KSD clubs policy amended after community raise voices at board meeting

Kaelyn Cole, Editor-in-Chief
October 27, 2011
Filed under Uncategorized

A mass of community members crammed into the largest room the school district building had to offer to witness one of the most scrutinized Kennewick School Board meetings in years. The meeting was to discuss the recent vote on the status of clubs in Kennewick.

There had been something of an uproar when students and their parents realized that these new policies made the operations of non-curricular clubs near impossible with no paid advisers, no place in the ASB to safely keep their money, and no way within the school to communicate with fellow members.

The meeting began with a motion proposed by board member Heather Kintzley, changing the current policy to allow all clubs equal access to the PA system, bulletin board, newspaper, and yearbook. But this motion would still inhibit non-curricular clubs from being able to use the money ASB gets from the cards students buy every year.

Along with this restriction, non-curricular clubs are no longer allowed to use the name of the school where they are from when advertising for an event or while raising money.

At the meeting, many members of the community spoke out against the original vote back in August. The main points throughout the many prepared speeches were mostly in support of gay rights. The personal stories of those who spoke on the effects of bullying resulting from sexual orientation discrimination received a large applause from the audience.

Kintzley said, “I am very disappointed on how the (Tri-City) Herald ran this issue because this has never been about the GSA clubs. This has been about following what the federal law says about non-curricular clubs in the Equal Access Act.”

The board agreed that bullying is a huge issue in our schools, but “GSAs won’t be the crucial factor that stops student bullying; that’s a different battle, and one I am very passionate about,” said board member Dawn Adams.

Other points repeated by many of the citizen speakers were the insistence that extra-curricular clubs have positive effects on student academics, student social life, and the community they are impacting. The Key Club was the most vocal about the benefits of their club, with Kamiakin Key Club representative Alexandria Miskho speaking out for the Key Club teaching students to be active and positive members in society and the future.

Brian Brooks, the newest board member, brought up the purely financial aspect of this issue, saying that giving money to non-curricular clubs would stretch the district’s already paper thin budget. “There isn’t a whole lot of money for education right now; the governor just announced a two billion dollar shortfall.” Most could agree on the points the citizens had made on the importance of clubs but that doesn’t mean that the state can afford to support all of them.

After the 15 speakers had their chance to express themselves, the board made their answers to these concerns known. Members who were present included student board member Maricarmen Garcia, Superintendent Dave Bond, Dawn Adams, Heather Kintzley, Brian Brooks, Kathleen White and Linda Tucker. Lynn Fielding, the board member who had proposed the August policy change, was not present.