Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have had no time to check this info out but it is available so I'm putting up this link for anyone who wants to see enrollment data for 2011-2012.

For some reason, the District has not posted this year's enrollment reports on the District web site . They are posted by Research, Evaluation and Assessment which is led by Mark Teoh. The District has the reports; Mr. Teoh just hasn't posted them. Nice transparency. Meg Diaz, however, got the October 1 enrollment report (pre-adjusted). You can see it here . As I flipped through it, a few of the numbers jumped out at me. * Rainier Beach High School The 9th grade enrollment is only 93. The budget was based on a projected AAFTE of 169 in the 9th grade. Total enrollment was funded to 402 AAFTE while the October 1 count shows an FTE of 345.72. The actual AAFTE is coming in 56 students lower than the projection. That's got to have an effect on the funding and the staffing. * STEM 9th grade enrollment at Cleveland is 277. That's in excess of the 250 student cap. * Crowded High Schools 9th grade enrollment at Franklin is 411. Four years of that would be 1644 - wa...

So in a wrap-up to last week's Board meeting (which I left at half-time), here's some highlights:

CFO Bob Boesche sent Dorothy Neville a reply and a follow-up to her questions about understaffing and its ramifications on the first day of school.  I personally was a bit confused by some of his answers and I guess the only answer at this point is to wait and see.  But, keep in mind, the Board and the staff knew that any poor outcomes were entirely possible and did nothing to protect the most likely to be overenrolled schools. His first e-mail said this (and I edited it down): The attached document should provide additional specifics, but I want to clarify that this is not a "hiring freeze" in the traditional sense. Hiring freezes are often long-term in nature. In this case, we will be making key adjustments within the first two weeks of the school year. Decisions will be based upon actual enrollment, addressing schools which are under, as well as over, in staffing. In the past, SPS often did not take away staff at schools which were under-enrolled. We can no lon...

This is a sort of weird idea that just struck me, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right about this. With the entire APP cohort moved out of Lowell, the school building's enrollment next year is likely to be about 250 in a space that can easily accommodate 500. The Lowell building will be nowhere near capacity. As a result, there should be plenty of space available at Lowell for any student who chooses to enroll there. Are you unhappy with your child's elementary school assignment? Do you think Lowell would be a better choice for your child? Lowell should be available to any elementary student anywhere in the District. Transportation, however, will only be available for students living in the Lowell Transportation Service Area . The current map will clearly need to be updated as it suggests transportation available to half the city. If you're not happy with your child's assignment - or your children's assignment if you have siblings assigned to different...

Tracy Libros was kind enough to send this link along. She said she doesn't have a report on waitlisted non-attendeance area K sibs. There is also a link to checking a student's waitlist status. Both these links, along with other info, are at the Enrollment Information page .

At the meeting of the Demographic Task Force I got the enrollment projections - made in January and due to be revised in the coming weeks - for the 2011 enrollment at every school. I believe the data is in the Annual Enrollment Report . It includes a couple of interesting bits. Rainier Beach High School - incoming 9th grade. 2010 enrollment: 89; 2011 projection: 171 Here is an ambitious expectation that the incoming class will practically double (89+82). I asked about this projection and was told that it was primarily a consequence of constrained choice. Seats will not be available elsewhere, so students in that attendance area will be forced into Rainier Beach. Nice, huh? This reflects a continuation of the District's practice to push students into schools rather than try to pull students into schools. Other high schools where they expect a big changes in the size of the incoming 9th grade class include: Garfield , where the diversion of 50 APP students to Ingraham IB -...

Here's a link to the SPS webpage. The automatic enrollment/waitlist number is 252-0410 - you must have student's ID # and birthdate. (Thanks to all for the updates.)