Northshore School District plan could uproot 1,500 students

By Rachel Tuinstra
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

A proposal that could change where more than 1,500 students would go to school in the Northshore School District has some parents protesting and asking the School Board to study the issue further.

Among the most vocal foes are a group of parents who live in the communities surrounding Sunrise and Hollywood Hill elementary schools. They are protesting a plan that would shift the attendance boundaries for eight of the Northshore School District's elementary schools, all six junior highs and three high schools.

The proposal is meant to balance attendance between the overcrowded schools in the fast-developing north end of the district with the under-enrolled schools in the east.

The School Board is scheduled to make a decision, including possibly amending the plan based on input from the community, on Nov. 28.

"Our intent is to say, 'Here's our best thinking how to solve this challenging problem,' and to get feedback and make changes based on the feedback," said Susan Stoltzfous, spokeswoman for the district.

Under the proposal, approximately 1,500 students could be asked to attend a different school next year.

Changing feeder patterns could mean hundreds of other children would eventually go to a different junior high and high school than the one they had expected to attend.

Parents say they plan to voice concerns during a School Board meeting scheduled for 7 tonight at the school district's administrative center, 3330 Monte Villa Parkway in Bothell.

Some parents say they were surprised when the district announced the plan in mid-September. They're concerned about lengthy bus trips and disruption caused by their children being put into different schools.

"We're hoping to have them [the School Board] postpone the vote for a year, so we can see the data and reports and get a chance to digest this whole thing a little bit," said Lance Albertson, a parent with three children attending schools in the district.

Waiting another year means keeping some students in overcrowded schools like Fernwood or Canyon Creek, which have scarcely enough classroom space or facilities to handle the number of children, Stoltzfous said.

It also means underused schools, such as Timbercrest Junior High, may not have as many programs as other schools because state funding is based on the number of students enrolled, she said.

The district has received about 400 e-mails from parents expressing a range of views — including multiple e-mails from some, she said.

The district also has gathered input and ideas from hundreds of parents who attended three open-house meetings about the proposal.

The final open-house meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at Canyon Park Junior High.

Every e-mail or written suggestion is passed on to the School Board, and it has been considering ways to implement some of those ideas in the final proposal, Stoltzfous said. For instance, the board is looking at the possibility of phasing in some boundary changes for junior-high students, she said.

The school district began looking at the enrollment issue in 2001, when a task force of parents, teachers and administrators was formed and met monthly. The proposal that the School Board is now considering stems from suggestions the task force made in 2006.