Divided school board approves freshman campus
March 9, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
The Snoqualmie Valley School Board approved on a split vote the 2013 creation of a freshman learning center on the campus of Snoqualmie Middle School.
In a March 8 meeting as long as it was contentious, the five-member board also voted 5-0 to return a bond measure to a ballot no later than February 2013. The bond would pay for a new middle school.
Nevertheless, the school board’s 3-2 decision on the freshman campus means that for at least two years, the district will have two middle schools.
If the February 2013 bond passes, the new Snoqualmie Middle School would open in 2015.
Parents and teachers packed the Snoqualmie Valley School Districts offices and seemed as split on the issue as the board members themselves.
In an hourlong session before the official meeting, the community spoke with equal passion in favor and against the board’s idea. (See sidebar.)
Then, during the meeting, the temperature rose as school board members clung to their points of view, eliciting cheers and jeers from the crowd.
“If you have a sixth grader at SMS,” said board member Geoff Doy, one of the two ‘no’ votes, “you will change schools four times over five years.”
Carolyn Simpson, the other ‘no’ vote, said the board should spend more time talking to the community.
“I’ve been here 10-and-a-half years, and this is by far the most important decision I have seen this board make,” she said. “We need to dot our i’s and cross our t’s.”
Board President Dan Popp said the school board had already done that.
“Is it optimal?” he asked. “No. But I have sufficient information.”
Simpson retorted, “I’m glad you have sufficient information. I do not.”
Simpson and Doy said they liked the freshman campus concept, but objected to two middle schools with 700-plus students each.
Popp noted that all five board members had said they liked a freshman campus. He then asked what was needed to make it a reality.
Doy said, “a third middle school.”
Popp asked Doy if it was needed before a freshman campus opened. When Doy said yes, Popp said, “That just overwhelms me.”
School board member Marci Busby said she supported the freshman learning center and trusted that education would not plummet for the two years that the district would have two middle schools.
“Chief Kanim and Twin Falls are excellent schools,” she said. “I don’t think they will stop preparing students for high school.”
Busby said the district should not wait in making a decision. Board member Scott Hodgins agreed.
“Can we wait three years to improve high school education?” Hodgins asked.
Valley Superintendent of Schools Joel Aune said the district would do well with two middle schools.
“We have the staff, and we have the leadership to make it go,” he said.
During the meeting, Mount Si High School Principal John Belcher defended the creation of the center, saying that many of the things people feared about it would not occur.
“One of the things I’ve heard is that we won’t offer world languages,” he said. “That’s just not factual.”
The freshman learning center would aid the social development of middle-schoolers, he added.
“Right now, students go from big-dog-on-campus to invisible,” he said. “With the freshman center, they would then go from big-dog-on-campus to very-big-dog, and we can’t do that in the current format.”
Just before the vote, Simpson cited the information Belcher and district finances director Ryan Stokes offered as a reason to wait on creating the freshman campus.
She termed receiving new information at 6 p.m. and voting on it at 11 p.m. highly inappropriate, noting how the vote on it may affect thousands of children.
Popp replied he did not want to wait. He added he did not believe waiting any longer would change Simpson’s mind.
“I don’t want to wait, not because I’m being disrespectful,” he said. “I just don’t think you would ever move forward.”
At 11:50 p.m., the board cast its votes, unanimous on the new middle school, divided on the freshman learning center.
The long discussion and vote had done little to calm the waters, though. “I still have more questions,” Simpson said. “And the public deserves to have these questions answered.”
Others had no questions in their minds as to what had happened.
“Your headline needs to read, ‘School board goes against the public sentiment of three middle schools and a freshman campus in favor of two large middle schools,’” SMS parent Sal Passantino said. “We are all in favor of a freshman campus, but at what expense?”
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8 Responses to “Divided school board approves freshman campus”
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If a new third middle school is built, the freshman campus seems ok.
Without it, the new campus is a disaster. Overcrowded middle schools, long commutes for middle school students, and limited class choices for freshmen.
This school board is again ignoring public opinion and the needs of our kids.
The third middle school should be the top priority, not this.
I am so happy that they are moving forward with the FLC as planned. It makes no sense to delay it and it had overwhelming community support. I for one, have 2 children who will be benefiting from this and couldn’t be more pleased. I am glad the majority of the board heard our opinions and put the plan into action. The recent survey clearly indicated community approval. I don’t know where the few others who opposed it are getting their facts.
I have three kids, all “highly capable” and they thrived when there were two middle schools a few years ago, before Twin Falls opened. I actually think the middle schools were better back then! The school was able to offer more challenging/advanced classes…instead of how they do it now, lumping everyone together. The current situation doesn’t benefit the highly capable kids or the kids who need more one-on-one. Take my word for it, your kids will love being part of a bigger community and the two middle schools will step up to make this a success.
Regarding the complaints of longer commutes… We have all had to do this one time or the other, the North Bend families did it for years before Twin Falls was built. Our district encompasses from Snoqualmie Pass down to Redmond. All of us at sometime have had to make those long drives. While no one likes that for our children, our conversation has to be about educating our children.
Our Snoqualmie School District focus has to be the high school. Do you want your child to have a shot at going to UW? Or any other good university out there? Isnt that what we want for our children, a good education so our kids can go to a good university and get a good job? We have got to put our dollars behind fixing the high
school immediately, or we are going to be left in a situation where our kids are going to a less than mediocre school…is that what we want? The ninth grade campus, while not perfect, is a step in the right direction.
