First Place School cuts classes leaving parents scrambling to find new schools

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Dozens of parents are left scrambling to find new schools to enroll their children after First Place Scholars cuts classes for 2nd to 5th grades. (KOMO)

SEATTLE - The families of close to 90 kids are now scrambling to find a school for their children after First Place School in Seattle decided to stop teaching the 2nd through 5th grades.

"There is no place for our children to go to school and they don"t care," said Juliette Hecker.

This week, many parents received a voice mail from the school informing them because of "budgetary constraints" First Place would operate as a private school for "pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and the 1st grade only". For parents like Hecker, whose daughter attends the second grade, they felt like they were duped.

"We were told the school was going to start on the 7th of September," said Hecker. "And I even got a phone call from my daughter"s teacher saying I"m glad to meet you."

First Place became the state"s first charter school in September of 2014 after they had operated as a successful small school catering to the needs of homeless families. But the charter system caused issues, and in December after a court ruling affected state funding, First Place said it would go back to being a private school.

"We had to make a tough business decision," said Board President Dawn Mason.

Mason said because of the lack of funding the school decided to cut back on the number of grades they teach and go back to their roots where they found success as a smaller specialized school.

"We want to make sure young children have a relevant education and good start on learning," said Mason. "We want to go back to what we are good at."

Mason also said the school had sent a letter to many parents two weeks ago about the changes, but parents say only a handful received the letter.

"That"s not acceptable for us as parents," said Hecker. "They should have known last year that funding wasn"t available."

Hecker and others say, it is now a challenge to find a public school they can enroll their child.

"Less than a week is not enough time for us to get our children into the proper school we want them to go to," said Hecker.

First Place says they will offer assistance to place kids into other schools as well as provide backpacks and school supplies to those children.

Source: http://komonews.com/news/local/first-place-school-cuts-classes-leaving-parents-scrambling-to-find-new-school-to-enroll