Area school boards, superintendents address House Education Committee

It was like getting the same test question multiple times with only one answer required.

From Eastern Washington school districts large and small, members of the state’s House Education Committee heard Oct. 5 in Davenport that the right answer in regards to graduation requirements and that tricky issue of school consolidation is to let the locals decide.

More than 100 school board members, superintendents, principals, teachers and community members participated in the legislative work session in the DHS auditorium. Among them was Lind-Ritzville’s new superintendent, Rob Roettger, who described how the two districts have been working toward an academic cooperative that will be in full force in 2012.

Over and over, the message sent throughout the gathering was that local community members know their kids and what’s best for them – and that Olympia’s dictates weren’t needed or welcomed.

“Our local communities want what’s best for kids,” Odessa Supt. Suellen White told the committee to applause from the audience. “We don’t have to look constantly to Olympia for this. Our local school boards are doing this based on what our communities want. We’re smart people out here. Let us do it.”

Several objected to proposed state graduation requirements, known as “Core 24,” that they believed would eliminate flexibility for students, especially those not college-bound.

Additional math, science and social studies credits are among the proposals, but those making comment indicated concern that students not particularly interested in certain subjects would be lost in the shuffle and drop out of school.

Smaller districts represented in the room expressed concern about being able to find staff with “highly qualified teacher” certification in all of those subjects.

“How will rural districts be able to do this – and also provide the facilities needed for these classes?” asked Terry Teaford, Reardan-Edwall School Board chair. “There’s a need to resolve how to finance basic education rather than add on to an already stressed system. There are so many students already under stress right now.”

Sprague Supt. Pat Whipple said the priority state officials should be working on is how to “bring money back into our state so we don’t always have to cut.” He specifically urged the legislators to leave levy equalization funding alone.

Deer Park Supt. Becky Cooke described the proposed requirements as “just great for Type A students, but not all kids are like this.”

An alternative school teacher from Mead noted that the proposed requirements add a layer in the area of career concentration at the same time funding has been pulled for vocational education.

She also expressed concern about the creation of a regimented school day that would cut elective courses from the schedule.

“Kids don’t know what they want to do, even though they’ve proclaimed what they want to do in their senior project,” she explained. “Electives are a safe place for students to find out what they might want to do.”

Another Spokane teacher described a student who struggled with math but loved marching band was forced to take a math course offered only in the same period as band.

“When people can’t take what they love, they drop out,” she said.

Lost in increasingly difficult graduation and testing requirements are special education students, Davenport teacher Cindie Webb pointed out.

“They struggle hard,” she said. “To watch them take these state tests is so sad. They might as well be taking it in a foreign language.”

Regarding school consolidation, officials in both the large and small districts urged against their being forced to join up.

“Be careful about legislating from above,” said Larry Keller, Cheney’s superintendent.

“Districts are different. Some combinations will not be able to pass local levies. Consolidations have to come from within, from local boards selecting their options.”

Lind-Ritzville’s Roettger pointed out how the partnership between the two districts has worked thus far.

“We have a shared superintendent, shared athletic director, counselor, transportation supervisor, nurse, Spanish teacher and, with Sprague, coaches,” he explained. “We’ve learned the need of sharing as many resources as possible. Our strengths are our pride, but that can turn into a weakness when we allow it to keep us from doing what’s best for kids.”

Board member Cindy McMullen, from Spokane’s Central Valley district, said concern about consolidation isn’t limited to the smaller, rural districts.

“We have three good-sized districts in the Spokane Valley that would be highly considered for consolidation because they’re adjacent to each other,” she said. “But they’re all different. If this happens, much of our direct contact with students would be lost and the savings people think would happen won’t; in fact, the costs could go up.”