Are we gonna have to smack the SPS and the other social experimenters with another Supreme Court decision?

Anyone got some good advice on private middle and high schools in Ballard? Probably the best solution for some of us.

It's crazy to think that teens who live between 67th and 85th wouldn't be able to attend Ballard High.

"social experimenters?" Huh? The school board is trying to apply common sense based on geographical location and that someone is already threatening a lawsuit is absurd. Ingraham could use an influx of more caring, involved parents with high expectations and could lead to it being a great school. Making the most of what you have and learning to work through what life throws your way is a valuable life skill and that is the example I try to set for my kids. Not whining if things don't go the way I would've liked.

We really want to support public schools -- but if school administrators mismanage and parent input falls on deaf ears, we feel forced to go private.

Our son will start kindergarten in 2010 (which seems so sci-fi to me!) and our daughter in 2012. I feel lucky that we have a year before he starts (especially after starting school tours this year).

In addition to all our "cluster" schools, we are looking at Matheia, Pacific Crest and are going to investigate parochial/Catholic schools -- which all the local ones are K-5/K-8 -- no high school choices in Ballard.

As we are just three houses north of NW 67th, the rumor that they would cut-off Ballard High at NW 67th (or even NW 75th) is ridiculous. If the demand is so great from QA and Magnolia, there must be a better solution than moving everyone north.

No kidding, AJ! I haven't checked out the district's plans in detail yet, but is anyone talking about adding a high school in the Queen Anne/Magnolia area? There's obviously a need there.

I agree with CKE: If QA and Magnolia need a high school, they should darn well lobby for one. But forcing Ballard kids out of their own neighborhood high school to accomodate kids from QA and Magnolia is totally unfair.

Why should my neighbor's son be kept out of Ballard High because he lives at 75th, while a kid who lives south of Dravus gets the spot instead?

This kind of stuff makes me feel like banging my head againt the wall.

Even where we live at 90th, my son could walk to Ballard HS (I work right up the hill and I walk sometimes). The next closest school is twice as far. Why make him take the bus when he could walk?

Actually a lawsuit is a very reasonable response (once we find out what the real plan is of course). Many, many people pick their house location based on local schools. Arbitrarily revoking that correlation is the exact same as arbitrarily decreasing the value of your house. You steal from me, I see you in court.

Looking at the property tax breakdown we just got in the mail, it seems to me that there should be enough funding from those on the peaks of QA and Magnolia alone to pay for another high school.
Don't they already have some buildings up there for that purpose? Or have they already all been turned into condos?

I hope that every single person that posts here writes a letter to Tracy Libros and attends the meetings. Please sit down and write a letter now. And please mark the meeting dates on your calendar once they become know.

If Ingraham could use an influx of caring, involved parents why not bus the kids from Queen Anne and Magnolia right past Ballard and on up to Ingraham?

I live less than a mile from Ballard High, but my kids might very well end up on a bus to Ingraham when they could have just walked to Ballard. I thought Seattle wanted to be "green"? Why put Ballard kids on buses up north when they (most of them probably) could walk to school. The QA/Magnolia kids are getting on a bus either way.

When we were looking at houses we purposly did NOT look in QA/Magnolia because of the lack of high school. It would have been convenient to live there as we work downtown. But, we choose Ballard because of the schools. Sorry QA/Magnolia parents, but why should we be punished because we did our homework before we bought.

When you make housing and neighborhood choices on the basis of some arbitrary idea of investment value, you should always be aware of those risks. If changes happen in this fluid life world we all share, and you loose percieved investment value, that is not a real loss, that is not theft from you.
If you choose your house with the idea that you are making a home and joining in a community with all its good and bad aspects - you will prosper no matter what strange event occur. Even if you think that some things benefit others more than they benefit you and your kin.

"Ingraham could use an influx of more caring, involved parents with high expectations and could lead to it being a great school."


So because I'm an involved parent my kids should be bused up there to help out the flakes? That's what I call experimentation.

"You steal from me, I see you in court."

I'll be right beside you Josh.

