Four places where your presence could make a big difference tonight:

SCHOOL BOUNDARIES MEETING: 6:30 pm at Denny International Middle School, the final in a series of citywide meetings about Seattle Public Schools boundary changes. As explained in our recent preview, the only one proposed for our area is moving Sanislo Elementary back into the Denny/Sealth feeder zone, just a few years after it was moved into the Madison/WSHS zone. See the maps on page 18 of the meeting slide deck. (2601 SW Kenyon)

HOW TO GET FUNDED WITH SEATTLE PARK DISTRICT $: The voter-approved Seattle Park District levy has money for community-initiated projects/programs – tonight at 6:30 pm at Southwest Teen Life Center, learn how to apply for it. Details are in our calendar listing. (2801 SW Thistle)

FAUNTLEROY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: 7 pm at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, the FCA’s board meeting is open to the public. Note that this week’s hottest citywide topic is part of the heart of the agenda:

Fall Festival
Community Issues and Concerns – Officer Jon Flores
Fauntleroy Community Parking Subcommittee
City Council Proposal on Homeless Encampments
New Neighbor Bags
West Seattle Police Precinct Update – Lt Ron Smith
Ferry Update

(9131 California SW)

ADMIRAL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: 7 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral, ANA’s agenda highlights – detailed in our calendar listing – include Southwest Seattle Historical Society updates and the Westside Neighbors Network. (42nd SW/SW Lander)

ALSO ON THE WSB WEST SEATTLE EVENT CALENDAR: Three live-music venues, two karaoke venues, and a free family movie! Just browse the calendar here – open any listing by clicking the plus sign to see the preview, and then click “read more” to get the full listing, including a map.

(Multicolor area is what Denny/Sealth attendance area will look like with Sanislo – here’s what it looks like now)

Seattle Public Schools is about to launch a round of citywide community meetings to talk about boundary changes for next school year. Most were approved three years ago, but some “amendments” are proposed, and that includes one in West Seattle – moving Sanislo Elementary back to the Denny International Middle School/Chief Sealth International High School feeder zone, just two years after it was moved out of that zone and into the Madison MS/West Seattle HS zone. From the district website:

Staff recommends that the entire Sanislo Elementary School attendance area be re-aligned with the Denny International Middle School attendance area and feeder pattern. This would return the Sanislo feeder pattern to Denny for middle school.

Additionally, staff recommends that the addition of Sanislo into the Denny feeder pattern be aligned with the high school boundaries. This would mean that the Chief Sealth International High School attendance area would include Sanislo beginning in 2017-18. Currently Denny feeds into Chief Sealth and Madison feeds into West Seattle High School, thus this alignment would be necessary if Sanislo is in the Denny feeder pattern.

Why these amendments are being recommended:

Sanislo moved into the Madison Middle School feeder pattern in 2015-16; since then, Madison has become an option site for the Highly Capable Cohort. Updated enrollment and capacity information for Madison (and Denny) support returning Sanislo into Denny.

The district has also received school community feedback in support of this move. Over the past two years, many rising 5th grade Sanislo students have completed choice applications to attend Denny for 6th grade. With this amendment, only Sanislo’s middle school feeder pattern would change. Sanislo’s elementary attendance area will remain the same.

The district says it is NOT planning on grandfathering middle-school students in change areas, so anyone in the Sanislo attendance zone who would be at Madison next year will be reassigned to Denny (unless they get a “choice” spot). The West Seattle meeting to discuss this change (and any in the rest of the city, if you’re interested) is set for 6:30 pm Tuesday, October 11th, in the library at Denny (2601 SW Kenyon). That’s the last of the meetings around the city, and shortly after that, the boundary-plan amendments including this one will go to the School Board for approval.

(Alki photo by Michael Zaton)

Looks like one more day of the endlessly blue sky and sea. From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today/tonight:

DROP-IN HOMEWORK HELP: 4-7 pm, Homework Help volunteers are available at High Point Library, for K-12 students. (35th SW and SW Raymond)

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOUNDARIES/STUDENT ASSIGNMENT PLAN MEETING: No big boundary changes in the current West Seattle plan, but the ones that are in the works for next year – explained in our preview – are the subject of a meeting tonight, 6:30 pm, at Schmitz Park Elementary. (5000 SW Spokane)

WEST SEATTLE HI-YU: 7 pm at Admiral Congregational Church, it’s the monthly meeting for West Seattle Hi-Yu, which is currently inviting youth to apply for its new Ambassador Program. Come to the meeting to see how you can help with anything and everything Hi-Yu is up to. (California SW & SW Hill)

‘BOOKTOBERFEST’ AT SKYLARK: 7:30 pm, match wits with librarians, who are going around the city this month for special events like this round of “bookish and library-themed trivia” at The Skylark. (3803 Delridge Way SW)

LOOK INTO THE FUTURE … by browsing our complete calendar.

(Photo by Mark Wangerin – common loon snacking on a starry flounder)
Before we get any further into Wednesday – highlights from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:

MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOKFAIR: One of the school fundraisers we’re spotlighting is the Madison Middle School Bookfair – and in addition to on-campus purchase opportunities, there’s a way to participate online too – explained in our calendar item.

