Valley Pathways a vital part of the community

To the editor,

The Valley Pathways High School decisions should be reconsidered. I do not attend Valley Pathways, but it is a great option in our “district of choice.” Students make bad decisions; that doesn’t mean they are irredeemable. Eliminating options won’t help students. Bigger schools have strict punishments. Pathways helps their students get the help they need to come back to school. This saves students from a long terrible road they may have taken if the teachers at Valley Pathways weren’t there. Not all students attending Pathways are involved in drugs; most just need a smaller environment.

It’s hard to express how much Pathways does for students. Kids at Burchell and Valley Pathways struggle with attendance, so teachers work with the students making graduating possible. I have seen more good than bad come out of those schools. I understand Burchell will still be there, but the kids in Palmer, Sutton, the Butte, and Hatcher Pass will have an even harder time commuting. I have seen what struggling in school really is. I also saw how the teachers work with students to plan a future and see their own potential. So many lives were changed right in front of me, it was mind blowing. Pathways works with students to help them succeed. My parents worked at alternative high schools in the Valley, my mom at Burchell then Valley Pathways and my dad at Burchell. The change is remarkable. My parents both have past students running up to them in the store excited to tell them about their work, accomplishments, and families. They all say that they couldn’t have gotten there without the help and support they got from everyone at Valley Pathways.

My sister struggled in the bigger schools, though she is extremely intelligent. She transferred to Valley Pathways her sophomore year and strived, received the Alaska Performance Scholarship, and is graduating from college this year. Taking away the only school some people feel safe at wouldn’t be good. Taking away education isn’t worth any amount of money. Students go to Pathways because they need different help then what they’ve received. Bigger schools aren’t for everyone. Taking away an alternative high school will do no good for the future of Palmer. The decisions being made across the school board, I don’t think are in the best interests of the students they will be affecting.

Logan Chapman

Palmer