Read about how school closures will change the entire community. Use these data points to email every single person on this list (bottom). Step 3 is TAKE ACTION. Email, come to the board meeting, and advocate for all OLY schools to stay open.

We can only stop this if we do this together for ALL of Olympia! We must turn towards one another and lock arms in unity.[6]

The 2023-24 budget was 230 million. Closing e schools will equate to little over 1% budgetary reduction “allegedly””

What are the additional costs of transportation.

How many city bus routes will be impacted by this change?

What is the environmental impact of transporting 374 students 30 additional miles each week to the closest school
Test scores of students directly impacted by school consolidation diminished by 5.9% based on numerous peer review articles [2]

Research shows that post closure, all of OSB will need to anticipate a reduction in test scores for both the displaced students and the students on the receiving end of the displaced students [1]

What social work assessment has been done to determine the students social emotional impact?

Exactly how much trauma do you think an 8 year old should endure?

Where is impact data specifically for the district that will lose BOTH an elementary and middle school in these proposals

What is the impact to property values in the district assigned to both LPB and Jefferson Middle

If the two reasons for school closures are budget, which we’ve proven that a 1% budgetary reduction is insignificant. If reason #2 are test scores, please explain to this entire community why you would close the highest rated middle school in all of OSD

National, peer reviewed research shows that small schools had “strengths of smallness” not evident in large schools [3]

Students from low income areas have better achievement in small schools. [3]

Social-emotional learning entails learning how to be, to do, to coexist and how to learn (metacognition) throughout basic education; in this period, students should strengthen the foundation of self-knowledge to develop the dimensions that comprise learning in any area of knowledge. [5]

All children have already had to overcome COVID distance learning, huge learning gaps, social-emotional gaps and an increase in class size. These affects in addition to this compounding affect will leave lasting, lifetime negative impacts [2]

School closures are estimated to result in a 1.5% loss in the nation’s future GDP. This is equivalent to a total economic loss of $14.2 trillion in current dollars over the next 80 years.[8]

Both LP Brown and Jefferson are Title 1 Schools and based on your financial statements, have received the least amount of capital investment.

59% of students are low income at LPB; lowest capital investment in all of OSB.

Moving low income students will disrupt work schedules and childcare causing an immediate, negative impact to low income students and parents

All 3 identified options lack the known future growth of West Olympia [4]

The loss of friends, the loss of community. How much is that worth?

What will losing all the admin jobs do to our community members and economic stability?

Losing jobs destabilizes small communities like Olympia [3]

Bussing students creates additional stress and affects school performance. [7]

Achievement scores are reduced 2.6 points for 4th graders for every hour on the bus (Bard et al. 44). 

As Phipps (1993) concludes, change cannot be mastered by a small set of directly affected families, but must move across communities and networks (p. 1614, 1620). [6]

 

[1] District.Consolidation.June07version.pdf (jsums.edu)

 

[2] The short-term effects of school consolidation on student achievement: Evidence of disruption? - ScienceDirect

[3] The Technology Supported Induction Network (TSIN): A Case Study

 

[4] ef2c09a102d58bf50f25bdd957c713f7_Draft_Subarea_Plan_-_Capital_Mall_Triangle.pdf (amazonaws.com)

 

[5] THE CONSOLIDATION OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN PRIMARY EDUCATION (redalyc.org)

[6] admin,+Issue+18-1+p50-66.pdf

[7] Rural School Closings & Consolidation in America, Literature Review (linkedin.com)

[8] The Awful Economic Impact of School Closings | RealClearEducatioN