‘GROWTH BOUNDARIES’ THIRD DRAFT AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING: While the vote is two weeks away, the introduction of the third and potentially final draft of the “Growth Boundaries” for Seattle Public Schools happens at tonight’s meeting. (Here’s our report from Friday, when the draft was published – read the comments for more info from people who’ve been reviewing it.) The meeting starts at 4:15 pm, but this isn’t until the 6 pm (and beyond) section, which also includes the Intermediate Capacity-Management Plan, featuring the designation of E.C. Hughes as a future emergency site and the change of Boren to be the permanent home of K-5 (future K-8) STEM. Here’s the agenda. (3rd/Lander – comments also are still being taken at growthboundaries@seattleschools.org)

DANCE TIME WITH LAUREN PETRIE: The popular musician plays at the Senior Center of West Seattle tonight for a 6-8 pm dance; details in our calendar listing. (California/Oregon)

MURRAY CSO ‘PRE-CONSTRUCTION MEETING’: Before construction gets going on the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control storage-tank project across from Lowman Beach Park, King County Wastewater Treatment Division invites you to a meeting tonight for information and Q/A re: what’s about to happen. Fauntleroy Church, 6:30 pm. (9140 California SW)

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: Tonight’s meeting includes a briefing on the city’s move toward requiring owners of unreinforced-brick buildings to retrofit them for earthquake safety, as previewed here last weekend. The council also will talk about new leadership for next year. 6:30 pm, Southwest Teen Life Center. (2801 SW Thistle)

‘POWER OF PARENTS’ AT WSHS PTSA: As previewed here earlier, the West Seattle High School PTSA invites the community to a “Power of Parents” workshop during tonight’s meeting, 7 pm in the school library. (3000 California SW)

ALSO AT WSHS – ‘DIARY OF ANNE FRANK’: The West Seattle High School Drama Club production – previewed here earlier this week – continues tonight, 7:30 pm, at the WSHS Theater. Details in our calendar listing. (3000 California SW)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWERS’ MEETING: As noted here earlier this week, the new Association of Cannabis Breeders and Growers – working to keep the medical-marijuana industry from being rendered extinct by the new recreational-marijuana industry – is having its first meeting at 8 pm at the VFW Hall in The Triangle. (3601 SW Alaska)

See our calendar for even more of what’s up tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, and beyond!

Tomorrow afternoon, when West Seattle’s School Board rep Steve Sundquist hosts a community chat at High Point Library (1-2:30 pm), a group plans to bring that graphic to his attention. It’s a mashup of Seattle Public Schools‘ newly revised attendance-area maps for West Seattle with data from the U.S. Census and other sources. The group, Friends of West Seattle Public Schools, says it shows that the new maps would “(divide) West Seattle along economic lines (and) undermine educational progress in West Seattle.”

The thick black line is the group’s approximation of the new line between the attendance areas for West Seattle HS/Madison MS and Chief Sealth HS/Denny MS attendance; the deeper-colored areas of the map are higher-income areas; there is a further gauge of economic demographics in each area – the triangles mark elementary schools, the white-centered triangles for schools where fewer than half the students qualify for free/reduced-price lunches, the soild-colored triangles for schools where a majority of students qualify for that assistance. The group says, “The originally proposed Sealth boundaries, if applied also to Denny, would be a good place for the district to start. It had a greater socio-economic / racial mix, while meeting the objective of fostering family engagement.”

Here’s a link to a longer statement the group has made. They are urging anyone else who’s concerned to be sure to speak out during the comment period that’s under way now – by going to tomorrow’s meeting for starters (here’s a map to High Point Library), by e-mailing board members and district executives – here’s the list they provided:

steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org
sherry.carr@seattleschools.org
harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org
peter.maier@seattleschools.org
cheryl.chow@seattleschools.org
steve.sundquist@seattleschools.org
mary.bass@seattleschools.org
michael.debell@seattleschools.org
trlibros@seattleschools.org
superintendent@seattleschools.org

…and also by going to the official public hearing on the maps, 6 pm Monday at district HQ (2445 3rd Ave. South).

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Some families who currently live in the Genesee Hill Elementary School attendance area may find themselves in the Lafayette Elementary School attendance area starting next school year.

Boundary changes are being considered for those two schools to take some pressure off GHES, West Seattle’s most-populous elementary, already 10 percent above capacity just one year after opening.

The changes – if any – would take effect next fall, starting in the 2018-2019 year, and could affect some current GH students, depending on what kind of “grandfathering” – if any – the district decides to allow.

All this was discussed at GHES this morning, as principal Gerrit Kischner and district officials led an early-stage briefing for families during a “coffee with the principal” event in the lunchroom.

GH opened in fall 2016, built for a capacity of 650 students, after the program’s years with a village of portables at Schmitz Park Elementary, but it’s already stuffed with more than 710. “We’ve continued to grow and grow even though our boundaries have shrunk,” Kischner noted.

He was joined at the meeting by Lafayette principal Cindy Chaput and, from district HQ, associate superintendent Dr. Flip Herndon and enrollment planning director Ashley Davies.

“We’re already over the capacity of the building” and “there’s no additional space,” Davies began. She showed a slide with Genesee Hill’s “right-size capacity” and current over-enrollment, while Lafayette is underenrolled – “right-size” at 550, currently at 394. (The calculations for “right size” do include Lafayette’s current portables, Davies said in response to a question. Some of those portables are used only part time, principal Chaput said, adding that “we have four empty classrooms” right now and she saw no problem with adding more students – right now.)

