IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you're watching the NCAA Basketball Finals but still want to attend, please tape the games send Sup. Chip Kimball an email with your comments, name and address ckimball@lwsd.org.
OPINION: Lake Washington School District: Important Information about the New Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) School, By Susan Wilkins
STEM School Public Hearing: Tuesday, April 5th - 6 PM at Alcott Elementary – 4213 228th Avenue NE (see map)
Parents have been asking about the new STEM high school that was approved by voters in the February 8 election earlier this year. Superintendent Chip Kimball has responded that a lot of the plans have not been decided and will be announced later. The public hearing for the STEM high school will be held on Tuesday, April 5. In order to apply for a building permit from King County, the school district was required to submit plans for the building and a traffic analysis to indicate how the school will be run and how disruptive it will be on the rural community. The most interesting information about the school came from the traffic report.
Most notable - the new school will not have a gymnasium or lunchroom because students will be double-shifted and will only attend for half of each day. The target attendance for the school is 675 students per session (although each session could have up to 825 students.) There will be a morning session from 7:00 – 10:30 AM followed by an afternoon session from 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM. A total of 1300 students are supposed to attend the school each day when it opens in 2012. Students in the morning session will return to their home high school for lunch, Language Arts, History, PE, foreign languages, Art, Music and other electives. The afternoon session will arrive at the STEM high school by 11:30 AM after spending the morning at their home high school. It’s not clear which school the students will receive their diplomas from. What is clear is that the STEM School will not be a full-day regular high school because it is not equipped with adequate facilities or classroom space for students to attend all day. Read More >>
Details:
The new school will be located on a 22-acre wooded lot next to Alcott Elementary on Redmond-Fall City Road (SR202) & 228th Avenue NE. About 7 acres will be used for the construction of the school building and parking lot with the rest of the site reserved for future expansion of the school. The school will be 2-story with 66,000 sq. ft. and will have 26 classrooms and a presentation hall. The district has indicated that it intends to develop the entire site over time.
Summary of Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) School
-admission by lottery only
-for students in grades 9 – 12 from entire LWSD district
-located next to Alcott Elementary along SR202 in rural King County
-morning session: 7:00 – 10:30 AM
-afternoon session: 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM
-morning target capacity: 675
-afternoon target capacity: 675
-total number of students: 1300
-total number of teachers and support staff: 30
-transportation: 12 district buses will transport students to and from their home school for about $500/student/year.
-nearest Metro bus stop: 1.7 miles west of school at Sahalee Way
By Susan Wilkins
LWSD parent and volunteer
SOURCE: STEM School Traffic Report
This plan makes no sense - part of the justification for the STEM School was to take population pressure off of Redmond and Eastlake Highschools - and now we learn that the STEM school students will be spending 1/2 the day at those already over crowded schools? Who's idea is this madness? I'd like to change my vote please.
ReplyDelete