LETTER: Regarding the suggestion to use the Redmond Ridge East parcel [intended for a new elementary school if a bond passes] for a new 6-12 campus, I agree!
With the addition of 9th grade, Redmond High School has now reached an enrollment of 1900 students. There are not enough lockers for the students, assemblies must be held in "shifts" and the hallways are almost impassable between classes. I know of no plan to address the overcrowding issue at the 6-12 level when the HUGE population of today's elementary kids enter middle/high school.
Adjusting the attendance boundaries to move kids to Wilder is the obvious short-term solution to address the overcrowding issue at Rosa Parks. But what happens when these kids leave elementary and spill into Evergreen Middle and Redmond High School?
By Julie
..in response to a comment listed listed below this post...
With the addition of 9th grade, Redmond High School has now reached an enrollment of 1900 students. There are not enough lockers for the students, assemblies must be held in "shifts" and the hallways are almost impassable between classes. I know of no plan to address the overcrowding issue at the 6-12 level when the HUGE population of today's elementary kids enter middle/high school.
Adjusting the attendance boundaries to move kids to Wilder is the obvious short-term solution to address the overcrowding issue at Rosa Parks. But what happens when these kids leave elementary and spill into Evergreen Middle and Redmond High School?
By Julie
..in response to a comment listed listed below this post...
ReplyDeletePeople who bought their houses at Redmond Ridge when it was being built (2001-2005) now have kids who are in elementary school at Rosa Parks. Those kids will soon become middle school students and then move on to high school and beyond. Their parents will continue to live at Redmond Ridge for many years but all the kids will be gone. It's referred to as the "maturing" of the neighborhood.
By the time the school district builds another elementary school in Redmond Ridge East, Rosa Parks will be seeing a steady decline in its enrollment. The seven classrooms of current 1st graders won't even be at Rosa Parks 5 years from now. Ten years from now Redmond Ridge may not even need two elementary schools after all.
The district should fix up Wilder and use it for elementary students NOW and for the next few years while the area still has enough little kids for the two existing elementary schools.
The school district already owns a 10-acre parcel in Redmond Ridge East where it plans to build the second elementary school. Maybe they should use that lot for a middle school or a 6-12 school so that kids don't have to be bussed to Sammamish or Redmond every day.
It would be nice to see the district "think outside the box" and show some creativity in trying to address the Rosa Parks overcrowding issue, wouldn't it?
September 14, 2012