They are in the union pockets.
The Pullman School Board is holding firm with its decision to delay until next year their phased plan to reopen schools after hearing overwhelming public comment Thursday night to reopen schools sooner.
School Board Members Nathan Roberts, Jim Evermann and Amanda Tanner voted to delay the start date of their reopening plan until January 4th during a special meeting last week which prohibited public comment.
Whitman County’s Public Health Director has supported the reopening of Pullman elementary schools for the past month. Pullman Schools Superintendent recommended that elementary schools begin the phased reopening to a hybrid format last Monday. All other schools in Whitman County have returned students to the classroom. Pullman families can chose to keep their children studying online. Pullman parents are the only ones in Whitman County who are not allowed to decide what’s best for their children now.
Public comment was accepted by the school board during their meeting Thursday night. 23 people spoke in favor or reopening schools this year including some Pullman teachers. One of those teachers was Annie McKiernan who teaches at Franklin Elementary. You can listen to her comment by clicking on the audio file below.
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Four people spoke in favor of waiting until next year to begin the phased reopening of Pullman schools.
The Pullman School Board heard about 2 hours of public comment Thursday night about their delay to reopen schools. There was no discussion among board members about their decision.
The board also received a request to spend 2 million dollars to buy land for a future school during their meeting last night.
An unusually high number of Pullman schools students have transferred out of the district since the board’s decision to delay reopening schools. The board received a report about the transfers during their meeting last night. 15 students have transferred to other schools this month. The transfers have cost the district 140,000 dollars in lost state funding in the current fiscal year. Most of the recent transfers have left for Colfax where all grades have returned to the classroom.