Grand Ridge Meetings

Prelilminary Boundaries

2008-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

The preliminary work of the Boundary Review Committee, including preliminary boundaries for all elementary, middle school and high schools can now be viewed on the Issaquah School District website or follow the links to specific boundaries below:

Preliminary Elementary Boundaries Map
Preliminary Middle School Boundaries Map
Preliminary High School Boundaries Map

Currently, according to these preliminary boundaries, students within Issaquah Highlands will attend Grand Ridge Elementary, Pacific Cascade Middle School, and Issaquah High School.

Don't forget to attend the Public Preview Nights from 6:007:30 PM on the following evenings:

May 20: Liberty, Commons 204
May 21: Skyline, Low Commons
May 22: Issaquah High, Commons K

Boundary Review Meeting Summary for April 30

2008-05-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Highlands resident, Chris Hysom, attended the Boundary Review Committee meeting last night at the Administration Building. Below is his brief summary.

"After some general conversations, the group discussed BRC and District-generated proposals that would alter the original springboard positions by moving some neighborhoods from one elementary school to another. The final result was that the group approved some changes that affected jurisdictions of Sunny Hill, Endeavor, and I think Challenger.

A proposal from the previous meeting that would have added a neighborhood to Grand Ridge (and substantially increased the student population at GR) died after the District explained that they wanted to leave growing room at GR for projected growth."

A mini-summary of the meeting minutes are available for viewing here. The official minutes should be up on the district website sometime next week, I believe. If you would like to view the minutes for past boundary review committee meetings, you will find them here.

The next boundary review committee meeting will be held on May 7th at the Administration Building. The BRC will finalize boundaries in preparation for the Public Preview Nights.

Three Public Preview nights have been scheduled at 6:00-7:30 pm:
May 20: Liberty, Commons 204
May 21: Skyline, Low Commons
May 22: Issaquah High, Commons K

Boundary Review Process Update

2008-03-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here’s what’s happened since the last update:

The Boundary Review Committee met last Wednesday, March 5th. A mini summary of the meeting is available on the district website -- http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/documents/boundary0708/BRCmini3-5.pdf
The initial springboard trends well for all of Issaquah Highlands. The end result, however, remains to be seen.
Therefore, we will continue attending boundary review committee meetings and gathering signatures on the petition at this time.
We intend to present the petition at the appropriate time.

Here is a schedule of the process ahead:

Upcoming Boundary Review Committee Meetings

March 19 IVE Multipurpose Room 6-8:30 Correction - meeting to be held at the Admin Bldg.
April 2 Administration Bldg. 6-8:30
April 16 Administration Bldg. 6-8:30
April 30 Administration Bldg. 6-8:30
May 7 Administration Bldg. 6-8:30
June 4 IVE Multipurpose Room 6-8:30
June 18 IVE Multipurpose Room 6-8:30

Three Public Preview nights have been scheduled at 6:00-7:30 pm:

May 20, Liberty, Commons 204
May 21, Skyline, Low Commons
May 22, Issaquah High, Commons K

The Boundary Review Committee will share the work that they’ve done to the springboard boundary plan at the Public Preview nights. We encourage you to attend!

For more information see the school district website -- http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/boundary08.asp

Boundary Reiview Committe meeting correction

2008-02-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

My apologies, the May 20-22 Boundary Viewings will be open to feedback from the public.
Thanks!

Boundary Review Committee Meetings

2008-02-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

A few of us attended the Boundary Committee meeting last night. Below, is listed the future dates of the upcoming meetings. They will be held from 6:00PM - 8:30PM in the Annex Building (the same location as the School Board Meetings). Please attend as many of these as you can; we need people from the Highlands at these meetings!

Boundary Review Committee dates:

March 5
Mach 19
April 2
April 16
April 30
May 7

Goal: Preliminary recommendations by May 7th

A public viewing of proposals (not open for public discussion - basically will be telling us what their recommendations will be) will be held at the 3 District High Schools on the following dates:

May 20
May 21
May 22

Final public meetings will be held on:

June 4
June 18

October 1st enrollment info for the school year of 2008 will be the critical marker for the final decisions = the Board will need to assess for any major swings in enrollment. If there are no major changes, then one final meeting will be held to confirm up the boundaries.

