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Parents and teachers press Kennewick School District board over safety and staffing at Cascade Elementary and MCP
Summary
Parents, teachers and students urged the Kennewick School District board to address alleged increases in rough student behavior, insufficient paraeducator supervision, failures in incident notification and the proposed elimination of an assistant principal at Mid Columbia Partnership (MCP). The board said it will follow up and review the concerns.
Hundreds of community members packed the Kennewick School District board meeting to press for changes after multiple parents and staff described escalating safety and supervision problems at Cascade Elementary and asked the board to reconsider removing an assistant principal at Mid Columbia Partnership (MCP).
During the public comment period, parent Heidi Torres said she had spoken with other parents who reported assaults and other serious incidents at school and questioned why district funds and staffing did not appear to be protecting students. "With the state funds, federal funds, levy funds, and a $62,000,000 reserve that the school district currently has, why are students' needs not being met?" Torres said. Her comments cited district staffing ratios and data from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) showing changes in classified staff ratios.
Other parents gave specific accounts of children who were injured in school and said they were not timely notified by administrators. Katie Ziegler described repeated physical injuries to her son and said she was told by school staff that incidents had been addressed when she later discovered they had not been. "The teachers and our frontline staff are just overwhelmed," Ziegler said, urging accountability and better behavior supports.
Teachers and former staff also spoke. Long-term substitute Jenna Clark said she had been instructed by administrators to withhold or limit information when communicating with families and described students left unsupervised in administrative spaces. Veteran teacher Laurie Ladin said the cumulative toll of extreme student behavior and inconsistent supports had driven her to take leave. "This is about blaming a system that is not functioning in a way that consistently provides safety, learning, or the needs of all students," Ladin said.
Speakers asked the board to require clearer notification protocols after incidents, consistent implementation of safety procedures, better behavior interventions, and increased staffing — including paraeducators and administrators. Community partners and MCP parents said removing an assistant principal would strain a program that serves students K–12 and has grown in enrollment.
Board members acknowledged the comments and promised follow-up. The chair said the board cannot respond to personnel matters publicly but will ask the superintendent to review the issues raised and report back. Several trustees noted that much district spending and staffing decisions are constrained by state rules and funding, and said they will ask administration for more detailed information about how funds and staff are being allocated to address safety and supervision.
The board scheduled executive-session questions for administration after the meeting and indicated it would seek additional detail on discipline data, notification practices and staffing allocations. No formal board action on Cascade or MCP staffing was taken at the meeting.
