by Sara 

Seattle Schools juggles sudden enrollment surge

29 Comments

A surge in enrollment at Seattle Public Schools, already saddled with a sagging budget, has furthered the district’s financial woes. The story, which featured John Hay Elementary on Queen Anne Hill, was highlighted in today’s Seattle Times.

The problem has affected Catharine Blaine K-8 in Magnolia too, where administrators have added two kindergarten classes to absorb enrollment, but only recently has figured out a way to fund them with full-time teachers instead of using long-term substitute staff. See the story here.

About the author 

Sara

  1. If this trend continues (which it likely will as long as the economy spits and sputters) doesn’t it seem logical to reopen the shuttered Magnolia high school a few years from now? They can’t seriously expect all these new kids to get mashed into Ballard H.S. There aren’t enough temporary classrooms to accommodate a surge like this.

    With Catherine Blaine, it sounds like they’ve made the necessary adjustments – for now. Still spooky to read about it, though.

  2. 就刚刚辛卯年(兔)九月廿二 2011-10-18………为什么h9nd9j评论还要审核

  3. 就刚刚辛卯年(兔)九月廿二 2011-10-18………为什么qg8mc6评论还要审核

  4. Eric – you mean the building on 28th Ave? That can’t be re-opened as a school; would cost too much for refurbishment and upgrades-to-code.

    I’m baffled why the population surge is such a surprise to the district.? They have a district demographer, fer crying out loud.? They’ve seen the birth rates in the Mag/QA cluster.? A coupla years ago, when they unveiled the new neighborhood school assignment plan, they admitted that Mag/QA had had a large child population increase but that they weren’t planning to do anything about it because the other clusters had population DEcreases.? Apparently the district just figures we dissatisfied parents will all go to private school or something.

    I also think it’s notable that the school levy that OUR property taxes fund, isn’t going to fix OUR cluster’s overpopulation.? Most of OUR money will go to other schools.? Hence, I will be voting NO next month…

    1. Voting “?no” will hurt?ALL schools and?ALL kids in the school district.? Is that what you want? ? It’s pretty selfish to support something that only benefits our neighborhood.? The district supports?ALL students hence the reason they can’t open new schools in our area while other schools suffer.
      ?
      It looks like?overcrowding ?is one more issue due to going to neighborhood school assignments.?And, perhaps more kids in our area are now attending public school for financial reasons — as well as the schools?have improved?and are well supported by the parents/community.?

      ?People who have suggestions and input should be working with the district — they are willing to listen!? And, much of SPS lack of doing “stuff” is because of funding — not because they don’t want to.? Deciding not to support SPS when the going gets tough is definitely not the answer.??

      1. I may be wrong, and I’m not agreeing or disagreeing on this particularly point, but I believe the commenter is against another levy for SPS because of mismanagement of the funds they currently get. I’ve heard the same complaint from many other people in our neighborhood who have supported levies in the past, and I think issue of how SPS is managing their budget is a valid concern. However I don’t think this is the only factor that should be considered when deciding whether to funnel more money into the system at a time when its needs are clearly growing at an extraordinary rate.

        1. Exactly right, Lawtondad.? Or as the Seattle Times said a year ago, when?a supplemental levy came up for a vote: “VOTERS should reject Seattle Public Schools’ $48 million levy. A message needs to be sent to the district, and this is the one unmistakable way to send it….We are not the only ones questioning this levy. The 11th District Democrats, which cover South Seattle, oppose it. The 43rd District Democrats took a neutral position as did the League of Women Voters of Seattle.”

    2. There will be someone at the Blaine PTA meeting tonight to talk about the levy. I think you should go it sounds like you are misinformed about who actually handles the money from our taxes. It’s not the school district

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