Elections
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Highline Journal or Daniel Media. If you wish to submit a story, photo, article, or letter, please email us at info@thehighlinejournal.com. We look forward to hearing from you.]
Dear Highline Community and Families,
The current race for the Highline school board seems to be framed as a battle for “progressive community ideals” against “conservative educational reform”. As a parent, I find this framing to be both disturbing and disheartening.
Policies that center around educational reform, particularly those around literacy and strong academics should not be polarizing nor labeled as a “conservative agenda”. Progressive liberals should be champions of school reform. It is one of the most equitable things we can do for our kids. For evidence of this, I offer Rahm Emanuel’s recent opinion piece on this topic in the Wall Street Journal. David Brooks wrote a similar opinion back in August in the New York Times (you can read it for free here).
Rahm says, “We’ve become so obsessed with bathroom access that we’ve ignored classroom excellence. America has lost the plot. Democrats need to refocus on the fundamentals in the elementary years—when it comes to high school, we need to be pursuing fundamental reform.” And “Few things are more important than ensuring every American student can read by third grade and do basic math by eighth.”
These are the same issues that we face in Highline. And these issues cannot be pushed aside or dismissed as “not inclusive” or “not understanding our community”.
With 67% of our kids behind grade-level reading standards and over half of our middle schoolers lagging by two or more grade levels, our priorities should be very clear. The challenge extends far beyond the needs of our English Language Learners; rather, these overwhelming statistics point to a systemic issue that requires comprehensive, universal reforms. We need to be looking for larger solutions and asking questions such as:
- What is our core curriculum? Is it critically flawed? And what can we do about it?
- For our students who are already several grade levels behind, what are we doing to catch them up? How can we accelerate growth, to get more of our students to proficiency?
There is also general apprehension around middle and high schools options in our district, which is a concern frequently expressed by families who have the resources to opt for solutions outside of our schools, including private schools and other school districts. Students and families leaving the district equals money leaving the district.
We need pragmatic leaders who are willing to acknowledge these issues exist. We need our leaders actively reaching out to our communities to better understand these (and other) issues. Where are the town halls and the forums for family/parent voice? We need spaces for people to sit down in-person and share more about these issues. Regardless of who is elected to the board of directors this November, I want to see a change in how the district and the board are approaching these issues. I want to see leaders who are willing to ask questions and seek solutions.
I am not here to publicly endorse any candidates. However, I will say this: one of the primary roles of a school board is to provide oversight and accountability. The school board is not in charge of day to day operations; that is the superintendent’s job. And I sincerely wonder if the current board directors are willing to help bring about much-needed reform and are able to uphold their sworn duty to provide oversight.
We must be wary of complacency within the status quo. The fundamental choice is between active reform and systemic decline. As David Brooks and Pete Buttigieg both argue, anyone who is not focused on necessary change risks the stability and future of the entire system. Change within a system is never easy, but if we want to safeguard our public education system, reform is necessary.
And for anyone who wants my story, here it is:
I am a parent of a first grader in the district. My child attends a dual-language elementary school, where we feel a strong sense of community and belonging. At the beginning of kindergarten, our family felt very validated in choosing public education. We welcome the diversity in our school and our district, even while recognizing that it does create some discomfort at times.
As a parent whose background is not in education, I will admit that at the start of our public school journey, I knew very little about the school board and district policies and politics. I came in with limited knowledge around literacy, though I had listened to the podcast Sold a Story. This past January, I started having concerns about our elementary reading curriculum. And I was further dismayed to learn that the two board directors who were championing literacy and academics had just resigned.
Over the next several months, I set out to learn more about the system. I reached out to the superintendent, to the school board, and to school leaders and district leaders to understand what they knew and to get more answers to my questions. Ultimately, I was not satisfied with what I learned about our core early reading materials in the district, so I spent the summer drafting a formal Instructional Materials Complaint, which I filed with the district on September 3.
About a month ago, I requested access to the IMC Meetings that the district is required to have to review my complaint. They have declined to open these meetings to the public, despite Board Procedure 2020 which states that one of the IMC’s roles is to “Receive, consider and act upon written complaints [...]”. By refusing to follow the spirit of the Open Public Meetings Act (which requires all governing bodies and their acting committees to meet publicly), the district and board risk both loss of public trust and significant legal exposure.
Now, just a year into our public school journey, our family struggles to remain optimistic about our public schools, especially after learning how resistant the system is to change and transparency. We wonder– what will happen with this instructional materials complaint– will the district be able to acknowledge that the system needs to change and be able to change it from within? What will happen with the school board election this fall– will the electorate decide to flip the board or will they decide to give the status quo another try?
I offer no easy answers.
But if you are able to vote, I urge you to ask questions, to talk to your community, and to choose. Otherwise someone else will choose for you.
Sincerely,
Lauren Schmidt, a Highline Parent
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please email us at info@thehighlinejournal.com Even if you wish to remain anonymous, please include your name and phone number so we may contact you privately. We look forward to hearing from you.]
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