MONROE – Building changes in the Monroe School District this fall meant a bigger game of musical desks.
More than 375 students took seats in district schools outside their neighborhoods, three times the number in previous years.
The burst of swapping came as Monroe opened three new schools to deal with rapid growth.
The requests reflect both desires to get into sparkling new buildings such as Fryelands Elementary School as well as to stay with familiar faces, including Monroe Middle School.
Chain Lake Elementary attracts the most students, in part because of special programs, while downtown schools tended to lose students overall.
Administrators will satisfy any request so long as there’s room, district spokeswoman Rosemary O’Neil said. “It’s always better to keep people happy. Happier families make better students all around,” she said.
In all, just 15 of 391 requests were rejected, primarily because of space. Eleven of them were for Fryelands, which opened this fall already beyond capacity.
In past years, all but one request were typically granted.
Chain Lake remains the most popular choice. In all, 18 percent of the school’s students live in different attendance areas, mostly downtown schools.
The school hosts the district’s program for highly capable students, as well as its only all-day kindergarten.
Eric and Carla Stewart transferred their fourth-grade son, Jackson, into the highly-capable program. The family had lived in the Salem Woods area, but this fall that changed to Fryelands. “My son would have had to change schools anyway,” Carla Stewart said.
Monroe Elementary and Park Place Middle also are new schools this year.
To help ease the transition, district leaders gave families the option of staying at their old schools to finish out the last year before moving on to middle or high school. One-third of the transfer requests were made by families wanting to stay put.
Monroe Middle School took in 74 transfer students. Nearly 80 percent attended there last year and would have gone to Park Place for a year before heading off to Monroe High School.
“Parents might feel, ‘Why make one move and then move again?’” Monroe Middle principal Cyndy McCartney said.
A majority of Frank Wagner Elementary School’s transfer students, 35 of 62, also chose to stay. The school last year housed the district’s only English-language learners program, though all schools now have their own programs.
The school lost more students than it gained, however.
Transfer families must arrange their own transportation. And there’s no guarantee that once they get in, they can stay.
The Grapp family is ensuring their place at Chain Lake, their home school until this year, by moving into its attendance area. They get the keys to their new home this week.
“You get used to a certain school and a certain standard. You don’t want to disrupt your kids,” Christina Grapp said.
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
By the numbers
The number of intra-district transfer requests in Monroe School District tripled this fall with the opening of three new schools.
Most transfers to:
119: Chain Lake Elementary School
74: Monroe Middle
School
62: Frank Wagner
Elementary School
Most transfers from:
77: Monroe Elementary School (new)
76: Frank Wagner
Elementary School
68: Park Place Middle School (new)
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