I sent my letter to the Pasco School District a couple of days ago. Now is the time to send them your feedback! Below is a copy of my letter. I am also attaching a document I made that compares the transfer policies in the Tri-Cities school districts. As a mother of three children attending school in the Pasco School District, I have seen many of the opportunities that PSD has to offer: an amazing music program, great teachers, a STEM-integrated classroom for my 5th-grader, secure playgrounds to protect our children, and much more. Yet, with all the good PSD has to offer, it fails to make decisions based on the best interest of ALL its students. My daughter attended 6th grade at McLoughlin last year. She made some wonderful friends in her classes, the majority of whom will be attending Chiawana high school in two years, while my daughter will be bused across town to Pasco high school. My daughter is shy and has anxiety issues when it comes to new situations. It makes no sense to me why she will need to be separated from her friends and enter an unfamiliar high school without a support system as she makes the transition to high school. It will place unnecessary stress on my daughter and will sacrifice her emotional well-being for the sake of a more “diverse” high school. Pasco high school boundaries currently send students from both sides of the city to the opposite sides of town for the sake of diversity. They separate children from the friends they’ve made during their middle school years, leaving many students feeling isolated and depressed. Officially, PSD has a policy that parents may request that their child be transferred to another school within the district. In fact, countless families have made this request and been denied. The Kennewick and Richland School Districts essentially offer open enrollment by granting requests by parents to send their child to the school they feel will best meet their needs, whether these needs are educational, social, emotional, financial, or health related. They even allow students from outside the district to transfer to their schools. One may think allowing such freedom would cause the schools to be unbalanced and therefore dysfunctional. The opposite seems to be true. I would like to see neighborhood and feeder schools implemented throughout PSD for elementary and secondary schools. I would also like PSD to be more willing to work openly with families to assure each student receives the best education for their individual circumstances. I believe this will raise the morale of PSD and increase its effectiveness in the education of our children. Thank you for taking these points into consideration.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 04:13:05 +0000
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