Enrollment Review Committee to look at feasibility of proposal accepted by board

The Renton School Board recently ruled on recommended solutions to the district's challenges of school overcrowding and fragmented boundaries.

Jaunary 14, 2005 - The recommendations, made by the Comprehensive Boundary Review Task Force, were the result of months of meetings and community forums to seek input and solutions to unbalanced school populations resulting in overcrowding at some schools while others are underused. The task force also made recommendations to reconfigure school boundaries in the south section of the district near Lindbergh High School and in the west near Campbell Hill Elementary School.

The school board has now directed the Enrollment Review Committee (ERC) to further hone the recommendations in the process to maximize school use. The 30-member ERC, comprised of parents from each school, principals, administrators and union representatives, begin work immediately and will report their recommendations to the school board in March.

Renton School Board members hope to make the final decisions on any changes to school boundaries by this spring. Some changes will likely be implemented as early as September, the beginning of the next school year.

Here are the recommendations, by high school service area, adopted by the board and passed to the ERC:

• Hazen High School Service Area:
  Re-open Honey Dew as an elementary school in the fall of 2006, with the boundaries of Sunset/Redmond/4th Street/144th Street. The ERC should examine the need for minor boundary adjustments, if needed, to complete the balancing process. (Honey Dew will house students from Renton Park Elementary School next year as that school is rebuilt.)

Address over-crowding at McKnight Middle School in the fall of 2005 by: (1) moving the CEDARS Program to Hillcrest and placing a doublewide portable for classrooms at McKnight; (2) assigning all of the Liberty Ridge and Monterey Terrace developments to the Renton High School service area (elementary school to be determined by ERC); and (3) opening an alternative middle school.

• Lindbergh High School Service Area:
  Adjust school boundaries for Benson Hill, Cascade, Renton Park, and Tiffany Park elementary schools in the fall of 2006 as determined by the task force and further refined by the ERC.

• Renton High School Service Area:
  Adjust boundaries for Bryn Mawr, Campbell Hill and Lakeridge elementary schools to north/south corridors to the extent supported by board parameters as determined by the ERC.

Assign all of the Liberty Ridge and Monterey Terrace development to attend the Renton High School service area (elementary school to be determined by ERC).

Recommendations that were not passed on to the ERC but will be reviewed by the district's executive committee include: use Hillcrest as a McKnight Middle School annex and relocate the current Hillcrest programs as needed; examine the potential for adding a wing at Hazen High School; assess the feasibility and benefits/adverse effects of returning the kindergarten program at Thomson to resident elementary schools.

The task force also offered several recommendations for future consideration:

• Examine the potential for expanding the Discovery Program, making it available in each high school service area. The Renton High School service area location, currently at Talbot Hill Elementary School should be located instead at Bryn Mawr, Campbell Hill or Lakeridge elementary school.
• Study the need for, and feasibility of, building a new (fourth) middle school, and examine the possibility of land acquisition centrally located in the district.
• Address misperceptions regarding Renton High School and Dimmitt Middle School by considering the creation of ÒmagnetÓ programs and/or initiating an informational campaign.
• Monitor eligibility to request collection of builder impact fees.