Growing Pains

Rep Reuven Carlyle shared this e-mail he received today from an SPS student:

Dear Sen. Carlyle, 
today on the first day of school my mom told me to write to my state legislator because I came home so upset. 

I expected my first day of 8th grade to be awesome, but I walked in the door to find that the school was packed with over 1200 kids. Hamilton is a great school and I love the teachers and fellow students, but when 3 of my 6 classes were in portables and I had to sit with 5 other people at a 3-4 person desk, it did not feel like the school that I looked forward to coming back to. 

To make space for the portables installed this summer, we lost our outside play court, which was a favorite part of the day for many kids. Also, over 100 students arrived at school to find out that they did not have a locker, forcing them to carry their backpack around all day or share a small locker with a friend. 

I hope you can help our school so that our teachers can focus on learning and we can enjoy our classes instead of trying to figure out a way to do without enough space, tables, or lockers. Thank you!"

I also note this from Principal Brian Vance at Roosevelt High:

If you have not been on campus yet, you have not seen the new addition to the parking lot.  Our current enrollment is 1780 students.  This means we need more classroom space.  Two portables were installed this summer.  Good for overcrowding, bad for parking.  We lost 18 parking spaces.  We are encouraging students to use public transportation, bike, walk, carpool to school.  Neighborhood parking is getting even tighter and will get worse as several major construction projects plan on coming online this school year.   

One last reminder that school starts later(8:45am-3:15pm) and we will be running a different schedule.  I encourage you to talk with your student about the schedule and in particular, managing their hydration and nutrition during the day.  Lunch is later than many are used too, but we have an extended passing period after 2nd period to allow student a chance to eat a snack, get some water, etc.

But he continues (in what seems like good news):

One addition to our schedule this year is our RiderTime.  This is a 20 minute extension to period 2.  Students can use this time as a quiet study hall and we will be teaching students skills in Mindfulness on Thursdays.  I attached the first week lesson and powerpoint we will be following.  We want to keep families informed on what your students are learning and will email and/or post our lessons for you to review and learn along with your student.  Any questions you can contact myself or Erin Bailey.    

Comments

Anonymous said…
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Anonymous said…
I went to several meetings about this year's capacity crunch at Hamilton last year and the PTA/staff were reasonably good about publicizing the upcoming difficulties. So hopefully this wasn't a complete surprise. The good news is that the opening of Eaglestaff MS should alleviate the overcrowding next year. The bad news is that the district barely managed to get the portables to make this year manageable and the school has to squeak through.

If you're going to write letters to legislators I would concentrate on what can be fixed at this point. There is an upcoming high school crunch many of the of current the middle schoolers at Hamilton are going to experience that's probably going to be worse still.

-Crunched



Anonymous said…
I agree Ed Voter. I have also been really disappointed in Inslee's lack of leadership on McCleary. Great news for Connecticut though! Maybe if more states follow our legislators will be inspired to do the right thing for the children of this state.

BT
Anonymous said…
Between the Boeing deal and his lack of leadership on Education, Inslee's head may delivered on a platter in November...make that an ice berg.

Disappointed Dem
Flabbergasted said…
I realize this is off-topic (although related to the subject of "pain"), but I am desperate to know what to do about a situation at my son's middle school. Last year his 6th grade math teacher was MIA for much of the year, leaving his class with a parade of subs (some of which were completely inept). This year, he starts day one with a SUB for 7th grade math because the assigned teacher quit two weeks ago. And apparently the 6th grade teacher has resigned as well, so 6th grade math STILL has a sub. Parents are angry, but aside from emailing/calling/meeting with the principal, what is to be done here? Who do I contact in the district, and how can this situation be remedied?
Anonymous said…
Flabbergasted, there probably isn't anything you can do to get the district to fix it. Can you withdraw your student from math and part-time homeschool with online curriculum?

Realist
Anonymous said…
Wow flabber - this sounds exactly like the situation at HIMS when we were there. We had to start attending class (taking off work to do it) in order to get the principal to finalize the staff situation. This job is squarely the responsibility of the Principal and often they will not advocate for their school with the district to obtain more staffing because it ruins their "career pathway". We ended up leaving HIMS for JAMS because of this problem (and others).

