SEQUIM – All Julie Smith said was, “Thank you.” It was a fitting finish to a classic case of parents meet School Board, parents express dismay over a district policy, and School Board changes policy.
Smith, president of Greywolf Elementary School’s parent-teacher organization, came to the Nov. 20 Sequim School District Board of Directors meeting to complain about information overload on campus.
School staffers and teachers were spending too much time organizing stacks of fliers promoting community events and sending them home with students, Smith said.
“It’s not that we don’t think [the fliers are] of value,” she said.
But “it’s taking time away from the kids.”
Kate Galbraith, who has children at Greywolf and at Sequim Middle School, also attended the meeting and said she saw one flier inviting Greywolf students to a party with “doughnuts, fun and games,” at the school.
In small print, she said, it indicated that the event was presented by “an evangelical group seeking to bring boys and girls to Christ.”
Since the party was held at Greywolf, “it almost seemed like it had the school endorsement,” Galbraith said.
The frequent flier distribution is “one more interruption of school time,” said school board member Dave Blake.
“At some point we’re going to have to say no. We can’t continue to do everybody’s bidding.”
The board then asked superintendent Garn Christensen to revise the district policy on flier distribution.