KPLU Local News
(2010-01-21)
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Parents demonstrate for sibling assignment guarantees at Seattle School headquarters on Wed., Jan. 21, 2010.
Gary Davis photo.
The neighborhood schools plan has had two really sticky components. First, deciding the new attendance boundaries. Those were adopted last fall. The next hurdle: figuring out how to keep as many families together as possible now that the lines have been drawn. Some parents say those lines are tearing them up.
"I'm compelled to be here tonight, out of my need to be heard. I've had a lot of sleepless nights over the past few months, and I fear they're not over."
Parent Audrey Richards joined others in asking the board to guarantee their Kindergartners could enroll at their older sibling's school, even if it's outside the new neighborhood boundary.
Instead, the board approved a compromise plan that will increase capacity at some of the most popular schools, by adding portable and temporary classrooms.
School Board President Michael DeBell says guaranteeing all siblings could stay together would cause overcrowding at too many schools.
"I'm willing to accept as far as we've gotten because I don't want to inflict too much disruption on those schools by adding more kids than they really can hold, without affecting the quality of education."
The board did make two guarantees though. Older students can leave the school where they're established and join their younger sibling at their new neighborhood school. And families with kids already enrolled in special education programs will be kept together.
The new plan has a five year phase-in. It begins with Kindergarten, Sixth and Ninth graders this fall. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
For More Information on Seattle Schools' New Student Assignment Plan, click here.
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