Superintendent Tammy Campbell, you now have an opportunity to demonstrate to this community your leadership skills to effect real meaningful Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) academic improvements prior to the next set of math and English SBA exams. By now you are fully aware that 66 percent of Federal Way students failed the most recent math SBA and 54 percent failed the English SBA. These results are totally unacceptable and are alarming district “data-driven” facts that point to an educational crisis in Federal Way.

I hope by now you have implemented a new plan to significantly improve future SBA results. Therefore, by no later than seven days after this letter appears in the Mirror, would you email to all school parents of Federal Way students the answers to the questions below about that new plan? And then, at the same time submit that email as a letter to the Mirror? And, also provide proof with facts, data, evidence and timelines that your new plan has been proven effective elsewhere to significantly improve Math and English SBA scores.

Questions: 1. What immediate requirements does your new plan place upon principals, teachers and students of this school district to ensure future student SBA success (i.e. a minimum of 70 percent passing rate)? 2. How does the new plan differ from the old plan? 3. How was the new plan developed? 4. What proof do you have the new plan will work? And, 5. If you have not yet implemented a new SBA plan, then tell us why not?

Hopefully Superintendent Campbell, you have already implemented a new SBA plan to significantly improve future SBA math and English scores because you recognize the seriousness and urgency to implement a solution immediately. Surely you understand that our children do not have years to wait and bear the consequences of district inaction by choosing to waste years of time conducting “SBA forums” with experts, teachers, parents, students and pilot programs to find and implement obvious, necessary and immediately-needed solutions.

Frank Comito

Federal Way