By Martha Rabura

The beginning of school is always a time of excitement (if you’re a freshman) or a time of exhaustion (if you’re a senior). Each year, we all gather for our class photos, football games, and homecoming.

This year, though, there has been an even higher-than-usual level of anxiety in the air, and it isn’t just due to our football team’s crushing home defeats.

With the arrival of 70-some unexpected students, our school has become far overcrowded. Class sizes are higher than I’ve ever seen them in my time at Kingston, ironic considering last year’s class size initiative.

Almost all of my classes are at maximum capacity and many classes have gone past this, with AP Government  at almost a staggering 40 students.

How are teachers expected to teach in these conditions or provide students with the one-on-one assistance many need in order to succeed? This is a high school not a college lecture hall. Not only are we faced with a lack of teachers but we are faced with a lack of space. With a shortage in classrooms some classes have been forced to meet in a cubed-off section of a pod.

How will these “cubicles” provide the necessary quiet learning environment to Kingston’s students?

None of this is the fault of KHS but due to the long term lack of funding in education. With the teachers of the North Kitsap School District making significantly lower pay than the surrounding districts it has made it increasingly difficult to find qualified teachers for our schools.

Fortunately for KHS even with our shortage of staff the teachers at our high school are some of the most passionate educators we could ask for; often putting in above what is required of them for the success of their students. It’s time though as a community we started appreciating all that they have done for our future generation and start fighting for the funding needed to successfully educate a Buccaneer.

As always Go Bucs!

—Martha Rabura is a senior at Kingston High School. She can be reached at martharabura@centurylink.net.