-SPS Parent
Flabbergasted, here's what I would say:

- you write to the principal and cc the Ex Dir for your region and cc the board (spsdirectors@seattleschools.org.) Tell your principal this is unacceptable especially for a second year in a row. (Frankly, I can't believe the principal - after last year - didn't make this a priority.)

- if it does not get fixed, you need to get parents together and go to Board meetings and call this out, meeting after meeting.

- Do what Realist said but tell the principal that is what you are going to be doing and you need the principal's help to do it.
Anonymous said…
Our child had a MIA teacher due to personal/medical issues/substance abuse and we wish we had done what Realist suggested. Plus it was elementary, so it wasn't just one class. It was a lost year. Homeschooling may not be an option for most families, but you need to make sure your child covers the material while the district works through the process of finding teachers. Finding a qualified teacher while following the district and union processes simply takes time. Follow the normal channels by writing to the principal and cc'ing the Executive Director, but also offer to help in any way you can. Are there any parents that can help in class? Energy spent helping the students directly will be the best use of parent time.

At a minimum, find some math materials for home so your child does not get further behind. Kuta software has some basic (free!) worksheets which we have used over the years. They cover topics from pre-algebra through precalculus.

https://www.kutasoftware.com/freeipa.html

And two teachers resigning just before school starts? What's up with that? Certainly seems odd.

-been there
Outsider said…
Hmmm... Seattle undergoes the greatest growth spurt in its history, and the schools are crowded. I think we need a six-figure consulting contract to figure this out. No one could have seen it coming. But maybe if we build 6,000 new ticky tacky condo boxes in back yards, the problem will be solved.
Anonymous said…
My high school aged daughter has Language Arts in one of the new portables at RHS. One of her first observations of her class of 33 (she said that is what the teacher said the class size was) was that the teacher needs to speak loudly because there is a lot of traffic noise. Imagine what it will be like with construction noise. I understand the overcrowding and need for portables and that another high school will be opening in a couple years, but huge bummer for learning distractions. My 5th grader is in a portable this year with no bathroom or running water so she gave me a long description of their bathroom pass rules and how she can't forget a very full water bottle everyday.

NE Mom of 3
Anonymous said…
Ballard is over 1900 students, no portables. Hearing accounts of students not getting six classes.

Capacity crisis has arrived.



HS parent


1900! I wonder what Garfield is at. I always thought Garfield or Roosevelt would be the biggest.
Anonymous said…
My Ingraham senior has 3 core classes that are offered only one period per day, all of which conflict with a IB Lang/Lit 2 class that went from 4 classes last year to 3 classes this year. Choosing different classes isn't possible as the courses are either the 2nd year of a 2 year (HL) course, my student has already taken the alternatives or it would mean that she couldn't do the IB diploma or wouldn't be completing the prerequisites for application to a 4 year college. We're not sure what the workable option is.

Ingraham is up to 1300 students this year, the most in 8 years and with classes of 38 or so, most teachers are really teaching close to 200 students. When we talked with the counselor, it was clear that there are a lot of IHS students with scheduling problems and that it will be difficult to work them out. Quite a few classes have 35+ students in them. The strain on every part of the school is apparent.

Tami
Anonymous said…
Actually, the Ingraham counselor posted yesterday on the Ingraham FB page that there are almost 1400 students now after 30 new students enrolled in the last 2 days. That's up from 750 students 5 years ago (before HCC was added to Ingraham).

Momof2
Anonymous said…
My son who is a sophomore was moved out of schools in 5th grade and 8th grade because of overcrowding (Lowell to Lincoln and Hamilton to JAMS). It's tough to start over in a school for only one year - twice - where you are only there while they're getting all the bugs out in the first year.

I'm not too hopeful that he will make it through high school without major over-capacity issues, since Lincoln will be re-opened and Ingraham will have a major addition both after he graduates.

