Outside, Looking In Youngster Protests Against Programs She Perceives As Unfair To Students Who Can’T Get In

In between practicing violin and coloring in her Pocahontas book, Michelle Heacox is trying to change the world. A small part of it, at least.

Michelle is campaigning to banish Montessori and APPLE classrooms from Spokane District 81 schools - popular programs, but unfair for kids who can’t get in, says the Jefferson Elementary School third-grader.

She’s written protest letters and pleaded with school board members. On Monday, she paid a visit to the governor’s office.

“I’m fighting in a peaceful way,” said the 9-year-old girl. “It’s not really fair for them to get the special treatment and us not.”

It all started with cookies and a camping trip. One day Michelle wanted to play with neighbor kids, who said they had to bake cookies for an outing with their Montessori class instead.

After that, Michelle said she began noticing students in the program were getting special treatment and rewards that other students didn’t get.

District 81 schools have 200 students attending eight Montessori classes at Jefferson and Balboa Elementary schools. Montessori students are taught in a non-competitive environment with less emphasis on test scores. Students help choose what they study.

Michelle also objects to APPLE, a program that has 193 students in Franklin, Garfield and Logan elementaries. The program requires parental involvement - at least 90 hours of volunteer time per school year.

High demand for both Montessori and APPLE means students are selected through random lotteries.

School officials say it’s ironic that Michelle and her parents, Mick and Rebecca Heacox, are objecting to programs created at the request of parents who wanted to be more involved in their children’s education.

“It’s the district’s way of being responsive to our patrons,” said administrator Laurie Dolan. “We as a system really appreciate not having one-size-fits-all education.”

Rebecca Heacox said she tried for two years to get Michelle into APPLE when she attended Franklin Elementary, but she wasn’t selected. Now, Heacox said she’s glad because she believes the programs set up students to dislike each other.

Kids in regular classes resent the others, even nicknaming APPLE students “Applesauce,” Heacox said.

Once Michelle, who wants to be a movie star, was told she couldn’t be in a school play because all the actors were APPLE students, Heacox said. “But she had to be in the audience.”

Mary-Dean Wooley, principal at Jefferson, defended the Montessori campout - an annual occurrence. “It accomplishes many outdoor education and science objectives.”

Other teachers could plan similar campouts if they could get enough support from parents, Wooley said.

The school district doesn’t spend more on APPLE and Montessori classrooms than on typical classrooms, Wooley added.

Any extras come from parent contributions.

But Heacox said those programs strip the most involved parents from regular classrooms, making schools even more inequitable.

Even so, Heacox said she tried to talk Michelle out of her protest. But the girl insisted.

First Michelle met with Wooley to protest. Then two weeks ago, she spoke to school board members.

On Monday, she hand-delivered letters to the offices of Gov. Gary Locke and state Schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson.

Next? “I’m going to write to the ACLU. Some sort of lawyer people,” said Michelle.

She’s enrolling in private school next year, but said she is fighting for “future students.”

“I don’t want them to suffer as much as I have these past few years.”