ms zinke is just as pissed as you all are... i think you will see some good stuff from her... you all know how firey she can be... and well ... i am not tooo far away... although i wish i could be with you all... but the powers that be have moved me!! i am sooooo sad.... one thing i will not miss.... after school with freshman.... everything i am missing and will miss horribly!!!! i am coming on campus every chance i get...

i wish you all the best... and you know what i say.......

give em HELL!!! make them wish they didnt do all this crap to you guys!!! Dont give up... just prove to them that you all are a voice and have power..... trust me... they other schools they are scared...we finaly are able to put data together and they numbers dont LIE!!!!

MISSING YOU ALL!!! Dannette

sorry about all my spelling and other grammer... haaa word is my FRIEND>..

dannette

Dannette will MISS the freshmen? We didn't do a good enough job of annoying her?

I guess U didnt but i sure did.

haaaaa... i miss you all ... even you Jason!!!! you keep those girls off you.... josh... i will miss our card transactions. :)

dannette

Hey you guys, I think it took me two hours to read all of this lol....you need to know that the survival of the "ACADEMY" has so much to do with you. Are all the classes is unit 5 anymore? no. Are there three people in the office waiting to serve you? no. Do you have your own cute little green shirts anymore? no. Do you deserve something different in regards to your education? I hope I get a big resounding HELL YES! to that. And that is what you have now. You should see the teachers in coming to talk to me all excited after their AP conferences. They feel lucky and blessed to be teaching you guys. Please embrace this concept. Now, as far as keeping the spirit of the Academy alive...no group has spirit without members and faith in the group. You guys DO have that. There was never anything in that building that resulted from the building itself you guys. It's all about you. I hope you all know how much you mean to me and dannette and MS. Zinke and Ms. Pullen...you are all the topic of coversation all the time around campus. Do you know what the cool thing is? Everyone has to think twice, because I'm sitting there. What do you think Jennifer(Ms. Earl) they say to me? I am your eyes and ears...your protector...your defense. You need to know that and believe that I will always have your back. You all need to chose to make the "Academy" what you want it to be. I am with you. Can't wait to see you stop by now if you want! Love, Ms. Earl

Aww, i never got one of those cute green shirts...

msearl, i don't mean to be rude, but (as we have now made a habit of it *motions above*) you were always all for us, but you were wrong. first semester oflast year: "this new plan that ms boles farted out will really sole all our problems!" did it? no. don't get me wrong, i love ya ms earl and you are awsome, but not when it comes to being realistic. really you'd be a great sales person, getting people's hopes up. "and if you aren't completely satisfied with the new PPA plan to thwart the school board onea nd for all, return it for a full refund of the purchase price and keep the totally screwed over PPA as our free gift!" i'm sorry, i just was hut by your, what i percieved to be, promises. i apologize for bashing you ms earl, but i truly laid my hope in your hands. i never really trusted ms boles and ehr plans, they sounded great, but were a quick fix for a much larger problem. in my opinion, she recieves a 'satisfactory' for her work as an administrator, and an 'unacceptable' as an advocate for our cause. but really who i'm most dissappointed in is the school board. I really wonder what would happen if they were held by contract to all the things they say they'll do? when the upa was first started i think 8 years at least was promised, i might be wrong, but i wasn't there. the following year, we were promised that the program would remain unchanged until the class of 05 graduated and then take it from there, or was that this past year? i don't remember exactly, but that part doesn't matter. skip to later last year and we were suddenly BOOM, a program, nolonger a school even within a school, but a program, of a school. it may not sound to bad to an outside observer, becoming a program of the shcool where we were housed anyway, but we had so many things invested in that quasi-seperate school, things that weren't quite the same afterwards. I'm rambling. and now we are so afraid of losing the 'community' the community everyone is thinking of will still be there. to put it bluntly, it waas little more than an extremely close knit (and rather large), group of friends. there were the teachers and the classes, but that's just about it. what will we lose? we'll not see every single person in the acedemy every single day, but hey, there's still lunch. we'll not have all of the difintive academy teachers for all our classes, but after being shifted all over the place last year, what's the big change. with all that said, what wouls i still be fighting for? Ms Earl is right, the students are the only ones keeing the community together anymore, and nobody no even those nuts sitting on their thrones bhind a huge fake-wood table at the district office can break that apart. so then what are we still fighting for? the situation for next year is as good as can be expected, i mean we're geting handed to us the cream or the high school teacher crop, ready and willing to teach to kids who are ready and, might i say, dying to learn. personally, even if i saw something more to fight for, i'm all pooped out. i see nothing more we can do for ourselves. i'm fed up with the school board and buchaneon (or however you spell it), and ms boles, and MTP, and the legions of die-hard rather-kill-them-each-with-a-blunt-knife-than-let-them-have-an-education PPA haters (who, might i add, i've heard quite a lot about, but have never actually met a single one). to put it frankly, there is no more. the things we left behind are gone forver. never to return, at least, not for us.

I once asked alan, rather jokingly, "what was it like, in the beginning, during that first year of the UPA?"
He said nothing but let out a long happy sigh. I nevr expietenced that first hand, and am sorry for it. just one year of that kind of education would have been worth it in my eyes. and i think we could have saved that, that pristine environment of knowledge. and we did fight for it, but we lost, we gave to little too late, by the time we lost what we had, we realized how good it really was. that is why i'm burnt out, that is why, i probably will not neglect my precious study time (or slack-off time, whatever you want to call it) to go to another board meeting. i've gone to board meetings before, i know how it works, we are almost asleep until the topic of the academy is brought up, right after the voting for an insignificant change in some dance department budget at some school somewhere, and then we are on the edge of our seats for the neat half hour while powerpoints are presented, and people make speeches (in most cases the academy students' being exponentially more elequent and expertly stated than the parents'). whereupon the board members ask trivial questions and buchanen (did i get it right?) answers with the most morbid responces, and then they vote with a close margin for the academy, they promise us some great promise guarenteeing our future, and there is much rejoicing. but then within the next few months, their great promise is broken, and we eventually end up with a worse situation than the one we would have gotten if they had voted the origional proposal down in the first place. tell me if i'm wrong here, because that's certainly the way i see it. i'm tired of broken promises, of false hopes, or destroyed dreams, of politial paperwork, of any talk of bugdets or programs or sharing teachers or maintaining the community or decreasing the animosity. anything that matters to me right now i can do a just fine job of maintaining myself, and isn't in jeopardy anyway because they are things that the board cannot get their dirty little hands on. that's just about all i have to say, thanks for bearing with me.

*blink*
Wow, that was very long. And very well written, I must say.

I can't say I totally agree with you, but I agree with points. Ms. Earl IS overly optimistic, as I've said before. Mrs. Boles... I'm not sure what to think anymore. She's a politician, that's all I'm going to say.

Yes, the Academy was promised 8 years when it first opened. We were lucky to get three :-\

Hell, in actuality, we got ONE. ONE great year. ONE year with the Academy the way it was meant to be. After that...

And yes, the first year was amazing. I mean, really, WHAT HIGH SCHOOLER REMINICES ABOUT THEIR FRESHMAN YEAR?!?!? The entire class of '05, that's what. And probably the class of '06 too.

Yeah... like I said, I'm done. I'm done with this whole Academy thing. Close it down. Keep it open. Fund us, deprive us. I don't give a damn, I'm out, and I'm glad.

why, o why didn't i put the right foot foward and plan to graduate early. >_> stupid me.