Momof2

Karrie said…
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Anonymous said…
Also, the option school/waitlist deadline issue is coming true. At QAE, there were waitlisted kids at every grade k-3 who didn't get in. Now, there are many kids who are not showing up and class sizes are at or below 20 in some cases. So can the kids who were waitlisted still get in? OR do the non-option schools/neighborhood schools stay full, take all new kids and the option schools are below capacity? That was a predicted and expected outcome of dissolving waitlists in mid August.

QAE Parent
Charlie Mas said…
Why isn't there any help from the City in the form of impact fees for schools?
Oh, right, I forgot. The City of Seattle is owned and operated by and for real estate developers, so there's no way that the City would assess any sort of tax on them for the infrastructure their new housing units will require.
Anonymous said…
I second the vote for impact fees! If the city is intent on adding capacity, it needs to add services as well. There is no way to separate the two.

NW Mom
Anonymous said…
Charlie nailed it.

Criminal Mayor
Anonymous said…
The City needs to open all community centers as schools. Sorry pickle ball grandma...kids are more important.

Where are the news stations on this disconnect between the city and schools and the problem created by rapid development with no school infrastructure in place to absorb the increased enrollment?

This isn't a surprise.

Ridiculous
Jan said…
Sorry, ridiculous. Kids are NOT more important than grandmas. This is the sort of thing that perpetuates really terrible age discrimination. However, I think it IS true that:

1. Making public space available for K-12 education of children is more important than making public space available for the recreational needs of anyone (including grandma). See -- NOT a "useless old people" thing at all -- a matter of prioritizing space for the most important civic needs.

2. Historically, because old people can vote -- and kids cannot (though their parents can), it seems to me that public policy in this country has often shorted children at the expense of adults (of all ages -- once again -- not an "age discrimination" thing -- ALL adults). The funding of cancer research is a great example. Many many millions go to breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancer research (virtually ALL adult diseases). The statistic I have heard is that only about 4% of federal cancer research dollars goes to pediatric cancer research. The testing of drugs for pediatric use suffers from the same problem.

So yes -- if the city has space, I think it would be great if they made it available, but I think you should lose the "pickle ball grandma" stuff.
Anonymous said…
Charlie- I agree entirely with impact fees. My child also is struggling again this year, 35+ in all middle school classes. However, Eaglestaff MS will help if it opens on time next year. I agree that the high school capacity is the main issue. The addition to Ingraham & Lincoln opening will happen after things implode. Most all high schools are significantly over capacity & some expecting hundreds more. The really bad news is that the district has no interim plan in place until the addition & Lincoln. For those who have not seen high school enrollment projections, here is the link to 5 year report from 2015. Looks like some schools are even over their projections this year.
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Enrollment%20Planning/Projections/5%20Year%20Projections%202015%20to%202020%20(Feb%202016%20Update).pdf
-MF

Anonymous said…
Sorry , Jan. I was just being sarcastic. The city should evaluate what would be the most beneficial use of space before 3:30 pm, and I believe our kids need the space more for the next three years than the current users who have other schedule and location options.

Ridiculous
Anonymous said…
SPS Capacity Management and Planning lists 2015-16 capacities for each school. Numbers reflect capacities before portables installed for 2016-17. Number in parentheses is May 2016 student count.

High Schools

Ballard: 1,607 (1684)
Center School: 276 (247)
Chief Sealth Intl: 1,285 (1113)
Cleveland STEM: 926 (817)
Franklin: 1,397 (1228)
Garfield: 1,594 (1666)
Ingraham: 1,194 (1214)
Nathan Hale: 1,158 (1141)
Nova: 510 (312)
Rainier Beach: 1,176 (633)
Roosevelt: 1,215 (1647)
Seattle World School : 343
South Lake: 286
West Seattle HS: 1,215 (940)

Hamilton is 985.

-sardine
Anonymous said…
My daughter is a junior at Ingraham and said several of her classes have 40 kids.

Jane.
Anonymous said…
I'm curious as to what you think an interim solution for HS capacity would be or what a faster solution should have entailed. There doesn't seem to be any place within the district-owned properties to put high school students until they bring Lincoln back online, which can't happen until it's renovated, which can't happen until Cascadia and Eagle Staff are open so the current students can move out. From what I understand, SPS is working on opening any previously closed schools as funds become available for renovations/modernization/replacement. Without impact fees to help fund the purchase of land, where does another school go?

