Dear Editor,

On March 14, I attended one of the Town Hall meetings held by our state legislature. The large citizen turnout indicated how many issues and concerns are at risk to fund people’s needs and services in our community and state.

My concern is education. I have been a staff member at Garfield High School for the past fifteen years, 10 years as the library assistant and the last five as the career and college center specialist. Funding for both positions have now been cut by the school district.

I have a masters degree in whole systems design and my CTE (Career and Technical Education) teaching certificate through Central. Along with my colleagues, I bring a great deal to my high school. I meet and e-mail with the Center Specialists at Chief Sealth and West Seattle High Schools frequently. I am planning retirement this year – so this letter is not about keeping my job – this is about the services provided by the career and college centers in our high schools.

I am shocked that they would remove the career and college specialists (at $36,000 – 201 working days) and the library assistant (at $34,000 – 201 working days) to pay for the academic (WASL) dean (at $90,000). The deans who oversee the WASL and work with the students who are struggling to pass this requirement have done an outstanding job. I do not fault their work! But if they are going to cut at all, I believe the district administrators whose salaries equal three to four classified, should be cut first so that the students do not lose in-school support.

I’ve invited the man who decided to cut the career specialists from thirteen to three to see how busy I am every day with 1600 student who need resources to jobs, internships, college, scholarships, financial aid, service learning opportunities, exchange programs GED programs, apprenticeships, vocational training, and on! He never came. I never see anyone from the district office. Other school districts have two people who do what I do in the large high schools – career counselors and career specialists.

Isn’t it strange in these times of economic crisis that a school district would make the decision to cut someone who can give young people and their parents the information they need to make decisions for school, training or work after graduation? My students are incredulous. So am I. What doe these actions tell students?

I see this as a question of equity. The students I help most are those who are first in their family or in the lower financial brackets. With this economic crisis, that number is increasing. I am hearing from parents who have lost their jobs or had their hours cut. Their future is very uncertain. But I see this as a window of hope. These young people have an opportunity to change the way we live and work. We need the collective wisdom and knowledge of our career specialists to bring to their high school and community to facilitate and support change.

This is not the time to cut that off.

I ask the members of our community to write letters to our school district, state representatives, and the Governor to fund our schools.
Ever onward!

Karin Engstrom
High Point