The Water is Fine! Insight into San Rafael Schools...
As a dedicated mother of an only child I understand the
intense desire to give that child the very best that life, and we—within our
means—can give her. So it is interesting
to me that, given the choice between going to Marin Catholic or San Rafael
High, she chose SR. This was the culmination
of 8 years of extremely positive experiences in the San Rafael School District,
and I am here to tell you that the water is just fine. In fact, an argument can be built supporting
the idea that the San Rafael schools are superior to other districts—but don’t
get me started.  Okay, get me
started. The demographics of the central
San Rafael schools are realistic, in line with the outside world. Learning to thrive in that environment is
priceless.
The first place folks go to try and understand the merits of
a school are to the famed API scores.Â
These scores, however, do not represent apples to apples from school to
school. Consider, for example, that 64%
of the students at Davidson Middle school are Hispanic, most of whom have
Spanish as the primary language spoken in the home. 61% are Hispanic at San
Rafael high. Â 7.7% at Drake High in San
Anselmo, 8.9% at Redwood High in Larkspur and 9.7% at Tamalpais High in Mill
Valley. It should be evident that kids
who are testing in their secondary language cannot be compared with those
testing in their primary language. Â If
you contact Davidson Middle or San Rafael High you can get the API scores
broken out showing a more realistic picture of the results the kids are getting
based on the demographics. You will be
surprised to see that Davidson and SR are among the very top schools in the county
from this perspective. Here is the best
website I have found for comparing factoids about the schools: http://california-schools.findthedata.org,
though not if you are only seeking scores.
One of the things I loved about my daughter’s attendance at
Davidson was the keen attention to sensitivity training, due to the cultural
diversity, and the outstanding non-bullying programs. Though all middle schools will have rivalry
and boundary testing among the students, the incidences were rare and always handled
with the greatest of respect to the students.Â
Principal Harriet MacLean recently won the award for American
Association of School Administrators’ 2013 Women in School Leadership Award. Having worked closely with Dr. MacLean, as a
Co-President of the PTA, I have joked that she reminds me of an Avatar with the
kids, the way she SEES them all equally and full of potential. In addition to a diverse academic program
with excellent teachers, Davidson also has an excellent music department, a
fine physical education program and one of the best gyms in the county, where
other schools come for competitions due to the great accommodations.
My daughter is now a sophomore at San Rafael High. She has a 4.43 GPG, plays the saxophone,
takes AP Chemistry, AP Algebra II and AP English. San Rafael High has an amazing and inspiring Physics
Academy with a 3D printer, a Media Academy with their own radio station, one of
the only football fields with lighting, a really fantastic PE program including
night PE, with options for sailing, mountain biking and hiking—and an adventure
room with climbing walls and ropes courses to teach the kids self- confidence
and team building. Their music program
wins awards year after year. AND they
have academic programs to accommodate the widely diverse population of the school. If we don’t have great results in our competitive
sports programs, perhaps it is because too many parents pull their kids out of
the district and put them into Redwood or other schools, rather than letting
them go to school where they live, and investing in our community. And, ironically, many of those kids have to
sit on the bench, or give up playing altogether because there are 100 good
athletes all vying for the same spot. I have heard that true story too many
times! At SR, the kids have a much better chance at time on the courts.
I can go on and on. I
would like to add that we have friends who have moved their kids to SR from
Brandeis, Marin Country Day and Marin Catholic.
If you would like to speak to me, about our experience, or
to request referrals to parents who have made the decision to move their kids
over from private school, feel free to call me.Â
Again, with all of my conviction I believe there is nothing to fear
about moving to San Rafael and having your child(ren) go through the
system. Caring parents, committed alumni
and involved families combine to continually evolve the schools in a very
positive direction. The water is indeed
fine!
Muriel Ballard
http://www.marinmodern.com/San-Rafael-Schools.phpÂ
http://dms.srcs.ca.schoolloop.com/Â
http://sanrafael.srcs.org/
http://sanrafael.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/an--davidson-middle-school-principal-dr-harriet-macle3a65d18987Â
Discussion
Muriel, thank you for your thoughtful insight into the San Rafael schools. I drank the water all they way until 1980, and everything is just fine with me. I think.
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