My public charter school is worth saving

Thank you for your recent editorial titled “Charter schools fix deserves action.” My name is Kennadi, and I’m a seventh grader at PRIDE Prep in Spokane. When I was first thinking about going to PRIDE Prep, I was nervous and excited. I knew I wanted more of a challenge, but I also didn’t know exactly what to expect.

I’m so glad I decided to choose my public charter school because they are really concentrated on helping me learn at my pace. The teachers are always willing to help and they will stop everything to help explain something to you or answer a question.

At PRIDE, my academic experience is hands-on, and I’m not going to lie – it’s a lot of work! I’m growing my knowledge and skills in Spanish, Art, Writing, and Math, and I’m even learning computer programming and computer science skills.

I had already been in school a few weeks when I found out about Supreme Court’s decision to cut off funding to my education. I was so scared at the thought of losing this brand new school.

There’s no question that my school is working. I am confused about why lawmakers haven’t passed a charter school solution. Don’t legislators want great schools like mine to stay open so students like me can continue to get a great education? I hope all of our leaders in Olympia will listen and fix this mess and save public charter schools in Washington.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 1:47 PM with the headline "My public charter school is worth saving."