Reconfiguration does’t work for this family
I am a parent of two children that attend Helen Haller Elementary School. I am greatly opposed and dissatisfied with the recent approval of the schools reconfiguration, against many parents wishes.
These young children need stability. After a long few years of our lives in upheaval, from COVID, the last thing they need is to be moved from school to school.
I have two very sensitive kids who rely on each other. My eldest walks her sister to class every day. They receive comfort, knowing their sister is in the same school and they look out for each other. With this reconfiguration, my daughters would be separated. They are so young and do not need this.
They both were devastated when I told them about this passing. Many tears were had and they were difficult to console. This should be about the children’s best interests, and I believe this is far from that.
As a parent, I was left out of the loop and informed at the very last minute about this idea. Luckily I was able to attend a meeting about this. At this meeting they talked about how it would save us $1.2 million. This has been proven that is untrue, and are still going through with it.
The slideshow listed many pros but few, to no cons. They also showed research articles showing how this will be beneficial to children, but all were of an older age. It has all been shown to be untrue.
Superintendent Regan Nickels needs to be held accountable.
I thought the school board was the voice of the people. They need to represent the community. Well, they aren’t listening to us parents and voted this through anyway.
As part of the community, I am ready to do everything I can to keep this from happening.
I stand with Sequim Community Against Reconfiguration!
Sarah Bruni
Sequim
Support for elementary school shift
I am writing to express my full support for the recent decision by the Sequim School Board to reconfigure the elementary schools. I feel that this is an innovative decision and an exciting opportunity. I believe this decision is a positive step forward for our community and our children’s education.
Grade-banded schools have been successful in other communities by providing a more focused and tailored approach to education. By grouping students in smaller grade bands, teachers are better equipped to meet the specific needs of each age group and provide a more individualized learning experience. This can lead to better academic performance, improved socialization and greater confidence for students.
Additionally, grade-banded schools can facilitate better collaboration among teachers and staff, leading to a more cohesive and coordinated curriculum. This will benefit all students, especially those who may need extra support or those who are advanced and require more challenging coursework.
I understand that change can be difficult, and some may have concerns about the logistics of the transition. However, I believe that the benefits of this change far outweigh any potential challenges.
I want to commend the school board for their thoughtful and proactive decision to reconfigure the elementary schools. I believe this will have a positive impact on our community and the education of our children for years to come.
Rachel Anderson
Sequim
‘False narratives’ in school plan
I am writing this letter in hopes to raise awareness of the false narratives that the Sequim school board has created. The board presented an idea to the community to reconfigure our elementary schools — grades K-2 at Greywolf, and grades 3-5 at Helen Haller — and this idea was presented as a million-dollar cost saving measure.
Board meeting attendees were highly against this idea, some stating several factual points to the board as to why this is not a good idea. Those who spoke were school psychologists, several teachers, a couple students and a sizable amount of parents.
Prior to spring break, the school board received notice of a few teachers retiring this year — something they had not taken into consideration. The board decided to not fill those positions, therefore the potential layoffs and merging of schools was no longer needed, nor necessary.
The school board voted in favor — four out of five — on Monday to continue with this reconfiguration, despite various concerns and evidence as to how this change will be detrimental to our students.
On Tuesday afternoon (April 11), a district-wide email was sent out informing parents and guardians of the board’s decision. What once was presented as a the district has to do this school merger in order to survive, the email stated that the reason for this reconfiguration is “to establish an early learning center at the PreK-2 level and to create an intermediate level elementary school for grades 3-5 to bring our students together well before middle school.”
The parents, guardians and teachers of this community feel betrayed. The school board is the voice of our children, but they have failed them.
Lacy Thompson
Sequim
School leaders ‘pushed it through’
I’m writing to bring attention to a huge issue amongst the Sequim School District. Superintendent Regan Nickels brought a motion to change the elementary schools from the two kindergarten-5 schools, to one of grades K-2 and one for grades 3-5.
She initially said this was a budget issue, and when that was very quickly debunked, she still pushed it as being good for our kids, despite every piece of information she provided showing the opposite.
There was an overwhelming number of parents, students, and community members in opposition, yet they pushed it through.
Adrienne Kaestner
Sequim
Directors, superintendent ignore community wishes
My letter is in regards to the recent school board decision to push through the school reconfiguration proposal that had almost zero parent or teacher support. The school board and superintendent are supposed to listen to the community they represent, but that did not happen.
Parents have repeatedly voiced their concerns regarding this reconfiguration, but somehow these board members think they know better than the vast majority of parents and teachers they represent. We feel profound disappointment in the attitudes and behavior of this board and superintendent.
