To follow is a statement that was issued by the Rainier Beach PTSA this afternoon:
On Monday, Feb 20, 2012, a few parents from Rainier Beach High School (RBHS) and South Shore Middle School met with Kelly Munn of LEV to discuss the 37th District Mailer that was sent to roughly 10,000 37th District households. This mailer contained inaccurate and misleading information that negatively targeted Rainier Beach High School. Was this a coincidence or a plan to send the mailer during open enrollment?
We shared that we would no longer tolerate LEV’s continued negative attacks on RBHS and that if their goal was to enter the Southeast Seattle in an effort to help students and families of color that they failed miserably.
The truth of the matter is that the District average for Reading is 51% and RBHS matches this average.
Four overlooked facts are that:
1) 80% of the 9th grade students taking the exam for RBHS were ELL or SPED students and yet still they achieved the same pass rate as the District Average MAP score. (Many of these ELL students are new to the U.S. and have had little to no formal education. They can barely read.).
2) RBHS 9th graders are entering HS at a 5th to 6th grade reading level. Yet still they obtained the same pass rate as the District Average Map score.
3) RBHS students growth rate was +3 as compared to the District Average +1 which means that RBHS students are improving in Reading at 3X the rate of the average District students.
4) The District dumps missing students in RBHS totals which negatively impact RBHS totals. (Missing students are students who did not withdraw from SPS using proper protocol. As a result these students remain in the District enrollment count, and the District places these missing students in RBHS totals due to the open seats at the school. The District needs to clean up their missing students.)
And for Math RBHS students growth rates surpassed the District average for all grade levels. Yes, despite the fact that many of these students are entering HS well below grade level.
It’s time LEV, the District, a few City Council members and a Board member that will remain unnamed stop pointing the finger at RBHS and put the blame where it belongs: On Elementary and Middle Schools that are not preparing our students for High School.
Resolution:
1) LEV will publicly apologize for disseminating inaccurate and false information.
2) LEV will no longer single out any one school when sending out mailers.
3) LEV will speak to the proper people in the Southeast Community to assure they have accurate information.
Closing:
If you continue to tell someone they can’t achieve they will begin to believe that they cannot achieve.
Yet RBHS students triumph above this negativity and are striving for the best which is evident in the growth they are achieving which exceeds the District’s average growth.
Rainier Beach High School students and staff should be awarded for the heroics that they continue to achieve day in and day out despite the continued negative attacks and false innuendos.
Humbly Submitted,
Rita Green, MBA
RBHS PTSA VP and Alum
To follow is an additional page of notes that were part of the meeting minutes. To view all of the documents more clearly, and I would recommend that you do, go to The LEV Meeting with Rainier Beach High School.
For the background to this situation, go to Rainier Beach Responds to the League of Education Voters Attack on Its School and Community.
Seattle Education 
Serious!?
Unbelievably LEV has still not removed the misleading and inaccurate statement about RBHS!
rmm,
I think that they should start with sending out mailers to all of the same people who received the first mailer with the apology and then they should put their tail between their legs and tip toe very quietly out of the south end of Seattle never to be seen again.
It is amazing that they feel compelled to publish information that somehow justifies their existence which is all about establishing charter schools in the south side of Seattle.
Parent Power!
No one had to come into Seattle, eg: LEV and CPPS, and think that they were going to “help” parents “find their voice”. We know exactly what to say and how to say it. Leave our kids alone!
I don’t know who the council person is. Maybe someone else can clue us in on that.
Dora
Shouldn’t LEV pay for 10,000 mailers with … NOT a bunch of reformist lies ??
I suppose that wouldn’t be consistent with how they spend money – bash the little guys.
BTW – is the unnamed City Council member Jonathan Knapp’s BFF on “Creative Schools”, Mr. I NEVER Miss An Ed Deform Event Tim Burgess?
Enquiring Minds
I know.
Wait until you hear Korsmo’s response. She doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone. She responds with an e-mail full of reformy eduspeak about underachieving “kids”.
I’ll post that tomorrow.
Dora
Another example why LEV doesn’t speak for me.
They should change their name to League for the 1%. They are just as presumptuous.