FYI

UPDATE: For the Public Hearing on the Boundaries, each speaker will have 3 minutes so there will be only 40 speakers.

The new boundary maps will be released today. Here is the exact wording from the School Board meeting agenda:

"Map will be attached to this report, Tuesday afternoon, November 3rd"

Not sure if that means at noon, 1 p.m. or right before the Work Session starts at 4. I'll keep checking and update this thread if something comes up before the Work Session.

Also, to keep in mind for next week's Public Hearing on the SAP Boundaries:

At the public hearing scheduled for Monday, November 9, 6:00-8:00pm, you may sign up to testify at the public hearing starting Thursday, November 5, 8:00am, by e-mailing hearing@seattleschools.org or by calling (206) 252-0042.

In my experience, the Public Hearing has about 5 minutes of introductions. They are legally obligated to read an official statement and state which Board members are present.

Comments

Chris S. said…
Charlie's "anybody can go what Nova did" post got me thinking...Has anybody mentioned filling McDonald from the TOPS/Salmon Bay waitlist??!!! It's temptingly situated between the two...
Charlie Mas said…
Chris, can you remind me of the post that got you thinking. It isn't coming to me right away.
Michael said…
KUOW is reporting on new boundaries right now
Central Mom said…
Here's the 65 slid staff ppt overview.
Don't see the maps yet.
ppt includes rationale for opening each of the 5 proposed facilities.

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/09-10agendas/110309agenda/nsappresentation.pdf
Chris said…
The maps are up on the School District site now.
Chris S. said…
Charlie, it's on the School Reform thread - it did take me a while to find it:
You said:
The policy referenced by seattle citizen, Policy C04.00, Alternative Courses of Study, is based on the recent state law on alternative education and there is a school built on this model: NOVA.

There is no reason that any school in the district, including those with elementary or middle school students, could not follow this model EXCEPT that it requires Board approval.
---
Another reason this light bulb went on was I was in a conversation, it might have been with Harium Saturday, about how long it has been since SPS opened a new neighborhood school. And I thought, the new schools that have been started in recent history are alts/SJSIS/New School. I know any school is hard to open, but alts/"options" are the only successful model we've got. Can anyone think of others?
Michael said…
SandPoint/Bryant has shifted by one street ( from 39th to 40th , the arterial ) and south into Windermere...
h2o girl said…
Wow - the Roosevelt area has increased quite a bit it seems.
Unknown said…
On first glance the improvements to the Sandpoint area look great, really responsive to feedback people were giving.
connie said…
Can someone please provide a link to the maps? I can't find them on the school site
seattle citizen said…
Chris, as Charlie further indicated regarding using Alternative Learning (Student Learning Plan model, as per state law and C04.00) it depends on the Board. Policy gives the Board power to identify programs that will use SLPs.
Perhaps with some organization, research, and a powerful presentation, coupled with community sypport, one might make a case and have it heard.
seattle citizen said…
Chris, the Macdonald Building being used for a overflow "alt" (or SLP) school to help excess Salmon Bay/TC/TOPS et al is a great idea, but I'd also consider, for the same purpose, the John Marshall building nearby. Bigger, close playfields (Macdonald's are macadam, if I'm not mistaken), orginally set up as a middle school so ready for a K-8, great science lab, great sound/ight board in auditorium...(maybe, if it's still there...)
Heck, room in their for a K-8 AND an APP program.
Unknown said…
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/boundarymapr/index.dxml
Jessica said…
Does anyone know if Mary Bass introduced her amendment about Madrona K-8? Would it be in the 65-page document just posted on the SPS site? I looked and couldn't find any reference to it. I am a current K parent there and I sure hope it stays an attendance area school.
Central Mom said…
Madrona remains drawn as an assignment school.
Jessica said…
Thanks Central Mom - I'm glad to hear it!
Central Mom said…
Well, don't count your chickens yet. District could still make it an option school by drawing a large geo zone around it. (If the other schools could absorb the "no thank you" enrollment from the neighborhood. Haven't really analyzed the functional capacity numbers yet.

