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A reader of the blog recently commented that the brand new field at Evergreen Elementary looks great. It struck me as odd since the school is scheduled for closure - pending the charade of a "study" by the Board. Why would the District, when facing budget problems, spend anything on the field at Evergreen when they plan to close the school?
A quick glance through the Capital Projects website reveals that three fields were recently renovated. The fields are located at Evergreen, Cedar Way and Westgate and cost more than $467,653. Assuming that all three fields were of similar condition and required the same level of investment, the cost for renovating the field at Evergreen would be approximately $155,884, plus $14,030 in sales tax. That's a lot of cheese sandwiches.
Added to that expense would be the brand new playground that was installed a couple of years ago. That project wasn't cheap either at $31,500, including sales tax. Even more cheese sandwiches.
Then there are the power and cabling upgrades at four different schools - one of which was Evergreen. The total for those four schools was $408,100, with an average expense per school of $102,025, plus $9,182 in sales tax. Piles and piles of cheese sandwiches.
If you ask the District why they just dumped more than $312,621.00 into a site that is scheduled to close, they'll tell you about their commitment to tax payers when the last levy and bond passed. The District committed to completing these projects and they aren't about to go against the wishes of the community. Of course, the community didn't know that Evergreen was scheduled for closure.
If the School Board read the Capital Facilities Plan at any time since 2002, they would have known that school closures were coming and they could have started a "study" back then - avoiding the senseless spending of untold fortunes on a school limping along toward an inevitable closure.
District to close Options.
The blog is receiving calls on the tip line regarding the shift of Options to other, existing schools. The middle school portion of Options, for instance, will be housed at College Place Middle with the same staff as before. Given this news, it isn't surprising that all 12 Options teachers still have jobs at the District. Saving $200,000.00 couldn't be a result of eliminating teachers.
Options achieved success because their educational environment was segregated from mainstream students. Perhaps the District made the decision to relocate Options away from Former Woodway High School to free up additional space for Scriber Lake Alternative High School. Afterall, they won't be moving to their new site any time soon and would likely appreciate a concession of some kind.
By reintroducing Options back into existing schools, of course under another name, the District removes one of the greatest features of the program - moderately isolated and significantly focused instruction.
As for the new name by which the same program will be called, give Pat Shields a call. I am sure he could point us to the mastermind behind the "Powerful Partners" transition to "Powerful Tutors". Was anyone actually fooled by this obvious attempt to avoid paying rent?
At the end of the day, the outcome is inevitable. Fewer students will survive their thirteen-year stint in basic education and the District will continue their trend of diminishing enrollment.
The blog recommends the name "Druthers".
If someone is breaking into your house, you call the police. If your house is on fire, you call the fire department. If your school district is mismanaging public funds, sell your looted, smoked-stained rubble and leave town.
This process has revealed one rather obvious issue. There are absolutely no checks and balances in school board governance. The school board doesn't follow their own policies. They answer to no one because no one understands the depth of their responsibility. The superintendent doesn't have to justify poor choices because the board doesn't want to attract any attention to their own inadequacies. Asking tough questions may demand tougher follow-up questions.
The superintendent, after bouncing around school administration for years, knows that mismanagement is not taken seriously by the public or the State Auditor. No one expects a school district to run like a business because they aren't considered a business. They have people with music degrees running a $180,000,000.00 enterprise. Of course, mistakes will be made - this is the public sector after all.
No one knows how to detect a crime when it happens. If they did, they would be working for the police. If corruption occurs, it must be covered up. Image is everything.
I am reminded of my job in South Africa as a Housemaster. I was in charge of 90 students that lived in Roan House during the school week. They went home on weekends. On a night I was not on duty, a man broke into the hostel and used a razor blade to slash several blankets with children sleeping underneath. When students awoke, I was notified and became deeply distressed. The security alarm had not been set by the duty officer and this intruder walked right into the Main House through an open window.
I soon found out that this unknown person was known as "PK" and that events like these happened at least once a year and sometimes children were hurt. I immediately asked what steps had been taken to prevent such attacks and was basically told that the school's reputation was greater than the safety of any single child. I notified the local media and the perpetrator was caught in a matter of weeks. The perpetrator had been breaking into hostels for years and each target school was more concerned with their reputation and how enrollment might be impacted if people found out.
