Bezos preschool should stay in Pacific Beach
In a 2016 letter to Amazon shareholders, Jeff Bezos wrote, “If you have conviction on a particular direction even though there’s no consensus, it’s helpful to say, ‘Look, I know we disagree on this, but will you gamble with me on it? Disagree and commit?’”
We have the conviction that the Pacific Beach Bezos Academy is worth saving and that this community can find 20 kids ages 3-5 to register so that full capacity can be reached. Let’s disagree and commit by opening enrollment for the fall and proceed with the school’s closure only if not every seat is full?
The Pacific Beach Bezos Academy preschool opened in the fall of 2021 to serve 20 students ages 3-5 in north Grays Harbor, more than half are members of the Quinault Indian Nation. At most the preschool served 17 kids while other Bezos schools are at full capacity with hundreds of children on the waitlist.
If you haven’t been to Pacific Beach, it’s located in a rural, rain-drenched beach town tucked away in the southwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula near the Hoh and Quinault rainforests. When the wind is right, you can hear the ocean waves from the school parking lot.
Several small communities are nearby, but not close by — Ocean Shores, Taholah, Copalis Crossing, Moclips, Seabrook, even Hoquiam are all within range for parents who can transport their child.
I first learned about the Bezos Academy when I met the North Beach School District’s Native Education Coordinator to request her help with the county’s annual health symposium. It turned into lunchtime, and she graciously offered to drive us to grab a bite. We went to the local spot and then drove onto the beach to eat.
A friendship blossomed as we took turns sharing what the waves meant to us. I shared how these blustery beaches comforted me after my son died in 2020, and we settled in Grays Harbor one year later. She told me the Quinault believe the end of the world is beyond those waves. On a ceremonial canoe voyage of men young and old, a groom who was to be married in three days was swept into the ocean never to be seen again.
Kids here are taught to have tempered reservations, to be careful what you wish for.
On days when the tribal daycare reaches capacity and has to turn away families, my friend drives 40 miles round trip for backup childcare. She couldn’t wait for her toddler to start at Bezos, which is year-round, full day and free. When my daughter got accepted, we were so excited that our kids would share their early years together.
The tragic irony is that the Bezos Academy Pacific Beach is set to close on the same day as Bezos’ Venetian wedding to Lauren Sánchez. The whole world and 200 guests will be watching as they exchange vows on beaches of golden sand while 6,200 miles away in Bezos’ home state, 20 of his students will be losing their preschool, five devastated teachers will be packing it up and a little gray beach town will get even grayer.
When Jeff and Lauren set sail into the sunset on their $500 million yacht, we want to share in their joy. We want to cheer for the man whose compassion and understanding of the importance of early childhood support carried his Montessori mission all the way to our far corner that feels like the edge of the earth, and we helped it to stay.
Leigh Rowley
Parent of a child attending Bezos Academy Pacific Beach
Aberdeen
The Daily World leans left
You must know your audience. As a lifetime Harbor resident, I’d like to share.
What I’ve heard from my customers at the business where I sell your paper, your content does not match your demographic.
We are a primarily Republican area and your newspaper is most certainly not. It’s very noticeable by the way you choose to cover certain political topics. They almost always lean Democratic and it’s frankly very annoying. I would like to see a non-partisan newspaper.
Coverage in The Daily World paper is not Democratic opinion. Try to put some integrity into your newspaper and you just might increase your circulation in Grays Harbor County.
Albie Shaver
Aberdeen
