Open letter: Montessori lottery is discriminatory

— from Lili Hein, parent of two students currently in the OIES Montessori classroom —

Open Letter to the Orcas Island School District board, administrators, and families:

RE: OISD Montessori Steering Committee – Approved Lottery is Discriminatory. Please amend to equal opportunity for all.

Dear Orcas public school stakeholders,

On Wednesday, April 17, I requested permission to be a guest speaker for 3 minutes at the Orcas Island School District Montessori Steering Committee (MSC) meeting, to express concern about the lack of transparency and communication with parents regarding a recently approved lottery procedure. My request to speak was denied, in favor of discussion and needing a committee decision on whether to allow it at a later date. Since a later date would be too late, I submitted written comments instead. In response, Superintendent Eric Webb said my comments were too late because the lottery procedure was already approved last week.

This is very frustrating. The structure of the MSC has made it extremely difficult for current parents to know anything about its discussions or decisions. I am deeply disappointed the MSC did not put any effort into reaching out to current parents for input on creating a new lottery procedure. Aside from the MSC members, no parents were directly informed of the options being discussed for the lottery. This is not acceptable. Both the lack of transparency and the unfair application process has been a continual lightning rod topic since the Montessori classroom was established in 2002, when parents camped outside the library to be “in line” to register.

If current parents had a chance to speak or provide input beforehand, most would agree that the approved lottery procedure is discriminatory. It dictates that 2 of 8 seats (25% of the total) will be reserved for one group (special ed) and given special priority over all other groups (English Language Learners, low-income, African Americans, etc.). And some people think there is no discrimination on Orcas.

The only way to have a non-discriminatory lottery is to have a 100% lottery, with no special categories receiving preference. All IEPs are welcome and encouraged to apply, as are all other groups. Equal opportunity for all.

I am asking OISD board and administrators to please research how other public school districts do their lotteries. All the ones I have seen do 100% lotteries, except for those with sibling and geographic zone tie breakers due to transportation limitations. It is difficult to find a public school district that reserves 25% of seats for one group, over all other groups.

I would like to express my gratitude to the MSC for all the hard work and countless hours of meetings, subcommittee meetings, and sleepless nights. In particular, I would like to thank Eric Webb for organizing the MSC, and parents Georgette Wong and Dana Thompson-Carver for going out of their way to represent the current parents. Georgette does not have a child in the OIES Montessori classroom currently, yet she has been sleeping only 5-6 hours a night the last few weeks, working on materials for the MSC. Because of this, until yesterday, she has not been available for a meeting time with me since March 19 to share details on the lottery options, let alone discuss any input. I also want to recognize Dana for her efforts with the MSC, although family illness has limited her role.

Overall, the MSC has put too much burden on two parents to be the main means of communication with the rest of the current families. This was a major oversight. Please make an amendment to a conduct a 100% lottery scheduled for May 22, or give current parents an opportunity to discuss how to make an application process that ensures equal opportunity for all applicants. Waiting until the next OISD school board meeting on May 23 will be too late.