When the Headmaster of the school found out about the leak, I was not offered a contract for the following year.
People like to pretend that bad things never happen. Rather than preventing bad things from happening, this school district chooses to "accentuate the positives". Sadly, it gets tougher to do when you run out of positives and start making them up as you go along.
Would-be seventh- and eighth-graders at Terrace Park K-8 School could find themselves attending Brier Terrace Middle School in fall 2009 instead.
District administrators and parents are studying whether to close the seventh and eighth grades at Terrace Park and send those students to Brier Terrace. The Citizen's Planning Committee aims to make a recommendation to the Edmonds School Board in November.
Enrollment in the seventh and eighth grades at Terrace Park K-8 is not at the level that generates enough staffing to give "optimal opportunities," said district spokesperson Debbie Jakala.
"The main driver for (a change) of this nature is making sure (students) are receiving the best academic program offerings they can," she said.
The main reason for the proposed change is not to save money, she said.
If the seventh and eight grades close, that could affect children in the Challenge Program, which is at Terrace Park. Sometimes families opt to keep their children at Terrace Park through seventh and eighth grade, said Jakala.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
By Sarah Koenig
Enterprise reporter
Edmonds School District officials and parents will study closing Woodway and Evergreen elementary schools, aiming for a recommendation to the Edmonds School Board in November.
Closing Woodway and Evergreen would save about $1.2 million, about $600,000, from each building.
If approved, the closures would take effect for the 2009-2010 school year.
For more than a year, officials and the district's boundary and enrollment subcommittee have discussed the pros and cons of small schools. The focus was sharpest on Woodway Elementary, the district's smallest school. Meetings were held with Woodway parents to get input.
"I believe you can no longer continue to operate an equitable educational experience (at Woodway)," Ellen Kahan, assistant superintendent, told the board Tuesday, June 3. "Especially at considerable cost to the district. It may be the right time to look at consolidation, given the district's financial situation."
Though officials insist on using the word "consolidation," Woodway and Evergreen would not be combined. Both schools would be closed.
But whether they would be closed depends on a few things. First, the citizen's planning committee, a group of parents and administrators, will study the topic and make a recommendation to the board in November. They could recommend the schools be closed, or not. The board is expected to vote Dec. 9.
As for the district's financial situation, officials cut about $3 million from its budget this spring for 2008-09.
It costs more to operate a small school because a small school is staffed with as many people as a large school.
Woodway has about 180 students, and 150 of them live in the school's boundaries. Evergreen is expected to have 274 students next year, and 210 live in the school's boundaries.
Enrollment has been dropping at both schools for years.
In contrast, Martha Lake Elementary, the largest elementary school in the district, has about 580 students. At the Woodway meetings earlier this year, teachers saw benefits to the small school but also challenges, Kahan said. There are more split classes, and teachers often have to change grades. There has been a split class of first, second and third graders some years. Because teachers wear so many hats, the workload is large. There are only six members in the band. That doesn't offer an equitable experience, Kahan said.
However, many parents at the meetings earlier this year were emphatic about wanting to keep their school open. They cited the personalized environment and high quality of education.
It's almost like sending your child to private school and in a larger school, kids get lost, parents said.
If Woodway were closed, students might be sent to nearby Westgate and Sherwood Elementaries. If Evergreen were closed, they might be sent to Mountlake Terrace Elementary, another small school. If schools closed, students from the closed schools would be split up. No school is big enough to take them all in, Kahan said.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
By Sarah Koenig
Enterprise reporter
Layoff notices have been sent to some teachers of art, vocational education and Chinese in the Edmonds School District.
Altogether, the district did a reduction in force of 1.5 full-time equivalent, or FTE, certificated positions, said Debbie Carter, assistant superintendent of human resources. The teachers taught part-time.
The positions were reduced because of declining enrollment, which brings in less funding from the state. Enrollment in those specific areas was low, and the teachers had limited certification so couldn't be assigned to other areas, Carter said.
The programs, including Chinese, will still be offered, she said.Altogether, the district closed 21 certificated positions this year due to declining enrollment. Most of those people were reassigned and not laid off, thanks to retirements and resignations.
The district had a deadline of May 15 to send layoff notices to certificated employees.In addition, the district has eliminated other positions to help fill a roughly $3 million budget gap. The gap comes from declining enrollment and other factors, including raises for teachers that are mandated but not fully funded by the state.
