As a parent of two elementary school students in the Lake Washington School District (LWSD), our family was one of the many who were re-boundaried, and had to change schools this year. The re-boundary was one step the school district took to spread overcrowding among existing schools.

LWSD has grown the size equivalent of five elementary schools in five years, and has not been able to create more space because building more schools requires the passing of a bond measure. Based on birth rates, building projects and enrollment projections, the district expects to add more than 2,000 children over the next five years, which would require the equivalent of another three to four elementary schools to accommodate the projected enrollment. So by 2020, if LWSD does nothing, the district will have grown the equivalent of eight to nine elementary schools, with no place to put our kids. Eight to nine elementary schools’ worth of kids can’t just fit into storage rooms and portables. Compounding the overcrowding problem are worthwhile efforts to reduce class size and a State Supreme Court mandate for full-day kindergarten beginning this fall.

The consequences of not passing this bond are serious. Too many kids will be entering and trying to exit too few doors, our children won’t be able to concentrate and there will be more portables, which are only a short-term solution, at best.

The worst-case scenario of not passing the bond is that the back-up plan put forth by the Long Term Facilities Planning Task Force is a “multi-track schooling” schedule, sometimes called “year round schooling.” While it is not certain this will be the recourse, there are many disadvantages of multi-track schooling, which include:

1) Parents with more than one child could have students on different schedules

2) Students would lose the traditional summer vacation, and would not be able to participate in traditional camps and internships

3) School maintenance costs increase

4) Teens will have difficulty maintaining a part time job if they want/need one

5) Our district will likely lose high-quality teachers who do not want the undesirable schedule

6) After-school activities and sports suffer because the schedules differ from other school districts.

Multi-track schools are also associated with resource-starved inner-city schools, which will negatively affect Redmond house values, as it will be far less attractive to live here. No one wins if we don’t pass this bond.

The April 2016 bond is designed to provide space for our kids, while keeping tax rates constant for tax payers. So please ask yourself: if this bond doesn’t pass, are you willing to live with the consequences? Are they good for our community? For house values? For our kids? Please vote Yes before the April deadline. We can do better for our kids and our community!

Lauren Moynihan

Redmond resident and LWSD parent