|
Frequently Asked Questions -
Opening Buildings
|
|
Why are you
opening buildings?
A primary goal of our new student assignment plan
is to balance the availability of schools with where students live
now and where enrollment changes are projected for the future. As
we developed our plan, we closely studied enrollment projections
out to 2015 and the capacity of our buildings. Overall, enrollment
is trending up. In some areas of the city, buildings currently in
use can’t accommodate projected enrollment. To make
sure neighborhoods have the schools they need for increasing
numbers of students, we propose opening several buildings that are
currently closed in specific areas of the city where enrollment has
increased or is expected to increase by 2015.
Top
Which buildings
will you open and when?
We are proposing that the School Board consider
opening buildings in areas of the city where enrollment has trended
up or is projected to increase and the buildings currently in use
can’t accommodate projected enrollment.
The schools that we are proposing the School
Board consider opening are Sand Point (to open in 2010); Viewlands,
Rainier View, Old Hay (to open in 2011); and McDonald (to open in
2012). We are proposing that Old Hay be an all-Montessori option
school.
Pending School Board approval, we anticipate that
students within the attendance areas of Old Hay and McDonald would
attend school at the Lincoln interim site until the Old Hay and
McDonald buildings are ready for occupancy.
Students in the Rainier View attendance area who
need an assignment will be assigned to Emerson for 2010-11; then
the Rainier View building will open in fall 2011. Students may stay
at Emerson or apply to Rainier View if they choose.
Students in the Viewlands attendance area who
need an assignment will be assigned to Broadview-Thomson for
2010-11; then Viewlands will open in fall 2011.Students may stay at
Broadview-Thomson or apply to Viewlands if they choose.
Top
What will it cost
to open buildings and where will you get the
funds?
We are developing estimates for the costs to open
these schools and will share them with the community in the coming
days. Funds to meet the needs of increased enrollment are included
in the proposed BTA III levy which will be on the ballot on
February 9, 2010.
Top
What type of
programs will be in each of these buildings?
We are committed to having attendance area
schools with sufficient capacity to serve current and projected
enrollment. We look forward to working with each community to
create a quality school for their children, and we will develop a
process for doing that after the Board has voted on the boundaries
for the new student assignment plan. For Old Hay, we believe that a
Montessori program would fill a need in the geographic
area.
Top
There are many
aspects to opening a school, including curriculum choices,
staffing, daycare options, organizing parent communities and more.
What is District’s timeline for making these
decisions?
Once School Board makes a decision to open a
facility, staff will begin to plan for the academic and
operational needs at each school. Principal and
staffing decisions will be made in March. Design
teams will be organized in late spring to develop plans
to be ready to open the school.
Top
How can you
justify opening buildings when you have just closed
buildings?
We are committed to having attendance area
schools with sufficient capacity to serve current and projected
enrollment in that area.
Enrollment is trending up, and it appears that
growth may exceed the “moderate level” growth
projection that we used to create proposed boundaries. It became
clear as we worked to draw proposed maps that we needed to open
additional buildings.
In November 2008 when the board addressed
short-term capacity shortages in the North and Queen Anne/Magnolia
areas, we acknowledged that opening one or more buildings would
need to be part of the longer-term solution.
When the Board voted to close Old Hay in January
2009, it was with the provision that we might need to bring the
building back on line if enrollment continued to increase as
projected.
Top
What would you say
to staff and families who were affected by school closure over the
past several years, especially those who were part of the Rainier
View and Viewlands communities?
We acknowledge that the news about opening
several buildings may be difficult to hear for some staff and
families.
The current plan includes consideration of
enrollment to 2015; long-term capacity management and the new
student assignment plan. The planning is integrated in a way that
means we can provide schools close to home for our families and
have a student assignment plan that is predictable, equitable and
easy for families to understand.
Rainier View and Viewlands will have been closed for four years
(June 2007 to fall 2011) before opening; McDonald and Sand Point
were closed in the 1980’s.
We are committed to working with each school
community to create excellent programs that allow each child to
thrive.
Top
Comments or questions on the New Student
Assignment Plan - Opening Buildings?
Last Updated:
November 18, 2009
Designates
documents that require Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer.
Click
here for instructions on how to download and install Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
Top
