After listening to parents’ concerns for more than a month, the elementary school boundary changes in the northeast portion of the Edmonds School District were approved 4-0 at the Dec. 7 school board meeting.
School board member Doug Fair said the changes are the best solution for overcrowding at Martha Lake, Oak Heights and Hilltop.
“We’re not able to make everyone happy,” he said. “I wish we were.”
He recognized the adjustments will be difficult for many families.
“As parents, we have an obligation to help our children make those transitions,” Fair said.
He said children will respond to the emotions and reactions of their parents, and he encouraged parents to be supportive.
“How a child reacts to this is going to directly reflect how a parent reacts,” he said.
This authorization includes four recent suggestions that came from staff and members of the Citizen Planning Committee.
The recommendations include moving all students affected from within the Hilltop Elementary area to Brier Elementary, rather than moving some students to Brier and others to Cedar Way Elementary.
The plan also addresses the issue of grandfathering the changes for some students, which was a concern for many families. It was approved that the grandfathering of students would be determined separately for each school, taking into consideration capacity.
Martha Lake and Oak Heights elementaries will grandfather fifth-grade students and their siblings; Hilltop Elementary will grandfather fourth- and fifth-grade students and their siblings. It has not yet been determined how the provision will work for students attending Spruce Primary and Lynnwood Intermediate because of the unique restructuring of the schools, which will both become kindergarten through sixth-grade elementaries next year.
Along with these changes, open enrollment at schools affected by the boundary changes will be closed for at least two years. Students who currently attend these schools through open enrollment will be assessed at each school individually.
Board vice president Patrick Shields brought forth several suggestions regarding the changes, including the recommendation that possible future boundary adjustments should not affect the families impacted during this change. He thanked all staff and families for their hard work throughout this process.
“This has been a very difficult decision, in part because my family has been affected,” Shields said.
Board members Mimi Terwilliger and Bruce Williams also thanked families for their input.
“The advocacy of the parents is a very important (contribution),” Terwilliger said.
Board member Gary Noble was absent.
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