If nothing changes, Genesee Hill would grow to 807 by 2021 while Lafayette would still have room, at 437.

So the district reviewed five “potential scenarios” as Davies described them to try to balance things. They’re looking more seriously at three of them, and those are what were shown. Read More

Though the election results will soon change the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors to a new-member-majority board, the current board has some big decisions to make tonight, including two issues that have been hot topics here – bell times (schedules) and boundaries – plus a few others of special interest. Here’s the agenda, and here’s where things stand:

BELL TIMES: These district-wide changes were born from advocacy for starting middle and high schools later, after years of research showing tweens and teens do much better if they’re not in school so early. The final schedule proposals, school by school, were in our coverage here. Then, as we reported after the subsequent board meeting, concerns over “Tier 3” schools starting at 9:40 am – in West Seattle, those would be Louisa Boren K-8 STEM and Lafayette Elementary – led to a question of whether that time could at least be moved back. In the final version of the plan, scheduled for a vote after 6 pm at tonight’s meeting, two things have changed:

*Tier 3 is scheduled to shift back five minutes from the final proposal, to 9:35 am starts

*The superintendent is authorized to look at whether Tier 3 schools that don’t want to be so late might be able to move into Tier 2 later this school year, voluntarily

BOUNDARY CHANGES: After a series of meetings looking at other changes to the boundaries the board approved in 2013 to take effect next school year, you’ll recall, the district revealed that it’s expecting to move the Roxhill Elementary program to now-empty EC Hughes after remodeling and expansion – likely in 2018 – so an area that was supposed to move from West Seattle Elementary to Arbor Heights next year is instead now planned to be moved into the Roxhill zone next year. The district belatedly added an October 19th meeting to explain this; concerns voiced there included potential effects of WSE losing more students (another section of its area already was scheduled to be moved as of next year). Details and maps for tonight’s scheduled vote are here.

SPEAKING OF HUGHES – PORTABLE PURCHASE: Also on tonight’s agenda, the district is proposing to pay the Hughes building’s former tenant, Westside School (WSB sponsor), $525,000 for improvements it made to the site – primarily the four portables that contain nine classrooms, which the district says must be kept so that Hughes could hold up to 550 students when reopened, but also other items including playground equipment. The agenda document says Westside invested $1.1 million in the improvements but with depreciation they’re worth less than half that.

WHAT’S NOT LIKELY TO HAPPEN TONIGHT: When the mentioned-earlier boundary changes were discussed at the EC Hughes building two weeks ago (WSB coverage here), the district rep also mentioned a big proposed change in the works regarding the district’s Student Assignment Plan – no more post-summer waitlists for students whose families hoped to get them into something other than their neighborhood school. That, and a change in tiebreakers, hadn’t gotten much daylight. The updated agenda says Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland is asking to delay the vote on that and other changes – detailed here – two weeks, to the November 18th meeting.

The board meeting at SPS HQ in SODO (3rd and Lander) starts at 4:15 pm; public comment starts at 5 pm (the speaker list and waitlist are already finalized, per district policy); action items start at 6 pm.

7:56 PM: In case you’re wondering, and not able to be there in person or monitor the cable TV live feed – the Seattle Public Schools board hasn’t yet gotten to the vote on proposed boundary changes; its meeting is running about an hour and a half behind schedule. Board members did approve an action item that is related to the recent expansion of “no extra charge” full-day kindergarten to some schools, and they have approved a new firearms policy. We’ll add live notes when they get to the boundaries item; the Seattle Schools Community Forum site has been reporting live for the entire meeting, if you’re looking for details on what happened earlier; here’s the final version of the agenda (now on business agenda item #3).

9 PM NOTE: Not there yet, but it’s the next item, #7; they’re currently close to the vote on #6.

9:09 PM: Now they are on to the Growth Boundaries item, and 13 proposed amendments, none of which involve West Seattle boundary changes; our area’s board rep Marty McLaren is co-sponsor of the final amendment on the list, proposing that the boundaries be reviewed each year.

9:40 PM: They’re on Amendment 4, but that’s a little deceiving in terms of tracking time; the three after this one apparently will be withdrawn. By the way, once the entire Growth Boundaries plan comes to a vote, the Intermediate Capacity Management Plan follows, with components including changing Boren’s status to permanent school, and Hughes’ status to emergency site once vacated. This plan also has amendments, none West Seattle specific, though many families here will be interested in the one proposing the district develop an Advanced Learning Master Plan.

10:40 PM: Now, voting time on the maps (West Seattle unchanged from the version in this agenda). Unanimously passed. No further discussion. Here’s what changes for NEXT school year in West Seattle, text taken from the agenda document:

Fairmount Park Elementary School (Area 45 from Lafayette to Fairmount Park, Area 55 from West Seattle to Fairmount Park, Area 61 from Gatewood to Fairmount Park, Area 65 from Alki to Fairmount Park, Area 71 from Schmitz Park to Fairmount Park) – Fairmount Park Elementary School will open for grades K-5 effective September 2014. New boundaries apply to incoming K students and new residents of the attendance area. Students currently in grades 1-5 who live in the new attendance area are grandfathered at their current school, but will be assigned to Fairmount Park if they apply during Open Enrollment through September 30.

