To the editor:

After having spoken with many Bainbridge High School students over the past seven years, it is my opinion that as a community our focus should not be on our school being number one in the US News rankings (because maybe that is the problem) but instead our focus should be on what do the kids in our community need most and how do we best meet those needs.

We should not be searching for the principal who is going to get us to the number one spot, we should be searching for the principal who cares more about helping every child at BHS achieve their goals whatever those goals may be.

If BHS puts more caring, well-educated, happy, well-rounded human beings into the world and if by having this be our objective then we are not failing no matter what the rankings say. And perhaps then we will see a decline in the drug and alcohol use which seems to place BHS high on another ranking chart.

CAROL CARLEY

Bainbridge Island