SPS currently surveys recent proposal about Growth Boundaries and also Advanced Learning options for West Seattle and I would like to bring this to your attention. This is relevant for parents of preschooler as well as Elementary students, SPS and private school.
West Seattle is under served with Advanced Learning options. It’s already a big challenge for West Seattle parents outside the Madison
area to find local Advanced Learning options for their fast learners. There is a fast student growth in our community and more West Seattle
students qualify every year for a program that does not offer enough local options.
Lafayette’s Spectrum program is serving Elementary students living in the Madison attendance area, offers self-contained classrooms for 1st to 5th grade. Self-contained means only qualified students attend, by testing or principals’ choice. Lafayette’s program is strong for years, but placement is not guaranteed. If classrooms are full, your student will not be able to go there.
Arbor Heights’s Spectrum program is serving Elementary students living in the Denny middle school area. This Spectrum is not self-contained and parents are frustrated to not being offered the same consistency like available to the North end, as well as social factors and the fear teachers won’t be able to meet the needs of the advanced learners as well. Spectrum classrooms can only be self-contained with enough qualified students attending the school. This is a catch 22.
SPS only offers guaranteed seats in a self contained program for higher testing students (APP). The APP program for students living in West Seattle is located at Thurgood Marshall 7 miles east over the bridge in the Judkins Park neighborhood and the bus ride to school is very long for young students. Some spent more then 2 hours on a bus daily, some a little less by car stuck in traffic on the bridge. I think this is unacceptable.
About 80 West Seattle students commute to Thurgood Marshall, while about 120 are eligible. I assume, eligible numbers might be higher as many West Seattle students don’t get tested because of the lack of programs in our neighborhood.
Five year old students would have to do the same commute as Washington state school districts are now required to provide services for highly capable kindergarten students beginning in the 2014/15 school year:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=392-170&full=true
The Growth Boundaries proposal offers an optional APP site for West Seattle at Fairmount Park, but a lack of instructional support for Advanced Learning coming from SPS makes it challenging to start a program at a new school. The central APP sites fear a split will also split the already limited resources. Another argument against a West Seattle location is the small number of students as a big cohort is apparently better for the students.
Their are other options for West Seattle that would make more sense, like placing an APP program at a more established site like Arbor
Heights with a very supportive, experienced principle expressing she would like to see the West Seattle APP at her school. Christy Collins
emailed ‘I have always been concerned our students must travel to Thurgood Marshall for APP. If you are a primary age child, that is
too far!’
I would like to bring this to your attention and urge you to participate in the SPS survey (community input ends tomorrow, Friday),
put “others: Advanced Learning”:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7BKFRS3
Let the district know your family wants to see a high quality, self-contained Advanced Learning options for your young student in West Seattle. Ideally with a big enough cohort located in an
established school, with strong, experienced leadership advocating for Advanced Learners like Christy Collins. ;-)
West Seattle, we have it all, we just have to let SPS know and help them make good decisions on behave of our students and our community.
Together we can make this work and bring a high quality program to West Seattle that should have been here all along.
Please comment here if you are one of the West Seattle families interesting in an self-contained Advanced Learning option (Spectrum or APP) in West Seattle, especially if you did not participate in the Advanced Learning testing yet (preschoolers, private school, not interested in commute). We can only advocate for you, if you
comment here. Tonight is an Advisory board meeting about this at Washington Middle School.
And please, this thread is not about the Pros and Cons of self-contained Advanced Learning classrooms. If your student is fine and you don’t like self-contained classrooms, don’t move your student to one. If you are against gay marriage, my advice, just don’t marry someone gay! ;-).
Let parents decide if their highly capable child needs a self-contained program.
Now it’s the time to speak up, if you want to see this changed. I think it’s broken right now. Let’s fix it.
Thanks,
Christine
Read up on SPS Advanced Learning
http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=214087
