MARYSVILLE – A recent Marysville School District decision to send students from overcrowded Sunnyside Elementary to other schools has some parents wanting to pitch in to find a solution.
So the school district is forming a community panel to explore its long-term building needs.
Christie DeSimone, a mother with two students at Sunnyside, has been approached about her interest in the committee.
DeSimone is relieved that the Marysville School Board recently decided to let her children continue attending Sunnyside, but she said the space problem won’t go away anytime soon.
The Sunnyside area faces 450 new homes being developed off 71st Avenue NE, 200 new homes along Sunnyside Drive and other growth.
Now, DeSimone said, she wants to help by being part of the committee that will study the district’s enrollment trends and building needs. It will explore alternatives that could include a school bond proposal.
“I want to serve,” she said. “My oldest is not far down the road from being in high school.”
Districtwide, Marysville has seen an enrollment drop the past two years, but new growth, such as around the Sunnyside area, is expected to reverse that trend. Last year, about 10,630 students attended Marysville schools.
The committee will make recommendations to the school board, said Judy Parker, a district spokeswoman.
“That would be a part of a committee’s recommendation: ‘What is it we need, and when do we need to do it?’ ” Parker said.
Voters rejected two bond proposals for school construction last year. Each included a second high school. The second attempt, scaled down from the first, received a 54 percent “yes” vote but required 60 percent.
In the interim, parents from three Sunnyside neighborhoods last week received a letter from Superintendent Larry Nyland explaining where their students will attend school this fall.
The decision includes:
* Busing students new to the 71st Avenue NE neighborhood to Marshall Elementary School six miles away. Students enrolled at Sunnyside last school year can stay.
* Reassigning students living in apartments south of 64th Street NE to Liberty Elementary School.
* Adding two portables and possibly more at Sunnyside.
No changes were made for students living on First, Second and Third streets between Ash Avenue and 47th Avenue NE.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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