Reportedly, your child won’t receive an admission letter to Hogwarts until they turn 10. If you are wondering what to do about your child’s education during the intervening years, one of our local public elementary schools might be the answer.
In Wallingford, public school students attend one of our three neighborhood reference schools: McDonald Elementary, BF Day Elementary or John Stanford International School. Your reference school is determined by your address, which you can enter into the handy-dandy Seattle Public Schools “reference school generator” here.
While Seattle Public Schools accepts students at their neighborhood reference school on a rolling basis right up through the first day of school, it is preferred that you register your child soon so that the schools can plan for the appropriate number of classrooms, buses, etc. in advance of the first day of school. Enrollment for kindergarten is open now, with forms and instructions available at the SPS website. Parents are encouraged by the school district to register their incoming kindergarteners by this Thursday, January 31.
In addition to regular enrollment, which is for your child’s neighborhood reference school, you can apply for the school of your choice during the open enrollment period, February 25th– March 8th. Open enrollment applies to children at any grade level who want to attend a school that is not their neighborhood reference school. For example, if you wanted your child to attend the Salmon Bay Elementary School (our reference area’s alternative school), you would apply for acceptance during open enrollment. If your child has qualified for Spectrum or APP, open enrollment is the time to officially enroll them in that program.
With all of this enrollment excitement on the horizon, it’s not surprising that our area schools are offering tours/open houses:
B.F. Day is hosting a family dinner/open house for new and existing families this Thursday, January 31, from 5:30-7:30. More details at their PTSA website.
McDonald has several tours coming up on February 7th, 13th and 27th. To RSVP for a tour, please visit their PTSA website.
John Stanford’s tour day is February 13th. Please visit their website for more details.
Salmon Bay Elementary is offering tours February 7th, February 19th and March 5th. To find more info, look for the calendar of “upcoming events” at the bottom of their PTSA homepage.
APP@Lincoln will host tours on February 7th and 27th. Reservations required. Please see their webpage for details.
If you’re curious about the different schools, check out Margaret’s previous posts on our local schools: John Stanford, McDonald, BF Day and Salmon Bay.
At the risk of stirring this up again… please note that the John Stanford enrollment zone is now somewhat smaller than one of your larger Wal-Mart parking lots. (The area to the east of I-5 brings in few if any students so can be ignored.)
JSIS is the first school in Seattle to be a HEREDITARY school, as opposed to a neighborhood or option school. Thank you principal of JSIS and the school board for not addressing JSIS overcrowding sooner so those of us who live in Wallingford can send our children to the neighborhood school. At least my kids will be able to say hi to their Fremont friends (with siblings in JSIS) as they cross paths in the mornings. That’s nice.
Greenlake, Greenwood, Bagley, Whittier, TOPS all not too far
Thank you for this post. Early enrollment may help nudge some capacity decisions to earlier outcomes, which is helpful to waitlisted families.
Also, I don’t understand the JSIS “hereditary” comment. Please explain. My younger child was ousted by the last boundary change with little chance of getting in due to the lack of sibling priority. I want to make sure I’m not missing something. Thank you.
Sure, inthehood… If you had a sibling in JSIS when they changed the boundaries last year, regardless of where you lived, your incoming kindergartener was in JSIS. Of course, it’s likely that there are more siblings at home, all of whom will be welcomed in years to come as well. The effect is that families who live much closer to B.F. Day and MacDonald will be sending their kids to JSIS for years to come while those of us who live less than a 10 minute walk away from JSIS will be busing our kids to Fremont, to which you can’t expect a grade schooler to walk.
I guess you had to get while the getting was good.
What’s worse, the principal of JSIS this year allowed MORE siblings in than she was strictly required to do by virtue of enrollment zone, which created a third kindergarten class where the school board had assured everyone that only two classes would be admitted. I don’t understand the exact details but the overcrowding continues. And apparently she can do this without the school board’s consent. It follows that this will perpetuate itself for years to come making JSIS a hereditary school unless you happen to live within the solid 8-iron range of the school that is the enrollment zone.
