To the editor:

Given the recent US News and World Report rankings, we are being repeatedly asked by the same loud minority "Why change something that works?" "Our kids are doing great!" The answer is short and sweet. The kids are not alright.  

First - we are not the 189th school in the nation. There is a lot of data behind the rankings, and it may be hard to digest at first glance but surely you must see that we only have 79 percent proficient in reading and 74 percent proficient in math. If you look at the school right below us, they have 98 percent and 96 percent for their reading and math proficiency. But because of how that school is ranked in its state - Texas, and how we are ranked in our state, our scores are weighted and we are above many schools that far exceed ours academically.

Second - Our kids are not well. They are overtired, they are stressed out, sad, and considering taking their lives.  Please realize when you scream that our kids are fine, you are only speaking on what you believe to be true of your own children. We are a community and policies should be put in place that support the majority of students. Not the loud minority that scream about just how great their kid is doing, while sitting next to parents who have had kids in Bradley. We know on average BHS students sleep a dangerously low 6.75 hours per night and 19 percent of our juniors actively thought about suicide. This is not OK. Do you realize you are silencing the most vulnerable of our community when you continue to scream about our ratings and success and how great your kid is doing at a community meeting? We must do better for the health of our kids, and one of the easiest ways we can ease some of that pressure is to provide them with a healthy school schedule that is biologically appropriate for their age. To continue with an unhealthy schedule is knowingly doing harm and against the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control.

Finally - Please model some of that resilience our kids desperately need and roll with the change that has been voted on and approved, researched and studied for nearly a decade in Barrington. Please stop saying the majority do not want this change. That is fake news. Just because there are petitions going around does not negate what happened on election day. Our town overwhelmingly let us know what they wanted by voting in the three candidates who believe in this change and who want to make the best evidence-based decisions to benefit our school community. The only candidate that has been opposed to this change was a distant fourth in the race and could not hold onto his seat for reelection. Please show up to vote for the approved budget at the Financial Town Meeting on May 22 at 7 p.m. at BHS.

Kind Regards,

Jamie Burke

Barrington