Issues Raised by Speakers at Board Meeting

Listening to speaker after speaker talk about the Indian Heritage Middle College program, I thought, "Well, add them to the list that includes Special Ed, Nova, and World School."  What do these programs have in common?   They get moved around as though they were furniture.   Each and every one of them deserves a permanent home.

I spoke to Sarah Kelly, one of the speakers, and asked her about someone in their community doing a guest post about the history of their program.  (I was surprised to learn that Pathfinder K-8 used to be a feeder school for the program.)  One thing I told her was that once we had a history - one that is written by those who know it - it would be here for a long time.  The district may purge some history from its website but at least here it would have a home. 

I'm hoping I will get that guest post within a couple of weeks.

Also, there is an issue over the feeder patterns in West Seattle from middle to high school.  Apparently, some students would like (and appear to have been promised) that they could choose would high school would better work for them for music.  The appearance seems to be that Sealth has the stronger music program than West Seattle High School. 

Someone from that region should let us know the full story and, if students could choose, would it skew too much in one direction.  (And why would the district have made this promise.)

Lastly, an oddity that, lined up in a row, makes me suspicious. 

I have had some communications with parents at Sacajawea and Green Lake on the issue of dropping enrollment.  Sacajawea lost a Special Ed program and Green Lake has had kids moved away to McDonald and now B.F. Day. 

Guess who had this complaint at the meeting last night?  Laurelhurst.  The boundaries have severely impacted their school to the point where they have just 44 kindergarteners (and this includes out of boundary sibs).  That's barely enough for two classrooms where they used to have three full classrooms.

So, we are overcrowded in places like Bryant and View Ridge and JSIS and McDonald and yet, we have school losing enrollment (and funding)?   How is that and why doesn't the district course-correct now so that they have a better idea of the room they need under BEX IV?  Why have some schools uber-crowded while others in the area are losing students?

I am now mighty suspicious about this "need" for another elementary at both Thorton Creek and Wilson Pacific.  

And why those three schools?  Well, one thought is that they are all three in lousy buildings.  They are buildings that are likely high-cost maintenance AND don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting any BEX attention for a couple of cycles. 

It's hard to know what to think but something is not right.  Is this the case at any schools in the SE or West Seattle? 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Isn't part of the problem that enrollment is really hard to predict if it's guaranteed? It's interesting to hear that Laurelhurst is worried about their enrollment and it does raise the issue of whether we need more capacity, but I also think part of the issue is that people think there's a perfect size for their particular school. And, it's impossible to keep a "perfect" size without limiting enrollment (i.e. private schools and admissions or the old assignment plan when a school could say it was full when it had a certain number of students).

If people are committed to a neighborhood plan (and I think many in NE were; don't know if they still are. I still am), then we have to accept more flexibility on school size.

(zb)
Anonymous said…
Sac just got a Special Education Program--they did not loose it.

Seattle Teacher
Jet City mom said…
Sac just got a Special Education Program--they did not loose it.

Seattle Teacher


This explains a lot.
Dorothy Neville said…
EK: harsh! (but lol, too)

I don't know the geography and history of the other schools, but Laurelhurst was officially predicted to shrink, even become under-enrolled. This should not be a surprise for anyone. It's related to both the size and shape of the attendance boundary and the fact that it feeds to Hamilton instead of the closer Eckstein.
Anonymous said…
"Listening to speaker after speaker talk about the Indian Heritage Middle College program, I thought, "Well, add them to the list that includes Special Ed, Nova, and World School." What do these programs have in common? They get moved around as though they were furniture. Each and every one of them deserves a permanent home."

Add APP to that list.

turtle
mirmac1 said…
Well, those 650 kids elementaries aren't gonna make themselves. Watch schools like Roxhill and Sacajawea get absorbed by the BEX IV behemoths.

I'll put you in touch with the Denny band geeks who love music and want to continue in HS.
Anonymous said…
Laurelhurst used to be an attractive option for NE families who couldn't get into their reference schools (we were in the Bryant area) and also those who wanted half day kindergarten. Now it is cut off from the rest of its neighborhood in terms of busing, middle schools, and afterschool programs. They also lost the popular half day kindy option. I'm assuming (hoping) that this will be fixed when they redo the middle school boundaries and return LH to the Eckstein area.

