Last night (Thursday, January 10), 127 parents attended the open house on the draft Sammamish Plateau elementary school (Site 52) boundary changes. Of those parents, 96 submitted feedback forms to the committee, listing pros and cons for each scenario, ranking the scenarios in order of preference as well as providing additional feedback. Approximately 650 students will be affected by the establishment of the new school and the accompanying re-boundary process. All parents at the affected schools (Smith, McAuliffe, and Mead) and neighboring schools Alcott and Blackwell were notified of the meeting through Parent Organizer, district Web site and local media coverage.
“We really appreciate the time that parents took to come and share their concerns,” noted Dr. Cindy Lundvall, chair of the boundary committee. “It’s clear that there are about five neighborhoods with specific issues that we need to examine carefully.”
Several parents from Broadmoore Estates and Camden Park neighborhoods expressed their desire to have their children attend the new school at Site 52 because of the safety issues and long bus ride involved in their current assignment at Alcott Elementary, as well as going on to a Junior High (Inglewood) that is different from their classmates (who go to Evergreen). Parents who live in The Country neighborhood expressed a clear desire for their children to remain at McAuliffe. Parents from the Vintage neighborhoods want all of their neighborhoods to attend one school or maintain the current school assignments of students in the Vintage neighborhoods to Smith and McAuliffe.
In addition, parents from several neighborhoods that will attend the new school at Site 52 expressed concerns about the safety of walking from their neighborhoods to the school and requested bus transportation. A parent from East Lake Sammamish Parkway expressed satisfaction with the quality of education with a concern for the length of time of the bus route to Alcott. Parents asked about whether grandfathering, allowing sixth graders to remain at their current school, would be allowed. Several Quest parents had questions related to the establishment of a Quest program on the Plateau. Committee members responded to questions and concerns, while recording those that needed further examination.
“We are reading through the response forms and have also posted a survey on our Web site to allow parents who couldn’t attend to provide feedback,” noted Dr. Lundvall. “We are also going back to all the scenarios to look at any potential ways to resolve the issues parents raised while still ensuring that no one school has a disproportionate amount of students or will go over capacity in the near future. It’s a difficult puzzle but we will keep looking for the best resolution for the greatest number of families.”
The committee will meet again on January 17 to review the feedback, respond to questions from community members, and review possible alterations to the scenarios. Input from Thursday night’s meeting and additional input received electronically will be compiled and posted on this Web site by Wednesday, January 16. More information will be posted on Friday, January 18.