I don’t blame the families for taking advantage of this. I blame the principal of JSIS and the school board for not managing this effectively. (Surprise!)
Perhaps this is a better system than the old one, which appears to be what you were under. But explain that to my two daughters who will watch all their friends go to their neighborhood school (one of whom lives next door) while they catch a school bus to a place where they know no one. Oh well, given that they’re three years apart, it’s only nine years we’ll be attending another neighborhood’s school!
I’m confused by this article.
“In addition to regular enrollment, which is for your child’s neighborhood reference school, you can apply for the school of your choice during the open enrollment period, February 25th- March 8th. Open enrollment applies to children at any grade level who want to attend a school that is not their neighborhood reference school.”
I looked at the link website and it stated the Option School With Transportation for my address was Salmon Bay.
Does this mean I can only apply for Salmon Bay? That would contradict this articles assertion that I can apply to any school I want.
Or can I apply for my child at any school I want, but only Salmon Bay provides transportation in my area? So in theory, I could apply for my child to go to JSIS or McDonald or any other school?
David, you’re confused because it’s confusing! There is a strong push from SPS to get children into their neighborhood schools. In part, this is to save money on school buses which are hugely expensive. So, I think the SPS official party line is that you enroll your child in their neighborhood school OR your neighborhood option schoool (in our case Salmon Bay). SPS will provide transit to these schools if you are not in the walk zone.
However, in the 3 years my son has been in the public school system, I have seen that the party line is not universally applied. For example, when McDonald first opened (its first 2 years I think), people from all over north Seattle were applying to get in there during open enrollment, and they got in (some of them not until right before school started). 4 years ago, before JSIS was in the over-enrollment mess it’s in now, they opened a 2nd Japanese kindergarten, largely with students from the BF Day zone whose parents had listed JSIS as their first choice for open enrollment. Given how over-enrolled JSIS currently, I think there’s only a snowball’s chance in hell of getting your kindergartener in there, but you could always choose to try.
It is my understanding that if your child gets into a school that is neither their neighborhood school NOR the option school, you are responsible for transportation.
Of course, I am a public school parent, not an SPS employee. You would probably be best off calling them and seeing what they say. And then calling back 2 days later to see if you get an answer you like better 😉
This is a mess. And now Hamilton is starting to show the signs of overcrowded schools – the school district trying to “fix it” in way most parents do not agree because it is such hardship on their families.
I am a SPS employee. Yes, Kimberley said it.Then document everything and stand firm with the decision.
Check out the new enrollment figures release yesterday by SPS. We all saw JSIS enrollment trends that maxed out capacity over three grade levels, resulting in drastic curtailment of the attendance area and leaving many neighborhood families putting their kids on buses to BF Day and McDonald. McDonald is now going down the same path. Enrollment in grades K-2 next year is projected at over 260 students. I don’t know what the school’s capacity is but it is clear that no one has learned from the JSIS mistake. Hamilton is beyond crowded. When did 33 kids per class become the new normal? The influx of APP kids, over 500 next year, seems to be a major cause. And it looks like the School Board is determined to do nothing about it.
In the “vote no” argument in the voter’s guide for the BEX Capital thing, the writer said that the school board’s own consultants were telling them enrollment was likely to decline again once home prices recovered (which is certainly under way). There’s a lot of common sense to that. Otherwise, why would SPS have seen declines for all those years the economy was good. I really doubt that people with children are moving into the city, or not moving out, because of SPS. Frankly, my wife and I are considering a move out of SPS ourselves.
Has anyone seen this “consultant report”?
Kim, wait, so you’re saying technically nothing bars me from applying my kindergartner to any school in Seattle? Just that SPS will only agree to transport to specific schools, and pushes heavily for me to go to their reference school for my area? Please be very clear with me. Thank you in advance!
