Seattle Schools: Getting Into the School You Want
A reader asked for a thread about the status of their out of attendance area siblings getting in this year.
I know we did hear from a Denny/Sealth reader in the Open Thread Friday this week who said the waitlist at Sealth had not moved at all.
The reader who made this suggestion had a troubling story out of Bagley Elementary so I hope she will repeat it here. Apparently parents who wanted the Montessori program at Bagley were told it would be better to apply for the regular program and are now languishing on the regular list and somehow out of area parents are getting into the Montessori program.
It sounds very frustrating. What are you seeing?
I know we did hear from a Denny/Sealth reader in the Open Thread Friday this week who said the waitlist at Sealth had not moved at all.
The reader who made this suggestion had a troubling story out of Bagley Elementary so I hope she will repeat it here. Apparently parents who wanted the Montessori program at Bagley were told it would be better to apply for the regular program and are now languishing on the regular list and somehow out of area parents are getting into the Montessori program.
It sounds very frustrating. What are you seeing?
Comments
Up north
Grateful Reader
HS
West Seattle
Rainier Beach
and ??
MS
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K-8
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Elementary
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I have friends who were assigned to Addams when they were trying to opt out of Aki, and are also very pleased. Initially they hadn't wanted to go that far at all. They say the staff goes above and beyond for ALL the kids and it shows.
Their child is thriving so much so that they are chosing it on purpose for their younger children as they reach middle school.
Grateful, I believe at least one APP 5th grade at Thurgood Marshall had 32 kids that first year after the split. As I recall, though there was zero spare room, the teacher kept things under control.
Waiting
It is always unclear, tho', how and where the funding for added FTE appears in the fall - Budgets are supposedly set in the spring, then adjustments are made in fall...These adjustments might come from a variety of sources (if they come):
Fed or state monies added; district hold-back for this purpose...or some other magical place that principals appear to have access to, some mystery money pot somewhere that is hard to pin down but from which money appears to those who can summon it: Separate budgets, perhaps, fill this mystery pot: "Extra" money for some sort of project or initiative, maybe some cash floating around that wasn't spent on, say, transportation is shifted...Who knows.
My point? It's hard to say what sort of FTE will be added to a given school, and from where those monies came.
Given the district desire to address class size and schools, etc, early, one could imagine that some of these issues of FTE could be solved by...next week?
But then there is the hiring freeze - we hear tell of a summer freeze (?) that made schools stand still in their hiring processes, hold off on finalizing interviews etc, for existing jobs. So there are a lot of subs in the buildings, too. How these will translate in the FTE funding dance is anybody's guess.
I promise by Tuesday.
John Rogers and Laurelhurst each added 1 additional K class very early May/June, and all the siblings got in. I believe Rogers cleared their entire wait list for K.
View Ridge also added an extra K class and all siblings got in within the first week of school starting.
I feel for the parents at Bagley. I know they tried absolutely everything so that this exact scenario would not happen.
-Diane
We are leaning towards making it my first choice this winter, though I'll have to do a few more tours.
Your info about John Rogers is somewhat incorrect. The out-of-area K sibs were let in last Spring, but John Rogers was NOT given an additional K class to help accomodate them. I don't think that others (non-sibs) on the wait list got in.
There are still just 2 K classrooms, and, last I heard, they are very full (28-30 kids).
North End Mom
District enrollment as well as Sherry Carr ultimately listened (but only at the insistence of tireless parents) and did...nothing.
-skeptical-
Even if there were such a policy generally, I wouldn't be surprised if the district weren't holding some room in that school in case it decides the best solution to north elementary APP is to ship some back to Lowell and some further north.
I'd really like the school board to go back and revisit the sibling issue.
I understand that the district had screwed some attendance areas up so badly through years of neglect (NE, anyone?) that guaranteeing sibs seats was an incredibly complicated proposition.
After several years of NSAP that complexity should wash out of the system, and then they need to re-institute a guarantee for sibs.
There will be boundary redraws in the future, and those redraws will put siblings out of attendance areas. Those sibs should get guaranteed seats.
There should be no excuse for redrawing boundaries in way that leaves no room for sibs in the future.
It affects a small number of people, but it has a negative impact that very few people would want imposed on their own famlies.
What are the rules and will the district follow them?
The rules, as published, would require the district to admit to Lowell every student who requested Lowell until the school is "full".
"Full" for Lowell was defined last year when they stuffed the building with 570 students.
North End Mom - Did not mean to report incorrectly. Passing along something told to me by another mom of a John Rogers K student. Thank you for the correction.
Diane - I hear you. All schools in the NE have very large K classes. The boundary of View Ridge pretty much doubled in size under the NSAP. Overcrowding is not on the plate of siblings but on the NSAP. There is not a single school in the NE that does not have very large K classes, or accommodation of number of K classes that the school will not be able to handle if rolled up, year after year, after year. Is there any school in the NE that has a K class less that 26? Please do tell.
Like Bird said there are boundary issues. Families will continue to be split if the voices of parents in the community continue to be ignored and not acknowledged in the drawing/rules of boundary changes, or the straightforward heads up - years in advance that there are a lot of little kids in our neighborhood that will be enrolling in the neighborhood school.
Lowell (Capitol Hill) has the physical capacity to accept more students, but the Lowell/Lincoln staffing is being limited at the district level.
How is "full" defined?
It has also been announced that Lowell APP will remain at Lincoln for next year. Will the two schools as one designation still hold?
-?
~yet another parent
There are arts standards students are required to meet as a school--music included. The 4th and 5th grades at Capitol Hill DO have the option of instrumental music; however, general music is a part of their regular curriculum, for 150-160 minutes a week. (I called and asked a friend whose kid is there--they get music 4 days a week.)
-?
How does Lowell at Capitol Hill strengthen and grow their school if building enrollment is artificially capped for this year (and next?)?
I just got my robo-call from Hale high school saying that they've been given 3 new staff based on student enrollment. Chemistry, Algebra II, and a 10th grade "core" teacher. Some students will see a schedule change, but classes will be smaller.
I am in a complicated situation, but am hoping my 2nd grade son can join his sister, a Kindergartener, at our neighborhood school. I thought he would have sibling preference, but no such luck. Preference is apparently only given to a younger child wanting to go to older one's school, not the other way around, even though I followed "the rules," with regards to enrolling my daughter in her neighborhood school.
Also, I was misinformed how to fill out Open Enrollment forms by a supposed Enrollment Specialist and am told I have no recourse for this. I'd like to see the Specialists better informed, or parents passed on to a supervisor for complicated questions they only "think" they can answer.
Wow, thanks again, it felt good to at least get it off my chest!
-Jkmom
Maybe call Tracy Libros if that's the case.