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.

The crowd heard from Dr. Tracy Libros and Brad Bernatek of SPS. After a 20-minute opening presentation addressing the major public concerns about the plan so far (too costly, too complicated, uneven and uncertain – here’s a comment summary on the district website), note cards were circulated to the roughly 60 attendees to offer up anonymous questions.

The major points of the plan that they recapped: It’ll start in the 2010-2011 school year; it will be implemented in phases; and the plan will start only with enrolled students entering kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades. The question about the boundaries was still looming, which Libros addressed by saying, “We are aware of the issues of the boundaries and are working on it.”

The second part of the evening was a breakout session with groups of eight to 10 people each discussing the following three questions, then presenting their answers to the crowd:

1. What do you like about the proposed attendance boundaries?
2. What concerns do you have about the proposed attendance boundaries?
3. What have we overlooked about the proposed attendance boundaries?

After a 30-minute session, the small groups reported to the entire audience their answers. Not surprisingly, question one had the fewest answers, with question two having the most. The most common issues brought up by parents included:

-concerns that it will break up neighborhoods
-the physical boundaries are not logical
-one mile is too far for most kindergarteners to walk
-if crossing guards get cut from the budget (a possibility for 2010), will the district provide transportation
-by trying to meet all the criteria, they are meeting none
-lack of choice
-diversity in the schools will change
-where did the 10 percent open enrollment option (for high schools) come from?
-will swapping of students between schools be allowed?

Overlooked issues that were listed included the district’s projected rise in enrollment and not including students in the process.

The evening concluded with more anonymously submitted questions that addressed specific potential “transition” issues — including special-program shifting, consistent curriculum and grandfathering of siblings. Bernatek urged everyone to keep the feedback coming and get in touch by e-mail, phone or by coming to meetings. (Feedback options are listed here.)

WHAT’S NEXT: Again, the second of two West Seattle Q/A meetings, expected to be the same format as this one, is tonight at Denny (30th/Thistle), 6:30 pm. School Board rep Sundquist has three “neighborhood chat” meetings coming up, Oct. 21 at Delridge Library, Oct. 24 at High Point Library, both at 10 am, and Nov. 7 at High Point, 1 pm. Then, the revised boundary proposals are expected to be made public at a School Board work session on November 3rd, then officially introduced at the School Board meeting the next night, with a formal public hearing on November 9th and the board vote slated for November 18th. (The November dates are in this update from saveseattleschools.blogspot.com.)