Open the Lincoln building up as a high school and make that the QA/Magnolia school.

Lawsuits just take even more financial resources out of the classroom.

@crown hill #13

"If you choose your house with the idea that you are making a home and joining in a community"

Isn't this exactly what the school board is trying to take away? If you don't think schooling is a huge part of community, then I guess you don't have any children.

I don't think there is a person here that wouldn't love for QA/Magnolia to get their own school. Not only because it would free up slots for us, but I for one am a big believer in community schools. I bet the QA/Magnolia school would turn into great school. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if that is financially possible.

I hope it is not too presumptious, but here is the letter that I sent to Mrs. Libros. I hope other parents will also send a letter to her:

Dear Tracy Libros,

I was very distraught to learn that assignment for Ballard high-school might change in the near future to prevent students that live locally from attending the school. I'm sure my email will be like dozens of other emails you will hear in the near future. And although I doubt much of what I say will be new to you I would like to list several reasons why I believe it is important for the school board to not shift the bounds of Ballard high-school assignment to effectively divide Ballard in half and force some kids to travel many miles when they live one or two miles away from the high school.

I understand that many people are upset about the possible assignment because of the perceived quality of Ingraham, but frankly that is not why I am against this change in the assignment plan. I went to an excellent private school as a child, but I am a big believer in community schools, public education and the fact that I and my neighbors can have a big impact on the quality of education at the school my children go to. But I think a large part of this is based on the notion of a community school where education, after school activities, public facilities, parents and teachers all live near that school.

1) Community impact on schools - My children go to the Loyal heights elementary and over the brief time I have been there I have seen a very active community of interested and active parents. I believe a large part of this is because this school is not just our school, it is also one of our local parks. Many families walk to the school during off school hours and have their children play there, do after school activities and meet with other children. Many parents drop their children off and meet and at the school because many of us walk our children there. This is possible because we all live so close to the school. As involved as the parents are, I doubt that they would be as involved if they did not interact as much as they do. A large part of this is because the families are so local to the school. I strongly believe that the effects of a local school also apply at the high-school level. Going to the high-school that is within walking distance of my house will mean that I and many of my neighbors will continue to be involved with the school system even through high-school. This means more involved parents, more volunteer work and better performing students. I believe this is extremely important to improve the quality of education in the Seattle public schools.

2) Transportation time - If the assignment plan changes in such a way that a large number of kids that live only a few miles from Ballard will need to go to Ingraham it will adding a large amount of time to their commute. Frankly, time spent in a bus or a car is time wasted, I want my sons to be spending their time productively. Children in Queen Anne and Magnolia will need to ride the bus to get to Ballard or Ingraham and the difference in time for them will be small compared to the time difference between walking to school and waiting for and then riding a bus to school.

3) Basic fairness - When we moved to Ballard the schools were a major reason why we made that choice. It was a large part of why I paid as much as I did for my house. Not allowing me to send my children to the drastically closer high school seems extremely unfair. I am sorry that people in QA and Magnolia did not do their homework with regard to local school, but it does not seem right to punish us by pushing our children to schools many miles away.

4) The environment - Seattle has done a number of things over the past several years to decrease our impact on the environment and non-renewable resources. When kids can walk to a school and the city decides instead to force them to drive or ride a bus, that goes against much of that hard work we have done to protect the environment over the years.

5) Cost to the school district - The amount the school district pays to the bus system is per rider, not per mile. So shifting children to Ingraham from Ballard when they would not need transportation if they went to Ballard high school is an added expense that the school district should instead be spending on our children's education and facilities.

6) Maintaining current childhood relationships - At one school board meeting a teacher mentioned that children that maintain stable school friendships through out their entire school career do better. Creating a line in the middle of Ballard such that many children who go to the same elementary school and junior high will go to different high-schools will break those friendships. This will have a negative impact on the performance of the children at both schools (Ballard and Ingraham).

