Schools: Districts mindful of sprawl concerns

Re: “Pierce County sprawl bad for kids, climate,” (TNT, 1/24).

In this recent guest opinion, Kirk Kirkland suggested that school districts are predisposed to site schools in rural rather than urban areas. That is not the case.

Bethel School District, like all school districts, attempts to find school sites near the students to be served, thus reducing transportation requirements. But that is not always possible.

When we needed to find a site for a new high school, an exhaustive search failed to find an available site in the urban area. (Of note, two-thirds of Bethel is in the rural area, thus the urban area is very limited.)

The only available land for the new high school was in the rural area (on 224th Street East) in an area that was already developed.

Further, if we had to transport these students to a new urban high school, it would result in lengthened bus routes, increased pollution and costs.

Contrary to Mr. Kirkland’s opinion, school districts are in the best position to make these decisions rather than arbitrary mandates that don’t reflect a complex reality.

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Schools: Districts mindful of sprawl concerns."