Good Afternoon Everyone,
I wanted to give you an update in regards to the meeting on Tuesday night with School Board Member Mike Winkler. The meeting went very well as he listened to our concerns in regards to segmenting the Issaquah Highlands. I believe that Mike is on the same page as us - not wanting to bus plateau children to Clark. He is also willing to meet us on a continual basis to discuss any questions or concerns that we may have.
The meeting lasted about 90 minutes and a few of the action items that came from the meeting were:
- Draft Mission Statement
- Create a central repository of information in regards to the school boundary and kindergarten. May be in the form of a Wiki and/or blog.
- To attend as many of the school board and boundary review meetings and report all pertinent information.
- Plan a census of the residents of the Issaquah Highlands to assist in our position.
One important item that came out again was the point that we need to have one voice and one message. It does not help us by being too emotional or argumentative. With this in mind, I'll be working with a few other residents next week to focus our message so we can communicate effectively and efficiently. More information to follow.
Thank you for your continued support. Our voice will be heard.
John Thompson
1 comments:
Hello Everyone,
A few of us attended the School Board meeting on 1/9/07. It was a pretty dry meeting and nothing much was resolved. However, the Board has finally decided to make an actual vote on E-15 on 1/23. There is still some convoluted confusion about whether they plan to link the E-15 decision with the Clark issue. It sounded like some of the members would like to postpone that decision (operate 14 or 15 schools in Issaquah) until the first part of February.
Some key points from this meeting:
1. What has changed since the Bond Levy was passed? = the orginal numbers/dollars were not parcelled out in relation to specific geographical location of schools; they were based upon overall numbers of students in excess of the 14 school. The Board will be reviewing the numbers provided per the Administration again before 1/23.
2. My question for the Board: Does the Hebert Report reflect true numbers of children in multiple housing situations? They seem to feel that as homes are finished in the Highlands-2011, and more apt. and condos built in the downtown area, there will be relatively few families moving into apartments, townhomes, and condos. I disagree, and know plenty of families that have chosen this school district and the Highlands' amenities in lieu of a large home with ample land. With the shifting housing market, this may come in to play even more by 2011, and thereby making the 2006 Hebert numbers even more incongruous. Issaquah needs to alleviate the congestion at Grand Ridge and the other Plateau schools, many of us feel E-15 is a viable solution.
2. One Board member felt that if Clark were to be closed, perhaps it would be more palatable to the overall community if the dollars saved (roughly 600,000/year)were applied to enrichment programs in all the other schools, such as a science/tech program similar to what Clark had.
3. Sara spoke with Jan (School Board Member), and the Board is looking forward to hearing from us in the puplic sector of the meetings = we are now in the midst of preparing for a couple of speakers to represent us at the next Board meeting scheduled for 1/23. This meeting should yield much more helpful information! The Board will also participate in a "Principals' Meeting" from 5-6 that same day; I'm not sure if I could sit that many hours!
4. The Board will convene and then caravan around on 1/19 to visit the new site (E-15), etc..... Their findings will most likely be discussed during the work study session from 6-7pm on 1/23 = I will do my best to attend that portion. They would like it be clear that they plan to not have any "hidden" agendas this day, and have invited the puplic to tag along. Any takers :)....?
5. After I spoke with Sue McPeak (Principal at Clark), she stated that even though Administration still stands by their "preferred" plan (Close Clark/Build E-15), they do not have any idea what the Board will actually decide. This in turn means that we still need to be actively involved in this process!!!!! It's a bit tedious to keep hearing some of the Board members make comments referring to "pulling from the Highlands" as a possible solution to keep Clark opened.
Leslie Warrick
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