Community Meeting on School Boundaries September 28th

Here is a write-up by neighbor Kim McCormick (for which thanks!) on the Seattle Public School boundaries issue.

Locally, there are two SPS-led community meetings taking place:

·        Sept 28 (TONIGHT!), 6:30 pm, Olympic Hills  Meeting (at Cedar Park)

·        Oct 5, 6:30 pm, John Rogers Meeting (at John Rogers)

SPS is also holding regional community meetings.

There has been much going on in the world of school boundaries and Cedar Park!  For those who are new to the topic, Seattle Public Schools approved new “Growth Boundaries” back in 2013.  This capacity management plan is a series of annual boundary changes that are timed with the opening of new school buildings or additions.  Both elementary school and middle school boundary changes are planned for 2017-18, with all elementary school boundary changes occurring in North Seattle.  The boundary changes planned for 2017-18 are due, in part, to the planned opening of Cedar Park Elementary as an attendance area/assignment school.

SPS staff recently presented amendments to the previously-approved Growth Boundaries for 2017-18 to the School Board Operations Committee, and these amendments were referred the full School Board for review.  This information may be found here. Amendments to the 2017-18 Growth Boundaries will be introduced during the October 12^th School Board meeting, and will be up for Board approval on November 2^nd.

SPS enrollment planning staff are currently recommending that the Cedar Park boundaries be amended, so that students living south of NE 125^th Street (east of Lake City Way) are retained at John Rogers.  This lowers the projected initial enrollment at Cedar Park (the original boundaries over-loaded the building), and addresses a serious safety issue (crossing NE 125^th Street between 35^th and Sand Point Way).  However, the amended boundaries do not address the equity issues around the opening of Cedar Park as an attendance area school.  In fact, the recommended boundaries are projected to give Cedar Park an even higher percentage of students qualifying for Free/Reduced Lunch and English Language Learner services.  Kevin Hilman has written a poignant blog entry on this topic.

SPS staff are also recommending that nearly all boundary changes affecting North Seattle elementary school children be implemented as “geo-splits,” where students are reassigned to their new attendance area’s school, instead of being grandfathered at their current school.  If this recommendation is approved, Lake City area schools impacted by geo-splits will be:  John Rogers, Olympic Hills, Sacajawea, and Olympic View.  The exceptions to this recommended implementation are Wedgwood and View Ridge, where students are recommended to receive full grandfathering.  This is an abrupt departure from previous boundary change implementation which granted full grandfathering as well as grandfathered transportation to all students.  If the current recommendations are approved, over 800 students will be forced to change their elementary school assignment, mid-stream.  Needless to say, this has caused an uproar.

It is now up to the Seattle School Board to review the latest recommendations, and, if deemed necessary, submit amendments for changes to the plan.  Please contact me if you have any questions, and I will attempt to provide answers.  Feedback should continue to be sent to the School Board (schoolboard@seattleschools.org) and SPS Enrollment Planning Staff (growthboundaries@seattleschools.org).