Dear Gov. Inslee: Keep my daughter's school open!

Dear Gov. Inslee,

I am still saddened about the Supreme Court decision declaring Summit Sierra and other public charter schools unconstitutional. I urge you to follow the lead of our elected officials and to respect the will of the voters – and students and parents – and keep our charter schools open!  

My daughter, Truth, had always struggled with her academics and has had an IEP to address her special education needs since 1st grade.

Then she went to Summit Sierra Public Charter School.

Since she began attending Summit Sierra in the fall, Truth’s confidence and her attitude of wanting to be successful have greatly improved. She gets additional help during the school day and is also staying after school for "office hours,” where there is support from her teachers, her mentor and the principal.   

Closing Summit Sierra would be devastating to Truth and her fellow students. Truth would then have no choice but to return to what didn’t work out in a traditional special ed classroom. She and so many others like her would merely float to a token graduation, get kicked out, or drop out due to frustration.

This is not an exaggeration. 

I am a struggling, low-income single mother. I can’t afford to pay for the kind of high-quality, personalized education Truth is receiving for free at Summit.

I hope and pray elected officials will keep our schools open. Our children should also have the opportunity to succeed and become contributing members of society.

Sincerely yours, 

Maria Alexa Mirabueno