Bond after bond has not passed, we have heard nightmare stories about the large classroom sizes, and there is no money to make any of the changes that need to be made. Parents, we need to invest in our high school so that we can have a good local option! A 9th grade solution is at least a solution in the right direction.
Thank goodness for Dan Popp. He and the other two board members who voted to go with the 9th grade campus are in my opinion, the only board members looking out for the interests of the students. We can not afford to waste any more time.
Sebastian, as usual, your quotes on this School District issue are misleading. Dan Popp actually said that the “irony overwhelmed him” in Geoff’s statement about needing another MS prior to moving forward with the FLC, because Geoff voted no on the MS bond last year that would have opened a new MS at the same time the FLC was opened at SMS. Caroline Simpson voted no too, and yet is now saying the same thing – we need a new Middle school. I’m with Dan on the irony of the whole thing. I was a chairperson on the VVFE, the non profit group tasked with marketing and promoting the MS bond and I agree that we need a new MS. We tried to fight the good fight to get it passed. However, we were met with huge opposition from these 2 new board members that you paint as victims of the process here.
I”m not sure what the motivation is for the bias but it would be great if your coverage could be more representative of real events. Taking things out of context can be really misleading and harmful.
Anne Stedman
HS Education Study Committee Member and VVFE Chairperson
My answer is YES to another other commenter’s question above: “Do you want your child to have a shot at going to UW?” Then I say – let’s encourage local leaders to work with the UW admissions and analyze what a typical accepted applicant has done in their 4 years of high school.
They’ve made it no secret that to be a competitive applicant, students must go above and beyond their minimum requirements. Their application (http://admit.washington.edu/sites/default/files/Freshman.App2012_3.pdf , see page 9) has a blank field for these core categories in this order: English, Math, Lab Science, World Languages, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Other.
If more students want a shot at going to the UW – should every year of high school, including 9th, have an offering in each category (even though some aren’t graduation requirements)? I hope we will get UW advisement as new concepts for our 9th grade school are developed.
Preparing to be competitive for UW admissions will also prepare students for other moderately selective colleges. How many kids here are accepted yearly to the UW I wonder? Is there anything parents of 9th graders planning to attend a school like UW should pay attention to as change moves forward with freshman center?
(this version fixes typo in first sentence, sorry about that)
My answer is YES to another commenter’s question above: “Do you want your child to have a shot at going to UW?” Then I say – let’s encourage local leaders to work with the UW admissions and analyze what a typical accepted applicant has done in their 4 years of high school.
They’ve made it no secret that to be a competitive applicant, students must go above and beyond their minimum requirements. Their application (http://admit.washington.edu/sites/default/files/Freshman.App2012_3.pdf , see page 9) has a blank field for these core categories in this order: English, Math, Lab Science, World Languages, Social Studies, Fine Arts, Other.
If more students want a shot at going to the UW – should every year of high school, including 9th, have an offering in each category (even though some aren’t graduation requirements)? I hope we will get UW advisement as new concepts for our 9th grade school are developed.
Preparing to be competitive for UW admissions will also prepare students for other moderately selective colleges. How many kids here are accepted yearly to the UW I wonder? Is there anything parents of 9th graders planning to attend a school like UW should pay attention to as change moves forward with freshman center?
STEM is all a-buzz I’m hearing which is great – science engineering tech and math.
There’s a new school in Lake Washington’s school district opening soon which sounds really interesting. Apparently, they “fuse” stem education into standard courses, in other words they don’t replace standard courses with STEM courses. Its integrated.
Their Curriculum says: University Ready, Industry Ready, Future Ready
For each grade in high school starting in 9th – 12th it says
•Math required through grade 12
•Sciences required through grade 12
•Engineering required and integrated through grade 12
•Technology required and integrated through grade 12
•Humanities required and integrated with the sciences through grade 12
•Social Sciences required and integrated through grade 12
•The Arts required and integrated with STEM PBL and design
•Spanish required through level three; highly recommended through level four and AP
If people want to know more, here’s the link. They just received a $400k grant from Paul Allen Foundation to hire STEM teachers. You have to live in Lake Wash boundaries to attend – it is public.
Here’s is their parent slideshow
http://www.lwsd.org/school/stem/SiteCollectionDocuments/STEM-Info-Night.pdf
And their website
http://www.lwsd.org/school/stem/Academics/Pages/default.aspx
Well, here we go with another bond vote. I believe we need another middle school, but my greatest fear is that once again SVSD will overshoot.
Housing values are ~60-70% of what they were when the then-overpriced TFMS was opened. Oddly, property taxes have headed in the other direction. Many valley families have gone from two stable jobs to one, or even less.
If, after four years of belt-tightening and lifestyle resets, valley families are presented with another boondoggle bond, I can’t imagine that the results will be pleasant. A $30-$50 million dollar middle school bond would be yet another slap in the face (after a $100+million HS and $30 million dollar ES).
In 2006, anyone could be irresponsible enough to buy whatever car they wanted when the family needed a new one. Now lots of families have learned their lessons and are living in the world of the used Toyota. I hope our board doesn’t try to sell us a Cadillac.
Focus on the basics, stop trying to be a mini-Issaaquah and be practical. My kids don’t need million dollar sports fields, or inspiring architecture with “a grand canopy entrance” or clerestories*. They need a little more space with a decent teacher so they compete in STEM and get a decent English and humanities background.
Basic, focused, and education oriented: it will pass with flying colors.
Obtuse, out of step with economic realities and two many brochure checklist items: 2007-8 and 10 all over again
*
http://www.cplinc.com/portfolio/k12/twinfalls/