Final 2017-18 boundary adjustment proposal | Francois

Published 4:20 pm Friday, January 15, 2016

I want to take this opportunity to update you on two important developments with great impact for our district, schools, families and staff.

Final 2017-18 Boundary Adjustment Proposal

The final 2017-18 boundary adjustment proposal, which is available at www.nsd.org/2017boundaries, was publicly released on January 7. The School Board conducted a first reading of the proposal at their meeting on January 12 and is scheduled to conduct a second reading and take action on the proposal on January 26. If approved by the School Board, this will finalize the boundary adjustments that will be implemented in 2017-18 in conjunction with the opening of North Creek High School and district-wide grade re-configuration.

This final boundary proposal culminates over two years of work and represents an important milestone—one of many from our past and into our future—in our efforts to improve our instructional program and manage continued enrollment growth over time. I applaud and extend my deepest appreciation and thanks to the community members and staff who have spent countless hours developing and refining this plan. I also want to thank the hundreds of parents, community and staff members who provided valuable feedback to inform this work along the way.

This proposal is an ambitious and far-reaching plan that will impact roughly 3,500 students—approximately 1,200 at elementary, 700 at middle school and 1,600 at high school (with nearly 1,300 of those being the students who will open North Creek High School). All of our 29 school service areas will experience some level of change. The plan will provide much needed relief to a number of severely over-crowded schools and enable us to implement grade reconfiguration and universal full-day kindergarten in all schools in 2017-18.

Once the final plan is approved, our attention will turn towards making the transition for students, families and staff directly impacted by boundary adjustments as seamless and welcoming as possible. We recognize that families and staff enjoy strong affiliation and allegiance to their school communities. That is a strength and asset of our community. As individuals transition to new school communities, our task and commitment is to build and grow those same levels of affiliation and allegiance within new school communities. Whether you are directly impacted by boundary adjustments, I believe we all can play an important and helpful role to welcome, support and nurture those leaving and joining new school communities. I invite you to join me in this endeavor.

2016-17 Kindergarten and Enrollment Mitigation Plan

On January 12, the School Board approved the 2016-17 kindergarten and enrollment mitigation plan. This plan—admittedly far from perfect in many respects—enables us to begin planning in earnest for 2016-17, which promises to be our most challenging year accommodating continued enrollment growth of over 400 students per year, with most of that growth concentrated at the elementary level in the north/central regions of the district.

The approved plan will expand optional state-funded full-day kindergarten to all students at nine elementary schools and will eliminate parent-paid tuition for full-day kindergarten at all other schools. At those schools without classroom space to provide full-day kindergarten to all students at the school, state funding regulations require that we prioritize students from low income families and consider other students who would likely receive the greatest benefit from a full-day kindergarten program. As in past years, families who desire a full-day kindergarten program that cannot be accommodated at their neighborhood school will have the option of enrolling in a full-day kindergarten at another school that may have room, again with the elimination of any parent-paid tuition.

The approved plan adds eight additional portable classrooms across five schools; utilizes the Northshore Primary Center for half-day kindergarten for Canyon Creek, Fernwood and Kokanee students; continues to utilize “sister school” relationships where kindergarten and some 1st-grade students from Crystal Springs, Kokanee and Shelton View attend neighboring schools with classroom space; collapses some existing daycare rooms and computer labs to create additional classrooms; and as a last resort adjusts class size to address a shortage of one or two classrooms at five schools. This plan was built with a “worst case” assumption of continued enrollment growth between now and next September. It is our sincere hope that the reality of next fall will be much less disruptive than the plan currently presumes. Knowing that 2016-17 will be our most challenging year prior to relief coming in 2017-18 with the opening of North Creek High School, grade re-configuration and boundary adjustments, we felt it was important to “over-plan” for next year so as not to invite further disruptions and upset next fall.

The 2016-17 kindergarten and enrollment mitigation plan places a significant burden on a number of students, families, staff and school communities. Similar to the boundary adjustment plan, I ask that all of us—whether directly impacted by these circumstances or not—recognize and support the resilience and flexibility we are asking so many to endure for one more year.

Northshore has a wonderful history of kindness, support and generosity. Next year, those fine qualities of our community will be most in need. I hope that all of us can be counted on to help make the best of less than ideal circumstances for our friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Larry Francois is the superintendent for the Northshore School District.