I was disappointed to read the simplistic evaluation of the Robinswood Alternative school and its teachers in the recent letter, “Why aren’t teachers getting fired.”

Perhaps the author has some direct experience with the school that they were basing this opinion on? If so, it would have been nice to include that. I don’t have any experience with the school, but my understanding is that Robinswood’s role in our district is to take in students who have been unsuccessful elsewhere in the district. Students who improve after the specialized support they receive at Robinswood are often integrated back into their original schools.

How can test scores of the students who remain in Robinswood’s program possibly measure Robinswood’s success at their mission?

It’s certainly possible that Robinswood’s model can’t be sustained in the current educational funding environment and it’s even possible that they aren’t successful at their mission.

But I hope we are educated well enough to evaluate the school’s function, failures AND achievements before making blanket statements about how the “school is a failure” and how the faculty and staff should be “fired.”

Heather Sherman, Bellevue