Speak out on boundary changes | Letter
Published 9:40 am Thursday, February 12, 2015
What makes a community a community? What gives it heart, a pulse, movement? It is the people who are connected, invested and involved that make it something special and meaningful. Bothell is currently being torn apart by the boundary changes proposed by the EDFT (Enrollment Demographics Task Force) by the Norhshore School District.
I live in a neighborhood called Brackett’s Landing on the slough, which is surrounded by apartment buildings, mobile homes, and the freeway and highway. We have had our children attend Maywood Hills Elementary, Canyon Park Junior High, and Bothell High School these past 13 years. I have been called the “Queen of Bothell” because of my level of involvement in our kids’ schools, coaching, scouts, church and community. We have helped with boosters, been involved in local politics, and walked in the Bothell parade. Now south of Beardslee will be sent to Woodmoor Elementary, Northshore Junior High and Inglemoor High School, hardly central to our current Bothell community. This in fact, is not our community at all. We don’t shop at the same stores, we aren’t on the same NYBA teams, we aren’t in the same Girl Scout troop, we are rivals and not neighbors. Separated by I-405 and lives apart, we simply are not community.
This proposed change is truly heartbreaking for our own family, but has anyone considered the population that this small pocket of the Bothell community represents? Much of this population is low income housing, ELL families, and those who have no voice and likely will not know about these changes until they happen. Transportation is already an issue for these students, many walking home from Canyon Park after staying for after school study help or sports’ practices. Imagine these 11-14 year olds having to figure out how to get home from Northshore Junior High a freeway away? Or these high school kids, whose families do not have cars to share with their teens, navigating getting home from Inglemoor after a seventh-period class? How are these students supposed to figure out how to get home with their younger siblings after a club when it takes them hours to walk from Inglemoor to Woodmoor and then home? The reality is that some of these students may not be able to continue helping with their siblings after school or on half days, or even finish school because of this change that further isolates them from their school communities. While this boundary proposal may be heartbreaking for our family, it may mean that many of these underprivileged students may not have the opportunity to be involved in any extra-curricular activities at their new schools or moreover, even be able to finish going to school because of the added stress to their families due to distance and insurmountable obstacles that the freeway presents.
What makes our community special is those who are involved, those who take care of their own, those who speak up for those without a voice, and those who take a stand and say “We are one!” We are Bothell.
Please come out to EDFT Open Houses and raise your voice!
6–8 p.m. at Bothell High School, Feb. 12
6–8 p.m. at Skyview Junior High, Feb. 25
6–8 p.m. at Inglemoor High School, Feb. 26
6–8 p.m. at Woodmoor Elementary School for Spanish speaking families, March 2
Speak up for those without representation and ask for these proposed changes to be reconsidered. There used to be a sign outside our neighborhood that said, “Welcome to Bothell for a day or for a lifetime!” Let’s keep Bothell, Bothell!
Joanna Lowell-Forker, Bothell