Also related to Fairmount Park’s opening:

 APP will be offered as an option for eligible students at Fairmount Park in West Seattle beginning in 2014-15 (and subsequently at Madison). This will be a different service delivery model, which is why enrollment is optional. It is anticipated that this will serve students who live in West Seattle who may not have participated in APP previously because of the distance to their pathway schools.

Related to that, the document mentions that the district will “offer Spectrum at Fairmount Park in a blended model with APP.” Meantime, everything else you see in the packet of maps – as it relates to West Seattle – would be implemented at later dates.

And on, literally one minute later, to the Intermediate Capacity Management item, which has a few proposed amendments.

11:15 PM: Those amendments are still being gone through.

11:47 PM: The meeting is adjourned, a few minutes after unanimous approval for the Intermediate Capacity Management Plan.

THURSDAY NIGHT NOTES: Maps that take effect next year are now posted to the district site, specifically labeled as approved for next year. See them here; as of this writing, they include Lafayette, Schmitz Park, and the opening-next-fall Fairmount Park.

(Before the leaves fell: Delridge Skatepark photo by Laura Goodrich, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and the just-launched Holiday Guide (new events/info added daily, and please remember to send us yours!):

LINCOLN PARK WORK PARTY: Time to spare on a weekday? Perfect! EarthCorps has a work party 10 am-2 pm today – details in our calendar listing.

ENTREPRENEUR/CO-WORKING MEETUP: Noon today at West Seattle Office Junction – details in our calendar listing. (5230 California SW)

SPECIAL DONATION DROPOFF FOR WEST SEATTLE FOOD BANK: Want to help out the West Seattle Food Bank for Thanksgiving but don’t have time to get TO the food bank? 4-7 pm today in The Junction, WS Food Bank reps will be at Easy Street Records, hoping to collect hundreds of small (10-pound-ish) frozen turkeys – you can even bring one (or more) without getting out of your vehicle. Or, donate cash or a check. Here’s our original announcement about this. (California/Alaska)

SCHOOL BOARD VOTES ON BOUNDARIES (ETC.): 4:15 pm is the official start of tonight’s Seattle School Board meeting, including votes on the “Growth Boundaries” and capacity-management measures, but the key votes aren’t until 6 pm. Here’s the full agenda, including the list of people signed up to speak starting at 5 pm; the final version of the boundary maps are here; the plan for Arbor Heights to be housed at Boren with STEM during its two years of new-school construction is here (that’s also the document with the plan for EC Hughes, once vacated in 2015, to revert to a building for emergency/interim use). The School Board meets at district HQ in SODO. (3rd/Lander)

DELRIDGE DISTRICT COUNCIL: Reps from community councils and other key organizations around eastern West Seattle meet tonight at 7 pm, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, to discuss issues and receive briefings including one on the Barton Combined Sewer Overflow project. (4408 Delridge Way SW)

(Light area is proposed Fairmount Elementary attendance area; click image for full-size view)
Seattle Public Schools has just released the third draft of its “Growth Boundaries” proposal. We’re going through it now but didn’t want to wait to put up the link so you can review it too. One key section starts with the map showing the proposed Fairmount Park Elementary attendance zone, which would take effect next school year. More later.

(UPDATED MONDAY with link to district survey about the new draft)

Tonight, the next draft of proposed Seattle Public Schools “growth boundaries” is out, as part of the agenda for next Wednesday’s School Board meeting, at which they are to be officially introduced.

See the maps here; changes from the first draft are described in this document.

One big change: The district says it’s addressed concerns that the High Point area was being split between the reopening Fairmount Park Elementary (which feeds Madison Middle School) and West Seattle Elementary (which feeds Denny) by keeping most of the High Point community feeding into WSES and Denny.

What hasn’t changed: K-5 STEM at Boren is still proposed for evolution into K-8 STEM at Boren, to be permanently sited at the mid-Delridge building that once was Louisa May Boren Junior High School. … Once the new Genesee Hill elementary school is built, the current Schmitz Park site is still proposed for evolution into an “early learning center … to serve students in special education development preschools along with typical peers.”

The department also has compiled comments received on the first draft of the proposals, including those voiced during the round of public meetings that included the one September 25th at West Seattle High School (WSB coverage here) – see them here, organized by the schools (in alphabetical order) to which they refer – 96 pages of comments!

Timeline: From the accompanying materials attached to the agenda:

New boundaries, as well as location of services and programs, will be implemented in phases in alignment with the BEX IV construction schedule and enrollment changes. Some changes will be implemented beginning in 2014-15; others cannot be implemented for several years because they are dependent on completion of BEX IV projects. As BEX IV projects come online and additional capacity becomes available, implementation of Growth Boundaries will be phased in.

We’re still reviewing the supporting materials. The board meeting is at 4:15 pm Wednesday (October 16th) at district HQ in SODO, but this item isn’t scheduled to come up until after 6 pm – the agenda is here.

ADDED MONDAY: As a commenter has noted, the district has just gone public with a survey to ask what you think about the second draft – take the survey here.