Genuinely wondering
Anonymous said…
1) should have opened eaglestaff as a high school
2) option high schools with popular foci- 400 kids, can go in many more places. Just a couple would take enormous pressure off.

-sleeper
Anonymous said…
"Without impact fees to help fund the purchase of land, where does another school go?"

SPS owns a lot of parcels around town that are leased out. The Lake City Professional center, Oak Tree shopping center, etc. There is also former SPS land that could be obtained through eminent domain (Queen Anne High, Maple Leaf Elementary )...

--Sadbutnotsurprised
Anonymous said…
I predict some high schools will have to go to extended school days until Lincoln comes on line. For example, if the school is open from 7am - 5pm with 10 possible class periods and students are in class 6 of the 10 periods, then some mastermind scheduler can make sure they all get their classes. Of course, that suspends the 8:45am start and extends end of day which would interfere with sports but if there's no other way to fit them in, then that's the option.

Ballard Parent
Joe Wolf said…
Re: New high school capacity

The Board has to date stated they do not support small "foci/boutique" high schools. The high school ed spec is for comprehensive schools of 1,600-1,700 students.

All the district properties sadbutnotsuprised references are occupied by tenants. The one that was a high school is on a 99-year lease.

Things can sound easy until ... well, you actually have to do them.
Anonymous said…
Maybe it would help to not call them boutique high schools.

In all seriousness I think given the enormity of the crisis it's time to think about whether whatever reasons they have for not supporting option high schools is more important than the loss of education so many thousands of high school students are facing. I agree with you that it is a difficult problem without many solutions. So that the board would airily "not support" something that could actually help is breathtakingly callous at the very best.

-sleeper
Anonymous said…
The Board and staff should have listened to knowledgeable parents warning about this coming capacity crisis and opened a 2,000 student high school on the Eagle Staff site.

But they didn't - and the students will suffer for the next 3 years, if not more. More, since Lincoln not having field space will have tremendous repercussions to their students as well as many users of field spaces all over the city. And since the Eagle Staff school won't have any auditorium for middle school students to perform music or drama, there will be longstanding repercussions in terms of who wants to go there, the inequity this creates, etc.

Momof2
Anonymous said…
A note re: the situation outlined by Tami above.

Kellie LaRue noted in the comments on this blog a few months ago that High School is the master schedule .

The struggles that Tami has indicated above are a problem with the master schedule, which is a giant optimization problem. Unless you have a little wiggle room (capacity wise) with some classes that are a touch under enrolled, it will be extremely difficult to solve the optimization problem for all students.

And then you get situations like Tami's, where her student will probably have to look towards Running Start to knock out a pre-req or two at night (hey, taking Spanish at night at North Seattle CC during your senior year of high school won't be so bad, right?)

northwesterner
Anonymous said…
Also - can't visualize Ballard with 1900 students.

It is a school building that was poorly designed, with difficult interior circulation, and some extremely small classrooms (the middle room on the south side of all the learning pods - with the folding walls on both sides). Additionally, there were other cost saving decisions taken including the single chemistry lab with two (very small) class rooms on each side to "share" that become major bottlenecks to operating an efficient school with an optimized master schedule. The school was way underbuilt for its site (substantially smaller than old Ballard) and has to be absolutely miserable with that many students housed in it.

northwesterner
Anonymous said…
Sleeper,

If Eagle Staff had been a high school, what about the middle school crowding at Hamilton? Would you have put another middle school at Lincoln?

Sadbutnotsurprised,
Do schools have eminent domain authority?


Genuinely Wondering
Anonymous said…
According to people who studied this issue, they suggested Eagle Staff be a 2,000 seat high school on a site that would have plenty of room for that in one school, that Lincoln be a middle school and Hamilton be repurposed as an elementary. Eagle Staff HS would have had room for fields and Lincoln has an auditorium.

Momof2
Anonymous said…
Why didn't they take the recommendations of people who studied the issue?