Students will be placed back in their "home schools" as a starting point for the committee to work with. In addition, they will utilize enrollment projections, student generation factors, and housing development growth trends to facilitate the process.

Please keep in mind, there is no guarantee that those that live closest to their neighborhood school will be able to attend it!

It will be interesting to see if the committee follows the facilitator's (hired per the School District) comment, "We DO NOT want parents saying that their child cannot attend his/her neighborhood school because of another child from outside the area is attending it...." This comment was made in reference to ALL schools!

Open enrollment (if there is room) for all schools will be available once the schools have the allocated students in place.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this issue!!!!

Leslie Warrick

670 and counting...

2008-02-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

To the 670 who have already signed the petition to keep Issaquah Highlands elementary students together at Grand Ridge, thank you.

If you haven't already, click on the link on the sidebar titled "boundary petition" to be taken to the petition page.

Thank you!

Volunteers Needed!

2008-02-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Last night’s meeting at Blakely Hall went well. We have decided to go ahead with the door-to-door signature collection process. The Boundary Review committee will meet on Feb 27. We would like to have most of the signatures collected by the 26th, if possible, so we could present the petition to the committee the next day. I know that does not give us much time but together we can do this.

I came across the voting group map showing different neighborhoods in Issaquah Highlands. Each volunteer will be in charged with one neighborhood on the map. We already have 6 volunteers but we still need more help. The weather is looking good for the next few days. I myself will be out there. If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact me at dai.phan@camannson.com and I will assign you an “unclaimed” territory. Who knows! You might end up working in your own neighborhood. Please remember that we can collect more than one signature at the door. Any adult who resides in IH can sign.

Thank you so much for your help!

Dai Phan

Save the Date: Issaquah Highlands Community Meeting re. possible Grand Ridge Boundaries

2008-02-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

Please save the date for an important community meeting about possible Grand Ridge boundary changes.

When: February 13th, 2008
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Blakely Hall

Expect the following:

An update about the recent School Board decision to build E-15 and keep Clark Elementary open
Discussion about the next steps to keep the Highlands together at Grand Ridge Elementary
An action plan for those who want to get involved, including a petition

We look forward to seeing you there.

-sara winnick-

January 23rd School Meeting Synopsis

2008-01-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
This meeting was much more entertaining and intense; picketers and kids packing the meeting room with picket signs - and very well behaved as well!!! Our lovely School Board members brought in a "facilitator" to provide expert advice on how to muddle through this process. He recommended during the work study session, that the decision on Clark and boundary process be postponed, this would allow the Board to incorporate two more years worth of enrollment data with the boundary process. He even recommended that the Board split the process = elementary schools separate from secondary schools. At least the concept of minimizing the amount of splits a child experiences during his/her school years was reiterated last night.

In a nutshell, the Board motioned to build E-15; this is of course no surprise to us.

The clincher for our community: As it stands currently, the Board has decided to build E-15/keep 15 schools. The Highlands still represents a potential temporary "band-aid" to fill the school to capacity; which in turn places risk for the bisection of the Highlands. On February 6th, the Board will charter a committee to boundary 15 schools.

Question: If the Board decides to keep Clark opened, just how much longer can they operate it well below capacity?!?!?! Can the District's funds support under-enrolled Clark until the 2011 projected growth that will fill it? Are we the numbers that would fill Clark before the build-out dates?

Clarkie speakers challenged the need for E-15 and the feel the Plateau garners preferential treatment. Our resident, Sara Winnick, spoke in favor of E-15. Her speech had a more generalized approach in regards to the Highlands/Plateau congestion, and therefore less likely to get daggers thrown at her that night. A couple of us have decided to keep our speeches on the ready if we feel we need to more assertively remind the Board that they will indeed have a fight on their hands if they consider bisecting the Highlands a remote possibility....

