Patu Asks for Postponement on Growth Boundaries Vote

From the updated School Board agenda for Wednesday:

Board President Patu has requested to postpone action on this item and any amendments to the November 16th Board meeting to allow for a Board Work Session on November 09th to discuss Director Amendments.

 I have to believe that most directors will go along with this action, given how complicated the work is before them.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good for her. They need more time. But I have one concern: they also need more information. That's the reason for the motion to postpone that was included along with the amendments--they need more information on middle school pathways (e.g., HCC) before they can make decisions on the revised middle school assignment areas. Delaying things a bit so they can have more discussion doesn't clear this up at all, unless downtown staff are working on the middle school analysis and will present their recommended pathways now, for consideration.

My fear is that the newly proposed delay will just feed the "we have to act NOW" mentality and they'll end up passing something next time, but WITHOUT the middle school issue solved. Way too many students will be assigned to Hamilton and Eagle Staff, and Whitman and Eckstein will be short. Then they'll have to come up with an emergency plan at the last minute. Again.

Let's get the middle school issue figured out NOW. Hey JSCEE staff, how about you release a draft NSAP document that addresses the middle school pathways by this Friday, and include projections that reflect these pathways and neighborhood boundaries.

rb
11/1/16, 8:56 AM
kellie said…
This is very encouraging news. In all the years I have testified on capacity issues, I have never seen a vote delayed so that the board could hold a work session on amendments.

Capacity Management and School Closures votes have typically been at the first meeting in November. During board election years, this is often the last vote of the outgoing board. It is both excellent that this is a non election year for board members and that Board President Betty Patu has taken a clear stance on to prioritize the student experience when making capacity decisions.

The amendments do a good job of addressing the many community concerns about elementary school. However, as rb noted, there is very little to balance out the middle school feeder patterns.

Hopefully, a work session will help to re-balance the middle schools so that all of the middle schools can offer a "comprehensive" experience.
11/1/16, 4:02 PM
TechyMom said…
Good for her!
11/1/16, 7:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Ditto! I appreciate the care and consideration of our current School Board.

-North-end Mom
11/1/16, 8:32 PM
Anonymous said…
So has the school board vote actually been postponed? Or does the board need a majority vote to postpone this? Any board members making specific requests for data and relevant information to be able to make better decisions at the postponed decision date?

Concerned Hamilton and Cascadia mom
11/2/16, 11:44 AM
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