Not soHopeful
Watching said…
Joe,

Care to explain "boutique" school? I've not heard that term, before.
Charlie Mas said…
A boutique school is one smaller than a traditional comprehensive school. In Seattle, where the traditional comprehensive high schools have a capacity of 1200-1600, the boutique high schools (The NOVA Project and The Center School) have a capacity of about 400.
Anonymous said…
The boutique international 6-12 schools in Bellevue and Kirkland are top in the country and highly sought after.

More choice
Anonymous said…
@Mom of 2, 1400 is a lot of growth, but Ingraham's population hasn't doubled in 5 years. I have another student who entered in 2009 and Ingraham was just over 1000 students then, with Mr. Floe claiming that 1200 was the "sweet-spot" during his opening remarks at the first meeting for the PTSA (now PTO). 1400 is too much for the iHS building as it is now.

@northwesterner - Running Start could be an option if my student hadn't already committed to doing the IB diploma, classes which aren't offered at North Seattle. Dropping the diploma isn't something we are considering. Kellie's right about the schedule. In my opinion there are 2 immovable objects in SPS - the schedule and the budget. If you can't get past them, it isn't possible.

I was wrong in thinking that my student wouldn't be affected so much by the increase in student population as she is in the last class that isn't huge. The consolidation of 4 IB Lang/Lit classes into 3 classes (of a much larger size) means less flexibility for the students. Combined with a slightly unusual class choice, this means there is no possibility for her chosen schedule Yet, IHS needs the classrooms and teachers for the increased number of students.

Our solution may be independent study for one class. She's done it before and it worked out, but it isn't ideal, nor is it really an option for all students. We need options that work for all.

Tami
Po3 said…
It's time to pull out all the stops and get creative!

The Center School is under-enrolled. The district needs to find out why. They need to look into making it a larger school by renting additional space to offer up 700 seats call it a mid-sized high school. Add sports, they can take advantage of Memorial Stadium. Whatever it takes to add HS seats in the middle of Seattle.

Cleveland is not at capacity, why? Time to take a look at STEM and if not attracting students turn it back into an assignment area school and fill it to the brim.

And what is up at WS high school with almost 300 empty seats? Time to fix that problem.

These three suggestions could offer up nearly 1000 seats. So why aren't we hearing anything from the board, the district?

Why do we just hear, "when Lincoln opens up...?"
Watching, Center School is a boutique high school. A small high school with a focus and usually very little in the way of athletics. Center was opened to address the issue of the lack of a high school for Magnolia/Queen Anne (this was Don Nielsen's doing) and using Seattle Center for its site. The siting made sense with access to arts groups but that's about it. It did not solve the issue at hand, the district leases the space and now it appears that Center's arts focus is definitely lessening.

It's okay when you have what you need for capacity but that was never the case.

Po3, you would drastically change Center if the district did what you said. However, maybe that would be for the best. What you are suggesting is a comprehensive high school which is just what Magnolia and Queen Anne parents wanted all along.

Yes, good question about Cleveland; I think that's more about propping up Rainier Beach.

Why are you just hearing about Lincoln opening? It's a good question and one I think that may be answered by yesterday's Ex Ctm meeting.

They are revamping the BAR format for Board meeting (Board Action Report). You may think what this template looks like is a housekeeping item but it's not. There are some additions and some deletions (I'll have a separate thread.)

But to this discussion, what was taken out was "alternatives" to any given BAR. Directors asked that this be put back because they want to know what, if any, alternatives to what the BAR is proposing have been considered by staff.

There is this very real tension between staff and the Board on this point. (And it's all Boards and all staffs.) The staff is comprised of professionals who want to do their job while meeting legal requirements and the oversight of the Board. But many on the Board want to know what staff considered AND why they chose the solution they did. I think staff doesn't always want to explain; they want the Board to accept their considered plan.

So, staff thinks Lincoln will solve it all when, in fact, there are other solutions.

Lynn said…
Don't forget the 200 seats at NOVA - just two blocks from Garfield.

