To the editor:

As a long-time reader of the Lawrence Journal-World I have always appreciated its thorough coverage of local and national news. Imagine my surprise to find in the July 7 J-W the inflammatory headline, “Kansas schools on blacklist,” with two Baldwin schools, Marion Springs Elementary and Baldwin Elementary School, listed among “low-performing” schools.

As a teacher the past 26 years at Marion Springs Elementary, and having three daughters and 11 grandchildren attending the Baldwin public schools, I have first-hand knowledge of the district’s efforts to constantly upgrade the curriculum, maintain high academic standards, and reach all students attending the public schools. Therefore I carefully read and reread the article to find out the facts behind this headline. Nowhere did I find any explanation except the statement “failure to reach Kansas standards” and the labels “low performing” and “low achieving.”

Again confusion! Both Marion Springs and Baldwin Elementary have steadily raised their assessment scores, and Marion Springs recently received news that they had achieved the Standard of Excellence in both reading and math. After much investigation, the facts are becoming clearer.

1. Only Title 1 schools are evaluated on this list, and only Marion Springs Elementary and Baldwin Elementary are Title 1 schools in Baldwin, based on numbers of free and reduced lunches.

2. The rating was due to the small group of students achieving below the 40th percentile not showing sufficient improvement the past two years.

How nice it would have been to have had all of this information included in the original article.

Charlene Potter,

Baldwin