As parents, we have seen how difficult the past few years have been on our children, particularly with Covid closures. The last thing our kids need is more disruption and change. Needlessly changing schools will cause more disruption and chaos in our children’s lives. The negative effects of this reconfiguration are vast and far-reaching.
Sometimes when a new leader is in charge, they may try to shake things up just to make a name for themselves, and this feels like the same situation. The superintendent has certainly created a name for herself. Between the horrible handling of the school shooting threat at the beginning of the year, and now the complete disregard for the entire community’s feelings regarding this reconfiguration, she isn’t earning any support from us.
Bethany Rasmussen
Sequim
Against reconfiguration plan
At the Monday, April 10, school board meeting, a large turnout of parents and teachers spoke against superintendent Regan Nickel’s plan to reconfigure our elementary schools. Not a single comment was in favor of the plan.
After comments, the superintendent gave a presentation in which she tacitly admitted that her repeated written and verbal claim that this plan would save up to a million dollars was false.
She said reduction in force is the actual way money is saved and that whether we reconfigure the schools or not, we will need 48 elementary school teachers.
After her presentation, the board voted four to one to approve her plan. As you might expect, parents and teachers were furious.
By Wednesday afternoon (April 12), a Facebook group opposing the plan had more than 500 members. Parents feel insulted, betrayed and determined to stop this plan.
If superintendent Nickels wants to salvage any trust or goodwill in this community, she needs to immediately drop this plan. She may think it’s a good idea, but we don’t want it!
Lara Updike
Sequim
Iconic grain elevator should be preserved
The owners of Sequim’s iconic grain elevator want to preserve the use of this facility so that residents and visitors can enjoy it in the future.
As a resident of Sequim, I wholeheartedly agree with the owners, that it should be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Verizon should be sensitive and accommodating to the desires of the owners and the community. Since Verizon already has plans to relocate its equipment to a more southern location, they have the resources to do so sooner rather than later, so this should be the focus of discussion between the owner and Verizon.
Any dismantling of equipment by Verizon should not undermine the structural integrity of this facility for future use.
Unless Verizon is a hostile lessee, let’s encourage the owners and Verizon to work out an amicable arrangement.
Rich Snow
Sequim
Consider social, emotional impact for students
I’m writing to bring attention to a huge issue amongst the Sequim School District. Superintendent Regan Nickels brought a motion to split the elementary schools from the two K-5 schools that Sequim currently has, to one K-2 and one 3-5. She initially said this was a budget issue, and when that was very quickly debunked, she still backed it as being good for our kids, despite every piece of information she provided showing otherwise.
There was an overwhelming number of parents, students, and community members in opposition, yet the motion still stands strong.
I am concerned with how this could socially and emotionally impact not only the students but the overall community as a whole. There is really something to be said about the unity in a community, and our kids deserve to stand together, support each other, and learn from one another in school.
I really hope that this odd request doesn’t ever come to fruition and I think that it should be the parents’ choice… the people who you are supposed to be representing.
These are our children and we should have the ultimate say, especially with such a huge and unjustified decision that will quite literally rock the foundation of our educational system … and not, in my opinion, in a good way.
Resources should be pushed towards enriching what we’ve already established, bringing more educational tools and activities to schools, and making sure there is an adequate amount of staff to fully support and protect our children.
How can you focus on those much larger issues if you are too busy ripping our kids’ schools apart and transitioning to a split system, something I have no doubt will be a massive undertaking?
Reagan Lausche
Port Angeles
An existential danger
What on Earth has become of the Democrat Party? In no way is it even close to what it used to be. Sadly, it’s become a radical organization that seems hell-bent on destroying a free America and turning this country into a communist garbage pit along the lines of Venezuela.
Previous Communist Party USA chairman John Bachtell spoke of their close cooperation with the Democrat Party. Makes sense, since they have so much in common.
A couple of recent quotes from well known conservative commentators state the obvious:
“There’s no Democratic Party anymore, it doesn’t exist, it’s not even a progressive party, it’s a woke, hardcore leftist revolutionary movement. It has no popular support, but throughout history such movements didn’t really need it, they didn’t need it, they got power anyway.” — Victor Davis Hanson, April 4, “Tucker Carlson Tonight”
The Democrat Party, Mark Levin noted in his weekly program on April 2, has really become in many ways a totalitarian Party, a police state, which it keeps promoting, centralization of power. It does not like opposition, it does not like challenges, it does not like debate, it demands and seeks to impose its will.
Voting for any Democrat today is worse than playing Russian roulette with three rounds in the gun. It’s so sad to witness the self-destruction of a great country, but that is exactly what is being allowed today by ignorant, uninformed voters who are still naive enough to believe the drivel dished out by our corrupt major media.
Greg Carroll
Sequim
