School board throws out red herring

Late in the January 25 Moses Lake School Board meeting, Chairman Dr. Stones made a most curious proclamation. It was around 10 p.m., and things were winding down after two solid hours of the public telling the board over and over again that we need a new high school. Not a soul spoke otherwise. Shortly before the meeting ended, Chairman Stones proclaimed that the educational problems we see at MLHS are brought on by fragmented families, that our peril wouldn’t be so bad if only local families were intact, giving their children the love and support they need. The responsibility for fixing the distress of students in a jam-packed school, he elaborated, lies with the families, not just the schools.

Well, okay, I think we can all agree that these are pressing societal issues. But what is the board’s task? This rhetoric only distracted from the question at hand, which is what the board will actually do with the groundswell mandate to alleviate the growing agony in our overcrowded high school. It was a rather blundered dodge to all the important points made by the public that evening.

If the board considers what it actually can do, stays on track and honestly studies our situation, they will see that we must go ahead with the new school. On the other hand, they could derail into subterfuge. They could simply blame forces beyond their control, make our high school even bigger and scarier and just hope for the best.

Max Heinzmann

Moses Lake