The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) lists the enrollment at Rosa Parks Elementary School, located at 22845 N.E. Cedar Park Crescent on Redmond Ridge, as 795.
The building’s capacity is 483. Add in the 10 portable classrooms on campus and that number increases significantly to 713 but still remains 82 less than the school’s population.
With the track it is currently set on, district officials project Rosa Parks’ enrollment — which includes students from both the Redmond Ridge and Redmond Ridge East communities — to reach as high as 1,024 come the 2015-16 school year.
To help counteract this extreme overflow, LWSD has been working with the school, the public and nearby Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School, located at 22130 N.E. 133rd St. in Woodinville, to come up with a temporary boundary change that would send some Rosa Parks students to Wilder, which is under capacity with a population of 347 in a building that holds 552.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
On Nov. 29, the district held an open house at Evergreen Middle School in Redmond featuring three possible re-boundary solutions:
Option A (above) would relocate students in the northwestern portion of the area who live closest to Wilder. It would affect 239 current students and 54 projected students from new development.
Option B (below) would move all of Redmond Ridge East to Wilder except neighborhoods off of Eastridge Drive Northeast south of Sheridan Crescent Northeast. This would affect 187 current students and 117 projected students.
Option C would move all of Redmond Ridge East to Wilder except for the Deveron neighborhood. This would affect 201 current students and 112 projected students.
All three proposals are for three school years, beginning next year, and are available online.
The re-boundary proposals were drawn up by a committee made up of representatives from Rosa Parks and Wilder, LWSD’s Redmond Learning Community and the district’s main office and included an outside consultant.
GRANDFATHERING IN
Kathryn Reith, communications director for LWSD, was on the committee and said with whichever solution they implement, some existing students will be “grandfathered” in, meaning they will have the option to stay at Rosa Parks for the 2013-14 school year even if they are outside the boundary. This would apply to current fourth-graders so they may stay at the same school for their final year in elementary school, as well as their siblings. Reith said these grandfathered students would leave Rosa Parks the following school year, either moving on to middle school or moving to Wilder.
The number of possible grandfathered students — those who could stay at Rosa Parks — ranges from 37 to 56, depending on which option is implemented. Reith said these numbers are had to pin down because they include fourth-graders and their siblings and families may or may not choose to take advantage of the option to stay at Rosa Parks. She added that the numbers also do not include preschoolers who could be grandfathered in as kindergartners next year.
“It’s kind of a moving target,” Reith said about the grandfathering numbers.
PREFERRED CHOICE
Julianne Bogaty, a parent whose daughter attends Rosa Parks, said after looking at the different options and discussing them with families from Redmond Ridge and Redmond Ridge East, the overall consensus has been Option C. This would line up with the communities’ desire to maintain neighborhoods.
However, she and fellow Rosa Parks parent Beth Zimmerman said they thought not including the Deveron neighborhood in the move to Wilder would be divisive within the neighborhoods, and don’t see why such a small area wouldn’t be included.
“It’s so close (to being the whole community),” Zimmerman said.
According to a “Frequently Asked Questions” page on the district website, the re-boundary committee did not include Deveron in the move because “29 students are expected to live in the Deveron neighborhood…(which) is within the walking area for Rosa Parks.”
The FAQ stated that if all of Redmond Ridge East moved to Wilder, all 24 of the school’s classrooms, including all four portables, would be in use in the 2015-14 school year. This would leave only one all-day kindergarten class and no flexibility for the district.
“If enrollment then came in over projection, the district would have to add a portable at Wilder at a cost of $150,000 to $300,000 (single or double portable),” the page stated. “The committee rejected scenarios that left either school exactly at capacity to ensure flexibility if enrollment came in over projection.”
Bogaty and Zimmerman added that they also hope the district is planning ahead at the secondary level as these current elementary school students will eventually become middle schoolers and don’t want to face another overcrowding issue at Evergreen in a few years.
NEXT STEPS
Reith said parents can currently submit comments on the three proposals online or print out the feedback page and turn it in either at Rosa Parks or Wilder. Both options can be found on the district website. Parents have until Dec. 10 to submit their comments.
After this, Reith said the re-boundary committee will compile all of the information collected, review it and determine the best solution. She said this could be one of the three proposals as they are now or include adjustments.
The committee will then present its final proposal to LWSD Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce shortly after the holidays, who will then present the proposal to the district’s board of directors.
Reith said the board is scheduled to vote on the temporary boundary change on Jan. 28, 2013.
