Reader wants overcrowding options explored

I don't think our community understands what is going on in our school district. I attended a meeting last week where the overcrowding issue in our schools was discussed. I was shocked to discover that only two options were being offered or discussed. Option 1- Year round School. Option 2- 11 period day for high school. Both options are unacceptable. I could go on and on about why these two options won't work, but the bottom line is they are awful. Why aren't we talking about a more reasonable solution to our overcrowding issue? I found that the school district was resistant to discuss any other ideas or options than the two I just listed for you. When we tried to share other options, we were shut down at the meeting.

How about a 6 period day in the high school? That would help with the overcrowding. The 6 period day has been brought up over and over again by Moses Lake citizens, but it is not listed as one of our options. WHY NOT? Why don't we use every classroom available for instruction all day long. The high school has 71 classrooms, why not have instruction taking place in every classroom, during every period of the day?! This would also help address the overcrowding issue. Again, not listed as one of our options. Sorry, but the prep-time for teachers is going to have to happen outside the classroom. We need the classroom space for instruction during our overcrowding crisis.

I feel like the school district is not really looking at some other viable alternatives that we could implement right away. Instead, they are offering radical changes that would significantly impact our students, families and our community. They won't even let you vote on any other options than the two listed. If you happened to complete the online survey, (all 1,000 of you that did it) you were only allowed to discuss those same 2 options. Sorry, your two options are not acceptable. It's time we went back to the drawing board and came up with something better. We deserve something better. We can come up with something better. We will not simply accept the "lesser of two evils" that we are being offered right now.

Rebecca Milligan

Moses Lake