7) Maintaining school enrollment - Changing the assignment plan to split Ballard in half will have the effect of forcing some parents to take their children out the Seattle school system entirely. My understanding is that much of the school districts funding comes from enrollment numbers. This will have the effect of reducing the school population even more. When a school is separated from the community, by busing students to far away schools, the only difference between the public school and a private school is the cost. When public schools are also a strong part of the community it becomes something more, it becomes a part of families lives. And those families are much more likely to be involved, make sure that their children are excellent students and help support the school and all of the students there. If you strip away the community from a school it becomes just another commodity.

Ideally, what I would like to see is a new high-school built in the QA/Magnolia area so that those children could have the same local school "advantages" that I believe we have in Ballard. But I understand that funding probably makes that impossible. If no new QA/Magnolia school is built I believe that the children from QA and Magnolia should be transported to Ingraham instead of to Ballard. It is unfortunate that the school board did not plan which high-schools would stay open with more care, but QA/Magnolia are extremely affluent neighborhoods and the buyers of those homes could have easily bought houses in Ballard if schooling was important to them. Simply because they did not do their homework with regard to their school situation does not mean that those parents should be able to push the children of Ballard out of a high-school that is within walking distance from their homes. If the school board still does not see the logic in this, then I think they should consider a "bubble" around each high-school that encompasses the school to a distance of 3 miles where any child is guaranteed to go. I believe there is already some kind of rule like this regarding which children are allowed to get free bus passes. If a child is close enough to walk to a school then I believe that should be their assigned high-school.

I don't think that the school district is trying to take away anyone's sense of community - but maybe the the school district wants you to broaden your prospective a small bit.

I have kids in school - public schools currently, have done so for the past 12 years. Personally I am a hybrid product of rural Public and Urban Catholic school systems.

What I am trying to do is to get you to see the bigger picture. I know parents that spent much time shopping around for the best school, trying to be oh so strategic only to have their teacher or principal or other most attractive feature change, sometimes over a weekend, It is only a school, an important part of our life, but a small part of our life.

You live with it, you make your decisions based on the common good for all children. You speak up and work together.

What's Tracy Libros' email address?

trlibros@seattleschools.org
Hint -
Be concise and fact based

Show awareness of the process.

and awareness of neighborhood school history

"you make your decisions based on the common good for all children"

Looking out for my childrens' interests is the same as watching out for the interests of children in my neighborhood. It's why I chose to live here, in Ballard, and not say, Greenwood or the CD.

Another thing to worry about as a Ballard parent: this year, will my 5-year old get into our nearest elementary school for Kindergarten; 10 years from now, will she have to go to high school way out of the area, and be separated from all her friends. Absolutely crazy!

i am lucky enough to own a home on the south side of 65th, but i still think this is a terrible idea. however, i do not think that SPS is ever going to build a new highschool to resolve this problem. there is no way they have the financing for that.

unfortunately this is a result of too few kids in general in SPS b/c they have been making poor decisions for YEARS. this drives parents (with their kids away), which in turn creates problems like this which in turn..... you get the point.

Such a small neighborhood some of you live in.
Shall we build more walls?
Things may be very different in 5 or 10 years. Why start worrying now? Your kids can maintain friendships even if friends are seperated by different paths thorugh schools - I have seen it happen!
You can't focus only on the good of the kids in your small neighborhood, even though you have chosen the best neighborhood ever. Well, obviously you can, but............
Solutions need to be city wide, for the good of all students - that is common good. Even if you pull out of the public system, your child will have a cohort of potential friends, co-workers, bus ride buddies who didn't.
Some statements remind me of how mean girls used to act in middle school.

I don't think it's a matter of "building more walls," just the reality of the situation: Most parents would just rather send their kid to the local school (10 bl ocks away), rather than a school 65 blocks away.

When I was a teen on Queen Anne and Magnolia, we walked to Franklin in 10 feet of snow. AND WE LIKED IT!

My solution is to build a new MagAnne High school in the old Sunset Bowl building! I'd suggest a building situated in Queen Anne or Magnolia, but who can afford real estate there, right?

Naomi, Crown Hills lives in the world of bumper sticker politics.

