Local Article Biases

And the truth of the whole situation.

There was an article put out on the local news site that was outright implying that David Anderson was some far-right boogeyman who singlehandedly interjected politics into the race for school board. This is far from the truth and the politics were deeper than just “CRT” and masks.

The author of this article must not have spoken to any of the parents who have voiced concerns about this district. One of the concerning trends in this district was the lack of transparency. We have parents not knowing where to go with unresolved issues, no calls when busses are delayed, no notification when major incidents happen in school, and last-minute notifications to changes happening (an example would be the late notice kindergarten parents received to remaining virtual the day before they were supposed to start in-person classes in August 2020).

At the risk of sounding hung on the subject; when the school systems were hacked we found out from a circulating KIRO article and we STILL do not know the extent of the damage and they still use it as an excuse for other failings. Some of our emails weren’t reaching board members and were lost in “quarantine”. Parts of the district website weren’t updated or were compromised.

On top of transparency issues, some parents felt helpless when they tried to address the needs or issues that their kids were having in school. The superintendent is implied to be the end-all solution and many parents are left feeling like their issues weren’t adequately addressed by him. Parent’s felt like it was a big system against them, the parent. Don’t forget the absolute atrocity that was the special education response during COVID. From lack of paraeducators to lack of funding to adequately provide for the needs of the most vulnerable students who needed it the most while spending at least $250,000 on a policy that focuses on race instead of need.

Here we are. The “CRT” part of the argument against this article. She noted Schafer as a conservative trying to pin Anderson as far-right. I have a deep issue with the misclassification as Schafer passed a policy that was aimed at judging people by their race and not the content of their character or the value of their work. Especially when we are poorly performing academically [“Public Schools in Clover Park School District have an average math proficiency score of 39% (versus the Washington public school average of 50%), and reading proficiency score of 51% (versus the 61% statewide average)”]. David Anderson and Jeff Brown ran on the premise of all kids being worthy of an education and help based on individual student needs.

To call this “politicism of the school board” undermines all of the issues this district has beyond 2020 national political affairs. COVID had a silver lining in that it exposed the disparities in school districts. We saw their priorities and crying “politicization” seems like an accurate projection. Parents are tired. We want safe, non-political places for our children that are helping them become academically prepared for life beyond k-12. If that means voting in different “inexperienced” board members, so be it.