The district has closed 3.5 FTE administrative positions that worked out of the district office and 12.5 FTE classified positions.
The 12.5 FTE classified positions closed include office personnel at the schools and the district office, though the majority of them are at the district office, Carter said. It also includes some paraeducator positions, professional technical positions and volunteer coordinators.
In addition to that, officials are looking to cut about $269,000 in paraeducator hours.
Job cuts and other cuts related to the budget gap will be discussed at community meetings this month and in June.
Read the rest of the story by clicking here.
By Sarah KoenigEnterprise reporter
Editor: Chinese character above means "Get Out!"
1) Always postpone bad news until after an election.
Bad press is not a way to win voters and influence people. In 2003, a case for fraud by former bookkeeper Vicki Lewin was not pursued until after the levy that year lest the taxpayers catch on that the chicken coop had been breached by a fox living right underneath the farmer’s nose.
2) Use scare tactics and make things sound worse than they really are.
The condition of Lynnwood High School was characterized to be so dilapidated and such a "safety" hazard that a family fought and won, the right to send their daughter to another high school. The reality was that when the school was evaluated in 2002 for the state Renovation Grant, the school did not qualify for funding to fix its highest priority; concrete falling from its second floor walkways.
3) Play with the numbers.
Make budget shortfalls sound huge, then "revisit" the budget and "find" money to make it look like the District is working hard to make reductions.
4) Play to the heartstrings.
How many people have heard the cry, "its for the kids!" That line has been used far too often. If administration was actually concerned about the well-being of students they would start spending money responsibly.
5) Blame others.
The state legislature is taking the heat for the current budget shortfall. However, most of the shortfall is a result of an absolute disregard for internal planning and enrollment forecasting. Administration uses opportunities like these to target undesirable elements of staff. All those pesky educational assistants and librarians that work for some reason other than money.
6) Make parents feel the pinch.
Nothing motivates a throng of supporters better than when parents feel their services are being reduced. Make parents drive their children around from program to program or to their school of choice. Shift some financial burden to the end user. Soon the parents will be happy to pay a taxpayer's dollar for a shiny new quarter.
Editorial: Thank you to another anonymous contributor.
I don’t know about how other taxpayers feel but for myself I am tired of funding education its not my job but the Feds and State. I pay for education every time I purchase something and when I pay the property taxes each year. I believe the law says that Public Education is to be fully funded by the government. We are not funding education as it was in the 1930’s, 1940’s or 2000 we need funding for the 2008 and beyond. The students need to keep up with technology we are not purchasing inkwells and pens we need funding for computers and many other high-level technology equipment. Teachers must keep up with all the new technology but the state doesn’t fund it. The funding needs to change so when one pot has excess it can then be used to fund something that is going in the negative. I am tired of hearing about all the different pots of money in the district and how they can’t be intermingled with other funds when it all should be available for the students needs no matter where the need is or which pot the money comes from. The state needs to fully fund the salaries of support staff and pay them for the job they do each day.
We are being taxed out of our homes, is that the goal to hit the older generation so they cannot afford to keep their homes? I for one will not be voting for the tech levy in my district because the state needs and should step up to the plate and start NOW to fully fund Public Education for our students. And the district needs to become very good financial steward of the money they receive for education. Don’t buy land for a new administration building when student enrollment is declining. When I have less money coming into my household budget I make cuts to things I can live without the district has known since 2001 that the enrollment in our district was declining they continued to live high off the hog. The district needs to make cuts at the top. We are too top heavy with Assist. Supt. They may be taking on extra work but so will everyone else. Our titles won't change and our salary won't change. Lets cut the salary of the Supt. and bring it enline with other districts in the state just like all other bargaining groups. Believe me Supt. in other large districts are not making $200,000 salary annually. I wouldn't want to leave the district either if I could make that kind of money and lead our district into the red and still get to keep my job. Supt. said he would not leave the district in the financial bind it is in now for someone else to clean up his mess like the Supt. did in Shoreline. The Supt. also said he would not give up any of his salary to help with the budget.
Please VOTE NO on May 20th.
Editor: Thank you to another contributor.
Recent articles about declining enrollment left out an important reason: more parents dissatisfied with public schools are homeschooling. Nationwide, over 2 percent of students are being home-schooled this year.