4:30 PM: Seattle Public Schools is out with its “Growth Boundaries” proposal, and there’s one big headline for West Seattle (along with multiple others): The plan includes the community-driven suggestion that West Seattle’s STEM school, in its second year, stay at Boren and become K-8 STEM at Boren “in the future.”

STEM parent representatives are here (in scarves, in our photo) – they just heard, and they’re smiling. Boren was intended to be the school’s temporary home, and you might recall that the district had proposed in May that the current Schmitz Park Elementary campus become STEM’s permanent home when it’s vacated after the completion of the new school at Genesee Hill. The STEM PTA counterproposed last month that either they move into Fairmount Park Elementary when it’s reopened, or that they stay at Boren and expand to a K-8. They got key community support too, from groups including the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. And now – that’s the draft proposal.

Fairmount Park, meantime, is still proposed as a neighborhood school once it reopens next fall – its expansion and upgrade work is under way right now:

And here are the newly proposed West Seattle attendance maps – first, for the Madison service area, which would include Fairmount Park:

FP is also proposed as part of an “optional” West Seattle pathway for students in the top-level-gifted APP program:

And here’s the other attendance-area map, showing what feeds into Denny:

(ADDED: Even more detailed maps are posted now on the district website – one for each individual school – see those here)

(back to original report) The plan also proposes:
*The current Schmitz Park Elementary campus would become an “early learning center”
*The former EC Hughes – which Westside School (WSB sponsor) will vacate after finishing their new campus – will become the “emergency/interim” campus that Boren had been

Meantime, we are at the School Board work session that is about to start, with lots more information about what is being proposed here, and we will be reporting here “live” as it happens – stand by!

4:37 PM: The board briefing is under way. They’ve been told that the citywide changes proposed today would unfold between now and 2020-2021 – “not all at once.” We’ll add more document links as soon as we can. First group of topics is special services, including “academically gifted” (APP), and the new proposal for an “optional pathway” at Fairmount Park and Madison is explained as taking some pressure, potentially, off the existing south pathway (Thurgood Marshall to Washington); the north region is proposed for two full pathways but the south APP numbers are described as too big for one, not big enough for two.

4:47 PM: The full West Seattle-area International School pathway is now proposed too: Concord or Highland Park (both remaining primarily “attendance area” schools as well) to Denny to Sealth. Next: Elaboration on STEM, and the proposal for K-5 STEM at Boren to become permanent as eventually K-8 STEM at Boren – the timeline for expansion, district managers explain, would be tied to the need for Arbor Heights to co-locate at Boren over the next two school years while its school is rebuilt. Asked to specify a year, district managers say 6th grade would (under this plan – which isn’t final yet) start in (updated, per document) 2015-16, with 7th added 2016-17, 8th added 2017-18. They point out, a few minutes later – as had been noted in the proposal from the STEM PTA – that this plan means there will be an option school in each of West Seattle’s two service areas, Madison (Pathfinder K-8) and Denny (now, K-8 STEM).

5:17 PM: No updates re: West Seattle because the board had just spent a lot of time extensively discussing one proposal for another part of town (re: Pinehurst K-8). But now it’s time for some general discussion on the program proposals districtwide – and board member Michael DeBell said he’s particularly pleased about the K-8 STEM recommendation. Meantime, we should note that West Seattle’s board member Marty McLaren is not here because she is ill.

5:34 PM: Now they’re on to the boundaries – see the maps higher up in this story. One line on the overview: “Strong emphasis on continuity of current elementary attendance area boundaries” – of course, in West Seattle, there will be some change with Fairmount Park becoming an attendance-area elementary when it reopens next fall.

6:07 PM: The boundaries were not discussed in detail – so we don’t have any extra enlightenment to share beyond the maps shown above (click here to see larger sizes – it’s the “map packet” sent out to media earlier). One West Seattle datapoint here – district managers are suggesting “implement(ing the) optional APP pathway in West Seattle to mitigate Washington MS APP enrollment growth until Meany BEX IV project is completed.” One more reminder – these are all proposals, and not final until the board’s votes following a round of public meetings that’s about to start.

Now a few more Southwest-area details – district managers correct their earlier verbal mention of the start date for middle school at Boren; as the documentation says, they’re proposing fall 2015 for 6th grade to start there. The Arbor Heights co-location over the next two school years (fall 2014 to summer 2016) would be the last “interim” usage of Boren, and EC Hughes (once Westside leaves) would become the interim/emergency space in this area. (It was used that way before Westside leased and renovated it.)

6:28 PM: Tracy Libros from district staff warns “this isn’t going to fix everything – it’s going to get worse before it gets better” regarding handling growth. Meantime, as meeting wraps up, a reminder that the LONE community meeting planned in West Seattle to go over all this is one week from tomorrow, Wednesday 9/25, 6:30 pm, in the commons at West Seattle High School (3000 California SW). If you have questions or comments, e-mail growthboundaries@seattleschools.org. The meeting’s a wrap.

Community meeting with School Board director Marty McLaren on Wednesday September 25th from 6:30 to 8 pm at the West Seattle High School commons. SPS staff will present the proposed West Seattle elementary and middle school boundary changes pursuant to BEX IV building construction. High School boundaries will be reviewed at a later date. Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese interpreters will be available. See Growth Boundaries Timeline & Presentations here.

