Annie Stanger
502 E Boone Ave
Spokane, WA 99202
Arne Duncan
United States Secretary of Education
US Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave SW
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Mr. Duncan,
My brother’s educational career has never been an easy one. Ever since he was little he dreaded just the idea of going to school. It was always hard for him to form and maintain friendships with other kids, he struggled with paying attention in class, and he failed to turn in much of his homework. It wasn’t uncommon for him to come home from school crying, complaining that the other boys in the class had been bullying him. This was just in public elementary school. Fast forward a few years in public middle school and not much else had changed, except for the fact that my family and I were starting realize that maybe there was something more to Joseph’s personality than just a heightened level of sensitivity and an abundance of emotions right underneath his skin, waiting to burst out of him. He started to lash out on us at home, which put a substantial stress on our dynamic as a family. My family took him to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he was diagnosed with Clinical Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Attention Deficit Disorder. All this new information about my brother led us to understand that public school was not the right place for him, and therefore he needed to be taken somewhere where he could get more personal attention from his teachers and where he could get more time for himself so that hopefully he could focus on his schoolwork. He was enrolled in a part-time homeschooling system called Emerson K-12. At the beginning of this new transition, my brother’s performance started to improve, but it quickly plummeted when his depression got the best of him. He would never leave his room. He would spend more than half the day sleeping in his bed, but when he wasn’t doing that, we was absorbed in his video games. Every morning, my mom’s attempt to wake him up always resulted in crying and yelling and slamming doors. My brother hated school just that much. Additionally, he started to fail his classes because he couldn’t seem to complete his homework on time. He stayed there for two years until my parents finally came to terms with the fact that this school system was also not right for my brother, and so at last resort, he was transferred to Eastside Academy, a small Protestant high school program for recovering, at-risk youth. The school was a place where students who had struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, broken and toxic family situations, and other traumatic life experiences could come to not only find learning, but also find sanctuary. Every day the enrolled students (there were nineteen of them when my brother first started there) would engage in prayer and group therapy sessions, which were spread out in between their classes. My brother was hesitant to attend such an alternative school, but every since then, he has never looked back. He has truly thrived at Eastside Academy because of all the loving attention he has received from his teachers and the lasting friendships he formed and the excellent teaching and counseling he has received. He has learned to be a successful student, friend, family member, and citizen during his time at Eastside Academy, and my family and I could not be happier with this.
Mr. Duncan, I am writing to you because finding an appropriate school for a child should not be as difficult as it was for my brother. It took ten painful years to find the right place for him, and I know that many other students, especially those with psychological disorders, go through their entire schooling without knowing that they have other options than public schools. My family and I were also fortunate enough to have the means to pay for at least part of my brother’s tuition and we were blessed to be supported by donors who paid off the rest of it, but many students who struggle in conventional school cannot pay for schooling at all. Private school should not be the only way for at-risk youth to be successfully educated. I know that you have the power to address this issue and provide a solution. I ask that you consider implementing one school in each school district in the United States that is reserved specifically for students who are in recovery, are at-risk, or for whom traditional public schooling will not suffice. I ask that these schools be equipped with some of the best teachers the country has, those who are not just qualified to teach, but who love their students and will do whatever they can to make sure they thrive. I ask that this is the school where students who are on the brink of dropping out of school be sent, so that they know that the educational system has not given up on them. I know that this is a tall order. I am aware that this movement might not be victorious, but I ask that you do whatever you can to try, and when you do, think of what this type of public school system could have done for my brother.
Sincerely,
Annie Stanger