Letter: Pasco needs bond to alleviate crowded classrooms

As a parent and teacher in Pasco schools, I’ve seen firsthand the negative impact overcrowding has on kids. Do you think teachers should be in their classrooms before students arrive? Should teachers have visuals on the walls to help kids see and learn new concepts? Should art rooms be used for art and science labs for science? Would you agree that an office or a closet isn’t a classroom?

These seem like common sense. Unfortunately, these are basic standards we currently can’t meet in Pasco.

I’ve taught math from a cart for four years. This week I’m grateful to finally get my own classroom. A portable. Not even a real brick-and-mortar classroom. I have traveled from room to room, hour after hour, with all the supplies my cart could carry. And I’m not unique. Students at every level are being taught in shared classrooms by teachers who are racing to get set up in someone else’s room. The lost instruction time is incalculable.

We are so unbelievably overcrowded. We must realize that Pasco is growing at an incredible rate, and build schools to keep up. The need has never been greater. Please vote “yes” for Pasco’s school bond.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Letter: Pasco needs bond to alleviate crowded classrooms."