Have we lost our minds? Do we really believe that the Marysville School District assigns its poorest-performing teachers and principal to Totem Middle School? Of course not!

The best predictor of low student scores is the number of children receiving free or reduced-priced lunch. Totem Middle School has 48 percent of its student body in this category. Poverty is the issue. When a family does not have enough money to make ends meet, children are stressed. When you are stressed, it is very difficult to do your best work.

Public schools must take every student who walks through the door, regardless of behavior, academic achievement, potential to learn or parental involvement, and rightly so. That is what public schools do.

So why are we blaming the teachers and the principal for students who don’t do as well on standardized tests?

You have heard the term “the failing school.” My granddaughter is doing her student teaching in a truly failing high school in the inner city of Philadelphia. One of her students collapsed at school and was transported to the hospital. Why? Because the girl’s brother had been killed over the weekend. She was distressed, had been crying and was dehydrated. There is no drinking water at the high school because the water comes through old lead pipes. If they have the money, students can buy bottled water at lunch.

At this school, students go through a metal detector to enter. But unlike other schools, there is only one detector, so the more than 1,000 students lose valuable class time each morning going through one gate. Students cannot take textbooks home because there aren’t enough to go around.

Would you want your child attending this school? Would any student there think that they are cared for? Would any of the teachers be discouraged?

What are we thinking?

Phyllis Fiege

Woodinville