OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Olympia School District is considering closing and consolidating McKenny Elementary and Madison Elementary schools, but parents are fighting back through legal action.
On March 7, parents went face-to-face with school board members during a workshop meeting to discuss other options for keeping the schools open.
"My school is kind and people are kind there. I have many friends and in multiple grade levels. I have so much love and passion that goes into McKenny, I don't want it to close," said fourth-grader Ari Graham on Thursday night.
Ari said she loves theater at her school and that her principal knows every student's name. Her mom is concerned about the impacts if the school closes.
"I'm definitely worried about their social-emotional health. Half of their schools would end up going to one school and then another half of it another school, it could break up the bond and connection," said Jessie Moreno-Graham.
Jenne Borman and Joel Chang said they are worried too, especially after the pandemic. Their child is now learning in a classroom for the first time.
"Our child was learning how to do school through a laptop screen; never sat in a classroom with another kid, never got a hug from a teacher never got to play tag and all of a sudden he's had a couple of years of stability," Borman said, "and we love this school and they want to rip that from us."
The school district is facing a $3.5 million budget deficit, prompting the possible school closures. But some parents, like Kelcy Shaffer whose children went to Madison, said there are other cost-saving measures or cost reductions options that could be done instead.
Shaffer proposed solutions to the school board like expanding early learning for building efficiency.
"We’re talking about elementary school kids here. It’s a very traumatic experience for them. The district has only offered closure as options, and as community members that don’t want closure we want to know what else the district has been thinking about to possibly remedy the financial situation they're in," Shaffer said.
In December, the school board voted to consider closure and consolidation for McKenny and Madison elementary schools, something that came out of left field for parents.
"Shock, sadness," Borman said of their reactions to the news. "We both just started crying. We were not expecting this at all." Especially for Joel Chang, who was on the district's facility efficiency committee.
"It definitely was a hard pill to swallow it didn't seem based or grounded in any of the work that we've done," Chang said.
Four other parents are now bringing legal action against the school district and school board, claiming a written analysis about the impact of closures was not done before the school board vote, making it illegal. The parents are asking the court to invalidate it.
A Thurston County Judge is set to take up the appeal on Friday, March 8.
The school board has until April 25 to make a decision on whether to close the schools.