David, I don’t think so but like I said, I am only reporting what I have seen in practice as an SPS parent. I think what many people do is enroll their child at their reference school and then during open enrollment, put down their first choice school. I think the district has some fancy formula for projected enrollment, etc. that it uses to assign non-neighborhood children to the schools. I have been told by other parents that often these assignments are offered right before school starts in the fall. I think there is also a greater likelihood of your student getting placed in their non-reference school if it doesn’t have a history of being over-enrolled. Also, all students are guaranteed a spot in their reference school, so you can ask for whatever you like with the knowledge that your student will at least end up in their reference school.
This is a huge topic with so many facets. And these comments show how many questions are unanswered. I’ll share what I’ve heard, but of course, there may be some misinformation.
Re: JSIS, siblings were grandfathered last year in the transition plan because SPS felt those families didn’t have much time to respond to the boundary change (which highlights an underlying absurd belief by some of our SPS policy-makers that families don’t plan beyond a 1 to 2 year horizon when choosing homes). The next transition plan isn’t finalized yet, but is close to finalized. Of course, I hope that siblings get in again, because I believe SPS should honor what they started with families rather than divide them, although I recognize that comes at the cost of new families moving in to boundaries believing they have a guarantee, which also isn’t fair. SPS needs to get ahead of this issue, especially with new levies and boundary changes pending. I would like SPS to put in place a policy that gives siblings priority, and also cuts off any enrollment guarantee after a certain point in time, so that families can plan without being bumped by a new family moving in a week before the school year begins. I don’t think SPS can guarantee geographic enrollment, in any situation, and especially as enrollment is growing at such a fast rate, new multi-family units are replacing single-family units, and ESPECIALLY with BEXIV changes likely. Rather, why not implement a system that includes a level of unknown, so that new families and moving families can weigh the risks and make their own choices? For instance, based on other public school systems, create a priority order for 1) siblings, then 2) distance within a walk-zone, then 3) lottery. I know it still isn’t perfect, but if a family knows they are not guaranteed, they can make more informed choices.
Re: JSIS 2012 last-minute 3rd K class, my understanding is that guaranteed neighborhood enrollment (including last-minute enrollment in the month before the school year) forced the number of students well over 2 classes, creating the need for a third class. JSIS benefited from a 3rd class by reaching the capacity amount that allowed for an assistant principal and other services, but also had just a few days to reorganize staffing around a new class and determine which language could be offered based on available staff. It was a challenge for some of the impacted staff to adapt so quickly, but they figured it out. I don’t get the sense that the principal made this last-minute addition lightly, and I also don’t know how much choice was involved due to the enrollment numbers.
Re: saving on transportation. It is my understanding that the SPS didn’t foresee how much the new neighborhood assignment plan would result in capacity issues at so many schools, and the resulting costs of now-required portables is calling the savings on transportation into question. I’d really like to see SPS comment on this and know the specifics.
This is a great discussion. I’m so grateful that the comments and questions are respectful.
Much is made about not splitting up families. The million dollar question:
Why can’t the older sibling who lives a Stone’s throw (pun intended) from B.F Day, but whose parents sent him/her to JSIS, attend B.F. Day with his/her younger sibling just coming into kindergarten this Fall? That keeps families together and opens up a kindergarten slot at JSIS for my child to go to her neighborhood school while simultaneously insuring the entirety of the other family goes to its neighborhood school?
What exactly is unfair about that? Where I grew up, you did not know from one year to the next what school you were attending until the spring. But you knew that your sibs were right there with you. Unsurprisingly, few complaints. Tough but fair.
Like some many things I’ve noticed about living in Seattle for the past 10 years, we want it both ways. “Neighborhood schools” and “keeping families together”, when the schools are as small as they are, will frequently create conflict.
