Tuesday, January 27, 2015

OPINION: Board's decision on reboundary is disappointing

OPINION, By Ritu/Reetu Gupta, Parent and Taxpayer
 
I am very disappointed by the decision made by the board yesterday to move forward with the recommendation of re-boundary. Board meeting felt like a pre-scripted play where outcome was already determined and meeting was just a formality. Ironically board and district were patting on their backs for how wonderful job district has done while room was packed with unsatisfied parents and tax payers complaining about the process, lack of communication, and irresponsible recommendations by the district.
 
A decision to put more students in overcrowded EMS while you have close to over 200 available capacity in Rose Hill and Finn Hill Middle School is most reckless decision I have seen. It’s like giving one extra push to someone who is already slipping (EMS), instead of giving them a helping hand and rescue them.  Read More >>

 
Board and district said all parents’ input has been read, analyzed and considered. How could that be when EMS parents didn’t even get to raise their opinions? Evergreen data was published on Jan 21st – way after closure of public comments. Majority of EMS community wasn’t even aware that their middle school is impacted.
 
And you wonder why bond didn’t pass over and over! District needs to step back and look at how they engage community in achieving their goals and vision.
 
Here are few things that district needs to look at for EMS:
1.    Dr. Pierce said that in a bigger school there are opportunities to offer more offerings for elective. So how big Evergreen has to be to achieve that? With 882 students today, can you ensure that a 7th grader gets at least 1 elective from her list of 5? Can we have a conversation on how EMS electives will be improved now onwards and how teachers are not forced into just teaching elective when they don’t have time to or any interest? It’s no more than babysitting at that point.
2.    On being asked, Mr. Miller stated numerous options for getting traffic under control on 208th Ave and Union Hill. So why it hasn’t been done so far? What is district waiting for?
3.    As Ms. Bliesner said – make a choice school with Rose Hill/Finn Hill available capacity and give parents a choice to transport their kids to other part of the city if they want to. That happens today with choice schools so leverage that option before stuffing kids in Evergreen.
 
Can district present a holistic plan for EMS? What extra resources will be provided to the school to function it like a civil school? Just putting portables on an open ground cannot serve our kids.

1.    How does district plan to bus 1141 students when you can’t bus 882 students today?
2.    How can we ensure sports programs are available to kids without wasting 4 hours of their time and getting only 10 min of play time?
3.    How will you ensure my daughter and other kids aren’t denied participation in a Math competition?
4.    How will you ensure enough books in the library and enough counselors in the office?
 
Board president said area is growing because families want to move to a good school district. That is true today but if we don’t build the educational infrastructure, outward move will start soon (I’m sure district will be relieved to see that).
 
It was also said that LWSD doesn’t build houses. It was surprising to me that LWSD wants parents to work with cities. Why can’t district work with cities on growth and infrastructure plans? Why in a public sector, left hand doesn’t know what right hand is doing. Why this linkage is broken? In corporate America, we penalize companies for this kind of behavior and bad decisions by lowering their stock price. Whereas in public sector, there are no such options even though stakes are much higher like our kids’ future.
 
Please don’t let parents lose their hope in the education system and LWSD. And it’s getting there. Please think outside the box and come up with creative solutions that really prepares our kids for the future and be a role-model for your own students!
 
-A very concerned parent and tax-payer on the verge of losing faith and hope.
 
,Ritu/Reetu Gupta

3 comments:

  1. I thought the Board spent a lot of their time after a very long deliberation explaining their individual positions. I agree with Carlson that it's unfortunate that not everyone can be satisfied by the messy task of district-wide reboundary. It appears the 4 portables at EMS are needed mostly to accommodate growth from existing feeders and is attributed to the reboundary decision to a lesser extent. I don't like the district putting in 10 portables at LWHS when the school was just recently built, regardless of Traci's explanation. I am surprised that Ritu said many EMS parents didn't know what was going on with their school during the reboundary input process when the entire Board and Traci spoke up for a transparent process. All I can say is good luck to you as you adapt to the changes. I hope your kids are as resilient as the Board says they will be.

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  2. Great letter! I'm disappointed in the district as well, and in their continuous finger pointing and blame-shaming on the taxpayers and voters for saying "NO" to their ridiculous bond issues.

    The District has built 2 new schools in 16 years. They have modernized many more with the same number of classrooms or just slightly a few more. They have seen this coming down the pike with the City of Redmond's constant promotion of new buildings, new residents, new construction (not including Overlake Corridor and downtown Redmond). And yet the district is "surprised" that people are moving here and they're squashed for space.

    At this point there are few alternatives to moving the kids around like chess pieces; but the district still has approximately $10MILLION leftover from the last approved bond that they are using by building portable after portable after portable.

    It's really disgusting and quite disheartening.

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  3. Considering Other OptionsJanuary 27, 2015 at 8:25 PM

    My husband and I went to the meeting after a neighbor told us of the large-scale growth planned for Evergreen. This was the first we'd heard of it so made the effort to be there. The meeting was packed, with a lot of genuine concerns presented about how kids are already being affected at Evergreen and how this will now only worsen. A student even talked about running out of food in the cafeteria, books in the library, and not getting a spot in any of five electives she selected. And the growth is set to exceed the building's intended use by 65%.

    I agree the board and superintendent came across as disingenuous in the way they brought up and answered scripted questions. You'd think they'd spend less time congratulating themselves on their work, and more time with the community finding solutions to improve situations at schools like Evergreen. One director (not sure name) did have an original idea about strategically placing choice schools, which sounded promising. But it doesn't seem like the district has or is now managing its existing resources well, as speakers pointed to nearby available space rather than continuing to spend on portables. It seems this was an opportunity missed, too bad for the kids.

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