2017 proposed boundary adjustments for the Northshore School District | Francois
Published 12:26 pm Monday, February 2, 2015
During the past several months, a sub-committee of the Enrollment Demographics Task Force (EDTF) has been meeting twice weekly to develop a draft of the boundary adjustment plan that will accompany the opening of North Creek High School and grade reconfiguration in the fall of 2017. This work has been guided by broad considerations recommended by the EDTF as well as themes that emerged from a community survey conducted last spring. I want to acknowledge and thank the sub-committee for the many hours spent wrestling with highly complex data—and often conflicting priorities—to develop this draft boundary proposal.
The draft boundary proposal will be available to share with our school community by early February. Families will be able to input their address and grade level on our district website and see which school they would attend under the proposal. In addition, we are planning a series of community open houses in February where this information will also be shared. District staff and EDTF members will be on hand to answer questions. All times for the open houses are 6-8 p.m. and the dates and locations are: Feb. 9 at Woodinville High School; Feb. 12 at Bothell High School; Feb. 25 at Skyview Junior High; Feb. 26 at Inglemoor High School; and March 2 at Woodmoor Elementary School (for Spanish-speaking families).
Feedback will be taken online and at the open houses. The EDTF will review this feedback in March before submitting a preliminary boundary recommendation to the school board in April. That preliminary recommendation will be further analyzed and adjusted, if necessary, based on updated housing and enrollment information available during the 2015-16 school year. In spring of 2016, the EDTF will submit a final boundary recommendation to the school board for their consideration.
The school board anticipates approving a final boundary plan in the spring of 2016. This will enable all families to enter the 2016-17 school year with the certainty of knowing which schools they will be attending in the fall of 2017 when boundary adjustments are implemented in conjunction with the opening of North Creek High School and implementation of grade reconfiguration.
These changes will impact several thousand families, hundreds of staff members and nearly all current service areas and feeder patterns. While understandably disruptive, the ultimate goal of our three-part solution to help address continued enrollment growth — North Creek High School, grade reconfiguration and boundary adjustments — is to provide the best possible environment for student learning across our district for years to come.
I encourage you to carefully review the draft boundary proposal when it becomes available and submit any feedback to help inform the best decisions and solutions possible.
Larry Francois is the super intendant for the Northshore School District.
