Who is OSD4All?

OSD4All is a community of students, parents, caregivers, educators and neighbors working to ensure all of our Olympia schools remain open. To date, we have 15 PTOs/PTAs/PTSOs/Community Councils signed on to the work. OSD4All is not affiliated with any political party, political candidate, or any other organization.  Our mission is to keep all schools open by addressing structural issues that must be fixed.

What is OSD4All trying to achieve?

OSD4ALL believes no schools should close and no programs and services should be diminished.  The OSD Board and District Leadership have the opportunity to pivot toward possibility by pursuing growth mindset solutions as outlined in the report shared with the community on January 26, 2024. These solutions focus on budget reductions aimed at non-student facing district level administration (which is at a higher than average rate for a district our size) and by growing enrollment through coordinated enrollment campaigns and exploring new programming like increased seats for preschool.  See our report (English report; Spanish report) for more details.

Hasn’t the decision already been made?

No. It is not too late and the decision has not been made to close any schools. On December 14th, Directors Seidel, Huffman and Clifthorne voted to approve a proposal to begin the process to look at closure of Madison and McKenny Elementary Schools.  At the time of their vote they did not have in place the background information required by law.

Despite the March 8, 2024 court ruling that invalidated the Board’s vote to start the process to close schools, the Board has failed to officially stop the closure process. The Olympia School Board is scheduled to possibly take action on school consolidation during its regular board meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024.

Why are schools worth saving?

Closing our elementary schools (and in years ahead possibly middle schools) and consolidating displaced students will create larger schools and larger class sizes everywhere in the district, this has been shown to be detrimental to students. The board has repeatedly said these two schools are the first step in a bigger consolidation plan.

This is not an Eastside or Westside problem.  Both sides of town have schools with enrollment numbers the district has been calling too small for “right sizing” our district. The district has not entertained other ways to gain efficiency. The overcrowding some of our elementary schools already feel and the strain for resources will not be solved with school closures. 

If an elementary school closes and is combined with a school that has one gym space for physical education; where will the extra 100 kids have their gym classes?  There has been no forethought in how to make a consolidation scenario work.  Consolidation would not increase resources for students at receiving schools because no staffing plans show increased librarian time, PE time, art time or music. These classes will just have more students in them with the same number of instructors.  

Why is this happening now?

Originally the Board had claimed up to a $9 million dollar budget deficit for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.  This has now shrunk to only $380K or 0.2% of their budget. School closure does not create a significant on-going cost savings and creates social fallout and less than desired fiscal gain.

The board continues to move the goal posts as the community rises up to meet the challenges they identify. First, the state didn’t provide enough funding, so nearly 200 Olympians lent their voice to help pass critical legislation bringing funding to OSD. Next, there was an enrollment issue. So again we rallied, identifying 38 elementary classes in overload, countless studies pointing to Olympia as a growth city, numerous problems with the FLO Analytics enrollment modeling and expert input on development of an early learning program bringing additional children and funding to OSD.

Yet their resolve to close schools without cause continues and now they claim school closures is about student outcomes.

What are the next steps and how can I get involved?

We want our community to be educated and involved and there are many ways to get involved!

First, subscribe at www.osdforall.com and/or sign up by texting OSD4ALL to 844-579-0468 to stay up to date on ways to get involved.

Second, share your concerns and questions with leadership:

You can also email them directly:

1. Email the Elected School Board Directors (osd-schoolboard@osd.wednet.edu) with your concerns and questions to be resolved.

2. Email Superintendent Patrick Murphy (pmurphy@osd.wednet.edu) with your concerns and questions to be resolved.

3. Submit a citizen’s complaint. They must respond to all citizen’s complaints within five business days of receipt.

Consider sharing your concerns with State Superintendent Chris Reykal (Chris.Reykdal@k12.wa.us) or forward a copy of your emails to him, so that he is informed of your concerns of the decision making happening at OSD.

Need help crafting your emails? Email us at community@osdforall.com and we’ll get right back to you with suggestions.

Third, sign up for the weekly action alert.