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Hundreds of public comments urge Mercer Island School Board to preserve Crest alternative program
Summary
Students, alumni, parents and staff urged the school board to keep the Crest block and its separate building, calling the program a —lifeline— for neurodivergent and vulnerable learners and warning that abrupt relocation or closure would harm enrollment and students' well-being.
Mercer Island -- Dozens of students, alumni, parents and staff packed the Mercer Island School District board meeting and urged trustees to preserve the Crest alternative program and, in particular, its separate Crest building.
The public comment period, which ran for more than an hour, included personal testimony about Crest's role in preventing students' disengagement and in some cases addressing students' mental-health crises. "Crestblock is not just a classroom, it is a lifeline," said Katinka van Eeden, a 2024 Crest graduate, testifying about the program's community and the ways it supports students who struggled in traditional classrooms. "You cannot dismantle the foundation of a program and expect the community to remain standing." (Katinka…
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