Here is Sara's speech:

Issaquah Highlands Resident
School Board Meeting
January 23, 2008

I would like to take this opportunity to voice my support in favor of building E-15.

As a parent of a kindergarten student at Grand Ridge Elementary, and a resident of Issaquah Highlands, I, too, want the opportunity to continue going to my “neighborhood school.” I walk my children to school. Last week when it snowed, I pulled my preschooler on a sled while we walked his sister to her class. As a walker, I have the benefit of seeing my child’s teacher every school day. I connect with other parents. I am invested. This school is a large part of my community.

Years ago I was an educator. I remember interviewing for the position and being asked the question, “What ‘Best Practices’ do you use in your classroom?” You all know that in the teacher world, “Best Practices” are those things great teachers rely on to ensure the greatest success. I won’t bore you all with the details of my classroom. Instead, I urge you to think of the situation we are faced with on the Plateau.

We have a situation on the Plateau. Boundaries are re-written year after year with no long-term solution available, and schools are so crowded that currently kindergarten students living within the boundaries of Discovery Elementary are being bussed – past Discovery, past Sunny Hills, and into Klahanie where they will experience only their kindergarten year before returning to Discovery Elementary for first grade. How can we argue that this is a “Best Practice” for our school district?

The reality is the growth on the Plateau is not slowing as projected. Can we really put off building an elementary school on the Plateau any longer?

I want to speak for a minute about “neighborhood schools.” We already know the administration sees value in students going to school near their homes. I’ve already spoken about the impact going to a neighborhood school has had on us. Building E-15 would not only (hopefully) allow the Highlands elementary students to remain together, but it would provide the opportunity for more Issaquah School District students to attend a neighborhood school as well. Furthermore, the building of E-15 would alleviate current and inevitable future congestion, allowing students to remain at their school for what would ideally be the duration of their elementary years.

I hope you will consider this as you make your decision to build the new school on the Plateau.

Thank you.

Sara Winnick

In light of the latest decision, we feel it necessary to compile a rough draft petition, and then finalize it at a community meeting. Hopefully, we can get this meeting set up for next week. We already have a volunteer to coordinate the leg-work of the petition, and we just need to get a few more people willing to help us out with the signature collection process. We know that we will most likely not be able to present an effective petition by the 6th, but would like to have this wrapped up and on each Board Member's desks before the 20th (I think that's when the next meeting will be.....) or the next scheduled Board meeting. This would give the Board some time to "digest" the petition and have it open for discussion at the public portion of the meeting.

Please feel free to add your thoughts on this matter!
Thank You!!!!!
Leslie Warrick

Attention: School Board Meeting Wednesday, Jan. 23rd!!!!

2008-01-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

To all who are in support of building E-15 = less congestion in all the Plateau schools, which in turn would likely keep our community together, please consider attending the upcoming School Board Meeting tomorrow evening.

A couple of people are expected to speak in support of building E-15, and in favor of keeping The Highlands intact. We hope you will attend and speak if you feel compelled.

Meeting Details Below:
Public School Board Meeting, January 23rd (Wednesday) at 7:00 PM (public input heard)
Public Work Study Session takes place right before from 6:00-7:00 PM (no public input heard at this time)
CLICK HERE for Directions to the Administration Building.

Thank you Everyone for your support!!!!
Leslie

2008-01-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

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:

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.
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 1/2
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!
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 :)....?
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
January 10, 2008 4:31 PM
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Grand Ridge Update
Boundary Review subject matter
Issaquah School Board - Dec 12, 2008

Contributors
Leslie Warrick
John Thompson
cch
Tony Cowan

Grand Ridge Update

2007-12-15T08:05:00.000-08:00

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

Boundary Review subject matter

2007-12-14T12:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks Tony for doing this, the site looks wonderful. As an addendum/correction to my prior "blog", I meant East of Highlands Drive when referring to any potential bisection of the Issaquah Highlands. I hope my quick synopsis of the meeting is helpful, and invites further discussion in the future. Can't wait to hear from others about the meeting with Mike Winkler = wink, wink........
Leslie; aka "sailorgirl....."

