Neighborhood school LaSalle-Backus Education Campus received 4 stars on the latest DC School Report Card. The school received 3 stars last year. The improvement in the star rating comes on the heels of the school’s recognition as a leveler elementary school by the DC Policy Center. The Center describes a leveler school as one that meets the high targets for growth for their at-risk students. This is quite the turnaround for the school, which just 10 years ago was under restructuring for failure to make adequate yearly progress.

I remember when former principal Justin Ralston was installed at LaSalle in 2016 and he noted that residents and others thought of LaSalle as a failing school, but he did not view the school that way. The school has made steady improvements every year since. The school cycled through interim principals due to an incident at Roosevelt High School that resulted in Mr. Ralston’s abrupt installation as interim principal at that school in October 2018. Shelly Gray, who served as an assistant principal at LaSalle for several years, became the new permanent principal of LaSalle in June 2019.

Whittier Education Campus, which serves the Lamond community as well, also received 4 stars. The DC Policy Center recognized Whittier as a leveler middle school. Whittier and LaSalle are in the middle of phasing out their middle school grades.

Kudos to both school communities.