Crown Hill is absolutely right. There have always been boundary changes when demographics change. The cut off for Ballard used to be I believe at 105th, back in the 50 and early 60s. Ballard got too crowded so it was changed to 90th. I am not sure of the exact years.

I can’t get too worked up over whether or not you kid sees his or her friends at school. That is not the point of school.

Someone is always gonna be unhappy. If the boundary is 90th those on 91st will whine. If it is 85th then those on 86th will whine. I lived on 73rd and went to Whittier. For junior high I went to Monroe but those above 75th went to Whitman. This is NOT a tragedy.

It is also stupid to worry about rumors until we have more info. If I had to guess I would say lines will be made at 85th and 8th. Maybe 80th. Those outside that line would be slit between Ingram and Roosevelt. Reopening Lincoln could help. Huge sections of what is commonly called Ballard could easily go there as well as the small number from Queen Anne. Actually there are so few kids on Queen Anne that most are able to be taken in by Center, which is where my Ballard daughter goes. The Magnolia area could also be split between Ballard and Center but then Center will need a real building and more facilities. That will be hard since Queen Anne real state is so dear. What’s really funny though is that I bet if Center was to build say on the south slope of Queen Anne or at the foot near the water Ballardites would be crying to get their kids in there.

I think if you can hear the marching band practicing from your house, you can attend the school. We are between 80th and 85th and can hear it so we are in despite the boundaries. Makes sense to me!

this is why private school is totally the way to go

Just stumbled upon this place - excellent content here - adding your feed!

Since Queen Anne and Magnolia have to be on buses anyway, why not just bus them to Ingraham! Why make two different groups of kids have to bus - is that smart?

"It is also stupid to worry about rumors until we have more info."

Waiting for more information means its too late and the decisions have already started working against us.

Why not build a high school along 15th in Interbay - lots of land and probably not going to be developed as much as before due to down economy.

Please don't make the dividing line 67th St or anywhere close. 67th is the border of the BHS property. You will create a nightmare of petty crime and graffiti in the BHS neighborhood by assigning its northern residents to another, thus rival, school. Don't be a ghettomaker.

Who cares as long as it keeps those darn kids off my lawn.
I said, stay off my lawn!

Be very careful. There are a lot of wealthy Ballardites who have donated greatly to BHS. When they discover their kids or grandkids won't be attending the money will dry up. I'm just saying.

Rupert there are a few wealthy people in Magnolia on on Queen Anne so they can take up the slack.

What year is this supposed to take effect/affect (can never remember the usage!)?

I went to Whitman when half the student body went to Ingraham and the other half went to Ballard. At that time the border was on 90th, and the better high school was Ingraham, much to my father's dismay, a loyal Ballard grad. I survived and still saw my childhood friends that went to Ballard.
As a teacher, I see first hand what happens when parents are involved with their children's schools. Great things happen. I also see what happens when parents aren't involved but expect the schools to do everything. We are our children's futures. It doesn't matter what school your child goes to, as long as you're an active parent that has high expectations for your child and helps them to achieve them. How do you do that? It starts by reading to them when they're small, helping them with their homework, going to PTA meetings at their school, being a parent rather than their friend.
I've taught in inner city schools and in wealthy schools. The best students are the ones whose parents are actively involved in their children's lives and are proactive. It doesn't always depend on what school the child attends. Be that kind of parent and be responsible.

Thanks, but some of us involved parents do get tired if carrying the water for those parents who are lazy.

I think one of the problems with how we fund schools is that we rely so strongly on each schools parent teacher and alumni associations to fundraise to give our children the type of experience that most of us had as back in the '60's and '70's and even into the '80's.

This leads to the sense of fatigue that Ballard Guy is talking about. It leads to a wide disparity in programs. It leads to alot of competiteness for diminishing donor dollars among other things.

Strange thing I have witnessed is that the one complaining the loudest about carrying the load for the lazy is not always the one doing the most work.

