Student Assignment Plan and Related Topics
In the 2019-20 school year, Seattle Public Schools will reopen Lincoln High School, a comprehensive high school in Northwest Seattle. Reopening Lincoln will require redrawing of the high school boundaries, which identifies the district areas that will feed into each high school.
At the same time, the district is revising the Student Assignment Plan (SAP). The SAP ensures that students have access to services they need and outlines options for programs and enrollment outside students’ attendance area school. One area of review is advanced learning.
These bodies of work (Student Assignment Plan, high school boundaries and Advanced Learning) are interconnected and require some level of community engagement. The district is committed to keeping students, families and staff informed and engaged every step of the way through this process.
Student Assignment Plan
Community: District-wide
Engagement Dates: Oct. 23 – Nov. 9, 2017
Topic: The district’s Open Enrollment process begins in February. Our goal is to have changes to the SAP in place by January. The Enrollment Department is scheduling a series of opportunities for our students, families and communities to engage with key staff leading the work. The district will be hosting open house style meetings to share SAP updates, recommended adjustments to Advanced Learning and gather feedback on High School Boundary scenarios. Below are the scheduled open house meetings. You do not need to RSVP, just show up!
If you or someone you know needs translation or ADA services, please email communityengagement@seattleschools.org.
Eckstein Middle School, Northeast Region
Oct. 23, 2017, 6:30-8 p.m.
Ballard High School, Northwest Region
Oct. 26, 2017, 6:30-8 p.m.
McCLure Middle School, Central Region
Oct. 30, 2017, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Cleveland High School, Southeast Region
Nov. 8, 2017, 6:30-8 p.m.
West Seattle High School, West Seattle Region
Nov. 9, 2017, 6:30-8 p.m.
Read more about the current Student Assignment Plan. Recommended changes to the School Board are planned to be introduced on Nov. 1, 2017.
High School Boundaries
Community: District-wide
Engagement Dates: April 27 - Nov. 9, 2017
Topic: In the 2019-20 school year, Seattle Public Schools will reopen Lincoln High School, a comprehensive high school in Northwest Seattle. Reopening Lincoln will require redrawing of the high school boundaries, which identifies the district areas that will feed into each high school.
For eight months, a High School Boundary Task Force has been meeting to gather, analyze, review and consider information and data to prepare a report to the superintendent. The report will include an examination of major capital projects that are affecting high school buildings, exploration of past, current and possible future high school boundaries and recommendations.
Interested stakeholders can review the progress to date on the High School Boundary Task Force webpage.
High School Boundary recommendations will be introduced at the SAP open house meetings listed above and staff will collect feedback from families, students and staff. Recommended High School Boundaries will be introduced to the Board on Jan. 3, 2018, and it is anticipated that the Board will take action on Jan. 17, 2018. New high school boundaries will go into effect 2019-20.
High School Advanced Learning
Community: District-wide; students and families who are rising 5th graders or in middle school or high school
Engagement Dates: Sept. 26 – Oct. 18, 2017
Process: An online discussion board through Thought Exchange was sent to families of current 5th-12th graders as well as high school staff to facilitate this conversation. Read more about Thought Exchange in the tab "About Thought Exchange" above.
The district hosted in-person community meetings to connect with families who need additional language interpretation support at the Chinese Information and Service Center for Chinese language families on Oct. 12, Mercer Middle School for Somali and Vietnamese language families on Oct. 16, and Chief Sealth High School, Spanish language families on Oct. 18.
Close to 2,000 individuals responded to the online conversation request and or participated in native language community meetings. Nearly 5,000 unique comments were shared and participants responded to others’ thoughts more than 169,000 times.
The community’s top 20 ideas from each school were analyzed, and an outside evaluator thematically grouped thoughts with an average rating of 4.0 and above.
Read the themes gathered from the Advanced Learning Community Engagement online discussion and interpreted community meetings
.
Background: Seattle Public Schools is in the process of reviewing the Student Assignment Plan and developing related future high school boundaries. Read more about the current Student Assignment Plan.
The Student Assignment Plan guides student enrollment and ensures students have access to the services they need close to home. One area of the Student Assignment Plan that is under review is how we serve our high school advanced learners.
Given the increase in enrollment across our district, the opening of Lincoln High School in 2019, and the upward trend in students who are eligible for advanced learning services, we are seeking input on how to improve access to high school advanced learning opportunities. Any High School Advanced Learning changes made would not go into effect until 2019-20. Read more about Advanced Learning.