Snoqualmie Valley elementary schools will undergo boundary review
February 18, 2010
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 10:54 a.m. Feb. 18, 2010
Out of Snoqualmie Valley’s five elementary schools, two are growing at an alarming pace. The other three, Fall City Elementary School, North Bend Elementary School and Opstad Elementary School, are losing students.
To balance the population ups and downs, the Snoqualmie Valley School Board unanimously voted to start the process of shifting school boundaries.
Snoqualmie Valley schools Technology Director Jeff Hogan said the district has reshuffled several elementary programs in the past to try to make space at Cascade View Elementary School and Snoqualmie Elementary School.
“Virtually all of the growth has been in Snoqualmie,” Hogan said.
The district has dealth with the growth in the past few years by shifting students and programs from school to school, but short-term fixes will no longer be enough.
By the 2010-11 school year, both Cascade View and Snoqualmie Elementary are projected to need more classrooms than they have, Hogan said. While there may not be much space at either Cascade View or Snoqualmie Elementary, there is at the other elementary schools.
“We happen to have enough classrooms for the next five years, we just don’t happen to have them in Snoqualmie,” Hogan said.
Based on population projections, which looks at factors such as birth rates and housing developments, Cascade View could grow by 159 students in five years to 819 and Snoqualmie Elementary could grow 328 students to 947.
On the other hand, by the 2014-15 school year, Fall City Elementary is projected to lose 123 students, falling to 447. North Bend Elementary might lose 50 students and Opstad Elementary might lose 88, putting them both at 369.
Boundary review committee
Six principals and district administrators will serve as on the boundary review committee. Although parents have been invited to serve on the committee in the past, Hogan said that would change.
Parents who served on the committees reported the boundary decisions affected their personal lives, Hogan said.
“Given the high level of emotion that a boundary change elicits, we are no longer comfortable asking parents to take on difficult work that puts them in the public eye in a way that can be quite negative,” Hogan said.
When looking at boundary reassignments, the committee will examine a variety of issues, including space for program needs, class sizes and the impact populations will have on common spaces like hallways and lunchrooms.
The committee will also factor in matters such as placement of siblings, transportation, diversity, established neighborhood groupings and cost.
Initially, the committee was set to ask the school board for approval the week of April 19, but two PTA parents who were at the Feb. 11 school board meeting asked for an more accelerated schedule.
The PTA needs to elect its leaders by the end of April, and this boundary review would give them little time to organize for elections, Snoqualmie Elementary School PTA president Deborah Doy said.
Hogan said he would reexamine the timeline to see if he could expedite the process.
Superintendent Joel Aune said that while a boundary change could be hard on families, students often do well and make new friends in the process.
“What we’ve learned is that the kids always do better than fine,” Aune said. “In fact, they do extremely well.”
Four changes, four years
Snoqualmie Valley Schools have undergone four recent boundary changes.
- 2004; for middle school students.
- 2005, in preparation for the opening of Cascade View Elementary School.
- 2007; putting Cascade View Elementary School students into Snoqualmie Elementary School.
- 2008; in preparation for the opening of Twin Falls Middle School.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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Current school boundary does not make any sense but I hope new boundary will make some.
What I dont understand is why people living close to Cascade (The hieght) has to go to Snqoualmei Elem school by crossing CVS every day.
people living around golf course on the ridge should go to SES and the hieght community close to CVS should go to CVS not SES.
Thanks