School superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson announced last week that Rainier Beach High School co-principals, Dr. Robert Gary and Lisa Escobar will transition to new positions and a new principal will be appointed for the 2011-2012 school year.
The announcement came on the heels of last week’s news that the troubled Rainier Valley high school is one of the worst in the state, a designation that makes the school eligible for a School Improvement Grant ranging from $50,000 to $2 million per year over a three-year period beginning in fall 2011.
The grant requires that a new principal must be appointed if the current principal has been in place for more than two years.
Dr. Gary has been principal at Rainier Beach for 13 years, and Escobar joined him as co-principal just last year.
The detailed grant applications are due by March 4, and successful awardees will be notified by OSPI on March 31. Information about the amount funded will be available by April 22.
In 2010, two southeast Seattle schools – Hawthorne Elementary in Mt. Baker and and Cleveland High School on Beacon Hill – received $5.76 million over three years in SIG funding.
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Related:
- Rainier Beach HS Named One of State’s Lowest Performing Schools; SE Coalition Demands Change (1/18/11)
- Rainier Beach Parents Start Petition to Have New Co-Principal Removed (9/23/10)
- Only 10% of Seattle’s Black Students Attend High-Performing Elementary Schools (11/30/10)
- Color-Coded Map Illustrates Striking Disparity Between North & South Seattle Schools (11/11/10)
- Raw Numbers: South-End Schools Plagued by Low Scores (11/9/10)
- SPS Community Blog Raising Money to Buy Textbooks for Rainier Beach High (11/13/09)
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So evidently Rainier Beach is one of the few places were you can be a complete failure yet keep your job for over a decade.
Man, the Seattle school district has its head up its ass.
So have the schools that have been awarded the grants shown any improvement? And if so, how quickly?
South Seattle community, these changes in leadership present a new opportunity for all of us to come together and fix our schools starting with Rainier Beach. I like Dr. Gary and I think he is fully capable of running a successful school, but when you’re in charge you’re accountable for what happens, or in this case, what has not happened.
What community group/ member is going to take the lead: RBPTSA, South Seattle Education Coalition?? Maybe this is an issue that the newly formed Rainier Beach Neighborhood Association should take on. As a former, resident of Rainier Beach (lived adjacent to Emerson elem.), I understood that the neighborhood’s success was tied to the success of the neighborhood schools. And that’s when I decided to move.
Raineir Beach is a family oriented neighborhood and families do not choose to live in neighborhoods with failing schools. Especially now under the neighborhood schooling program.
Don’t be a non-believer, Rainier Beach High School is not beyond repair. But let’s be honest, the school itself needs repair, i.e. a major renovation. The school in its current state doesn’t exactly instill pride. This is not to imply that a renovation alone will improve the academic situation there but it will send a message that the District is committed to providing an environment/ facility where academics can flourish.
Let’s start there South Seattle Community: Let’s get Rainier Beach renovated, and I mean a real renovation, not the few dollar patchwork job done a couple years ago. I’m talking about building a 50 million dollar academic institution in Raineir Beach that is a major resource for our youth and community! Is that something we can all get behind?
Just close for good already
It’s no secret RBHS is one of the worst performing schools in the State, let alone the district. That said, it also makes some of the highest gains in testing, year to year.
@G, I appreciate all the points you’ve made in your comment!
Reminds me of NBA draft day where the worst performing teams get the top draft picks. In this case, the state rewards the worst performing school with a financial windfall.
Good for RBHS to start fresh with a new principal. In recent years, the only thing that stayed positive about RB is their basketball team and the new drama department. Hope to see better things in the future, like a higher graduation rate.
As a graduate of both Hawthorne, (Sharples) and Rainier Beach, this is truly a heartening report. My future is so bright but my past so dim.
Does this mean no more school assemblies for current professional athletes?
I worked at RB for nearly 5-years coordinating programs. Like many, I had preconceived notions about the school, students, etc. However, once there I quickly learned how vibrant the students and staff were. I saw a lot of exceptional talent go to college over there years. I work at the UW now, an just this past year 13 RB students got accepted here! If folks don’t know, the UW is extremely competitive. Oh yeah, none of those students were athletes.
Also, recently RB was only one of three schools OFF the “Improvement List” for the district. The other two schools Roosevelt (Nationally Recognized) and Nathan Hale. RB, under Dr. Gary, spent two consecutive years off that list.
Definitely don’t judge this book by its cover. They told the school to take down a tank with rocks. They may not have taken ‘the tank’ down yet… but they sure did make some dents. My hats off to the many fine staff and students at RB.
We might need to hire that Tiger Mom lady who as been in the news lately. Students do have a lot of raw potential, and one doesn’t want to see them “graduate” with much of the potential still raw. I hope Rainier Beach is able to find a leader who can instill a sense of mission, an expectation of order and excellence, and a love of academics in the students, such that we will soon see academic awards hanging beside the atheletic penants presently displayed on the outside of the school.
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