Although "cyberschool"/online school is offered through local public school districts to retain funding, many more home-schoolers are operating independently and with great success. Local home-schoolers enjoy many support groups and activities such as orchestras, speech and debate clubs, sports teams, and hundreds of classes through local co-ops and park districts.
Home-schoolers have received full scholarships to Ivy League schools, have significantly higher SAT and ACT average scores, and are sought after by universities for their strong academic skills, community involvement and independent learning skills. With home-schoolers winning many national spelling and geography bees, science contests and sports awards (Heisman trophy!), coupled with the finding that the average home-schooler is involved in 2.5 activities, the old questions about academics and "socialization" have become laughable. Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, a third of our presidents, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Einstein, Clara Barton and Sandra Day O'Connor were all home-schooled for at least part of their education. Homeschooling is efficient, can be done inexpensively (using Internet and library), and takes much less time than people assume, thus homeschooling parents include those who are single, working, handicapped, chronically ill and grandparents.
Read the rest of this letter by clicking here.
Elizabeth Scott
Edmonds
Article in the Herald
Dear Editor,
While it is terribly unfortunate that our local schools are suffering as a result of declining enrollment and increased operational costs, I find it difficult to remain sympathetic.
The Edmonds School District, for instance, has been actively tracking student generation rates since 2002 and their own Capital Facilities Plan has been clearly demonstrating a downward trend in enrollment. It troubles me that conclusions drawn by their own staff are not incorporated into their planning processes.
What is equally perplexing is that everyone in our community must make concessions in their personal finances to keep up with the increasing costs of utilities, fuel and basic commodities. How would any agency, solely dependent upon public assistance, not manage their finances under the same basic principles?
It is a tragedy that school administrators are now left with the daunting task of hand-picking programs to eliminate. During such times, it is critically important that we have the right people working on budget reductions. In the Edmonds School District, for instance, they just paid $2,300,000 more for a piece of contaminated property than it was actually worth. Such an obvious detachment from the real world and the value of money cannot be helpful during a budget crisis.
This is the same school district that pays people to sit at home, funnels money to piano-selling friends and violates every conceivable board policy that is intended to prevent public funds from being wasted.
Mark Zandberg
Edmonds
The growing number of young families in the city's North End is raising concerns about the capacity of the elementary schools there, with hundreds of families on waiting lists this year for their favored schools.
Jennifer Smead said she was stunned to find out the Seattle School District had assigned her daughter to kindergarten at a school she did not ask for, in a neighborhood she did not know, in a building at least four miles away.
"I kind of was in this disbelief," said Smead, who lives within walking distance of Bryant Elementary School — the school she wanted most.
The district saw a spike in enrollment this year, with 11,116 applications, including new students and transfers, up from 10,880 last year. But there was a downside: In a system where parents rank schools in order of preference, fewer got their first or second choice. In the northeast part of the city, the problem is particularly acute. Elementary-school enrollment has increased by 229 students in the past five years, with Bryant Elementary emerging as the hands-on favorite. This year, 82 families are on the waiting list.
Some have been assigned to John Rogers Elementary School, at the opposite end of their neighborhood cluster — district-defined boundaries for assigning students to schools. At Bryant Elementary on Thursday, about 100 parents gathered to discuss their overall concerns with district officials — everything from outdated boundaries to long bus rides.
"We have a system that's failing, and we know that it's failing," School Board member Harium Martin-Morris said after the meeting.
The School Board is revamping the way it assigns students to schools and expects to have a new plan in place in fall 2010. Under an outline the board passed in June, families would still be able to choose a school, but the district would guarantee each student a seat in a school near his or her home.
District leaders say the new plan would be more predictable and consistent than the current system. Now, students and their families submit a list of preferences, and a series of rules determines where students are assigned.
But the district can do nothing to change demographics. And a new study projects about 600 additional elementary-age students in the North End by 2012.
"I think this is a crisis, and I think it's not going to go away," said Erin Gustafson, whose daughter starts at Bryant Elementary next year. "People who want to send their kids to public school in Seattle are going to keep moving into this neighborhood."
In the South End, declining enrollment has forced several schools to close. But Beacon Hill Elementary, where a dual-language immersion program begins this fall, has a waiting list — 48 students — for the first time in years. Graham Hill and Kimball elementary schools also had waiting lists in the fall.