I read something the other day that indicated the district is planning to phase out middle school grades at Madrona in a year when Meany reopens. That's a smart decision given the expense of operating small middle school programs.

Cleveland's enrollment is kept artificially low to increase enrollment at Rainier Beach. West Seattle has not had a reputation for being a great school for advanced students. Enrollment will increase as huge groups of kids move up from Lafayette, Schmitz Park and Fairmount Park with nowhere else to go.
Po3 said…
"Don't forget the 200 seats at NOVA - just two blocks from Garfield."

NOVA's program is too unique to force enrollment, so not did not include in my list of suggestions.

I guess I am thinking that the Center School could be school for QA/MAG and DT students if made into a mid-sized comprehensive school.

In taking a look at their website, I am starting to see why enrollment may be on the decline:

Course catalog is from 2011-2012
Still listing HSPE as grad requirement
School involvement page is empty
Last update on the homepage is 6/23/2016.

Does staff understand that the school's website is the point of entry for prospective students? Time for the exec director to light a fire and get those remaining seats filled...at the very least!

Did Cleveland have a waitlist for this fall? Important to know because if it didn't that indicates declining enrollment. If it did, then it shows forced enrollment cap.

Increasing enrollment at West Seattle should be a #1 priority!


What do these executive directors do every day?
Anonymous said…
The scary thing is that the 5 year enrollment projection report projects hundreds more students (Ballard 2000, Garfield 2300! etc) the next few years until Lincoln opens. If things are broken now, they will get even worse next year and the year after. It is a crisis if kids are not getting classes they need to gradate and are sharing desks. This is unacceptable & an interim solution is what they need to figre out.

Genuinely Wondering-Let's be clear, it is not parents job to figure it out, it is the job of our state and district administrators to figure it out. The mayor should also be involved with mandating impact fees. It is part of managing growth. They did it on Mercer Island & passed a levy that has funded new schools by charging impact fees to developers. Why not Seattle? It seems the district does not listen much to parents who suggest ideas & perhaps not to consultants they hire either.
-MF
The never ending question of "What do those Ex Directors do all day?" No idea.
seattle citizen said…
Ballard has 1906 registered, but anticipates the usual attrition and to end up at about 1750+ for the year.
The plan for the future, evidently, is to place a double portable by the middle entrance on the north side (in the space now occupied be the old day-care playground, and then possible a double portable out by the track.

That would add, what, 120 more seats. If capacity is now 1607, adding 120 seats brings BHS up to 1727, still not enough to comfortably seat the 1750 anticipated this year.

if a projection of 2000 is accurate, BHS would need an additional nine portable classrooms BEYOND the aforementioned planned two double-wides. Where these would go, I have no idea. Staff parking? Football field? Apartments and condos are rapidly surrounding the school (a nine-story building is going in just south across 65th; north of 67th is almost filled with skinny condos; north on 15th is rapidly building up apartments - there WILL be no other parking for staff. Or students.
Anonymous said…
Just want to add that a school needs more than portables to accommodate such severe overcrowding. For example, my daughter cannot make it through crowded hallways to get to her locker and does not go the bathroom in between classes or at lunch as the line is down the hall etc. She also carries her backpack to all classes (although against teacher rules) to avoid being late.
-Maria
Anonymous said…
All those schools closed, and a big new fancy building downtown. Hindsight is 20/20, but they were warned. Heads should roll.

Not impressed
Anonymous said…
I agree with Po3, option schools should have the best websites. You want to attract students and families there. The website changes messed up Hale's website, I wonder if the Center School's suffered too.

HP
Po3 said…
HP - Hales website looks fine to me; lots of information about the school that gives a prospective family a sense of the school. Center has lots of Coffee with the Principal announcements, so somebody knows how to get stuff posted.

My point is: if a school has declining enrollment the exec director should be all over it and things like making sure the website is robust is just so basic.

The note about the big new fancy building downtown reminds me, there is tons of empty space at the big new fancy building downtown. Time to fill it with a high school. Make it a public admin/gov't focus.

Honestly, we really shouldn't be in this mess...there are options!

Ballard at 1900, good grief.
Not impressed, I am not happy with how the JSCEE building is an albatross around the neck of this district but fancy that building is not.

