Reader weighs in on crowding issue

I attended the last school district meeting to discuss crowding at Moses Lake High School-I admit I did not convey my thoughts in a clear and positive manner. Because this issue concerns our children and their success in school, it is of great importance.

The bottom line is that I, and many of those who participated in the meeting, feel the district and school board are set upon only one solution to the crowding problem: extracting millions from local taxpayers to build a new high school. This was proposed in 2012, and our community, which continues to struggle through challenging economic times, rejected it.

Supposedly, the school officials have solicited ideas for alternative solutions from the community in the form of an emailed survey. I, and many others I know, never received this survey, even though we receive other emailed district communications.

At the meeting Thursday evening, we were given a ballot to "help decide" the course the district should take. I found the questions misleading and slanted to produce a pre-determined result.

In our small group sessions, we tried discussing alternate solutions, but were refused. One member in my group suggested the options the district insisted on discussing were purposely unappealing (namely, shutting down CBSS, also known as the Alternative School, further jeopardizing our most at-risk youth) in order to bully the community into voting for a new high school levy. At this, a school board member who was observing our group, vigorously nodded her head in agreement.

If you haven't attended a meeting in the past, plan to attend the next one on March 21 at the Civic Center; but don't wait until then to let the superintendent know what you think about their handling of this issue, they need to hear your voice now.

Sloan Jorgensen

Moses Lake