-NE mom with lots of ties to LH
Anonymous said…
Regarding the high school situation in West Seattle, it's a complete mess. Not only is the music program far better at Sealth, but the academic program is far better at Sealth. When the Sealth staff and principal voted to accept the IB program a few years ago, and WSHS staff and principal turned it down, the die was cast. Ever since, Sealth has been on an upward trajectory and WSHS has been headed in the opposite direction. If you look at the course offerings of each school available from their websites, you can easily see that there is complete inequity in their advanced learning offerings and rigor. It's no wonder that Sealth is at 110% capacity, with many more turned away, and WSHS is at 50% capacity (according to the principal of WSHS in a recent parent meeting). The superintendent and board really need to force some changes at WSHS in order to fix the program there, which in turn could address the over-capacity issues at Sealth.

-WS Parent
Sac lost ELL to Jane Adams a while back, I too heard something is being added but I am not sure what. Big thanks to District Staff for listening,
Anonymous said…
Another big problem at West Seattle High School is many years of rapid Principals turnover. It seems like there is a new Principal every year, which contributes to instability in learning atmosphere. If WSHS can get and keep a good principal it would be a stronger school.

-W'Sider
Anonymous said…
Advanced Learning at West Seattle High School also suffers from the many years when Dr. Hudson was principal at feeder Madison Middle School and refused to allow any Spectrum there. For many years Madison and Meany were the only two middle schools in the District without Spectrum, despite many parents requesting it at Madison year after year. Parents of advanced learners in the northern area of West Seattle often opted to send their kids to Spectrum at Washington or at Denny, which feed into other high schools besides West Seattle.

-W'Sider
Well, whether schools were to shrink, it is not acceptable to say we don't have space and want a huge amount of money when there IS space.

This has changed BEX IV for me. I need some explanation from the district about this issue.
Sealth/Denny parent said…
What the other writers have said about the West Seattle schools is true. The issue with the promises is that the Denny/Sealth colocation in BEX 3 was sold in part with promises about a 6-12 pathway that would be created. But when the Student Assignment Plan was published, no such pathway was formalized, so that some students enrolled at Denny are forced (against their wishes, whether because of the academics or the music) to attend West Seattle high rather that continuing on the pathway to Sealth. They are thus forced to start over with students, teachers, and administrators, and the classes they have taken at Denny, which were set up to prepare them for the IB program at Sealth, lose some of their value. These kids (and parents) feel that the district is reneging on the promised pathway.
lendlees said…
These all seem to be part of the dysfunction in the enrollment part of SPS.

Laurelhurst is underenrolled because the original boundaries were vehemently opposed by the Bryant families. So now Bryant is busting at the seams, and Laurelhurst has plenty of room. Also, a large % of the Laurelhurst kids go to private school, thereby allowing for more room at the school than demographically indicated.

Pathways are ignored because no one looks at that when making boundary decisions.

That being said, there still needs to be new buildings in the NE...lest anyone forget about the 530 APP kids at Lincoln this coming year.
Anonymous said…
Sealth/Denny parent- That's interesting background. I remember some of that now. In addition, I seem to remember that when IB was placed at Sealth, the district said that it would be a special program, separate from the school assignment boundaries. There would be one in the north end and one in the south end, and kids could sign up for it, even if they're outside the reference area for that school. In other words, kids from the north end of West Seattle would be allowed to select the IB program, even if they're in the WSHS reference area. However, in practice, that's not happening. Kids from the WSHS reference area can't get into Sealth to participate in IB, more now than in previous years. I know families that are now moving to the south end of West Seattle in order to get into that reference area. Does anyone know whether there's still a policy that the IB programs are special programs that kids should be able to select, even if they're outside of the reference area for the school housing the program?

-WS Parent
Anonymous said…
I realize this thread is dead, but do think there is a need for additional elementary seats in the NE in the areas where the kids reside. At the moment – based on enrollment at the various elementary schools – the big crush is at Wedgwood, View Ridge, Bryant, Thornton Creek and Sand Point.

To share the most recent numbers I have for K… I do put a question mark where I am uncertain of how many classrooms. (Enrollment info. Is updated each Friday, but you need to call to find out.)
Sand Point has an enrollment of 66 kids, to be divided between only 2 K classes?

