Thursday, February 12, 2009

Lee's Summit - Made the 2009 BusinessWeek's List of Best Places To Raise Your Kids?


In case you haven't heard, Lee's Summit has been named to the list of top towns for 2009 to raise your kids by NewsWeek. They rated towns on the following criteria: "towns with at least 50,000 residents and a median family income between $40,000 and $100,000. We then narrowed the list of towns using the following weighted criteria: school performance; number of schools; household expenditures; crime rates; air quality; job growth; family income; museums, parks, theaters, and other amenities; and diversity. We weighted school performance and safety most heavily, but also gave strong weight to amenities and affordability".

1 comment:

faceofautism said...

This information is misleading and it not completely accurate. If you have a child with special needs, Lee's Summit doesn't really offer much.

Lee's Summit has been blessed with a high population of children that are high achievers. We live in an affluent suburb with the highest tax levy in the metro area. We have parents that are professionals and children that have access to many amenities that allow them to reach their potential.

Is it because they go to school in Lee's Summit or does Lee's Summit look good because those kids attend their schools.

If you brought kids from the Kansas City School District out here would they prosper as well? Isn't that the group of students that Lee's Summit is failing? The numbers show that Lee's Summit scores have regressed for black students, free lunch students, and special education students. There is no denying that.

Missouri is one of the worst states in the country for education. Lee's Summit likes to talk about the awards that Missouri gives them. Is it enough to be the best of the worst? I would like to think that we would strive for more than that. Missouri handed out 330 of the same awards across the whole state. Those same districts also were failing black students, free lunch students, and special education students. Can you really claim distinction in performance when the only students that are doing well are the ones that would do well no matter where they went?