Kevin Taul

wins award

for leadership

Kevin Taul knew he was going to do it. He just didn’t know how long it would take. “It” is going from Renton Academy to a comprehensive high school. And it took him just a semester.

Taul has finished his first semester as a full-time student at Lindbergh High School.

In doing so, he became the first student from the alternative Renton Academy to transition to a comprehensive high school. Taul’s achievement earned him the first Frederic H. Row Leadership Award.

“I feel good,” says Taul, 15. “All that work that I did, all that stuff I had to go through, it came out to be successful. … I’m the first person to fully transition. That’s a big thing for me.”

Taul recently finished his freshman year. He started at Lindbergh as a part-time student last fall. The rest of the time he attended Renton Academy, a specialty alternative school in Renton School District. The academy was created in 2006 to serve students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade with “challenging behaviors,” says Lisa Hoyt, Renton Academy director.

Taul started at Renton Academy that first year as an eighth grader. He came from an alternative school within Nelsen Middle School.

Before Renton Academy, Taul struggled as a student.

“I didn’t have good grades or nothing. I was terrible,” he says.

Renton Academy’s smallness (about 40 students) has helped. Taul’s grades have improved. And Hoyt says two Lindbergh teachers enjoyed Taul so much this year that they have requested him as a student again next year.

“He’s a pretty special guy,” Hoyt says. “… He demonstrated leadership every day he was here, not only dedicating himself to fully transitioning himself to a comprehensive high school, but developing the skills he would need there.”

And now he has made it to Lindbergh, Taul is encouraging Renton Academy students to join him.

“I believe we’ve got a lot of people in Renton Academy with talent that shouldn’t be in there,” Taul explains.

That’s what Hoyt wants to hear.

“Our goal is for us not to have a job,” she says. “For them to be successful in comprehensive school.”

Taul is the first Renton Academy student to transition into any comprehensive school, be it high, middle or elementary school. But Hoyt says about five other academy students are gearing up for that transition.

As for Taul, he’s proven he can be successful in comprehensive school. His next goal is to graduate from high school. That would be a first in his family. He knows he’ll be successful.

“I have high expectations for myself,” he says.

And after high school? He wants to go to college and become a football coach or football player. He’s an outside linebacker and running back on Lindbergh’s team.

The Frederic H. Row Leadership Award is named for Fred Row, who retired this year as Renton School District’s assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. Row helped create Renton Academy. Before the Academy’s creation, the district bused students like Taul to schools and agencies across Puget Sound.

Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com or (425) 255-3484, ext. 5052.

Renton Academy

For more information about Renton Academy, visit the Renton School District Web site at www.renton.wednet.edu and click on schools.