Across Washington, parents have pulled their children out of public schools in droves. More than 50,000 (4.5%) fewer students enrolled in public schools across the state this fall, and enrollment numbers are not bouncing back as anticipated. The number of kindergarten students dropped across the state by 14%.[1] In Sedro-Woolley School District, the mass exodus has resulted in more than 7% of students un-enrolling from the district in 2020-2021.[2] The extreme enrollment drop was originally thought to be due to Covid concerns and lack of in-person education.[3] However, given the slower than expected recovery, we know that parents are pulling their kids for other reasons.
Anyone that has attended a school board meeting in WA State over the last year knows that public schools are completely ignoring the public’s input and families have had enough. Kids are being pulled from schools due to mask mandates, Covid vaccination concerns, Covid testing, Covid quarantine requirements, inappropriate sex-ed curriculum, Critical Race Theory and racist based curriculum, and because public schools are failing the basic education needs of our students.[4] Public Schools are sometimes referred to as ‘Government Indoctrination Centers,’ as the school boards are taking marching orders from the state and federal government and completely ignoring the communities they have sworn oaths to represent.[5]
On August 23, 2021, a group of more than 80 protestors lined Cook Rd. in Sedro-Woolley, protesting for the school board to adopt mask optional policies. Sedro-Woolley natives know a protest of this magnitude was the first of its kind and the message was well-received by passersby. According to WA State law, the school board is accountable for the proper operation of the school district to the local community and its electorate,[6] yet when the local community organized peacefully, the school board assembled an armed guard of five Sedro-Woolley Police Officers rather than a receptive forum.
The protest organizer alerted SWSD and the SW Police Department prior to the event and was informed by Chief of Police, Lin Tucker that it was the citizens’ “responsibility” to hold this protest for the kids. In total, 22 speakers provided public comments addressing the school mask mandate,[7] most of which were against the mandate. In the last few minutes of more than an hour of public comments, Superintendent Dr. Miriam Mickelson blatantly disregarded the ongoing community outcry when she sent a scheduled email to the school district stating that masks would be mandatory in the upcoming school year.[8]
Despite the public outcry to restore parental rights and implement mask optional policies, the school board maintained the mask mandate and upheld their agreement for acceptance of federal Covid funds.[9] Now they’re asking for public support for a local levy in February. SWSD is attempting to have its cake and eat it too – their policies have marooned hundreds of families but they aren’t giving up on collecting tax dollars of those they refuse to represent. The school board continues to ignore the local community they are elected to represent and they continue the tyranny as the Covid money trickles in.