Still, the longest kindergarten waiting lists were in the North End, from 50 families at Salmon Bay K-8 to 93 at TOPS K-8.
School Board member Michael DeBell said the trend is troubling because there's just not enough room on that end of town. The district shut down a slew of schools there starting in the 1970s. Now it has to consider other options.
"I think the situation at Bryant is the leading edge of the district having to grapple with this," DeBell said. The district has already created four additional kindergarten classes, at View Ridge, Wedgwood, Laurelhurst and Rogers, to meet the demand in the northeast for next year. And at Thursday's meeting, officials promised to create another class, the location of which to be announced next week.
Cara Solomon
206-464-2024
csolomon@seattletimes.com
About 250 fewer students will attend Edmonds School District schools next fall, which could cost the district about $1.25 million. This past school year, the district was down almost 400 students.
No one knows exactly why enrollment is dropping, but housing prices, changing demographics and online education could be factors.
"Families stay on and we're not having new, young families replace them," said Dale Cote, principal of Meadowdale High School.
The high school is expected to lose about 70 students next year.
Even many teachers can't afford to live near Meadowdale. "We have teachers that commute from Snohomish and Lake Stevens because it's where they can afford," Cote said.
Debbie Jakala, communications director for the district, lives in Mountlake Terrace. There used to be about 25 kids with their big wheels in the neighborhood, and now there's only five children, with one headed off to college, she said.
About 40 years ago, the district had the opposite problem: a boom of families moving in. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the district built several elementary schools to handle the boom. At one point, there were about 30,000 students in the district, Jakala said. The district expects just over 20,000 for next year.
Changing social customs might also contribute to the loss, Jakala said. Many people are waiting until they are in their 30s or even early 40s to have children, rather than starting families in their early 20s as in earlier eras.
As for students leaving to other districts, the amount of students who leave is balanced by the number of students coming in, Jakala said. The number for both is roughly about 600, she said.
Some students also are lost to the growing world of online education.
The Edmonds School District surveyed families in 2007 and found more than 40 students who said they were planning to enroll in an online school in fall 2007.
As of November 2007, the district had 20,352 students, down from 20,725 in 2006-07.
Next fall, it estimates it will have just over 20,000 students.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
Sarah KoenigEnterprise reporter
Editorial: Now who is going to clean up all of these dead canaries?
Two-thirds of school libraries in the City of Edmonds have been advised to plan programs that operate only half time next year.
The sites include Edmonds, Sherwood, Westgate and Woodway. These libraries would be closed half the time.
Reducing library staffing in schools sends the wrong message about the importance of reading and research, as well as the power of information.
What can we expect of WASL test scores under such conditions? How can we expect the next generation to be readers?
The April 22 school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. will be the next chance for the public to comment on the importance of school libraries in Edmonds. Wearing red is encouraged.
Full-time libraries and librarians are essential for our children’s success.
Go to ESD15LMS.blogspot.com for more information.
Paul Borchert
Concerned Edmonds parent
There’s been a new word introduced into the discussion of the District’s budget woes: Receivership. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it refers to when an outside entity is appointed to wind up the affairs of a business involving public interest (monies) or to manage it during reorganization. This term is used for public agencies since they technically cannot go bankrupt.
This term is not to be tossed about lightly, but it has been by the District to scare the public into thinking that some state appointed accountant is going to come in and run the schools. The Edmonds School District is currently involved in a law suit against the State of Washington alleging they inadequately fund schools. They, and other districts across the State, are arguing that they cannot manage to do the work they signed-up for without more money. As a result, they will have to cede the responsibility to the state and everything will go to hell in a hand basket.
I for one am not going to buy into these Chicken Little tactics.
Nick Brossoit has little to no credibility in this argument for the simple reason of how the District got into the current budget mess. They ignored their own planning document that predicted the decline in enrollment and shrinking state funding. But more importantly, their operation is top heavy in management and has over-inflated salaries for those at the very top and their favorites. They make dumb decisions in hiring yes-men who in turn make dumber business decisions, like paying a vendor $11,000 to reconfigure seven cubicles.
If Nick and the Board are such experts at finance and budgets, where are all the ground leases for the Maintenance and Transportation Center and the old ESC site? What about the overpayment for the New Administration site? Did the District really get a good outcome for the price? Just where are all those dollars that would finance the construction costs of the building? At least the state can guarantee the amount of money they will hand over for each enrolled student.