Growth Boundaries community meeting
Wednesday, August 14th
6:00 – 7:45 pm
West Seattle Library
2306 42nd Ave SW

A meeting with Marty McLaren to discuss upcoming changes in attendance area boundaries for West Seattle schools in the next few years. See Growth Boundaries – Timeline and Presentations.

4:13 PM: As reported here last night, Seattle Public Schools staff is making a presentation to the School Board this afternoon with its draft proposals for a wide variety of potential changes – including boundaries, the way programs including Special Education and Advanced Learning are handled, and, of West Seattle-specific note, a permanent home for K-5 STEM and a plan for the reopening-in-2014 Fairmount Park Elementary. We’re at the meeting and will add some “live” notes as we go. (Note: Melissa Westbrook from the Seattle Schools Community Forum website is writing “live,” too, so check out that site for a districtwide perspective.)

The slide deck being used for this presentation can be seen here. (Note that this is a committee meeting, and no public testimony is being taken – see pages 4 and 5 of the slide deck for the timeline of future discussion, votes, etc.)

4:25 PM: Board member Michael DeBell asks if it’s dangerous to be discussing some of this when the funding for potential changes is not clear. Superintendent José Banda says he doesn’t think so. They’re also talking about “equitable access” – and how it means, instead of the “this school has a great X program/that school has a great Y program” district past, each school has to offer a certain level of programs (the arts, etc.). Now they are embarking on a discussion of “services,” focused on English Language Learners, Special Education, Highly Capable (gifted) programs (starting on page 12 of the slide deck). For Special Education, they are developing “new service models,” as listed on pages 13 and 14. For Highly Capable, they hope to “increase (the) number of elementary and middle-school pathways …” as opposed to the current model, which has focused the top-level program (APP – as commenter clarifies, the only legally mandated one) at just a few schools. Board member Sharon Peaslee has asked point-blank, “Does that mean splitting APP?” and district staff has asked that they be allowed to present their “data” before answering.

4:41 PM: Staff is reminding everyone that the maps in the slide deck are NOT proposed boundaries – the maps being viewed now (for the Highly Capable programs) just are serving the purpose of showing where they project in the future they’ll see concentrations of students using these programs. Peaslee asks the chicken-or-egg question – are there fewer students using the programs in some areas because the services are offered at an inconvenient distance? DeBell acknowledges, “This is going to be a contentious issue, we know that” and suggests that staff emphasize the “instructional strategy.” Board member Harium Martin-Morris wonders if spreading the program(s) to more locations means that “self-contained” classes will still be possible. Discussion also has touched on concerns that expanding APP locations will dilute and downgrade program, and it’s veered off to questions about the type of testing used to see if students qualify, as well as whether parents choose not to even have their kids tested if the program’s not available nearby.

5:03 PM: Now they’re moving to “Programs” – not mandated by law (which the three “Services” are) – starting with the second-level gifted program, Spectrum. The issue of its “mixed quality,” as board member Carr describes it, compared to “high quality” for APP, comes back up. It might be “redefined,” was also discussed.

Next: Option Schools (which currently include Pathfinder K-8 and K-5 STEM in West Seattle) – page 22 of the slide deck. One other local note here – these initial staff recommendations suggest keeping Concord in South Park as an “attendance-area international school” rather than making it a full-fledged option school.

5:27 PM: Board member Betty Patu asks for clarification on that, saying she thought any “international school” was an option school that anyone could apply to; district staff says anyone can apply to any school in the district, but admission depends on whether there’s room.

5:43 PM: Now to the STEM discussion – and the recommendation of Schmitz Park’s current building as K-5 STEM’s permanent home in 2016.

Board member Kay Smith-Blum expresses concern about the capacity of Schmitz Park, minus portables. “Because it’s an option school, we can control enrollment,” says enrollment manager Tracy Libros, who says “we would still need to have portables here …” since the SP building is low capacity without them. “In order to have a 3-up, we would need … 8 portables, but that’s like half as many as SP is going to have next year.” Smith-Blum then wonders if it’s an opportunity for “eco-portables.”

Fairmount Park’s proximity to more than 700 students, more than 440 potentially in its walk zone, is mentioned next by Libros. West Seattle school-board member Marty McLaren then asks what’s next for the FP decision. “There’s a followup meeting at the end of June,” says Libros, to be followed by decisions on “short-term and intermediate capacity management.”

And that’s it for discussion – for now, anyway – on the topic of both campuses, Schmitz Park (whose current program is slated to move into the to-be-built new Genesee Hill school in 2016) and Fairmount Park.

But wait – McLaren brings the issue back, saying it will be important, for example, for a Fairmount Park principal to be hired as soon as possible. And then, for K-5 STEM, she notes, “is there any clarity at what size we would cap (it) – would it be a year by year thing, or ?” Libros says, “That’s a question for others – but certainly, any program could grow if there’s someplace to put the students.” In other words – too soon to say.

What’s next? Along with more meetings, you can watch the new “Growth Boundaries” section on the district website, which Libros promises will have much more material added to it as time goes by.

ADDED 6:43 PM: Talking with McLaren afterward, we asked her opinion on the Schmitz Park location for K-5 STEM. “I’m fine with it,” she replied. She wasn’t sure, though, why there was no mention of plans for EC Hughes – the elementary that could reopen after Westside School (WSB sponsor) moves to its planned new location in a few years – but doesn’t know of any particular proposal for its future, so far.