The number one reason we bought our house was the predictability of school assignment. For us, Loyal Heights, Whitman, Ballard. I wanted my kids to go to the schools that were the closest to our house, all of which they could easily walk to. We did not look in Magnolia and Queen Anne and other neighborhoods because of the lack of predictability, schools not within walking distance, etc. I am with the above poster, Josh (?), who says he did not buy in QA and Magnolia because of the high school problem. Sorry, but those families purchased over there knowing there is no designated high school. So, it makes absolutely no sense to send QA and Magnolia kids, who will be on a bus regardless, to Ballard, and then bus Ballard area kids who can walk to BHS, to Ingraham. If the district shuts out over half the kids who live in Ballard from attending BHS, are they going to change the name of the school? My kids would have been (hopefully still will be) fourth generation BHS students, so this proposal hits hard! I am so tired of hearing people say don't get so upset, eveything is rumor at this point. Rumor or not, the district has said major changes likely will be made so it is important that we consider all of the possibilities and get fired up now. According to Peter Maier (School Board member) the new plan will be very long term, so the advice to not worry about something that isn't going to affect those of us with young kids for another 8 or so years really should not be heeded. If you want Ballard kids at BHS, please attend the upcoming meetings to give the district feedback (once the proposals are made public). The first one is sopposed to take place in March.

Is the new enrollment plan going back to a typical district like boundary to determine HS placement? If so it seems like one great thing about the plan would be predictability so families can count on getting into a nearby school, unlike the anxiety stricken enrollment process now.

We live in Mag but can understand how upset Ballard parents would be if they had to bus their kids to HS farther away from the one right next door. It just doesn't make sense anyway you slice it.

For Mag/QA kids, I don't know what the best solution is but Ballard HS is still the closest for them, these kids shouldn't be turned away either.

Can't really comment too much more until we see a proposal...

And WHY exactly did they close Lincoln and Queen Anne High Schools? In the 1970s my mom worked for the SSD adminstration. There was quite literally an active plan to close ALL the North End Schools. The insanity of this plan was to integrate HOUSING in Seattle by integrating the schools; basically when they started, they were busing grade school kids to the south end. Result: flight to the private and parochial schools and the burbs.

They closed the grade schools in Magnolia, and Queen Anne HS and Lincoln HS, Webster and Crown Hll. James Monroe Jr. High school was closed as well. A lot of schools in the NE part of the city were closed (and are now condos.) Greenwood was closed. Haller Lake was closed. Broadview was closed. John B. Allen was closed. Magolia was closed. Wilson was closed. Briarcliff was closed. North Queen Anne was closed. Olympic View was closed. University Heights was closed. Maple Leaf closed. Sand Point closed. West Woodland was closed. The list goes on and on of NORTH Seattle school closures. (all closed between 1977 and 1989) The entire master plan was to make all the kids in the North End bus to the South End.

My mom was so disgusted with the entire thing, she took a cut in pay and became a school secretary in Magnolia. She has some pretty amazing stories about what really happens when, say, your kid is bussed half way across town and gets sick in the middle of the day. What exactly is wrong with neighborhood schools? I walked to elementary, Jr. High and High School...I went home for lunch in grade school!

Busing was a complete and utter financial disaster for the Seattle School District. (oh, and my absolute favorite story is about the parents of twins, sent to separate schools http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews...

One of the fallout issues with kids being sent all over town, outside of their neighborhoods, is that it erodes the sense of community. Face it, if your kid has sports in Wedgewood after school, another at Garfield, and you work until 6:00, your child will become experienced dodging drunks on the buses, but the net effect is that everyone spends a lot more time in their cars (or on the buses) shuttling students around. How green is that? I suppose that all of this prepares young minds for a lifetime of bus travel.

Too had they closed Queen Anne High School- it was a really nice school! And please don't tell me that the Center School is a real school- its in the old Seattle Center Food court building.

I'm a Loyal Heights parent who lives at 21st and 80th so the current conversations are distressing to say the least. Like many others, I do not want to see the boundaries changed but the reality is SPS must address the enrollment issues of QA and Magnolia and if there are no seats south of the canal and open seats north of the canal then a shift north is a very real option. Because I am so concerned, I am taking the advice of individuals close to the situation to e-mail NOW. Torrey Volk's information has been important and her efforts are really appreciated.