Bryant has an enrollment of 111, to be divided into 4 classrooms. (27.75 per)
Wedgwood has an enrollment of 84 (2 classrooms 42 each, or 3 classrooms of 28 each.)
Thornton Creek has an enrollment of 52 (2 classes of 26 each.)
All three under-enrolled schools in the area have geographical challenges. Sacajawea is across Lake City Way from Wedgwood, Bryant, and the others. It is not a walkable distance.

Laurelhurst is across Sand Point Way and is not walkable from the majority of homes in the Sand Point attendance area, or any of Bryant, View Ridge, or Wedgwood.
Green Lake (to me) is oddly slotted into the Eckstein area but surrounded by highly desirable LI schools that all track to Hamilton. There are some great facets to Green Lake such as great parent involvement, good Principal, good school community -- but it is not a walkable distance from the highly overenrolled schools in the Eckstein area. It is also a small school and doesn’t even have a cafeteria so kids eat lunch in their classroom.
There is no large benefit to parents that might want to self-select into a currently under-enrolled school as you are likely doing so with no transportation and no guarantee that any younger age child will be able to attend the same school when they reach the K age.
Only observational data…each home in my neighborhood that has sold in the past few years has had a family move in. These are homes that were previously without kids. Now each sale brings in school age children, and/or multiple preschool age children.
This is the same sort of observational info. that was ignored when there was a large neighborhood cry to reopen Sand Point. And now Sand Point is already stuffed full.

-StepJ
Anonymous said…
I realize this thread is dead, but do think there is a need for additional elementary seats in the NE in the areas where the kids reside. At the moment – based on enrollment at the various elementary schools – the big crush is at Wedgwood, View Ridge, Bryant, Thornton Creek and Sand Point.

To share the most recent numbers I have for K… I do put a question mark where I am uncertain of how many classrooms. (Enrollment info. Is updated each Friday, but you need to call to find out.)
Sand Point has an enrollment of 66 kids, to be divided between only 2 K classes?

Bryant has an enrollment of 111, to be divided into 4 classrooms. (27.75 per)
Wedgwood has an enrollment of 84 (2 classrooms 42 each, or 3 classrooms of 28 each.)
Thornton Creek has an enrollment of 52 (2 classes of 26 each.)
All three under-enrolled schools in the area have geographical challenges. Sacajawea is across Lake City Way from Wedgwood, Bryant, and the others. It is not a walkable distance.

Laurelhurst is across Sand Point Way and is not walkable from the majority of homes in the Sand Point attendance area, or any of Bryant, View Ridge, or Wedgwood.
Green Lake (to me) is oddly slotted into the Eckstein area but surrounded by highly desirable LI schools that all track to Hamilton. There are some great facets to Green Lake such as great parent involvement, good Principal, good school community -- but it is not a walkable distance from the highly overenrolled schools in the Eckstein area. It is also a small school and doesn’t even have a cafeteria so kids eat lunch in their classroom.
There is no large benefit to parents that might want to self-select into a currently under-enrolled school as you are likely doing so with no transportation and no guarantee that any younger age child will be able to attend the same school when they reach the K age.
Only observational data…each home in my neighborhood that has sold in the past few years has had a family move in. These are homes that were previously without kids. Now each sale brings in school age children, and/or multiple preschool age children.
This is the same sort of observational info. that was ignored when there was a large neighborhood cry to reopen Sand Point. And now Sand Point is already stuffed full.

-StepJ
Bruce Taylor said…
Walkability be damned, the Laurelhurst boundary must move substantially north of Sand Point Way, taking a BIG bite out of Bryant's area.

The enrollment shrinkage at Laurelhurst is not a surprise AT ALL. When the district came out with the NSAP boundaries in November, 2009, the projected 2015 enrollment for Laurelhurst was 305.

Except, the district's numbers were wrong.

When I plugged every single address from the 2009 Laurelhurst student directory into the district's boundary tool, LH's 2015 enrollment projected to only 251. I communicated this to both the LH PTA board and to each individual school board member.

That is almost equal to the current enrollment as it rolls forward: 44 * 6 = 264

At the time, I thought SURELY there must be another shoe yet to drop. Given the severe overcrowding in Northeast elementary schools, the district couldn't possibly reopen Sand Point Elementary, only to see more than 200 seats at Laurelhurst sit empty. SPS staff MUST have some unannounced plan for the Laurelhurst building -- perhaps a new program of some sort?