By Jonathan Stumpf
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Thursday night’s West Seattle Q/A session for Seattle Public Schools‘ proposed school-attendance boundaries was the first of two chances for families to publicly air any concerns, problems and issues they might have with the proposal (the second chance is at Denny International Middle School tonight, 6:30 pm)

Following up on the big news from Monday night’s meeting at Schmitz Park Elementary with School Board rep Steve Sundquist — the West Seattle map error (now officially acknowledged here) — the hot issue at Thursday night’s meeting surrounded the factors that are influencing the boundaries within the district.

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(scroll down for updates from ongoing School Board “work session”)

(map added 4:43 pm – click here for full list of full-size map links)
We’re at district HQ in SODO, where Seattle Public Schools‘ new school-by-school attendance boundaries are to be presented to the School Board momentarily. We’ll add a link as soon as they are published online, and will also add noteworthy details from the meeting as it happens; the district has two meetings in West Seattle next week to answer questions and take feedback, and a final board vote is planned next month. We have a printout with a citywide look at the maps – for starters, the high-school attendance areas for West Seattle are fairly easy to read on the map – the border between WSHS and CSHS attendance areas starts in the west on the north border of Lincoln Park, then jogs up a bit to SW Myrtle running east to 35th SW, and then it jogs north to be SW Graham (straight line to the Duwamish from there).

4:28 PM UPDATE: Dr. Tracy Libros says that new enrollment counts show SPS enrollment is up and they might have to tweak what they are presenting now, since these boundaries are based on data from a year ago, with “moderate growth projections.” She says they will need to “open buildings to meet the needs of current and projected students” – reversing past school closures. Meantime, we’re continuing to review the printout of the attendance-area map: For West Seattle’s two middle schools, Madison’s area includes the areas for Alki, Lafayette, Schmitz Park, Sanislo, and part of Gatewood – looks like everything else is in Denny’s area.

4:34 PM UPDATE: The maps have just been posted online. Meantime, Dr. Libros is listing the closed schools that are proposed to reopen – none in West Seattle (so far) – Sand Point, Old Hay, McDonald, Rainier View, Viewlands. And now – which schools feed into which middle school – she lists the feeders for Denny International Middle School as Arbor Heights, Concord, Gatewood, Highland Park, Roxhill, West Seattle. Feeder schools for Madison Middle School – which will be adding the Spectrum gifted program, it was noted – are Alki, Lafayette, Sanislo, Schmitz Park.

4:50 PM UPDATE: Now the “implementation issues,” as Libros puts it – grandfathering of current students means they “may stay through the school’s last grade and need not reapply, as long as the services that student needs are available at that school” – they will keep assignment if they move within the district, but will lose grandfathered status if they leave the school. 2010-2011 assignments “will apply to entry-grade students – K, 6, 9 – students in other grades may apply to their new attendance area school; assignment on a space-available basis using tiebreakers.” They are working on a “transition plan” – addressing issues including kindergarten siblings, “open choice” seats at high schools (10% but what does that mean?), transportation grandfathering, geographic zones for “option schools,” equal access to advanced-learning programs.

5:04 PM UPDATE: There’s also, it’s noted, a “lookup tool” on the same page from which the maps are linked – click the big yellow badge and you’ll be able to look up the schools in the proposed attendance areas for your address. (We’re trying it right now and it seems to be hourglassing, FWIW.) Board Q/A is about to begin – president Michael DeBell says “it’s been 39 years since we’ve had a reliable assignment plan for (the district).” (5:11 pm – we got into the lookup tool. Here’s a direct link. 5:20 pm – There’s a survey online for plan feedback too – go here.)

5:27 PM UPDATE: West Seattle school-board rep Steve Sundquist’s first question was a followup on the mention that Madison is going to offer the Spectrum advanced-learning program – he wondered if there also will be a “West Seattle South” elementary school offering Spectrum (which currently is available only at Lafayette, in WS) – the answer from Libros was a little convoluted but it sounded like it boiled down to “yes” and that information indicating where, will be on the district website by tomorrow.

5:37 PM: School board member Harium Martin-Morris is asking about an issue that parents have brought up in West Seattle as well: Can Metro handle all the student transportation it’s being asked to handle? Libros says the district is working closely with them – but Martin-Morris is concerned, for example, about students having to spend a lot of time on Aurora because of Ingraham’s new area: “I have some concerns about the reliability of the service and the safety of the service,” he says. Sundquist is following up on that by noting the difficulties that Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill families have had in getting to Sealth, and saying “this is a transition issue for us.”

6:03 PM: Reminder that two meetings are coming up next week where you can ask about the plans and offer feedback – Thursday 10/15, 6:30 pm, West Seattle HS; Friday 10/16, 6:30 pm, Denny IMS. Full list of meetings citywide, here.

6:19 PM: The meeting’s in a break and we’re leaving. For continuing coverage, we recommend saveseattleschools.blogspot.com, where writer/district watchdog Melissa Westbrook is here, and where you’ll find discussion threads on each separate component of the plan. Also, our partners at the Seattle Times have published an overview story here.

