The Riverview School District has proposed to shut down my elementary school, Eagle Rock Multi Age, at the end of the 2022-23 school year, largely due to a lack of funding in the District to split in between schools. Below is a letter I wrote to the Superintendent urging for Eagle Rock to stay open, which, surprisingly, led to be a fond emotional recount of my childhood years, and ultimately, what I think all elementary schools should aim for.
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To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Hailey Hummel, and I’m a Snoqualmie Valley community member who has thoughts about the potential closing of Eagle Rock Multi Age at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. I regret that I could not attend past community meetings discussing the closure, but nevertheless, I hope I can make my voice heard before the School Board makes their final decision on the matter.
To introduce myself, I have been a resident of *town* for 22 years; I attended ERMA for 3rd-5th grade, from 2009-2012, completing these three years in Dr. Judy Harris’s multiage classroom. Additionally, my mom was a classroom volunteer for Eagle Rock during various school activities and events, helping out whenever needed, when I was an enrolled student. After graduating from Tolt Middle School in 2015 and Cedarcrest High School in 2019, I am now a senior at the University of Washington in Seattle, soon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Health-Global Health with Department Honors this Spring. In short, my love for learning, engaging with people of diverse backgrounds, and dedication to giving back to my community through my own education, together, are what has allowed me to come this far in my academic career, and I am a firm believer that Eagle Rock, undeniably, instilled this continuous motivation in me. I truly believe that my life has been changed for the better because of being an Eagle Rock student, and, if kept open for students to come, will always been an irreplaceable asset for the Riverview School District and Snoqualmie Valley community.
I have many positive memories, perhaps too many to count, to share about my three years being an ERMA student, but amongst all of these experiences, the main theme I still remember eleven years later is that, above all, I was always welcomed into the classroom, encouraged to be my best self, and personally cared for by the selfless staff who always had my fullest academic, social, and emotional potential at the forefront of their daily agendas. While my best interests were always considered and consistently met as I grew as a student at Eagle Rock, this never came at the sacrifice of any other students’ needs—ERMA, for as long as I can remember, has always gone above and beyond to individualize its lesson plans and interventions that each student needs to achieve their wide-ranging personal goals, giving them the essential tools to then be compassionate, resilient, creative, and thus respected members of their surrounding communities in the future. Both the personal accounts of positivity from past students and parents, including myself, as well as the statistics highlighting exemplary test scores among students, are undeniable proof that ERMA has always, and still can, inspire new and graduated students to continuously take action to help the world around them, while simultaneously asking how they can learn and grow from any experience.
I’ve been enrolled in the Public Health major at UW for just under two years now, and among the many valuable lessons I’ve learned throughout the curriculum, one that repeatedly stands out is that education, especially during the critical stages of childhood, is an indispensable tool to adequately prepare individuals for their futures, including during public health crises, for social activism, and for community engagement and inclusivity. Although I understand that unfortunately, funding for the District is currently limited and safety may be a concern, keeping the school open, by further advocating to increase its enrollment for upcoming school years and implementing simple protective measures for students and faculty, is the best decision that the School Board can make to uphold the high educational quality and performance of the overall District. Eagle Rock, clearly, has set an example of what Riverview’s students can achieve when given the appropriate resources—so I ask you all to please consider the long-term effects and possible damages of stifling that potential now, instead of allowing other elementary schools, both within and outside the District, to adapt and learn from Eagle Rock’s model and resiliency for the continued benefit of all Riverview students.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Hailey Hummel