Well, actually, no. The district spent $7 million to reopen Sand Point Elementary, gaining perhaps 100 seats in the process.

Elimination of half-day kindergarten was a significant loss for Laurelhurst Elementary. Parents howled about the decision, but the principal ignored them. She didn't recognize that the rock star half-day K teacher was (and is, and could be again) a valuable asset to attract out-of-area families into the LH building.

One last thing: The smaller enrollment at Laurelhurst has nothing to do with the loss of a feeder pattern into Eckstein Middle School. Today Hamilton is an equal (superior, IMO) choice to Eckstein. Hamilton has a beautiful new building -- not a farm of portables. Hamilton has APP and Spectrum, and its band and orchestra are defeating Eckstein's when they compete head-to-head. It's easier to make a varsity sports team at Hamilton. The building is packed, yes, but not like Eckstein, where students are not allowed to visit their lockers between classes because the hallways are dangerously overcrowded.
Anonymous said…
My comment about LH feeding to Eckstein is not about the quality of the two middle schools - but the availability of transportation between the two middle school areas.

-StepJ
Dorothy Neville said…
And my comment about LH and Eckstein is more about convenient access. Eckstein is physically closer and easier access because one doesn't have the U district traffic to deal with.

As for walkability, I would disagree slightly with StephJ (although she is mostly spot on). Sandpoint's boundaries are gerrymandered to pick up all three low income family housing developments (one of which is doubling or more in size) and just about every apartment in the area (so just about every transient resident). The main area of single family owner occupied homes that are assigned to Sandpoint are across Sandpoint Way, so the argument that they can't be assigned to Laurelhurst doesn't hold. It is actually much easier, safer and nicer walk to Laurelhurst Elementary from Hawthorne Hills than it is to walk to Sandpoint.

Alas, the gerrymandering of Sandpoint along with it being the school to take all the regional ELL students means that that school faces particular challenges that are making it unattractive to middle class home-owning families. My neighbor's child was in the inaugural kindergarten class. She wanted very much for it to work. But the relatively small class in September grew to 31 students by January with no support (eventually an IA was hired). With the transient nature of the demographic, that's going to happen over and over. There were immediately dozens of languages spoken and the district finally provided a part time Spanish IA. Regardless, my neighbor and others doorbelled the entire area to talk up the school, because without the middle class families to add diversity and support... Well, they didn't convince any family to join. My neighbor sold her home and moved 10 blocks north (but that was not the main reason).

Libros's predictions were that Sandpoint would stabilize at 30% FRL. It will be twice that next year. Look it up on Zillow.com and see if that's not a civil rights lawsuit in the making.
Charlie Mas said…
Dorothy's information is interesting.

When the District has construction projects that get state matching funds they often have to affirm that the project will not significantly increase segregation. I wonder if any of the work to re-open Sand Point Elementary fell under that rule.
Bruce Taylor said…
At the time SPE was being reopened, I provided all of the board members with the FRL projections and warned them that SPE would crater if its FRL percentage was out of line with adjacent schools. In 2009, the FRL projections were:

Sand Point: 23%
Laurelhurst: 11%
Bryant: 6%
View Ridge: 5%

I urged the board members to roll out SPE as a language immersion option school.

That got zero traction, perhaps because it makes too much sense.

Designating SPE as language immersion option school for the Northeast could accomplish many objectives. The ELL population would be perceived as an asset. Students would be drawn away from the most crowded NE schools (Bryant, View Ridge, Thornton Creek). Redrawing Windermere and/or Belvedere Terrace and/or Hawthorne Hills into the Laurelhurst attendance area would help fill the 200 empty seats at Laurelhurst. And sending SPE students to Hamilton Middle School would ease overcrowding at Eckstein.
suep. said…
The Sandpoint gerrymandering is indeed curious. I wonder if it's an attempt by someone -- one or more of those anonymous JSCEE "staffers" or their unelected pals at LEV, Alliance and the jewelry business -- to make the school "ripe" (vulnerable) for a charter-ish takeover. That's the kind of population that is targeted by certain charter franchises (KIPP, Inc. or Rocketship Education).

By the way, the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings in California, who helped bankroll the 1240 charter school ballot initiative here in Washington, is a member of Rocketship's "National Strategy Board."

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