Is there space? Yup.
Anonymous said…
Re: eminent domain

If it is granted, and I don't know what the requirements are but usually it's a location imperative. You have to have this property because it is the only place the runway can go. Or you're widening the street so you need 4 feet of property. Doesn't apply here. And if it did, SPS would have to pay market rate for the property. So the old QA High School condos would be prohibitively expensive.

What about evening classes, say 2-hour classes twice a week, if the student opts for it, to fill out the schedule? So certain students would have 4 classes daily, plus two evenings a week they'd take the 5th as a night class. Would require schools to stay open two nights a week. Don't know if enough students would go for it, and you couldn't mandate it. Maybe CTE classes and draw professionals to teach them.

asdf
kellie said…
The high school problem is even larger than noted on this thread.

Because high school is the master schedule, the way that high school enrollment is reported makes the bulk of the high school problem invisible. This is because students will less than a full schedule are reported as part time students. Therefore the official number of 1700 FTE (full time equivalent) could represent 1800 or more individuals.

As many people have noted, when a student is unable to get their class via the master schedule they need to make "other arrangements" - running start, online classes, partial homeschool, etc.

Once a student becomes part time, they are then reported as part time and ... viola! problem solved. There was the September attrition that brought the numbers magically into the right range.

Unlike elementary school, where a student is placed into a homeroom, a high school student is NOT guaranteed any specific class.

Enrollment across the board has increased. however, the high school enrollment reports have been FLAT for 5 years, despite all of these increases. The reporting for high school enrollment needs to be adjusted or this problem will never improve.

I'll add to Kellie's thoughts that when the district loses a student to Running Start, online classes,etc., they also lose part of that student's funding.
Anonymous said…
When will the first enrollment reports come out?

HP
Anonymous said…
I'm wondering in the case of Roosevelt if SPS could use Eminent Domain to seize some of the Sisley properties just across the street? As these are properties with tear down structures and no development the cost might be reasonable -- a million or two vs. hundreds of millions.

-StepJ
seattle citizen said…
HP - October 1st is the official day for a count of who is in schools. I forget if this is district, state or frd, but October 1st count is the one to look for. The theory is that everyone has shaken out and us where they will be for the year.
So numbers on October 2nd?
Step J, the Sisley properties are now leased to a developer (and we wait, wait, wait for that land to be developed.) I wish the City could take them over but I don't think they would even want to try.

And when Lincoln reopens and the area around Roosevelt is built up, I suspect who gets to go to Roosevelt will become an interesting question.
Lynn said…
The International Schools task force has recommended that Lincoln be the pathway school for language immersion students at HIMS. That would pull students out of Roosevelt.

Ingraham's 500 seat addition will require redrawing boundaries too.
z said…
re: "who gets to go to Roosevelt"

It seems pretty likely that Lincoln will end up being the north end HCC high school, given the imminent enrollment numbers disaster, thanks to the obscene growth that has been allowed over the past decade. At that point it may very well be "who gets to go to Lincoln", as there will be demand for the program and resultant classes.

The downside of course is the continued erosion of APP/HCC, but at least it may provide a pull-driven safety valve for Roosevelt, rather than a "boot kids out" solution. Only time will tell, but Garfield will not survive more than a couple years as things are, and even that's going to be rough.
Anonymous said…
@ Lynn, the current pathway school for language immersion students at HIMS is Ingraham, not Roosevelt. Making Lincoln the new pathway might pull a few students from Roosevelt, but only those who would otherwise have opted out of the LI pathway and gone with the neighborhood school instead. Lincoln is also likely to be the neighborhood for school for many/most of those in LI in the north end, so the LI pathway itself probably won't do a whole lot of "pulling."

Also note that the number of 8th grade LI students isn't all that big at HIMS in the first place. Plus, many of the them are also HCC, and it remains to be seen what happens with HCC pathways, if they are even continued at the HS level. All in all, it doesn't seem like the LI pathway is likely to have a big impact on capacity issues.

Anonymous said…
Sorry, that was me at 2:25.

HF

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