From the information I have recieved, it is CRITICAL that if Ballard residents are concerned, they need to write letters NOW and be very specific in their comments. This is not a Ballard only issue--it's a district wide issue so keeping that point in mind will help your voice be heard. I have been advised that input should be very specific and should not be about where to draw “the geographic line” to attend a certain school; instead it should be about factors of where the reference area lines should be drawn. Our input should address the following factors: walk zones, metro bus access (limited transfers), diversity issues, geography, academics, etc. as these are just some of the many factors SPS adminsitrators have to factor inwhen looking at these issues. Any comments about individual reference areas or street boundaries have no value at this time- that work is months away and will be developed based on what is heard NOW.

For example: one person's input may be the following:

Keeping our Elementary Reference areas intact - if the Loyal Heights or North Beach reference area is a certain boundary line – please keep that line in tact for those students attending middle school and high school. This is important to Ballard HS Community.
Transportation: metro access with limited transfers to Ballard HS is important.
Walk zones are important to Ballard HS Community

Extra Info: The new student assignment plan may also include a % for margin of error with considerations of fluctuation of neighborhood school age population, new families moving into the district after enrollment etc.

For additional information please visit the SPS Student Assignment Plan Website http://www.seattleschools.org/area/newassign/in...

If the Ballard community wants to keep boundary lines intact to keep Ballard students attending Ballard schools, we should get involved by writing letters to Tracy Libros, as well as others, attend meetings but not delay as the process is in full swing now based on what I have heard.

Well my daughter takes required classes and will get a diploma from Center so I would call that a real school. That is the point of school after all right? One of the major reasons we choose it is because of the overcrowding at Ballard. The other was the unpleasant climate and culture she experienced at Whitman and could be assumed would be repeated at Ballard. We did avoid the overcrowding but sadly have discovered that the climate and culture is pretty much the same in all Seattle schools. From what I gather this school was started by a group of parents from Magnolia who wanted a closer alternative and while they have fought for years for a ‘real’ building so far there has been no money with which to build it. That is a bit hard without increasing property taxes.

Certainly bussing was an ill-conceived idea and Seattle is still the most segregated city in which I have ever lived. I did not have kids at that time but my family did and they managed. They sent the kids to Beacon Hill for grade school which gave them the choice to remain in Ballard for junior and high school, which is when most kids will be involved in sports and other extras. It worked well for them. The school they attended on Beacon Hill turned out to be a rather amazing school and all three kids loved it and each took a great deal from that experience and I also believe they bought that experience back with them to Ballard each was successful and outstanding in his or her own way. Their bussing experience did not integrate Seattle but it did make for three bright, successful, independent, forward thinking, and non territorial, individual young adults who have made their way easily in spite of a changing city and lifestyle.

Change in boundaries will happen and someone will be happy and some unhappy and a few will move or attend private schools etc. Most will adapt and find a way. The most recent school closings and revamping have been in south end schools and there was outrage in those neighborhoods and the changes still happened. The simple fact is that there is a shrinking population of kids in Seattle and there are now twice as many dogs as there are kids. The south end is seeing it because their neighborhoods are facing the gentrification the north end saw years ago. I’m not saying it is right or wrong it is just reality. Seattle cannot absorb the property taxes needed to maintain every neighborhood school. It’s the same reason rural areas have consolidated schools. It may have been about segregation in the 70s and 80s but now it is all about money. If you really want to have the school board listen to you come up with a way to solve that issue.

Sorry Maria and Crownhill, your attitude just isn't good enough for me. I firmly believe that local schools are better, and I'm going to fight to try and keep Ballard's school community intact. to anyone else out here, please let us know what else we can do besides wrting letters, brainstorming ideas with the school board and coming to meetings. I want the best education I can get for my kids, and I think that's letting them go to same school as their neighbors and with the same students they have grown up with.

