“Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.”
--Mary McLeod Bethune
“The purpose of education...is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself,
to make his own decisions.”
--James Baldwin
--Mary McLeod Bethune
“The purpose of education...is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself,
to make his own decisions.”
--James Baldwin
Dear Scholars and Parents/Guardians,
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year at Rainier Valley Leadership Academy. I am both honored
and thrilled to be your principal for this upcoming school year.
It is our goal this year, to set an unshakable foundation that both fosters pride in self and
community and plants the seeds of life-long learning in our scholars. We will accomplish this goal
by aligning our practices with RVLA’S Vision of an “anti-racist collaborative community school,
focused on dismantling systemic oppression through scholar leadership.” We will be guided by
RVLA’s Pillars of Collaborative Community, Anti-Racist, and Leadership to ensure our scholars
are prepared for their secondary education.
Please know that serving as the principal of Rainier Valley Leadership Academy is a great honor
and I/we embrace the charge to ensure each scholar reaches their fullest potential.
I am excited to serve this community and look forward to creating the national example of a
thriving, de-colonized, learning experience. Together, in partnership with you and the community,
we will cultivate and nurture a quality education for each and every scholar, each and every day.
In Service of Our Scholars,
Ms. Angela M. Thomas
Principal
Rainier Valley Leadership Academy
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year at Rainier Valley Leadership Academy. I am both honored
and thrilled to be your principal for this upcoming school year.
It is our goal this year, to set an unshakable foundation that both fosters pride in self and
community and plants the seeds of life-long learning in our scholars. We will accomplish this goal
by aligning our practices with RVLA’S Vision of an “anti-racist collaborative community school,
focused on dismantling systemic oppression through scholar leadership.” We will be guided by
RVLA’s Pillars of Collaborative Community, Anti-Racist, and Leadership to ensure our scholars
are prepared for their secondary education.
Please know that serving as the principal of Rainier Valley Leadership Academy is a great honor
and I/we embrace the charge to ensure each scholar reaches their fullest potential.
I am excited to serve this community and look forward to creating the national example of a
thriving, de-colonized, learning experience. Together, in partnership with you and the community,
we will cultivate and nurture a quality education for each and every scholar, each and every day.
In Service of Our Scholars,
Ms. Angela M. Thomas
Principal
Rainier Valley Leadership Academy
|
Hello Rainier Valley Leadership Academy Families,
As a collaborative community school, we welcome you and look forward to meeting each of you and partnering with you to support the success of every single scholar! Rainier Valley Leadership is a school for every scholar that wishes to attend! On January 23rd, 2020, we were granted full rights as an independent collaborative community school. We were supported by our greater community and all stakeholders. We have been honored to stand with the community and for the community in this process. We have listened intently to what families needs are in the education system, revamping our logo, mission, and pillars. |
Our Mission:
Rainier Valley Leadership Academy is an anti-racist collaborative community of critical thinkers focused on dismantling systemic oppression through scholar leadership and college success.
Our Pillars:
Collaborative Community
Our leadership academy is designed for the community, by the community. We honor our past and present by celebrating the voice of our community, and we exceed what is possible by using our collective strength. We focus on positive affirmation, helping scholars uniquely assess, engage, collaborate, and improve their communities with what they’ve learned at RVLA.
- We provide multi-directional feedback opportunities, giving our scholars multiple opportunities to learn
- We help scholars participate in decision making by including relevant and relatable social issues
- We incorporate the diverse experiences and cultures from our community’s leaders
- We build a sense of belonging and encourage supportive relationships
Anti Racist
We continuously address racism with urgency and action by decolonizing and dismantling systems of oppression to empower our community. We support our scholars by giving them a sense of belonging, self-advocacy, and supporting the skills needed to better critically assess systems and improve their communities through equity, justice, and community change.
We decolonize curriculum and tip the balance of power through equitable practices
We educate, speak up, and call out racism and microaggressions
We teach our scholars to recognize unconscious bias in historic and current events, and to rigorously question the status quo
We cultivate social emotional skills and we celebrate neurodiversity
We recognize that power systems have historically and currently been developed to marginalize specific groups
We decolonize curriculum and tip the balance of power through equitable practices
We educate, speak up, and call out racism and microaggressions
We teach our scholars to recognize unconscious bias in historic and current events, and to rigorously question the status quo
We cultivate social emotional skills and we celebrate neurodiversity
We recognize that power systems have historically and currently been developed to marginalize specific groups
Leadership
Leadership goes beyond positions of power and comes in many forms. We elevate the voice of our future local and global leaders by teaching critical thinking, advocacy for self and others and challenging our scholars to speak out and ask questions. We help them build skills in emotional intelligence that can be translated to the future career choices.
We have a diverse team of educators with 78% of our overall staff people of color, and 81.5% of classroom teachers as people of color. ALL of our teachers, regardless of race, are committed to working in and supporting an anti-racist environment with academic rigor so every scholars succeed in life and in a college environment.
We look forward to working with all of the phenomenal and wonderful families, scholars, and community stakeholders that make up our rich, brilliant, and diverse community that is RVLA. Thank you in advance for allowing our team the opportunity to serve your children. I am humbled and honored to be chosen to serve as our school’s Chief Operating Officer.
Best,
Baionne Coleman
CEO Baionne Coleman, M.A., M.Ed.
- We embed both long- and short-term leadership opportunities and projects throughout a scholar’s day, with practice opportunities expanding each year
- We challenge our scholars to act with integrity and know when to step up and step back
- We promote community partnerships, entrepreneurship opportunities and internships, providing opportunities and cultivating scholar leadership
- We support scholars in setting their own goals and making the plans needed to reach them
We have a diverse team of educators with 78% of our overall staff people of color, and 81.5% of classroom teachers as people of color. ALL of our teachers, regardless of race, are committed to working in and supporting an anti-racist environment with academic rigor so every scholars succeed in life and in a college environment.
We look forward to working with all of the phenomenal and wonderful families, scholars, and community stakeholders that make up our rich, brilliant, and diverse community that is RVLA. Thank you in advance for allowing our team the opportunity to serve your children. I am humbled and honored to be chosen to serve as our school’s Chief Operating Officer.
Best,
Baionne Coleman
CEO Baionne Coleman, M.A., M.Ed.
