Dear Ferndale School District

After a long walk.  Iced coffee.  Watching Whatcom Creek move quickly to the point it meets the bay....and looking at the tree blossoms.... and a tearful melt down, just keeping it real, sorry elementary school staff.  Colin and I decided to submit this letter and the correct form for a student transfer so that hopefully, Liam will continue to attend the same elementary as his brother.  As his twin.  Two boys that spend nearly every waking moment together laughing and wrestling, are due to be split between two school buildings come fall.  Please think good thoughts, pray, meditate, whatever you do.... keep our little bundles of unending energy at the same school.  For their own comfort and benefit.  Siblings need to be at the same elementary.  And a little of my own sanity to keep only one elementary to "impose" my volunteering on.
Six months ago I thought I would be a good support for "those" parents upset about redistricting, "those" parents that couldn't deal with change, ha ha, I'm "that" parent now.  Life is so fickle. 

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April 10, 2013


Ferndale School District
PO Box 698
Ferndale, Washington 98248

Thank you for the letters on the location for our twin sons’ assigned schools for the following year. We had attended one of your boundary presentations and kept up on your website with each of the task force notes and outcomes. We are grateful to be educating our children in a district that is so transparent and collaborative with parents. Thank you!

As a family, we have purposed to keep our twins together in the same elementary school. Although they attend different classrooms based on their appropriate educational needs, this decision has made life easier to attend school community type events: movie nights, participate in PTO, support field trips by chaperoning, attend birthday parties for classmates, enjoy the fall Cascadia carnival as a family, and just be an active part of an elementary “community”. Last year our transfer request was approved to have the boys attend Cascadia for kindergarten. We guess that maintaining our family involvement in an elementary community will be difficult after reading the letters that state the twins are split between two schools.

We recognize that Liam, as our typically developing child, should be afforded an education with peers in his home assigned school which would be Eagleridge. He has a very typical friendship group at Cascadia Elementary and we support him in birthday parties for friends, movie nights there, and in general we support him on field trips and teacher support on occasion in the classroom . Liam enjoys his twin brother Tommy and sincerely seeks him out at recess for FUN and sibling type supports.

We know that Tommy, as our child with significant developmental support needs, has his appropriate educational needs met in assignment to the Life Skills Classroom at Cascadia Elementary. We have been blessed with the most amazing support team there, seeing Tommy become an active learner has been an amazing educational feat, and would not wish to change that elementary assignment. Tommy’s support is made easier when he is on the same bus as his twin, it is comforting of course to be able to see your sibling while you ride the bus, especially your twin brother who you spend almost every waking minute with. Tommy enjoys seeking Liam out at recess for FUN.

The twins have attended Cascadia Elementary since January 2010, starting their education with Early Intervention Services. At six years old they have flourished together at recess seeking each other out, on the bus ride together encouraging each other, and at elementary events such as the fall carnival together having fun in “their” school community. Like all siblings, most of the time, they truly enjoy being together, but as twins they really enjoy seeing each other and having occasional proximity which the same school provides.

Please don’t separate them. We appreciate your review of these transfer requests is tough and you need to consider so many variables: student counts per building as well as your teachers and support resources per building. We know it’s a tough decision. Please don’t separate them. Thanks for considering! Colin & Sandi McMillan