Josh I would never consider suggesting that you not try to get your way. That’s pretty much human nature. You need however to come up with a better reason than “I think that’s letting them go to same school as their neighbors and with the same students they have grown up with.” You might start with WHY you think that?

Note that Center School which was originally on the closure list this session was one of the few spared. This happened because they were able to give a good argument. The sign carriers, marchers and those who had meltdowns at public meetings got nothing. SPS has real problems to solve that will not go away. Offer solutions or alternatives instead of demands or worry over falling house values. SPS is interested in educating all city kids with the limited resources they have available. Help them find a way to do that and you might just get some of what you want.

Maria, if you check out Joshua's long post above you will see that he does have a number of very compelling arguments as to why BALLARD kids should be able to go to BALLARD High School.

But mama he does not address the issues facing SPS which mostly are money issues. Over half the students at Ballard now get bus passes and their cost is nowhere near the cost of building a new school for a small number of kids. A very small number of high school students walk to school. There have always been lines. See the thread here of where Ballard begins and ends. I lived on one when I attended school here years ago and kids a block away went to different schools. There has to be a line somewhere. Do you suggest only natural barriers? : ) As I said if it is drawn at 90th those on 91st will be mad and if it is drawn at 80th those on 81st will be mad. Who do we choose make mad? Can he show figures of how many choose private over public when bussing was introduced?

You see mama every one of these arguments was used during the recent series of closing and none flew. No one from the north end was paying attention then of course because they had no dog in the fight. The argument of housing prices is laughable of course.

Mama I am totally in favor of kids going to school in their neighborhoods. Part of the reason Ballard is over crowed is that SPS allows kids to go out of district and I think that is moronic even though mine chooses to do so. I would still make that choice BTW if she did not get a free bus pass. Demographics in a city change. Center has only about 300 kids and almost ALL Queen Ann dwelling kids attend there. Do you really think it made sense to keep Queen Ann open? The same was true of Lincoln. The school was nearly empty. As the CD fills up with DINKS their schools are also emptying out.

No doubt there have been mistakes made. Selling Queen Ann and not building another school was REALLY dumb but we cannot change the past. Kids on Queen Ann and Magnolia have to go somewhere and Ballard is the best choice. I do feel that a reasonable alternative would be to reopen Lincoln and draw lines where part of what can be considered by some to be Ballard, say below Market and east of 8th, and Fremont attend there. It could also cover Queen Ann. That would also ease the overcrowding at Roosevelt. That idea of course will cause those below Market and easy of 8th to be unhappy. Somebody is gonna be unhappy no matter what but the ones with the best argument have the best chance of being happy.

Why not reopen Lincoln? The School district still owns it.

How do you think the SSD paid for their ill-fated and expensive bussing plan? By selling off their buildings, of course!

I think the "someone is always going to be unhappy" argument is a straw man. People that have to drive 28 blocks north or drive 27 blocks south are in a vastly different camp then people that have to walk 2 blocks south versus driving 50 blocks north. That should be plain to everyone.

I agree Josh but there are people involved who will be going much more than 28 blocks in either direction.

The alternative plan of reopening Lincoln is an actual solution that addresses real current issues. Not just issues for the guy who lives a block from Ballard high school but ALL north Seattle students and ALL students. If people learn to think a bit beyond their own nose they get results.

I'm all for openning another school. I was lucky and went to a small high-school. I'm a little shocked at just how big Ballard High is. I'd be for openning another high-school or two in Seattle just to shrink the size of the schools and the class sizes. I'd even pay more in taxes! I'd even be happy to pay for the additional twenty years when my kids are done with school. Unfortunately, a great many other people do not feel that way. If the Lincoln plan is an option I'm all for it, but the impression I got from the school board member who was at the last meeting I was at, is that openning another school is simply a non-starter. There are schools that our kids go to right now that are falling apart to the point where they are borderline not safe (and this is from that same school board member), I do not see money going into openning a new school as much as I'd love it.

Ok Josh then tell us your solution to issue facing SPS.

