Every seat was occupied at Thursday, April 23’s Bellingham School Board meeting, as community members and parents showed up to push back on potential elementary school closures.
Since February, a district task force has been developing recommendations in response to enrollment decline in the school district. Bellingham is projecting a decline of about 1,000 students from 2018 to 2028. This district is also facing financial challenges.
The task force could recommend attendance boundary changes, the consolidation of programs, or — most controversially — the closure or one or more elementary schools. Carl Cozier and Columbia elementary schools have emerged as the most likely candidates for closure, based on task force minutes.
During public comment on Thursday, parents asked the district to slow down the process and consider other options before recommending any closures.
They also critiqued district leadership for the data presented to justify the need for closures, spending, administrative salaries and reversal of plans approved by the community in a 2022 bond, often to raucous cheers from the more than 100-person crowd. Many also called out the school board for not providing adequate oversight.
“You asked us to invest in schools, and we did, and now we’re asking you to honor that investment with transparency, accountability and decisions that put students first,” said Ginny Roscamp, a parent of young children who will enter the district soon, during public comment.
No decisions have been made yet about school closures. The task force continues to meet and may make recommendations in May. No school closures would occur before 2027.
But parents expressed harsh criticism as to how the process has been handled.
Parent Lauren Smith said it felt like the district started with an “agenda” of school consolidation, and “then went on to justify why that is the path forward.”
“Closing schools without good analysis risks harming students, families, neighborhoods and voter trust in the district,” Smith said.
Some parents picked apart the district’s data. The district has estimated that an elementary school closure would save about $1 million annually.
But parent Sachin Pai and other community members tested that theory in public comment, subtracting other recurring costs that they argued the district didn’t consider in its estimate, including the roles that would be reassigned, the students who might leave the district after a closure, transportation costs, more support at the new school and security costs for the old one. Pai estimated the actual savings, if Columbia were to close, at $200,000 annually.
“The real question tonight is not, do closures save money?” Pai said. “The real question is, is this level of community disruption worth such a paltry and uncertain financial benefit?”
Others advocated for options that could grow enrollment in the district. Parent Kristin Sandberg pitched the idea of actively recruiting students from other districts, a strategy employed by Mercer Island and Bellevue school districts. (In an online FAQ updated earlier this week, the district said it wouldn’t consider doing this.)
One elementary principal spoke during public comment, too. Courtney Ross Webb, principal of Wade King Elementary, said at its peak a decade ago, there were more than 400 students. This year, they have 275 students and nine empty classrooms.
“When our schools are full, we can more equitably distribute resources, which we know leads to better outcomes for all of our students and all of our families,” she said.
Superintendent Greg Baker said Bellingham has an “incredible community that cares about our kids,” but that this is “hard.”
“We don’t always get to decide our challenges,” he said, pointing to the pandemic, state funding issues and now birth rate declines.
He said ongoing underfunding from the state has, in part, forced the district into conversations about school closures and ongoing staffing cuts. School board members also emphasized the Legislature’s lack of action on fixing school funding challenges.
“We’re trying to make the best decisions we can,” Baker said. “None of them are great.”
Board member Katie Rose said the board wasn’t trying to deflect responsibility, but that the district’s partner (the Legislature) is not “doing their legal duty” to fund schools. “We are having to deal with the consequences,” she said.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
