Boundary Change push back
I've now heard of two neighborhoods that are not happy with boundary changes.
Members of the Hawthorne Elementary community is not happy about having their middle school assignment changed from Mercer to Aki Kurose.
Members of the Georgetown community are not happy about having their elementary school assignment changed from Maple to Van Asselt.
From a press release (yes, a press release!) about the Georgetown shift:
I can't tell what triggered the change for Maple's attendance area. It looks to me like the situation in Georgetown is a result of a shrinking attendance area for Kimball. Kimball's attendance area no longer reaches across Beacon Avenue, so Maple's attendance area has to take up everything west of Beacon and as far north as McClellan. Taking in the territory north of Jefferson Park means that Maple has to cede Georgetown. Dominoes.
Members of the Hawthorne Elementary community is not happy about having their middle school assignment changed from Mercer to Aki Kurose.
Members of the Georgetown community are not happy about having their elementary school assignment changed from Maple to Van Asselt.
From a press release (yes, a press release!) about the Georgetown shift:
The boundary redrawing would move Georgetown kids from Maple to Van Asselt Elementary, which more than doubles the distance kids would need to travel to get to school. The proposed Growth Boundary changes would force young children to navigate busy streets and cross dangerous freight routes, some without sidewalks, up a narrow arterial to Van Asselt on Beacon Hill. The geography between the Georgetown neighborhood and Van Asselt is challenging, especially considering the complex series of off and on ramps to Interstate 5 that would mark the first leg of a child's journey. Walkability is listed in one fo the Seattle School's "guiding principles" in relation to Growth Boundary setting.
I can't tell what triggered the change for Maple's attendance area. It looks to me like the situation in Georgetown is a result of a shrinking attendance area for Kimball. Kimball's attendance area no longer reaches across Beacon Avenue, so Maple's attendance area has to take up everything west of Beacon and as far north as McClellan. Taking in the territory north of Jefferson Park means that Maple has to cede Georgetown. Dominoes.
Comments
Jen C
I like to think citizen input will make a difference since the district is asking for it. My friends plan to send in a couple comments.
SavvyVoter
Over the years, I've been amazed at how many times our bus stop was moved across major arterials, once on the other side of an on-ramp to I-5, and how the concept of "neighborhood" has been expanded to include outlying areas while, on more than one occasion, boundaries were drawn that excluded houses a block away from an elementary.
I understand the concept of overcrowding, though so much of this was self-inflicted by a staff that doesn't really like to use data to drive decisions -- even when someone like Meg Diaz hands it to them -- but continuity and predictability should not be sacrificed for expediency.
Predictable assignments, predictable paths, predictable availability of programs (ALO, Spectrum, etc) mean predictable class size and community involvement. This isn't rocket science, which is a good thing 'cause I don't think rocket science is offered.
stu
Some language immersion schools, Dearborn Park, JSIS and McDonald, have to be an option schools because there isn't a native speaking population in the neighborhood. Others, such as Concord and Beacon Hill, have native speakers in the neighborhood and don't need to be option schools to get them in.
There is also, in the case of JSIS and McDonald, some concern about the school becoming overcrowded as the appeal of language immersion draws families to the neighborhood.
HIMSmom
-skeptical-
When Mercer and Aki Kurose swap Hawthorne for Wing Luke, it moves about 350 students from the Aki Kurose attendance area to the Mercer attendance area. It's not a straight swap.
If you check the capacity of Hawthorne and Wing Luke you'll see that Wing Luke is being rebuilt for 660 students while Hawthorne's capacity is about 300.
If Mercer is already overcrowded and Aki Kurose has space, why would the District do this swap that moves 350 students into the crowded school from the school with space available?
I believe that John Stanford and McDonald should be true option schools with access determined by lottery so that any kid has an equal chance of getting in - not just those who can afford to live in Wallingford. But I'm finding it hard to believe that this will actually happen. I would love to be wrong.
Jane
Interested
Is Thornton Creek really the most urgent of these?
Meanwhile, the kids who live in low-income housing projects on either side of Lake City Way are drawn into the new Cedar Park School attendance area, in a barely-renovated 1950s relic of a building, with over 40% of the school in portables and insufficient core facilities.
Locals have started calling it "Trailer Park" instead of "Cedar Park," though the mother of all trailer parks will be on the Jane Addams parking lot, where up to an estimated 23 portables plus something called a "quad modular core space" will be placed.
Does SPS carry tornado insurance?
Trailer Trash
A true option school is open district wide, by lottery, and provides transportation when needed.
Short of that, what we will still likely have is fake "option" schools, perpetuating unequal opportunities for language immersion.
--Tired of unequal access to LI
When will we be done paying for all of her mistakes?
The total cost of moving Meany, NOVA, and The World School out of their previous buildings to Meany and then moving Menay back to Meany, NOVA back to Mann, and The World School to where they could have gone in the first place is $100 million. And yet it was all done in the name of saving money.
That doesn't even count the cost of splitting middle school APP - which was made necessary by the Meany closure - and all of the attendant expense linked to that, including the overcrowding of Hamilton and the costs that created.
Signed, Whaaaat Plan?
When will we be done paying for all of her mistakes?
Let's remember M. Tolley was brought to Seattle by MGJ.