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Large public comment turnout urges keeping librarians and nurses, backs bond, and asks district to adopt boarding‑school education resolution
Summary
More than two dozen speakers urged the board not to cut certificated librarians or reduce nursing coverage; community members also voiced broad support for the proposed facilities bond and native‑led groups asked the board to adopt a resolution to teach the history of Indian boarding schools and recognize Every Child Matters Day.
A large group of community members used the board’s public‑comment period to urge the Mercer Island School District to preserve certificated librarians and school nursing staff amid proposed budget reductions, to support the upcoming facilities bond, and to adopt a native‑led resolution calling for boarding‑school education and recognition of Every Child Matters Day.
Nurses and nursing coverage: Several speakers who identified themselves as school nurses or parents of medically fragile students said the district’s proposal to replace multiple elementary nursing positions with health‑room assistants or to consolidate nursing coverage would reduce in‑school clinical capacity. Shelly Sage, who identified herself as a long‑time district nurse, told trustees, “They touch every single life in this district,” and described work that ranges from hearing and vision follow‑up to rapid assessments when students have seizures…
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