Oh and if your only alternative is raising taxes as I suggested earlier, you might want to start that petition and see how that flies with your neighbors and see how fast they grab the pitchforks and torches.

Ok Maria, you obviously feel that being able to walk to BHS isn't a compelling enough argument. Well, I disagree. I am guessing most of the people posting here disagree as well. Yes, there are going to be people angry no matter where the line ends up being. I get that. However, if a kid can walk they should be able to go to that school rather than being bused to a school 5 miles away. I really don't understand how you can claim that this is not a compelling argument.

Also, you keep comparing the current issue of redrawing the school boundary lines to the school closures that recently happened. These are two completely different situations. Yes, being able to walk to a school that was slated to be closed may not be a meritable argument because there are so many other reasons why that school was up for closure. However, being able to walk to a school that is not up for closure but is having it's boundaries redrawn is a valid argument beacause the question is where should the lines be, not should the school stay open or be closed.

According to the meeting I went to at BHS last week with school board president Michael DeBell and Goodloe-Johnson answering questions, Lincoln is not going to be reopened as a high school in the near future. This is because the current Kindergarten class is the first group where overcrowding at north end high schools could come into play. That is 8 years down the road, so they will not look at reopening Lincoln until that group of kids gets closer to high school age. For the current close to high school age kids, there (according to the district) is enough space in high schools.

Mama it doesn’t matter what I consider a compelling argument. I wish you all luck.

". I also see what happens when parents aren’t involved but expect the schools to do everything. We are our children’s futures. It doesn’t matter what school your child goes to,"

Yes, it does matter. If the school my son goes to is miles away, I am much less likely to want to participate regularly.

Hostess re comment #2 Private Schools in the area:

For Middle Schools there are St Al's on 15th just Norht of the Ballard Market and St John on 80th and Greenwood. St Al's has the middle school in sex segregated classes (a boys class and a girls class for each grade) St John has mixed classes.

For High School I think the only game in this neck of the wood is Bishop Blanchet on Woodlawn and 85th.

February is the time when the Catholic schools do their enrollment for the coming year so if you are interested in finding out more get onthe phone right away to the schools to get more information.

Just to add some neighborly perspective... some families who bought in Queen Anne and Magnolia bought when Ballard was an option for high school. As Seattle demographics have changed so has the region that can attend that school. And saying that "those kids over there" can take the bus so my kids don't have to seems pretty callous. Two groups of kids taking a 20-30 min city bus route vs. one group having to transfer downtown and at northgate for a 90 min bus ride both ways is in no way comparable. I believe all Queen Anne/Magnolia parents would love another high school at Lincoln or converting Blaine and reopening the old Magnolia elementary building, or any other option! But there isn't going to be any money available for new sites or renovations for quite some time. As you know they are looking at horrifying cuts right now. I'd like to see our neighborhoods work together for the benefit of our kids. Us vs Them attitudes don't create solutions.
PS. not everyone in Queen Anne/Magnolia can go private and we have been very involved in our local public schools, as you have.

I live on Queen Anne and have been for at least 10 years been lobbying for a high school for the cluster. This issue is not new to parents in the cluster. The cluster is the only one in the city without a reference high school and not had a reference high school for the past 20 or so years. High school students in the cluster go to Garfield, Franklin, Ballard, Roosevelt etc. The school district has always said the same thing, they are studying the problem but have no money to build a new high school. The QA and Magnolia cluster have been drawn to include the high growth areas Belltown, South Lake Union, and Uptown. The 4 cluster elementary schools are full and they had to include BF Day this year to the cluster. By the schools projections, the north half of Seattle is exploding with kids but the number of kids is shrinking in the south. This problem is getting worse. I have found the school district leadership to be very poor and the city ill served by them. I have no confidence in them to find a solution to this demographic problem.

I can not believe this is happening! i go to Salmon Bay school with all of my friends and my brother goes to nathon Hale. Most of my friends want to go to ballard or hale. i live on 90th street and i would have to go to ingrahm with none of my friends. This is a bad idea, to many people are upset about it...