Bus Transportation and Overcrowding Problems at Rural Alcott Elementary
By Susan Wilkins
LETTER: Alcott Elementary and Rockwell Elementary are two identical schools built from the same architectural plans in the mid-1980s. Rockwell is centrally located in the middle of an urban neighborhood on Education Hill in Redmond. Alcott Elementary is a rural school along Redmond-Fall City Road that was built for rural students who live in the sparsely populated east side of the school district. When we compare the number of students who are transported to each school by bus and the distance that students must travel, we see that locating schools inside Urban Growth Boundaries where students live is more convenient for students and saves school districts money on transportation costs.
Alcott Elementary has an unusual student population. Read More >>
Although it is a rural school, half of its students are bussed from inside the Urban Growth Boundary because the district ran out of space for students at schools inside the cities where the students live. In 2003, large housing developments were built at Woodbridge in Redmond and at Hidden Ridge in Sammamish. Additionally, many housing units (apt/condo) were built along East Lake Sammamish Parkway. Students living in these new developments should have gone to Redmond Elementary or Blackwell Elementary in Sammamish, but both schools were full, so the district sent them to Alcott. Prior to 2003, Alcott had a small, stable rural population of students. After 2003, the enrollment at Alcott began soaring. Multiple portables were added and now Alcott is the second most crowded school in the district. The decision to bus students out to Alcott has been costly.
Rockwell Elementary is centrally located in the middle of a walkable neighborhood. Students who live nearby can walk onto the school grounds from entrances on all sides of the school. Some students live far enough away that the district has to provide bus service, but those students ride less than 2 miles. Last year, Rockwell had 605 students and used 5 full-size buses to transport 217 students to school everyday. In contrast, Alcott Elementary had 675 students and used 9 buses to transport 470 students to school. More than 300 of the Alcott students rode more than 3 miles to school and all of those students were from inside the Redmond and Sammamish city limits. The total cost to bus 217 Rockwell students was $60,230.88 while the cost to bus 470 Alcott students was $160,709.30. Not only were more students bussed to Alcott, the cost per student was also higher because of the longer distance that each student traveled.
The Lake Washington School District has known for years that population growth would occur inside the Urban Growth Boundary where home construction was concentrated. Instead of increasing school capacity at Redmond Elementary or Blackwell Elementary by building additions or by acquiring land and building a new elementary school to accommodate new students in Redmond or Sammamish, they instead have been busing them off to rural Alcott – which is not only more costly, but it is also less healthy for students who never have the opportunity to walk to school.
The high cost of busing students to Alcott and the fact that Alcott’s overcrowding is caused by urban students being bussed to a distant, rural school illustrates a level of entrenched incompetence and malaise in the school district's facilities planning department that has been going on for a long time. The facilities department is in dire need of new leadership and close supervision. This will be a challenge for the new superintendent.
LETTER By Susan Wilkins
Redmond resident, LWSD parent, PTSA volunteer
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By Susan Wilkins
LETTER: Alcott Elementary and Rockwell Elementary are two identical schools built from the same architectural plans in the mid-1980s. Rockwell is centrally located in the middle of an urban neighborhood on Education Hill in Redmond. Alcott Elementary is a rural school along Redmond-Fall City Road that was built for rural students who live in the sparsely populated east side of the school district. When we compare the number of students who are transported to each school by bus and the distance that students must travel, we see that locating schools inside Urban Growth Boundaries where students live is more convenient for students and saves school districts money on transportation costs.
Alcott Elementary has an unusual student population. Read More >>
Although it is a rural school, half of its students are bussed from inside the Urban Growth Boundary because the district ran out of space for students at schools inside the cities where the students live. In 2003, large housing developments were built at Woodbridge in Redmond and at Hidden Ridge in Sammamish. Additionally, many housing units (apt/condo) were built along East Lake Sammamish Parkway. Students living in these new developments should have gone to Redmond Elementary or Blackwell Elementary in Sammamish, but both schools were full, so the district sent them to Alcott. Prior to 2003, Alcott had a small, stable rural population of students. After 2003, the enrollment at Alcott began soaring. Multiple portables were added and now Alcott is the second most crowded school in the district. The decision to bus students out to Alcott has been costly.
Rockwell Elementary is centrally located in the middle of a walkable neighborhood. Students who live nearby can walk onto the school grounds from entrances on all sides of the school. Some students live far enough away that the district has to provide bus service, but those students ride less than 2 miles. Last year, Rockwell had 605 students and used 5 full-size buses to transport 217 students to school everyday. In contrast, Alcott Elementary had 675 students and used 9 buses to transport 470 students to school. More than 300 of the Alcott students rode more than 3 miles to school and all of those students were from inside the Redmond and Sammamish city limits. The total cost to bus 217 Rockwell students was $60,230.88 while the cost to bus 470 Alcott students was $160,709.30. Not only were more students bussed to Alcott, the cost per student was also higher because of the longer distance that each student traveled.
The Lake Washington School District has known for years that population growth would occur inside the Urban Growth Boundary where home construction was concentrated. Instead of increasing school capacity at Redmond Elementary or Blackwell Elementary by building additions or by acquiring land and building a new elementary school to accommodate new students in Redmond or Sammamish, they instead have been busing them off to rural Alcott – which is not only more costly, but it is also less healthy for students who never have the opportunity to walk to school.
The high cost of busing students to Alcott and the fact that Alcott’s overcrowding is caused by urban students being bussed to a distant, rural school illustrates a level of entrenched incompetence and malaise in the school district's facilities planning department that has been going on for a long time. The facilities department is in dire need of new leadership and close supervision. This will be a challenge for the new superintendent.
LETTER By Susan Wilkins
Redmond resident, LWSD parent, PTSA volunteer
Lake Washington School District is required to educate students, not rural students or urban students. The Urban Growth Boundary guides development, not education. As a district, we must use the buildings and property we have to serve the population we have. Ms. Wilkins raises an issue that involves building capacity, capacity for a site to add portables or additions, transportation costs and capital improvement costs, in addition to family expectations about which schools their students will attend. As a school district, we have to weigh all of those items and have done so.
ReplyDeleteWhat Ms. Wilkins proposes may save some transportation costs but would require the district to raise millions of dollars through increased taxes and to change neighborhood school boundaries. Neither are simple affairs. The entire district must agree to pay more tax money to build additions or new schools, even though the space is available at Alcott. It would also depend on land availability for new schools and whether current sites could accommodate additions. Note: both Rockwell and Blackwell are on sites that are limited in the number of portable classrooms that can be placed there. Alcott’s site has more flexibility.
Any changes in neighborhood school boundaries are difficult. Families buy or rent housing with specific expectations of which schools their students will attend. Boundary changes require significant public processes that are often quite contentious because of those expectations. (Note: the district did not simply “decide” in 2003 where students from various housing projects were to go to school.) The district makes these changes infrequently because of the very significant disruption to families.
Finally, Ms. Wilkins does not take into consideration the district’s move to change grade levels. That action will remove one grade from every elementary school in the district, which will serve K-5 instead of K-6. That action alone will decrease the population in every elementary school, Alcott included.
Kathryn Reith, Communications Director
Lake Washington School District