Citizens for

Renton School Board Accountability

Representing the concerns of the community

Lynn DesmaraisPresidentRenton School BoardMary Alice HeuschelSuperintendantRenton School DistrictDear Mss. Desmarais and Heuschel7/1/10We are writing formally to express our concern for the children of Black River High School, whoseeducation and future lives will be badly disrupted by the closure of that school. The plans in place forthe next two years (many, but not all of the kids placed at Sartori, teachers and staff scattered, etc)are not satisfactory to guarantee their utmost educational success, and we urge you to stay withyour original plans, which were to house the entire Black River “family” temporarily in the churchpurchased for that purpose. In addition, we want the horticulture program to continue. We havelearned that it does, in fact, meet state standards for science credit, and it is a proven academic andfinancial success. For that reason, we wish you to go forward with your original plan for itscontinuation at the Evergreen Floral site, and further, that it be included in the new SecondaryLearning Center.Research shows that at-risk students need this continuity of school attachment in order to succeed,and that the horticulture program’s kind of hands-on learning is highly effective with them. Youroriginal plans were superb, and we want them carried out. Based on studies of school disruption(documents attached), we believe that a significant number of the Black River kids will drop out overthe next two years, and this is unacceptable. Simply put:

DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO.

Keep all Black River kids, staff and teachers together.

This means the current cohort and future ones in new facility.

Reinstate and stress continuation and improvement of horticulture program, using EvergreenFloral greenhouse facilities and current staff

Guarantee continued “guided learning” education and horticulture program in new facilityADDITIONALLY, MAKE IT A PRACTICE TO INFORM / ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY ON:

All uses of public funds and critical decisions

All proposed changes to any published plans and gather community input on them beforemoving forwardSeize your opportunity: MAKE THE HORTICULTURE PROGRAM A NATIONAL MODEL!Understand that the United States, Washington State and King County are vigorously promotingcommunity gardens, green jobs, healthy food and urban agriculture, and there is great need forimproved horticulture/urban agriculture education, not program elimination. The Horticultureprogram is part of the fabric of this community, which should stay. It could: Train leaders in the Urban Agriculture MovementExpand job training alongside science / nutrition education