Help with Enrollment
A couple of previous posts had mentioned a link to a document about enrolling for the new SAP created by Elizabeth Walkup, a Seattle schools parent (and yet another smart person who knows how to analyze data). I had looked at it myself and it seems like a big help for parents who are new to the both SPS and the new SAP.
There have been many questions about the Barnhart-Waldman amendment that has been and is being used (likely for the last time) in the SAP. Elizabeth explains it quite clearly in her document.
There have been many questions about the Barnhart-Waldman amendment that has been and is being used (likely for the last time) in the SAP. Elizabeth explains it quite clearly in her document.
Comments
I have a hard time believing the district will assign many kids to different attendance schools. This commits them to bussing kids. Choice will be largely limited to option schools, I believe.
Why I believe this:
The district has estimated 92 kindergartners will enroll at McDonald Elementary, one of the newly opening schools. No teachers have been hired yet, just a principal. It is in a temporary location (Lincoln) for two years. Any kind of special programming (that parents have been advocating for) has been put on hold. The district has flat-out said there will not be on-site child care at Lincoln nor in its permanent location after its $15 million remodel. Under a "choice" scheme, I believe few people would select this school during year one (certainly not 4 kindergartens worth!).
Laurelhurst Elementary (bordering McDonald and in the same middle school service area) is going down to two kindergartens from its usual three. I have heard that there is concern that many siblings can be accommodated, much less kids from other attendance areas.
Green Lake Elementary, also bordering McDonald, but in a different service area, is also going back to two kindergartens (this year they have three classes).
I think the district is sizing the kindergartens in accordance with predictions for attendance area kids only. Perhaps a few siblings of current students can be accommodated, if there are any extra spots.
I think in crowded areas of the city, families should not expect to have much "choice" of schools. We have switched to an attendance school model, folks. Good luck with getting a good lottery number if you want to get into an option school.
I would be curious to hear how other schools are sizing their incoming kindergarten classes, in comparison to previous years.
The document was prepared at the request of parents organizing the Option School Fair this weekend. It addresses ranking strategies for the choice process, and does not begin to cover all current enrollment issues. The last update was late in the day on March 9.
All my related documents can be found here:
www.teriyakidonut.com/schools/
-- Elizabeth
I am concerned that many families are not aware that they can request any Option School in the city and that if a bus is currently running to that school from their neighborhood, they will probably be able to get transport there (on a space available basis) for at least two years. The District has not made this easy to find out.
With all of the confusion and no geographic zone guarantees, this could be THE year to get into the Option School of your choice.
can someone explain?
txh, mh
1/2 day K
Full K
McDonald
69
23
Queen Anne
23
23
Broadview Thomson (temporary placement of Viewlands students)
107
35
Sandpoint's numbers all around seemed a little odd (does the district expect that many families to move older sibs?:
k-half 23
k-full 23
1 20
2 20
3 20
4 12
5 0
1 20
2 12
3 12
4 10
5 10
I think the district believes families will move their older children to McDonald and Sandpoint once they realize that younger sibs won't be able to go to the older sibling's school. Sandpoint is close to the major congestion--View Ridge & Bryant--and I think these numbers foretell potential problems in grandfathering siblings to these schools.
Fremont Mama, McDonald (I can't speak for the other opening schools) will have full-day K, but for budgeting purposes it is only reflected as half-day (the other classes are Pay For K). Very interesting about B.F. Day, which is of course another bordering school to McDonald. Again, if people don't have "choice" they will go to these opening schools.
Each school is funded for one full-day K, then all the other Ks are technically half-day Ks but get funded up to full through the Pay program. That's sort of how I understand it from the few budget-related talks I've been to at my school.
I would talk to the staff at those schools and inquire what they are planning for next year, though, because I'm certainly no expert. I just have a hunch that this is a paperwork thing and that most of those will be full-day.
I hear tours have been very well attended.
I attended the Audit and Finance committee meeting today and I'll try to get a post in tomorrow about it. There is NO good news.
Look at this SPS document (historical enrollment) it shows how many kids were assigned to each school last year, including Hale/
http://www.seattleschools.org
/area/eso/OntimeAnalysis_
2009-10_Short.pdf
Hale enrolled 312 students in their freshman class for 2009/10. That's up from 256 (or less) freshman students enrolled each year prior to that.
They will continue growing with each phase of the remodel that is completed until they accomodate 1400 students.
Note ** I did not say Hale WANTED to grow. They don't. Hale parents loved having a 1050 kid high school. But that's not realistic and Hale is following district direction to grow, meet demand, and fill their new building.
Melissa at this point it's time for you to call Jill Hudson, the Hale Principal and get the fact straight. It's time to put the "Hale refuses grow" theory to rest.
...
I started to write up an example for this, but then realized that (a) it'll take substantial work to make it very clear, and (b) the chances that someone reads it and hoses themselves by applying the future NSAP algorithm during this year's enrollment is just too great. I'll write something up after this year's enrollment season.
Since the assignment process is not transparent, can anyone of us have any idea how that 10% choice deal will work out?
Take a look at projected enrollment in the purple guide. Some of the NE schools have 100+ kids in first grade right now and another 85-95 in second grade, yet they will only be graduating 70-75 5th graders and another 70-75 now-4th graders the year after that. If the schools are already out of physical space, you cannot bring in more Kindergartners than you graduate 5th graders.
It all comes back to the failure to manage capacity over the last decade or so. We all saw the little baby boom happening in NE Seattle, yet it caught the district off guard and they created short-term solutions by adding extra classes to popular schools. If the new SAP weren't in place, I think that they'd still have to limit incoming Kindergartners at certain schools; it's just that with the new SAP, it's a different set of families that are being turned away.
I looked over the (purple book projection) K numbers for Montlake/McGilvra/Stevens/Lowell all of them are suspiciously close to 23 kids per class. That can't be reality based--under the NSAP some schools will have 17 kids show up and others will hve 62. SPS can no longer apportion kids in neat little groups of 23. Why do they seem to be budgeting as if they can?
According to the historical enrollment document I posted earlier, Hale enrolled 300 freshamn in 2006, 282 freshman in 2007, 256 freshman in 2008, and 312 freshman in 2009.
Currently Hale has 1170 students enrolled (according to an office staff member that I just spoke with). They have grown by 120 students despite being in the midst of a major remodel where they lose use of large portions of the building with each new phase of the remodel.
Looking at the big picture Hale is not so small anyway. Out of the districts 12 high schools, Hale is the 5th largest.
1700 Roosevelt
1680 Ballard
1500 Franklin
1290 Garfield
1170 Hale
1050 West Seattle
850 Ingraham
800 Sealth
500 Rainier Beach
450 Cleveland
360 Center
280 NOVA
1642. And I am pretty sure that Sealth is closer to 1000 on student numbers.
Also, if you are short a fraction of a teacher, you can use the 'cash' part of your budget to pay for that, but then you are giving up supplies or a specialist or something. So what I have seen in practice, is that if a school knows their projected enrollment is fictionally small, they use all of their 'cash' to guarantee their classroom teachers and string along some poor IA, office staff or specialist through the summer with the understanding that when the kids all show up in the fall the school will be able to pay that person. That leads to unnecessary turnover in those positions and stress for those people as well as scrambling in September to make sure those positions are filled (but it's better than trying to hire 0.4 of a classroom teacher and rearranging all of your classrooms).