Lowell Closure Reaches Seattle Audience

The story of the Bellingham School District's onus on the Lowell Parents becomes its own news at KING 5.

There will also be a segment on KING 5 News at 5pm today.

Playground and Grass Field Project is Postponed at Lowell

Happy Valley and Larrabee Elementary have inspired the Lowell playground planning process. Your success in refurbishing your playgrounds is a model for community involvement.

The Lowell Playground Team has been meeting and planning for the past year to prepare for a similar community project. We are grateful for the incredible outpouring of support shown to us by the Happy Valley, Larrabee and larger Bellingham community. In particular, we are grateful to Ron Cowan, Mike Anderson, and other school district employees who have supported our efforts. We look forward to continuing our work with them.  

Clearly, with the current economic climate, we need to move forward carefully with such a large project. Therefore, the playground project is on hold until the spring of 2010 when students are enrolled and staff contracts are signed for Lowell. At that time, the Lowell playground project can move forward with full district and community support.

 
Any questions can be directed to Rachel Budelsky at 393-3269 or budelsky@comcast.net

Lowell Officially Closed

It's official - Lowell will remain closed for the 2009-2010 school year.

The Bellingham School District has put out a Q&A for the delayed reopening.

South Hill Neighborhood Meeting April 1

Please plan to attend the South Hill Neighborhood Association meeting on Wednesday, April 1. The main speaker will be a representative from the school district speaking on the topic of school district budgets. If you have a few specific questions to be addressed please send them to me by 5pm Tuesday. I will forward them on to Cathy Cameron, SHNA president.

You do not have to be a member of the SHNA to attend the meeting, but if you would like to join, the fee is $10. I would encourage our group to join forces with the SHNA. They have the respect of the City Council and the Mayor, and would like to see Lowell reopen as much as we would.

The SHNA meeting is held in the Fireplace Room at the Fairhaven Public Library at 7:15pm.

See you there!

Call your Legislators for K-12 Funding

This is a real budget shortfall. Let's do this another way. Please CALL or EMAIL your legislators. The state is slicing up the funds from the federal government right now. The education dollars will be split between K-12 and Universities. Between now and this Thursday are the most important days to make the calls or send emails.

You want to tell them where you are from (county and city) and that you would like them to support K-12 education funding. That’s it folks. Very simple message.

Kelli Linville is the head of the Ways & Means Committee and she is totally going to bat for education funding! (She is a third generation Lowell Alumni.) The other Legislators need to hear from you to make Kelli Linville’s job of getting the education dollars easier.

Our legislators are in the 40th and 42nd district. Here’s who to call or email:
40th District
Dave Quall (D) (360)786-7800 quall.dave@leg.wa.gov
Jeff Morris (D) (360)786-7970 Morris.Jeff@leg.wa.gov

42nd District
Kelli Linville (D) (360)786-7854 - Ways & Means Committee Chair linville.kelli@leg.wa.gov
Doug Erickson (R) (360)-786-7980 (no direct email) http://www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/ericksen/

Message from Lowell PTA President

I want to thank you all for giving over so many of your days to planning, and evenings to attend meetings. I know this has been a disruptive few weeks to everyone's family life and our children's school routines. If we get our school back, our kids will really understand the process of community organizing and democracy and the time and energy that takes. If we don't... they can be proud to know we fought long and hard for something we all value dearly. We tried to make an important change.

It has been my pleasure to get to know so many of you better during this process and I'm amazed by the talent and energy within this group. So many speakers tonight spoke so eloquently ( none more so than my own child of course!! ) armed with good information about why reopening Lowell is so essential to our community. I can only hope the school board carefully considers our situation and makes an equitable district wide choice in their attempts to reduce the budget.

In the meantime, I suggest we all have a lovely relaxing weekend, raise a wee glass to ourselves for trying our damnedest.

Thank you for your involvement and support.

Always, Lisa Distler Lowell PTA

School Board Meeting Tonight!

Thursday, 7:30pm, March 12, is the School Board Meeting. Dr. Vedra will present his final recommendation list to the School Board. The board will also hear brief public comment. Lowell remains #45 on the list and in the danger zone according to the projected shortfall.

Our PTA President, Lisa Distler, will be speaking. Please come! You only have to speak with your feet by being there. We need to show the board how important reopening Lowell in Fall 2009 is to us by attending their meeting.

This is the final meeting where our attendance can (and will) make a difference.

The School District office is at 1306 Dupont Street. We look forward to seeing you there!

Call the School Board Members

Please call your school board members and let them know what you are thinking! According to the board members and the Mayor, Dan Pike, they need to hear our concerns directly from us.

Bellingham School Board Director's home numbers:

Ms. Kelly Bashaw 933-1544

Dr. Kenneth Gass (work #) - 738-2200

Ms. Melody Rhode 738-6017

Mr. Stephen Schoenfeld 756-0498

Ms. E. Ann Whitmyer 671-7404

Wow! Unanimous!

Tonight at the city council meeting, council members, as well as Mayor Pike, showed the audience of concerned citizens overwhelming support for neighborhood schools. They changed their agenda and discussed and unanimously passed the resolution presented by Lowell's PTA President, Lisa Distler.

They really KNOW a neighborhood school is really about community. We showed up tonight unified as a community and we were heard as a community. Thank you city council for listening!

In addressing the city council, we were clear our school is important to us, our neighborhood and the city's identity. We also know this a serious time and informed the council and Mayor Pike we are willing to creatively help the school district during this budget crisis to find funds to reopen Lowell Elementary. 

Thanks everyone for coming tonight. Special thanks to Lisa and Andrea for addressing the council on our behalf!

Council Meeting Tonight

Remember to attend the City Council Meeting tonight. 

City Hall, 7pm

210 Lottie Street, Downtown Bellingham

People are important! Your presence is your statement FOR neighborhood schools!

Lowell's PTA President will be speaking. There is no need for everyone to speak. We do not wish to disrupt the City Council's regular business. However, if you would like to speak, you must sign up by 6:30pm on the roster. 

We will bring our signs, but leave them outside the chamber as the space is small.

Thanks for supporting neighborhood schools! See you tonight.

Letters to the Editor

Read these great letters to the editor printed in the Bellingham Herald:

"Lowell must reopen soon"

"Neighborhood schools are great"

"Neighborhood schools important"

"Small schools better for students"

"Fight to reopen Lowell Elementary"

Coming Together

Thanks to everyone for a energetic, productive, idea-driven meeting tonight. You all have so many great resources to draw from. We will pull this information together and make our case logically to keep schools in neighborhoods. Namely: Lowell Elementary this year. We hope that our efforts and research will support neighborhood schools throughout the city for years to come.

Remember:

City Council Meeting, Monday, March 9, 7 pm

City Hall, Council Chambers

Bring your Lowell sign! Pack the house! This really made a difference last time!

Lowell Information

Please come to the Fairhaven Library this Thursday, March 5 at 6:45pm in the Fireplace Room.

Everyone is invited! This is the most important meeting about Lowell.

Come if you care. Tell your friends and neighbors.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Signs to Tears

Tonight at the Shuksan Middle School meeting about the draft budget for 2009-2010 Dr. Vedra updated his expected minimum district budget cuts to $3 million. It's clear that Lowell will not reopen next year.

The state is projecting a two year budget short fall. This indicates there will not be money to reopen Lowell for the 2010-2011 school year either.

This is a sad outcome for kids, parents and neighbors. Dr. Vedra did tip his hand during the meeting: expect a feasibility study sometime next year to determine if Lowell should ever be opened again.

Who do you know? Who can help?