West Seattle schools: 2 chances to talk about boundary changes, ‘other big district decisions’

West Seattle’s representative on the Seattle School Board, Marty McLaren, has just announced the dates for the informal meetings she promised to set up over the summer, to get your thoughts on boundary changes and other big district decisions later in the year:

The decisions about Seattle Schools Growth Boundaries in West Seattle will be very important for our community, and I’ve scheduled two informal West Seattle meetings so that community members can gather to discuss the issues:

Saturday, August 3, from 10 to 12 noon at the Southwest Branch Library, 9010 35th Ave SW

Wednesday, August 14, 6 to 7:45 PM at the West Seattle Branch Library, 2306 42nd SW (behind the Metropolitan Market)

Related district documents are linked from this page on her website.

Trying! July 26, 2013 (12:51 pm)

Will there be a discussion about the requirement that all new elementary schools have at least a 680 student capacity? If you follow the planning meetings for the new Genesee Hill School it’s obvious that the property’s topography does not lend itself to a 680 student school (at least a third of the property contains critical slopes), the planners admit that it will be very expensive and complicated to build such a school on this site.

Wess Cider July 26, 2013 (5:17 pm)

@Trying – You are being too logical. That’s not how we run schools around here. ;)

KTS July 29, 2013 (10:36 pm)

Trying!, if you wish to discuss capacity issues, I suggest contacting Marty McLaren directly to ask whether this will be covered at her meetings (and whether the district is even open to adjusting their numbers at this point). It sounds like the focus will be more about where boundaries will be drawn around schools for purposes of which students will be assigned to particular schools. The reopening of certain schools (such as Fairmount Park) will affect boundaries for the others, as will projected changes in demographics. By the way, I believe the district has said that the new Genesee Hill school will have 660 students, rather than 680 students. (Not a big difference, but important nevertheless.) I have also heard the principal of Schmitz Park say he expects the boundaries for the new Genesee Hill school to be smaller than the current boundaries for Schmitz Park School.

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