Community Meeting at Rainier Beach High School
Hello
I saw this notice in the Rainier Valley Post (the best source for SE Seattle News) and thought it would be a good idea to pass it along to the SSS blog readers. Other than posting this notice I have no connection to this meeting
The community is invited to join the Rainier Beach High School PTSA next Wednesday, November 10 for a community at the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center at Rainier Beach High School (8815 Seward Park Ave. S.) from 6:30 to 8 pm.
This meeting is open to all Rainier Beach area residents, as the PTSA would like to know what programs interest the community the most and encourage residents to send their children to Rainier Beach High School.
There are five programs currently being considered for implementation at Rainier Beach High, including International Baccalaureate, Law Magnet, IT (that includes a vocational track), Sports Medicine, and an Arts Program.
For more information, please contact Carlina Brown at linab2000@yahoo.com or Rita Green at getbusy40@clear.net.
I hope many of you who have contributed your thoughts on Rainier Beach HS will be able to attend.
I saw this notice in the Rainier Valley Post (the best source for SE Seattle News) and thought it would be a good idea to pass it along to the SSS blog readers. Other than posting this notice I have no connection to this meeting
The community is invited to join the Rainier Beach High School PTSA next Wednesday, November 10 for a community at the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center at Rainier Beach High School (8815 Seward Park Ave. S.) from 6:30 to 8 pm.
This meeting is open to all Rainier Beach area residents, as the PTSA would like to know what programs interest the community the most and encourage residents to send their children to Rainier Beach High School.
There are five programs currently being considered for implementation at Rainier Beach High, including International Baccalaureate, Law Magnet, IT (that includes a vocational track), Sports Medicine, and an Arts Program.
For more information, please contact Carlina Brown at linab2000@yahoo.com or Rita Green at getbusy40@clear.net.
I hope many of you who have contributed your thoughts on Rainier Beach HS will be able to attend.
Comments
I fear that the parents who want to turn the school around and get a buy-in from the more upscale area residents will not succeed in attracting any of them.
However, since I have a middle schooler who will hit high school just as whatever changes made to RBHS begin showing results, I will be at that meeting. I know some of the parents and students of kids who chose the school deliberately and want to support them.
I hope the community not only gets their say- but is acknowledged.
My daughter who swam for Franklin (yes, it really does have a swim team) was appalled to see that even at sporting events that Garfield students did not sit together and cheer for their teams as a group, but segregated themselves. And I've heard stories from minority parents and students for a decade about being quietly discouraged from enrolling in the AP classes.
If APP or another popular program moves into RBHS, parents are going to have to work like dogs to make sure that doesn't happen there. It's going to require a buy-in from parents, teachers, counselors, AND community, and of course the district. Having seen the way locals talk about RBHS I'm not sure they can pull it off.
I don't suggest for a minute that the school is totally colorblind --getting kids to mix across some really disparate income and culture barriers is an ongoing challenge, but what I see (still too few minority kids in the A orchestra and in jazz band, but plenty of mixing in drumline and some other activities) is not what you describe. Am I just oblivious, or are things maybe continuing to change since you got your information?
We were also told on a tour of Washington Middle School last spring that the kids (many of whom go to Garfield) segregate themselves by program (which are mostly also segregated by race). We heard this from two of the counselors and from several parents already at the school.
Garfield admin has been trying very hard since at least the 1990's to bring more minority kids into the advanced classes. I know one principal deliberately mixed the classes up on the floors so that there wouldn't be a "black floor" and a "white floor" of classes and kids would be more willing to "cross the boundries". But not all the faculty buy into that, and there have long been stories (and I've heard them first-hand) from parents and kids about being discouraged from trying.