Issaquah School Board - Dec 12, 2008

2007-12-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks for your patience on our responses in regards to the School Board Meetings. I am quite sure that whatever I write, there will be aspects that can be argued or corrected. Please feel free to have at it. Trust me, I am not an expert on this and am only doing my best to relay information. If you feel this would be helpful to forward to anyone I left out, thanks ahead of time since I have a convoluted patch-worked list here….

After conversing with a couple of our residents that met with Mike Winkler (from the School Board), I have ascertained from our discussions that the meeting went well and that the bisection of Issaquah Highlands West of Highlands Drive is not an attractive option for the Board. I spoke with John, and he said that they will have a synopsis written of the meeting that occurred on Dec. 11^th and will submit that for us very soon.

A few of us attended the “work session” of the Board meeting on the 12^th from 6:00 until 7:00pm. The rest of the room was filled with Clark parents and teachers, and extraneous school-related people. The work-study session was helpful for me to glean a better understanding of how the Board members interact with one another = the work-session will not be available on pod cast. A reassuring statement from Mike Winkler: “It doesn’t make sense placing Highlands in to Clark.” He represents our community on the Board and supports the Highlands as a whole. However, we cannot completely disregard that the Highlands was once again mentioned as one of the “concepts” to keeping Clark opened by another Board member.

It seemed to me during this session, that the argument for Clark (besides some of the Board members love affair for Clark) had a lot to do with the land; the School District feels that it cannot lose that parcel of land as District property – especially if the bypass was built. An interesting idea was brought up ,“What if Clark could operate as both a comprehensive magnet school and neighborhood school, but provide no transportation services to and from the school” = no extra cost in that regard. The Board members were really trying to think creatively about Clark as a facility, one even mentioned the concept of utilizing Clark for classrooms during the major remodeling of Issaquah High School.

During the work session, some members questioned what changed since the bond for E-15 (15 viable elementary schools) passed? Good question. No answers were provided of course….

When I spoke with friends that have their kiddos enrolled at Clark (my son used to attend Kindergarten at Clark = which we were really impressed with), they would really like to see our community intact and feel we definitely should not be split up, but at the same time, they would like their “neighborhood” school as well.

Thanks to some who stayed for the latter part of the meeting (I just couldn’t sit there for 4 hours!), I was told that the public input from Clark parents, students, and teachers was quite compelling. Their arguments to keep Clark opened sounded similar to some of ours…. We didn’t speak that night on behalf of the Highlands because Erick, Farris, John, etc…. felt that it would be too preemptive for us to speak before we can gather more information from future meetings. I think we will not have a clear idea where we stand until the Board makes the actual “facility decisions” (not boundary) in regards to Clark. Building the school deemed “E-15” is a no-brainer; I definitely think we should push to have this school built ASAP!!!! Just my thought.

Another fun fact: The Board disagreed upon the dates that decisions would be made. They are working on two different time-lines = facilities and boundaries. Ron Thiele does not want to push the decision on facilities another 2 weeks, but some disagree that if they make their decision by Jan 9^th, many people will feel they have made their decision without enough public input, etc…. “We don’t want people to think we’re being too hasteful….” At least we have their caution on our side. Perhaps we did scare them a bit after the 9^th grade-only escapade.

I am quite sure that everyone is looking forward to hearing from the residents that met with Mike Winkler. Their synopsis should be even more helpful to us. The general consensus is, we have a wonderful group of residents that will make sure the School Board continues to be aware of our position, and that presently, we can all take a breather from this topic during the Holidays…..

The next meeting Board meeting is slated for January 9^th I believe. I will do my best to attend the work-session part of that meeting and take notes since it is not available on pod cast. I hope someone else will be able to join me for that part as well….it really is a lot of fun J!!!!!