Re: JSIS 2012 last-minute 3rd K class: Just want to clarify what happened as I have an out of boundary kindergarten (K) sibling and a 3rd grader at JSIS. A month before school started, the enrollment numbers were ~66 incoming kindergartners for 2 classes and there were no plans to address the issue (other than hope, not all 66 kids showed up). Many parents urged the school, SPS enrollment office, and SPS Board of Directors to consider options to fix the problem. Some of us also wanted to get in our out of boundary kindergarten siblings (there were only 6 of them).
The week before school started, a decision was made to take the incoming 3rd graders who were separated into 4 classes (while in 2nd grade) and consolidate them into 3 classes (now have ~28-30 students each), and take the extra teacher FTE to create a 3rd K class. So, only about 6 students were added (the out of boundary siblings) than what was expected at the beginning of the school year. The decision was made by the SPS Enrollment office, SPS Board of Directors, and JSIS Principal.
In hindsight, it was a good decision to make because families continued to move into the JSIS boundaries and have increased the sizes of the kindergarten classes. Personally, I am saddened that my 3rd grader is in such large classes, but am thrilled to have my K attending the same school.
So, just know the decision to add a 3rd K class was not made lightly and was at the expense of the 3rd graders, associated staff, and all the teachers who were reassigned to teach different grades the week before school started.
Is am disappointed my third grader (and teacher and classmates) paid the price of fixing the problem SPS created. I understand families prefer to keep all kids in the same school and all that, but this year my third harder is not only one of 28 but also her wonderful teacher is overwhelmed with a large class size and not instructional assistant. The split an IA between 2nd, 3rd and 3th grade. All this after we were told we “reached our goal” during the annual fund campaign. What a fiasco.
Shame on the SPS capacity management big wigs.
I meant they split an IA between 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade.
Again, what a fiasco.
@Huber
Here’s a couple of questions for you. You refer to JSIS being the Wallingford neighborhood school. What do you consider to be the boundaries of Wallingford? Obviously, you live west of Corliss and/or north of 45th. Do you live west of Wallingford Ave?
@Meridian
It’s good to hear from someone with first-hand knowledge on this year’s incoming class. Did the ~66 incoming kindergartners include the out-of-area siblings?
Thanks for the background, Meridian.
Huber, obviously we all want the best for our kids. Moving an older child to the school of the reassigned younger child is an option, per SPS, and may be the choice of some. However, just as you don’t want to stress your kids by breaking up their friendships and sense of neighborhood, I don’t want to stress mine by breaking up established relationships with peers, teachers, activities, and learning track (yes, in this case, immersion). Also, there are families a block from the new Corliss/45th boundary facing this issue, just as there are families a stone’s throw from McDonald and BF Day.
What I fault SPS for is speaking in terms of neighborhood and boundary guarantees in the past, and yet changing those guarantees so frequently without real concern for the consequences. The families that moved into those guaranteed zones – mine included – did so without any indication or warning that the result would be split schools. Worse yet, the impacted families – yours and mine – appear to be considered a temporary inconvenient adjustment that will pass. In the case of JSIS, this “neighborhood school” boundary is now so small that one can hardly argue that it is truly a neighborhood school.
I am supporting both levies, because our schools and kids need it. However, if they pass there will likely be numerous boundary changes in the coming years. I hope SPS will recognize the value of keeping families together, the value of EARLY decisions and open communication with families and communities, and that will have a proactive plan to handle capacity issues. Otherwise, I hope they post a giant yellow banner on their website noting: “Warning, your children may be shuffled to and/or divided among new schools on an annual basis (so don’t get too comfortable).”
I would say someone who lives 15 feet west of Corliss and seven blocks south of 45th St, as we do, is in Wallingford. I’d say anyone who lives east of Wallingford and south of 45th St certainly qualifies. After that it’s a matter of opinion I guess.
For purposes of school zones, a fair boundary would be Wallingford and 45th.
But Lord knows we live within an easy walk to JSIS. Good thing the taxpayers are footing the bill for busing my children to BF Day for nine years. (I assume, but don;t know for sure, that my tax dollars have been busing Fremont kids to JSIS for a few years, so I guess it all works out.) Your tax dollars at work.
