When the fourth-day count enrollment numbers were announced for the Edmonds School District, the figures were very close to the predicted numbers.
There were, however, more kindergartners than the district anticipated, causing 52 students to be moved to different schools, said Doug Pierce, the district’s manager of certificated staff.
These changes took place by Sept. 17, two school days ahead of the district’s goal, and the shifts that were required affected a number of schools, Pierce said.
Pierce said there was either too many students at capacity or a lack of the proper staffing ratios at six of the elementary or K-8 schools, which required moving students or staff to another school. In some instances, he said, staff were shifted to remedy the situation, but in most cases, the students themselves had to be moved.
The schools with an excess of kindergartners were Cedar Valley Community School, Terrace Park School, Hilltop, Oak Heights, Westgate and Lynndale elementaries.
Some students from Cedar Valley were transferred to College Place Elementary, Hilltop to Hazelwood Elementary, Oak Heights to Martha Lake Elementary, Terrace Park to Brier Elementary, Westgate to Chase Lake Community School and Lynndale to Seaview Elementary. In addition, a full-day kindergarten program was opened at Spruce Primary.
When the increase of students was discovered, Pierce worked to find a solution to balance enrollment, which was then presented to Superintendent Nick Brossoit before being introduced to affected principals.
“What we first looked at was what could be remedied with the least impact,” Pierce said.
The principals at each of the schools decided who was moved, and the decision was not solely based on who was the last to register for school, he said.
“The principals work within their own population,” Pierce said. “They (first) ask for volunteers.”
Once the families were identified, transportation officials looked at the best options for how to get students to their new schools, he said.
Unless parents chose to drive their student to school, there are only two ways students would be shuttled, said Linda Ellis, program assistant for student support and outreach programs.
Depending on location and the time school begins, students are either picked up at home by a specific bus and taken directly to the new school, or they ride the bus that comes through their neighborhood and then are transported to the new school, Ellis said.
This is not the first time a number of students had to be relocated to new schools, Pierce said.
Pierce was previously Mountlake Terrace Elementary’s principal, and he said the reconfiguration in shifting staff members was less disruptive this year than previously.
Once the shifts were made, principals at each building had meetings to help ease the transition for those involved, Pierce said.
And if there should be any openings at the students’ home schools, the affected students have the first option to return, he said.
Pierce said the district continues to evaluate its procedures for such circumstances.
“We’re always reviewing our process to see if there’s anything different we can do … to see if we can perfect it,” Pierce said.
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