Issaquah school boundary committee discusses options
June 10, 2008
By Chantelle Lusebrink
Group makes minor changes to
proposal; high schools stay the same
Community concerns from three public forums about the Issaquah School District’s boundary review proposal were discussed and changes were made at a June 4 committee meeting.
During the three-hour meeting, several amendments and changes were proposed, including moving the Talus and Cougar Ridge neighborhoods from the boundaries of Issaquah High School to those of Liberty High School.
Southend boundary review committee members made the proposal in response to concerns of population disparities between Liberty, with a population that will remain at about 1,200, and Issaquah and Skyline high schools, with populations that will be about 1,800 after the freshmen return to the buildings in fall 2009.
Parents said they were worried that students at Liberty would not receive an equitable education to their counterparts at Issaquah and Skyline because of the population disparities.
Six members voted yes for the proposal and 38 voted no and it wasn’t passed. The high school boundaries remained the same.
Mike DeLetis, Liberty principal, and Mike Gallagher, executive director of high school education for the district, reiterated that while they can’t say the programs will be exactly alike, students’ core instructional materials, curriculum and the amount of staff development in each of the three high schools will be the same.
As for electives, because of the size of Issaquah and Skyline, they may have other course options or more scheduled classes for one subject than Liberty.
But Liberty may have some elective offerings that Issaquah and Skyline may not, they said.
DeLetis pointed out that student population and funding isn’t the only factor in determining course offerings. Others include principal and teacher choices in curriculum and student interest.
Gallagher reiterated that he, other district officials and the high school principals have already started to work on determining how best to run the three comprehensive high schools, how to share resources and provide equal opportunities for every high school student.
The boundary review will take place over the course of the next two years and there will be ample time for public comment and review of the plans.
District officials are supposed to have those plans outlined by mid-2009.
Other changes occurred to Endeavour, Apollo and Newcastle elementary schools and Pine Lake and Beaver Lake middle schools.
The review committee amended a middle school boundary by making sure 29 Endeavor students in the Jacobs Creek neighborhood would be able to travel with the rest of their classmates to Beaver Lake in the future rather than Pine Lake, where the committee’s initial proposal had placed them.
Another elementary school student was moved from Newcastle back into the Apollo area.
Other proposed changes included an amendment to take 46 students from the Overdale Park neighborhood, along the Southeast 58th Street corridor, out of Clark Elementary School and put them in Grand Ridge Elementary.
Parents in Overdale Park, like Dale Timmons, argued that the community has been moved to five different elementary school five times in the past 20 years.
“Our neighborhood is being kicked around like a soccer ball, with no regard whatsoever that our community is the oldest and most established neighborhood on the plateau,” he said. “This needs to stop. The committee simply does not want to bother with public input. They just want to implement their plan.”
That proposal was unanimously voted down by committee members because of the effect it would have on Clark.
Without the 46 students, Clark would become underenrolled and programming would be strained.
Committee members said it was unfortunate the community had to move again, but that by attending Clark, the students could create a more stable and lasting community, since boundaries shouldn’t be changing again for some time.
Committee members said they also worried about adding 46 students to Grand Ridge, when the Issaquah Highlands is still experiencing rapid growth.
The boundary review committee also canceled its last meeting for the school year June 18.
It will reconvene Oct. 1, 15 and 29 to make adjustments to the plan if needed after the school year’s enrollment numbers are taken.
It will then submit its proposal to the school board, which can approve or reject it.
Reach Reporter Chantelle Lusebrink at 392-6434, ext. 241, or clusebrink@isspress.com.
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