Once again, Lewiston schools have come up short, according to the MEA tests. But are the MEAs a true reflection of what’s really going on? Remember, we teach every child. We take in the poor, mentally and physically disabled, and ESL children.

Lewiston’s students come from very diverse backgrounds. Should our schools be punished and our students made to feel second-rate because of a test that is unfair in its setup?

How can schools with such diverse student bodies be compared to schools that are more homogenous?

There are two solutions to this. One is to stop spending so much time and money testing and retesting our children. A test teaches nothing. Testing takes precious time from the classroom that could be used to teach.

The second solution is for scores of students who are more difficult to teach than your average, healthy, well-cared for, English-speaking student to be weighted in the MEAs. Then Lewiston would be much closer to the top. We should not be pressured to meet some arbitrary standard forced on our community by the state government.

But seeing that we are, the MEA should at least be graded fairly. The students’ scores should be weighted.

A school system should be rewarded for embracing difficult students, not punished. Diversity in the student body teaches our children lessons about life and tolerance that can’t be measured in a test.

Lewiston should be proud of its schools and its students. The MEA tests don’t show the real picture.

Rhonda Flannery, Lewiston