Join the Protest Against the Closure of West Seattle’s Middle College High School
“Before I started Middle College I was lost, without it I would probably still be in the streets.” Oliver Wilson, Graduate, currently studying computer technology at the City College of San Francisco.
Middle College is a small, alternative high school in West Seattle. People in the neighborhood still refer to the school by it’s old name, the Ida B. Wells School of Social Justice. The older name better explains the school’s focus, which is social justice and community engagement. The goal of Middle College High School is to give high school dropouts and other at-risk students a second change at earning a diploma.
Chris Otey is one of Middle College’s successes. This is his story:
One afternoon some people came to our class from KUOW to introduce the Radio Active program that teaches young people about the process of creating radio stories. It sounded interesting so I signed up, attended some workshops and had the pleasure of creating my first radio story. My subject was a friend of mine and fellow Middle College student, Kyra MacFarlane, who was willing to share her powerful story of her family’s struggle with poverty and homelessness.During the interviewing process I came to realize that many people around our community and in our school face similar challenges. Students who live in poverty struggle in our schools because it is nearly impossible to learn when you have no home or food to eat. At Middle College High School at the High Point Center, students like Kyra get the support they need to graduate becaues of the supportive, caring and small school environment. At Middle College we are encouraged to dream big and see our education as part of the solution to the challenges many of us face. For students like Kyra and many others who left the big schools looking for a challenging alternative educational experience, Middle College is the place to be.
Superintendent Nyland has decided to close Middle College High School at the end of this school year.
Why is Middle College targeted for closure? No one is really sure. The district cites low enrollment as the cause. From The West Seattle Blog:
The district seems to be blaming teachers for the enrollment trouble: “Many students enroll through word of mouth but this year we have had much fewer due to the poor climate at High Point this school year. Teachers have been unhappy with the schedule and have communicated their discontent to students.”MCHS-HP teacher Alonzo Ybarra, who sent first word of the impending closure, has said that MCHS’s principal Cindy Nash “forcefully imposed an arbitrary schedule that severely diminished our abilities to deliver exciting and creative curriculum and instruction.”
Whatever the reason, it seems extreme to close a school that has benefited so many Join the Protest Against the Closure of West Seattle’s Middle College High School | Seattle Education:
