School Boundary Adjustments Will Mean a Change of School for Some Students

Changes will relieve overcrowding at some schools and allow more efficient use of classrooms across the district.

April 20, 2005 - Some students in the Renton School District will attend a different school at the start of the new school year; others will make the change in the 2006-2007 school year.

The changes are the result of the Renton School Board's vote to accept most of the school boundary adjustment recommendations presented by the Enrollment Review Committee (ERC), a 32-member group that recently completed a review of current school boundaries, looking for solutions to overcrowding at some schools and more efficient use of other schools in the district.

In January the ERC, consisting mostly of parents and some district staff, was directed by the board to continue work initiated by the Boundary Review Task Force. Last fall, that committee began the work of formulating ideas for adjustments to current boundaries in order to ease overcrowding at schools in the north and east of the district. Other challenges studied included fragmented school boundaries and the need to achieve more efficient use of existing schools.

Initial recommendations for boundary adjustments were presented by the Boundary Review Task Force to parents and community members at three community forums in November in order to receive broad input. In total, more than 500 people attended those forums.

Families affected by the change will be contacted by the district.

Changes in the next (2005-06) school year include:

• Students who live in the Liberty Ridge and Monterey Terrace neighborhood developments will attend Bryn Mawr Elementary School, Dimmitt Middle School and Renton High School.
• Students in the CEDARS Program will be relocated from portables at McKnight Middle School to the nearby Hillcrest Special Services building.
• Portables at McKnight Middle School will be used to add four additional classrooms.
• Two double-wide portables will be added at Hazen High School for additional classrooms.

Future changes include:

• Some students now attending Benson Hill, Cascade, Renton Park, and Tiffany Park elementary schools will attend a school closer to their home, reducing the number of students riding busses and creating more cohesive neighborhood school boundaries.
• Some students now attending Bryn Mawr, Campbell Hill and Lakeridge elementary schools will attend a school closer to their home as boundaries are changed to form north/south corridors, reducing the number of students riding busses and creating more cohesive neighborhood school boundaries.
• Elementary-age students living within the newly established boundaries of Sunset/Redmond/4th Street/144th Street will attend Honey Dew as it reopens to serve students in its area.
  
  Additionally, the board directed the district to continue to study the need for a future construction bond measure to add capacity at McKnight Middle School and Hazen High School.