Parents and students voiced concerns about possible changes aimed at easing crowding in Seattle's public schools. School board representatives presented their proposed new student assignment plan during a public meeting Monday night at Garfield High School.
Planners outlined several possibilities to reduce enrollment in schools such as Garfield, which is over capacity, and into others such as Rainier Beach, which is currently underutilized. The meeting was held to gather feedback for use in the board's decision next year.
Possible changes include redrawing boundaries, using nearby community facilities as additional classroom space for Garfield, changing the school schedule or modifying the district's Accelerated Progress Program (APP) for gifted students.
Changes to APP drew the most criticism from participants, with nearly all questions raised relating to the issue. Parents and students alike expressed anger toward the district for "experimenting" with student lives. Presenters had floated the idea of breaking up the current cohort at Garfield in an attempt to control enrollment.
Garfield is currently the only school in the city offering APP in high school. Students there formed an APP Student Union to address their concerns to the district. Several members were present at the meeting.
"The school board is disregarding everything we're standing for," said Cameron Friend, a 14-year-old Garfield freshmen who's part of the group.
"It feels like we're being tossed around," added freshmen Micah Nacht, 14.
Parents acknowledged the district's need to balance enrollment, but said it was wrong to break up APP students now.
"Our daughter might be pulled out of Garfield and be relocated," said Rodney Wong, whose child is a freshmen at Garfield. He said he's worried she would lose the "quality" of her education if moved now. "They're afraid to admit somebody made a mistake in redrawing the boundaries," he added.
Wong also rejected the possibility of creating a separate school for APP kids. He said students benefit from the diversity of people at Garfield, and the "beautiful jewel" of their music program.
Jane Fellner, district liaison for the Garfield PTSA and parent of a graduate in APP, said the program helped the school improve.
"When APP was put at Garfield," she said, "it was a struggling school. It provides a core of academically gifted students."
Seattle Public Schools will be taking community feedback over the next two months before finalizing the plan in January. More information can be found online at: www.seattleschools.org/area/implementation/index.dxml.[[In-content Ad]]