I am asking respectfully of those who are sticking up for JSIS, etc. in allowing more siblings this year, why do you not send ALL your children to THEIR neighborhood school so that my children can attend theirs. I maintain that JSIS will be a hereditary school, as opposed to neighborhood school, for some years to come. Otherwise, those who live on Stone Ave (the old JSIS boundary) would now be going to BF Day, irrespective of siblings.
And all this to get out golden ticket to attend JSIS! I am afraid the school is popular by past reputation and the fact that language immersion is so attractive. The school is like any other public school, some awesome teachers and some not so much. JSIS faces the same challenges other schools do in terms of budget, space, large classroom sizes, etc.
I am still going to stick to public education and save my hard earned dollars for the college years.
I couldn’t agree more, inthehood. My wife bought our current Wallingford house near Corliss & 38th St 10 years ago, a few years before we even met. Our oldest will enter kindergarten this fall, with her sister three years behind. All of my oldest’s friends are going to JSIS even though many live west of us, but they had siblings there before them. We are right on the line. The other side. She will know no one at BF Day.
Am I bitter? You damn right. I don’t fault anyone who takes advantage of this system and sends their kids to their siblings’ school. I would do the same. I fault the SPS first for setting the JSIS boundary so huge in the first place — when they went to the neighborhood school concept — and then having to rein it in so drastically after TWO YEARS of overcrowding it. Would a modest adjustment to, say, Wallingford Ave and 45th St, after the first year of overcrowding been sustainable? We’ll never know but I would’ve felt like SPS had done its best with what they had. Instead we have what you describe: something other than neighborhood schools, despite the name.
I also despise the idea that the final transition plan was posted last year on a Thursday night for a school board vote on the following Wed. And Monday was a holiday. Those of us who found ourselves on the short end of the stick had effectively no time to register protest. Some of us went to the school board meeting that Wed and spoke against the plan as, well, contrary to the ideals of neighborhood school planning, but I swear the board spent almost half the meeting arguing about some arcane matter of internal policy. The transition plan got about 12 minutes of public comment and was approved unanimously. You never got the feeling they gave a damn about anything anybody said at the meeting.
I voted against both initiatives, but I hope they pass narrowly, which is what I expect will happen, else I might have voted in favor. And my wife and I are considering doing what the generations before us did when they had kids: get out of the SPS area.
@Brian
The 66 incoming K did not include the 6 out of boundary siblings. So, adding the 3rd K class did increase enrollment by the 6 siblings. Just a side note, these Kindergartners are siblings of students who got into JSIS under the old assignment plan (not under the new assignment plan when the boundaries were drawn too large). So, most of them got into JSIS by the distance tie breaker (when siblings used to be guaranteed a spot in their sibling’s school).
In re: to Wallingford’s boundaries, you can see one map according to the Seattle City Clerk’s Geographic Indexing Atles:
http://clerk.seattle.gov/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1130S.htm
So, someone should check the teaching contracts for primary classes.. I thought the class top limit was 26.. and if surpassed the class got IA time or the teacher got extra pay.. check that.
Re JSIS it is sad to hear that there is only 1 IA for a 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade class.. my guess is that these classes are English only classes.
Last year I recall that JSIS K and 1st grade Spanish bilingual aide/assistants were in class full time and paid for by the school/parent fund raising. Non-immersion programs in regular schools do not get iA’s unles they qualify for Title 1 or LAP money due to test scores and other ‘standard criteria” and the school has chosen to fund IA’s as part of the program plan. My guess is that JSIS does not get LAP or T1 funds and thus the IA for non-immersion classes is a bonus due to over load size. Schools with no immersion programs and no LAP IA money do NOT have IA’s except in special education inclusion programs.
I work for SPS.
