The beautiful city of Kent, Washington is situated in the heart of the Seattle-Tacoma Metroplex, surrounded by an economic engine supported by Boeing, R.E.I. and Oberto (exceptional sausage jerky), and fueled by an upper middle class of citizens who recycle everything fathomable, drive hybrids, and dream of saving humanity. What appears shiny and tempting on the outside is harboring a rotting core of leftist hypocrisy that has shattered the dreams and hard work ethic of a small group of high school students.
After months of predawn marching practices, excessive hours of music scores perfected, and thousands of dollars raised for the Kentlake Falcons High School music programs to attend Victoria Days Parade, in British Columbia, the Kentlake school board pulled the plug on the excursion citing concerns of President Trump’s border enforcements:
Chris Loftis, the district’s executive director of communications, said the “sometimes confusing messaging” from President Donald Trump’s administration regarding border enforcement raised questions about whether all of the students slated to go on those trips would be allowed to return to the U.S., especially if they lacked adequate documentation of legal U.S. residency. “You cannot go on a field trip with 60 kids and come back with 59,” he said.
That would raise eyebrows, Loftis, right call.
Seriously, school board dictators; are we recycling that ‘we are afraid’ sound bite?
Apparently, one such board member, Russ Hanscomb, shaking in penny loafers, thought to call immigration and get their official scoop on how to cross the border into Canada and successfully return. The school has managed to pull off this feat for twenty years successfully, but Canada was a potential danger in 2017:
That office, in an emailed statement, said the agency is willing to meet with school leaders to discuss the entry process. “Immigration laws have not changed,” the statement said. “In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, all travelers seeking to enter the United States must prove to the inspecting officer that they are legally entitled to enter the United States.”
In his quest to be educated on the latest immigration guidelines, Hanscomb must have only heard the phrase, legally entitled, as he lost his mind, racing through the barnyard and shrieking the sky was falling. The chicken house exploded sending the school board helter-skelter to find something, anything to save their tail feathers and justify this ridiculous decision:
1982 Supreme Court case, Plyer v. Doe, which states that “denying undocumented school-age children a free and public education is unconstitutional.” Because of that, the Kent School District, with students who hail from more than 100 countries and who speak more than 135 languages, does not ask for or track students’ immigration status.
Well, maybe the illegal parents of undocumented children should know better than to stick their kid on a bus that is set to cross an international border. That seems like a no-brainer to me.
That brings me to my next point; this school board is punishing the law-abiding parents and their legal children for a potential immigration issue. Jeez Louise Liberals, can you screw America up anymore? Please don't answer that question.
Parents and students were stunned and disappointed, as they should be, at the late announcement--only three weeks from the event. But the decision by the board was made months before their February meeting, and then sat on, during which time ongoing fundraising, publicity, and intense practice sessions continued. One parent called the other area schools and found that none other school was limiting travel for authorized school outings.
The banner on the website school district proclaims, Kent school district—successfully preparing all students for their futures—which seems to have forgotten the clause, legal or not legal, at this point, what does it matter?
It matters to the kids.
Sophomore Braden Ross did not hesitate to express his frustration with the board, saying “If we had been alerted earlier, maybe we could have come up with some kind of solution, or perhaps made plans to go to another event.”
Megan Monahan, a junior band member, says she was "dumbstruck." Monahan has been on two previous trips and proclaims it a highlight of a music student's high school career. "I couldn't even comprehend that we weren't going."
Christine Mastroff, a designated chaperone for this annual event, whose daughter is a band member, expressed incredulity of the announcement, citing the rules and the required paperwork has always been the same--legal documentation of citizenship.
Is this stunt, perpetrated by the Kent School Board, a way to receive publicity and praise from the liberal education system? You must ask yourself, why now and why these kids—who have worked diligently at their craft, only to be rewarded by disappointment.
Maybe the Board President can explain it:
School Board President Karen DeBruler said everyone on the board understood what was at stake: months of planning and fundraising, and the excitement that goes along with what is often a memorable and inspiring experience for students. “It’s not fair for them not to go,” she said in an interview Friday. “But things are changing on a very unprecedented basis.” Allowing some students to go would mean that the students who couldn’t go would be “exposed as being undocumented,” she said.
The old saying, “Life isn’t fair,” comes to mind in this ridiculous case of poor judgment on the part of KentLake administrators. Unfortunately, the students at KentLake High school just got a dose of that reality and without good reason.
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