The Parents of Lowell Elementary

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Around 3 p.m. on any given week day, you can find most of the parents of Lowell elementary school sitting around talking to each other while waiting for their kids to get out of class. Now, this may not seem unusual or noteworthy, but it might if you look at larger elementary schools.

What’s unique to Lowell is the community the parents enjoy. Many of the students live within walking distance to the school, and the student body is small enough that the parents have the opportunity to all meet each other.

Though one of the fears that some parents of Lowell Elementary have is of the Bellingham schools becoming far and in-between, replacing many smaller schools with fewer, larger ones.

This issue became a reality when Larabee Elementary School was planned to close down, which will happen sometime in the next couple of years. This means that all the kids that would go to Larabee will now be divided and sent to other elementary schools in town.

Paul James, a parent of a Lowell Elementary student, says that many schools are now becoming ‘Drive Thru Schools’ where the parents all sit in cars while picking up their kids and never meet each other. He said that with larger schools, you lose that sense of community.

           The recent school bond that was voted on in the Nov. 5^th election called for a $160 million dollar bond that would be used to rebuild some of the schools in Bellingham, including Lowell. Though there is some skepticism from parents, who are unsure how the bond will ultimately affect the size of Bellingham’s elementary schools.