Screenshots / YouTube, Seattle Public Schools Board Meetings, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Parents in Seattle, Washington, voiced their anger over the city's decision last month to close its Highly Capable Cohort (HHC) schools for the gifted top two percent students by the end of the 2027-2028 school year.

An unearthed video debate regarding the closures in 2020, first reported by the Seattle Stranger, shows a black mother expressing, “I am proud of the exemplary education I received through the HCC model.”

WATCH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1667&v=qoxZYVU88UA&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

“I would not be where I am today without it,” she added.

“It breaks my heart that little boys and girls like I was, whose brains work differently may not get the opportunity to learn in an environment that's right for them, and will help realize their brilliance,” Jones said with tears in her eyes.

https://twitter.com/RonMilnerBoodle/status/1776951591716712892

A total of 11 schools were scheduled for closure because the city believes they have too many white and Asian students. The phase-out process is set to begin in the fall.

Teachers will now be forced to manage classes of 30 children of mixed abilities simultaneously, without additional resources or funding.

Parents assert that unless significant resources are allocated to every classroom, teachers will be overburdened with large class sizes and dramatic differences in academic needs. 

https://twitter.com/JeffClarkUS/status/1776118629567766826

Fox 13 reports these schools include three elementary, five middle, and three high schools. The “cohorts” at these schools keep the students together, enabling teachers to focus on their advanced needs.

Fox News previously reported that the school district's gifted program was among the least diverse in the country.

“SPS is scrapping all HC programming and replacing it with empty promises, zero plan, and zero funding,” Kiley Riffell, whose two daughters attend HCC school Cascadia Elementary, said to Fox 13. “I’m sad to watch so many families leave the public school system, but I can’t blame them.”

Another mom, Simrin Parmar, told the outlet that the decision “will not help those kids to just cut the program wholesale.”

https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1775530797178495471

“We weren’t servicing enough of them. You don’t help by cutting the program,” she added. “What we should be doing is identifying more children from underrepresented groups that aren’t getting a fair shake in the testing and doing more to fix that and providing these services to more kids across the city.”

Parmar also argued that the changes don’t make sense from a budget perspective, pointing out that it costs the district around $7,000 per Cascadia Elementary student, which is approximately 50% less than many neighboring schools.

https://twitter.com/HungCao_VA/status/1777101292206260295

Parents of various ethnicities made similar pleas, only to be abruptly cut off by former board member Zachary DeWolf once their allotted time expired.

DeWolf then forced distressed audience members to listen to a poem he wanted to read to celebrate his 34th birthday, instead of addressing their concerns.

“And then lastly, today is my birthday and I want to actually dedicate, particularly my mom calls me, every birthday really early when I'm still sleeping so I'm actually gonna read a poem,” he said.