10:37 PM UPDATE: One point of discussion in the comments has been the fact the attendance boundaries for Denny and Sealth are not aligned – considering that the two schools will be co-located in less than two years. Here are screen grabs:

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

This week, Seattle Public Schools starts a series of community meetings to talk about the concept of “well-resourced schools.”

Our area’s school board director, Leslie Harris, wishes district managers would just describe the conversation as what it’s truly about: “Closures and consolidations.”

She made that comment Saturday afternoon during one of her periodic community-conversation availabilities, at which she was joined by another member of the board, Vivian Song Maritz (whose district stretches from downtown to Ballard), in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library. Only four community members showed up during the course of the hour and a half Harris was there, and none were there to talk about the looming “closures and consolidations” issue. But it was threaded through the discussion anyway.

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The annual scholarship fundraising event for West Seattle’s co-op preschools is a virtual event this year, and everyone’s invited! It’s happening online at 7:30 pm next Thursday – here’s the announcement:

Cynthia Lair on “Feeding the Whole Family” (virtual event) – Thursday, March 31st, 7:30-8:30 pm

What should you feed those you love? And how can you get them to eat what’s best for them? In this uplifting and practical class learn to set sturdy yet flexible boundaries that can help make mealtimes successful for everyone. Based on her book, Feeding the Whole Family, Cynthia will cover topics such as which foods are worth eating, how to make vegetables enticing, just how much sugar is okay, and the value of sharing home-cooked meals.

Proceeds support tuition scholarships, community outreach and DEI conversations and exploration for South Seattle College Cooperative Preschool (SSCCP) students, families and the WS Community.

To purchase tickets, go here.

If you’re interested in registering your child(ren) at Seattle Public Schools other than the one(s) to which they’ve been assigned, a deadline is coming up next week – a local parent thought you might appreciate a reminder about this message from the district:

Open Enrollment for School Choice ends Monday, Feb. 28. If you are interested in applying, please do so now. School Choice applications are accepted through Tuesday, May 31, 2022, but are only eligible for priority tiebreakers if received during Open Enrollment. 

Every student in Seattle Public Schools is automatically assigned to their attendance area school, based on where they live. Families can also choose to apply to request that their student attend a different school through the Open Enrollment for School Choice process.

Reviewing Your Student’s 2022-23 School Assignment 

Next year’s school assignments are now available in the Assignment Lookup Tool. Your student’s school assignment may have changed due to new school boundaries and the opening of new schools. To view your student’s assignment, you will need their date of birth and student ID number. You can find your student’s student ID by contacting Admissions at 206-252-0760 or by logging in to your account on The Source. 

Please note: If your student is currently attending an option school or another school that is not their attendance area school by choice, they can continue at this school until the highest grade offered without having to apply during Open Enrollment again. 

Applying for Another School 

Before you can apply to another school, your student must be enrolled.  

If your student wants to apply to attend a school that is not their assigned school, you must submit a School Choice form. We encourage families to apply during the Open Enrollment period. Only forms submitted during Open Enrollment will receive tiebreakers. Applications received after Open Enrollment are prioritized based on the date the application is received.  

School Choice forms (are available now) online or at the John Stanford Center. More information and the forms are available on the School Choice page. 

Westside School Parent Association
Presents
BIRDS, BEES AND BOUNDARIES
with Jo Langford MA and Amy Lang MA

THURSDAY, MARCH 19TH
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Westside School
10404 34th Ave SW

Join experts Jo Langford and Amy Lang for a discussion about the what’s/when’s, and how’s of healthy relationship and consent. Jo and Amy will educate us about the barriers kids face with regard to this important topic and ways parents can help.

(Don’t bring the kids, 18+ only…)

FREE ADMISSION (FIRST COME FIRST SERVED)

Questions? Call Dorothy Lemoult WPA education chair 206-395-4441

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

This evening, we’ll find out who the Seattle Public Schools Board – led by West Seattle-residing president Leslie Harris – has chosen for a job offer to be the district’s new superintendent.

Whomever s/he turns out to be, one of their first big tasks will be jumping into a levy-shaping process that is already well under way.

Last night at Madison Middle School, senior managers from district HQ led the second of five citywide public meetings meant to help shape two levies expected to go to voters next February – the BEX V levy (Building Excellence, aka the “capital levy” meant to follow the expiration of the current six-year BEX IV levy) and the Operations Levy renewal.

Some additional West Seattle-related information and insight emerged beyond what was discussed at the board’s levy work session last week (WSB coverage here).

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We sat in last night on the School Board‘s three-hour-plus work session looking ahead to next year’s BEX V levy, to listen for more hints on which West Seattle schools might make the list for rebuilds, expansions, and/or renovations. Decisions are still months away, but with a community meeting coming up next week, here are the toplines of what we heard:

SPECIFIC SCHOOLS: No additions/deletions from West Seattle since our preview the other day. Schools under consideration for major projects remain broken out into two lists – capacity (more space needed) and condition (how dilapidated are they?). Alki, Lafayette, and Roxhill are on both lists. The capacity list also includes Madison Middle School, where portables are planned, and the condition list also includes Boren STEM K-8 and Schmitz Park.

The condition list got very little discussion because the information has been the same since a districtwide report in 2014. As for the capacity list – first, district official Ashley Davies went over the enrollment-projection numbers.

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