But it does seem that if it were going to happen, given it's a contentious issue, it would be happening now and not after the upcoming boundary vote....
Jessica said…
It does seem like it would have come up officially by now. I'm not the only parent who wants it to remain an attendance area school.
Bruce Taylor said…
Are free/reduced lunch statistics posted somewhere, too? I am interested to see whether Sand Point's numbers are now more in line with the surrounding schools.
KSG said…
That's too bad about the new maps. I can't believe that I'm actually going to be sending my children to private school (me being a big supporter of public schools in general). But at the end of the day you need to do what is best for your child.
G said…
The Madrona K-8 boundaries are very small. With the historic flight away from Madrona School by the immediate neighborhood, I don't think local families are going to immediately leave their current schools to switch to an unproven Madrona K-8. I would guess there is going to be a lot of room in the school to create some kind of option program, whether it is named an option program or not. It will have empty seats that families can choose or kids can be assigned to, just as they are now. There is something fishy about how small the Madrona boundaries are, especially compared to Stevens, Lowell and McGilvra.
Josh Hayes said…
I'm completely confused by the maps. It looks like there are three bounded areas north of the Cut for option schools, but I'm darned if I can figure out who goes where.

It also looks like, yes, I-5 marks the boundary for Salmon Bay's eastern edge. How ludicrous is that when even people from West Woodland can't get in?

But frankly, I can't figure out WHERE the boundaries are, really. Whoever did these maps did a lousy job, especially considering how easy it is to crank out a map these days using GIS.
Unknown said…
Two notes:

1) maps don't always match the tool, or each other; check a few sources (I'm trusting the lookup tool for now).

2) Unbelievably, when they made the McDonald region smaller, Eckstein got bigger - they moved Green Lake a few blocks south. (We just got redistricted from McDonald/Hamilton to Green Lake/Eckstein).
dj said…
I think Madrona K-8 as an option school (on its current model, at least) is officially dead no matter what, as is does not appear Mary Bass will continue to be on the school board.
Charlie Mas said…
The simple fact is that Madrona K-8 is and has been an Option school for all intents and purposes. Because the school is chronically under-enrolled any student anywhere in the district can choose to be assigned there.

That is also the reason that the school will not be designated as an Option school. Despite that wide open door the school remains under-enrolled. There isn't sufficient demand for the brand of education that Madrona offers to justify committing a building of that size to the program.
Maggie Hooks said…
I have to pipe up about Madrona -- things are changing. They have new curricular and extracurricular offerings that will appeal to neighborhood families. I met with Kaaren Andrews and was pleasantly surprised. The district is planning a neighborhood meeting at the school. I am very optimistic.
dj said…
Maggie, I hope you are right, but I sat down and met with Kaaren Andrews two years ago (when enrolling my daughter in kindergarten) and she was very clear that she did not view the mission of the school as educating the neighborhood kids. When I told her about some of the concerns neighborhood parents with whom I had spoken had about the school (I had just moved to Seattle), she was dismissive of those concerns.

Now, it's entirely possible that either she has had a change of heart; that the district has told her she needs to accomodate neighborhood kids, so she hasn't had a change of heart but is making changes; or that I got the wrong impression from our long personal meeting (although I've talked to other parents who have reported the same thing). But I personally am not that thrilled with the idea that the school has been "improved" by adding an extra hour of "instruction" that essentially comprises extracurricular activities (like yoga).
dj said…
Oh, and I wanted to add -- I went into the meeting with Kaaren as a Seattle newbie hostile to the idea that there might not be a good fit between the school and my child. I assumed that the people I had talked to who had experience with the school (mostly parents who had used the kindergarten but moved their kids by first grade) were -- I'm just going to say it -- racist and classist, and were, frankly, making things up. When I came out of the meeting, I enrolled my daughter at T.T. Minor.
Jessica said…
Actually dj, with that extra hour of instruction my son in K at Madrona is taking performing arts. The kids got to choose from different options by grade what they wanted to do. The other K options I remember were chess and dance/movement, but there were a lot of others. I was jealous that the first and second graders who had an option for Spanish, although the kids themselves chose, so he might not have chosen it.

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