Whittier Fighting Back on Kindergarten Expansion
The Whittier Elementary PTA has put forth a petition to the Board to ask them to not add an additional kindergarten class next year (which would take away their long-time child-care program.
From PhinneyWood.com
Members of Whittier Elementary School’s PTA plan to attend Wednesday night’s Seattle School Board meeting to oppose a proposal to add a fourth kindergarten class next year. Whittier, which is at 13th Avenue NW and NW 75th Street in Ballard, currently has three kindergarten classes of 23 students each.
The letter from PTA Co-Presidents Lisa Melenyzer and April Brown states that 80 percent of this year’s kindergarteners live within the school’s attendance area, and that there was no waitlist for kindergarten at Whittier this year. The two say that there is room within the current three classes to add any anticipated population growth in the next few years.
In the letter from the PTA:
Please note that we are not suggesting that kids in the attendance area who are entitled to come to Whittier should be turned away. We also want the siblings of Whittier families to be served, and for Whittier to be a welcoming place to the community. We simply don’t want Whittier to be appointed a fourth kindergarten – with this lack of planning and foresight – merely to help serve a capacity problem in the rest of our service area.
From the petition:
As of the October 1, 2011 enrollment count, Whittier had 69 kindergarteners enrolled, accommodating 55 children in our attendance area, plus 14 children whose addresses are outside the attendance area. This translates to 20% of current year K students come from outside the school’s attendance area, demonstrating that there is healthy access for students within the attendance area as well as for siblings. Even with any anticipated growth in our attendance area population of six-year olds, three kindergartens seems sufficient to handle that population.
I find this all very interesting. Whittier is a good school and yet it doesn't fill from its own attendance area (at least in K). And, they have kindergarten classes of 23 kids; that's pretty good.
They also have a good point in saying that adding another K class doesn't answer where all those students would go would all go.
They seem to feel there is no middle-to-long term vision for what is being proposed.
From PhinneyWood.com
Members of Whittier Elementary School’s PTA plan to attend Wednesday night’s Seattle School Board meeting to oppose a proposal to add a fourth kindergarten class next year. Whittier, which is at 13th Avenue NW and NW 75th Street in Ballard, currently has three kindergarten classes of 23 students each.
The letter from PTA Co-Presidents Lisa Melenyzer and April Brown states that 80 percent of this year’s kindergarteners live within the school’s attendance area, and that there was no waitlist for kindergarten at Whittier this year. The two say that there is room within the current three classes to add any anticipated population growth in the next few years.
In the letter from the PTA:
Please note that we are not suggesting that kids in the attendance area who are entitled to come to Whittier should be turned away. We also want the siblings of Whittier families to be served, and for Whittier to be a welcoming place to the community. We simply don’t want Whittier to be appointed a fourth kindergarten – with this lack of planning and foresight – merely to help serve a capacity problem in the rest of our service area.
From the petition:
As of the October 1, 2011 enrollment count, Whittier had 69 kindergarteners enrolled, accommodating 55 children in our attendance area, plus 14 children whose addresses are outside the attendance area. This translates to 20% of current year K students come from outside the school’s attendance area, demonstrating that there is healthy access for students within the attendance area as well as for siblings. Even with any anticipated growth in our attendance area population of six-year olds, three kindergartens seems sufficient to handle that population.
I find this all very interesting. Whittier is a good school and yet it doesn't fill from its own attendance area (at least in K). And, they have kindergarten classes of 23 kids; that's pretty good.
They also have a good point in saying that adding another K class doesn't answer where all those students would go would all go.
They seem to feel there is no middle-to-long term vision for what is being proposed.
Comments
Whittier currently has 3 K-classes of 23, 24, 24 (new students enrolled after the winter break.
Last year there were 3 K-classes of 25.
That has turned into 3 1st grade classes of 28, 28, 29.
I believe that the 2nd grade classrooms are also large.
The school community would like the district to confirm that our attendance area has the population to need an additional K-class before asking the pre-school to move.
A group of parents have asked Sherry Carr & Tracy Libros for the supporting data but have not heard back.
There was a FACMAC member at Sherry's community meeting that indicated that Whittier is at full enrollment and shows flat-slow growth.
?????
Whittier Wildcat
Whittier Wildcat
Obviously Whittier needs to be able to accommodate all the kindergartners in our attendance area, and we want to have room for kids living outside the attendance area as well (including younger siblings of current students). However, adding a fourth classroom will put a significant strain on the school that will have ramifications for years, so we would like to see that this action is really warranted by the numbers.
We are also sensitive to the fact that other schools have been required to overenroll and are paying a painful price. SPS has shown a lack of foresight in overenrolling some schools, and the plan that calls for a fourth kindergarten at Whittier is another such "one year plan." It feels incumbent upon those of us who can foresee the problems that this "one year plan" will cause in the next two-three years to demand that they double check their numbers and demonstrate that there is a real need for their actions.
Lisa @ Whittier
Jenphil
It will be interesting to see the district's response, but I doubt it will be in the Whittier PTA's favor. There are too many other schools that would then protest as well.
SPS Mom
I hope they win this battle!
-reader
Whittier parent
former wildcat
I doubt people will like this idea!
former wildcat
former wildcat