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Parents, students warn board proposed Mary Woodward boundary changes risk disruption, mental-health harms
Summary
Multiple speakers urged the Tigard-Tualatin board to reconsider proposed boundary moves that would transfer students from Mary Woodward Elementary to a new neighborhood school; speakers cited stability, mental-health concerns, McKinney-Vento protections and poor timing of outreach.
Public comment at the March 11 Tigard-Tualatin School Board meeting focused heavily on proposed elementary boundary changes affecting Mary Woodward Elementary School. Several parents, a second-grade student and a licensed clinical social worker described anxiety about forced transfers, asked for more community engagement and urged the board to consider the mental-health and academic impacts of multiple school moves.
Eight-year-old Saoirse McCool opened the series of comments, identifying herself as a second-grader and asking the board to “reconsider your decision to change the boundaries for my school,” reading a poem and describing Mary Woodward as her community.
Julie Slagle and her daughter Katie described family-level disruption after a denied transfer request and said the family had learned about the McKinney-Vento federal protections only after community members directed them to it. Slagle said the district’s handling “felt rushed,” cited a “fractured” listening process and warned that trust between families and the district was eroding.
Phyllna (Fawn) McCool, a licensed clinical social worker and parent, said the presented plan did not adequately account for the mental-health and academic consequences of forcing families to move students twice—first to the new neighborhood school and later when feeder patterns shift for middle school. She cited state and national research about youth mental-health trends and federal guidance on school stability when arguing the district should pause and engage the community more comprehensively.
Bethany Gibson, a parent of a child currently zoned to Mary Woodward, said the current boundary arrangement produced long bus rides for elementary students and that moving to a neighborhood school would be preferable for her family, but she also criticized the timing and late notice of the proposed changes. She said she had volunteered to serve on a boundary committee in 2023 and recommended earlier, clearer communications for families impacted by boundary proposals.
Speakers asked the board to slow the process, implement more trauma-informed community engagement, consider McKinney-Vento protections where applicable, and avoid double disruptions for children who are still recovering from pandemic-era interruptions to early learning.
Ending: The board acknowledged the comments and moved on to its scheduled reports; no formal boundary decision was made that evening and staff will continue the boundary work and public process as part of scheduled outreach and planning.
