Heitkemper for neighborhood schools

The Olympia School Board election has some clear choices.

Currently, there are no teachers on the school board. Ann Heitkemper is both an American Federation of Teachers/AFL-CIO union-endorsed teacher and a biology professor at SPSCC. She believes strongly in neighborhood schools. Her daughter graduated from Garfield Elementary School – her District 4 school.

Her opponent, Hilary Seidel, is an administrator, backed by administrators. Her children go to Lincoln – a school outside of the district she is supposed to represent. She has strongly endorsed Options programs and has run a joint campaign for school board with another Lincoln school parent. This parent’s children also do not attend their neighborhood school.

If these two are elected to the school board, three of the five board members would be representing the Lincoln school district (district 2). District 2 is the wealthiest in the OSD. There would be no one representing District 4. Having this disproportionate representation on the OSD board has the potential to leave our most vulnerable students out of the discussion.

The latest data from the University of Washington School of Education concludes that programs similar to Options programs help affluent students, but poor students and students of color fare poorly under these programs. If you believe in strong local community-oriented schools and science literacy for all OSD students, and want an advocate for teachers on the Olympia School Board, I urge you to support, and vote for, Ann Heitkemper.

This story was originally published October 21, 2017 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Heitkemper for neighborhood schools."