Huber, I can sympathize with your plight and don’t mean to sound trite or condescending. I’m a Wallingford parent and a teacher who was lucky enough to have their child get into JSIS when the boundary was expanded from Wallingford Ave. to Stone Way. As a kindergartner she knew a few kids from the neighborhood, more from preschool. However, a few years later and she’s made new friends and has little to do with some of the original friends.
My point is that kids adapt and make new friends, whether it’s B.F. Day, JSIS, or a non-SPS school (private?) as you mentioned possibly doing. I’ll also add that academically JSIS doesn’t have that much over Day other than the language immersion program. Which, like everything, has its pros and cons. Day has some wonderful things going for it as well. My main problem with it has always been it’s location in regards to Wallingford. To my mind it’s located in Fremont and separated from our neighborhood by a multi-lane highway. This doesn’t exactly make it feel like our neighborhood school, but will admit this is also an aesthetic, adult concept I doubt many kids really care about.
@yumyum
A little off topic but still concerning JSIS and the quality of instructions our kids get there. The classes I am referring to are the Spanish track classrooms – I do not know the Japanese side of this.
At the beginning of the school year I realized none of my kids had an IA in their Spanih class. I requested to speak with the principal or vice principal to understand what was going on. I was told they were in the process of hiring a Spanish speaking IA.
They finally got one by October/November and they had to split her time between classrooms . I requested to talk to the administrators again because it was my understanding we had reached our goal during Annual Fund Campaign and I was really confused. I got a broader explanation: We did hit the $250,000 goal but from the get go the school knew they needed at least $400,00 to ensure an IA in every immersion classroom. They decided not to set the goal at $400,000 because both the principal and vice principal were new to the school and they were not confident they would reach that goal.
So no full time IA’s for any of my kids’ classrooms.
thank you for that clarification. I am a substitute teacher and recall when they had fulltime IA’s in the Immersion programs. I know it is hard also to find Spanish fluent folks to be IA’s. from time to time JSIS had open positions posted.
Keep advocating for your child and the program.
I also sub in other Immersion programs whose model is different and the IA’s are used prodominately for walk-to-math -or -read programs and also qualify for LAP money.
@Huber
Last year when the JSIS boundaries got redrawn, incoming kindergarteners that did not have a sibling at JSIS and lived west of the Corliss boundary got assigned to B.F. Day, but they had the option to apply for McDonald at Open Enrollment and they were guaranteed a spot at McDonald if they applied. Is that not the case this year? At the very least, your oldest could be in an immersion program. Not quite what you wanted for your child, but may be a workable option? I haven’t been following all the enrollment options this year, so you may have to check with the district if this option is still available this year for affected families.
The school district has definitely created a mess here, but perhaps moving the borders every two months isn’t the answer. We have many wonderful specialized schools (including JSIS) that could benefit kids from across the city. Perhaps they should look at turning some of these specialized schools into magnet schools, thus allowing kids who are truly interested in a type of learning to attend, and letting others seek their bliss (or their education) in another place.
Our son had JSIS as his home school when he started in K several years ago, and we intentionally asked NOT to be placed there. He would have been miserable. He is thriving in his arts-integrated (public) school in another neighborhood, however. (They use art the way JSIS uses language in everyday classes.) We are thankful he was able to request entry to the school. We are also very grateful that the principal added a K that one year, thus allowing him (and some other Wally children we know) to get in.
He’s getting a fantastic education in the best possible environment for him. If he had started a year later, he would have been suffering at McDonald, trying to learn in a way that he’s just not wired to learn.
Language immersion is wonderful for those who can learn that way. It can be torture for those who don’t. Arts-immersion is wonderful for kids with an artistic soul, but I’ve seen plenty who are mad that they don’t have a football team. This is what happens when schools develop their own independent flavor, and are then converted to just regular neighborhood schools.
I sincerely hope the child lucky enough to score our JSIS spot has thrived as well as my child has at his school. That’s what’s really important here.
1st world problem.
very right .. to another perspective.. very right on