The sky isn’t falling. But it should fall on leadership at the District.
Claire Olsovsky
Speak out against removing ballfields
On Thursday, March 27, the Recreation and Conservation Office Board (RCOB) met in Olympia to discuss the elimination of the Lynnwood Athletic Fields across from Alderwood mall. This was a public hearing and it is scheduled to continue in June.
I testified for our citizens group, Save Our Fields, in opposition to the removal of the athletic fields. From some of the board's comments, I felt that our concerns were being heard.
We feel it is important for the users of the fields and the Lynnwood residents to be brought into the process. The city of Lynnwood has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to make the Alderwood-Lynnwood Fields into one of the premier facilities in the state.
Our group encourages the community to stand up to those who would level the fields in favor of more commercial development.
Please contact your Lynnwood elected officials and let them know how you feel about the loss of recreation and open space in our community!
Mark Laurence
Chair for Save Our Fields
Bothell
Fields will be moved to new site
I was concerned when I read a letter from Mark Laurence, April 4, 2008. ("Speak out against removing ballfields," Enterprise) He stated that the Lynnwood High School athletic fields would be lost to commercial development. I have been the 2006-2007 CPC (Citizens Planning Committee) Chairman for the Edmonds School District. Our job was to discuss and plan the development for the school district for the next 10 years. The "commercial development" is how we can afford to move the Lynnwood High School site to the North Road location. We have been in contact with the Lynnwood Parks Department as a team to move the current fields to the new North Road site. (Under construction right now.) Never were the intentions to dissolve the fields and have no space to play. The school district needs and wants those fields as much as anyone. We as the Citizens Planning Committee never wanted to lose those fields. If you have to fight about this, I wish you would understand that the [C]ity of Lynnwood needs to incorporate the North Road area to be able to spend money over here. That's the fight. The fields will go up for the Edmonds School District and be usable September 2009. There will be no lose [loss?] of recreation and open space. It will just be moved.
Carrie McAfee
Bothell
Planning "for the next ten years" shouldn't involve a 99 year lease. In fact, the District's own planning horizons are six and twenty years in length. Did you even read the Capital Facilities Plan? Is this hodge-podge collection of parents called the "Citizens Planning Committee" suggesting that they have some way of knowing the procreative habits of our future taxpayers - even those that have yet to relocate to the Edmonds School District. Do you have any clue at all as to what student enrollment will look like in 20 years, let alone 50 and 75?
So the District is trying to compel the City of Lynnwood, and its taxpayers to incorporate an area they may have already evaluated, considered and rejected. How does a school district that fails to adequately plan for their own future incur time and energy planning the future needs of the City of Lynnwood? Who at the City of Lynnwood asked the District for help?
A playfield in Bothell is not the same as a playfield in the middle of Lynnwood. This isn't like a cookie in the kitchen is the same as a cookie in the dining room. There are a lot of Lynnwood residents that have incorporated the Lynnwood Athletic Complex into their daily exercise routine. Afterall, the Mall doesn't want people walking around the inside of their building without spending money.
Ms. McAfee is from Bothell and refers to the new high school property as "over here". It sounds like a conflict of interest to have the head of the Citizens Planning Committee involved in moving an athletic complex closer to her own home. It is no surprise that Ms. McAfee would want the District to incur an ungodly expense improving her own neighborhood. I bet she doesn't live right on North Road and won't be negatively impacted by all of the resulting traffic. I would also bet that she lives at least ten blocks away from the New Lynnwood High School. Close enough to make it easily accessible but far enough away to avoid traffic congestion.
And another thing, master planner, how is it that a school district is building a replacement for Lynnwood High School when the field issue hasn't even been resolved yet? What happens if the Federal government decides to prevent the transplantation of a resource they have supported for decades?
I suspect that part of the problem, with the direction the District is now heading, has a lot to do with the calibre of parental oversight. If committees are not competent enough to hold public officials accountable, why would we expect an outcome favorable to the public?
Editorial: Okay, I cheated. Carrie McAfee does live ten blocks north of the New Lynnwood High School just off North Road.
Most taxpayers are ignorant as to the workings of their school district and how priorities are set for spending their tax dollars. Despite having a 2004 planning document that predicted the current decline in enrollment and decrease in state funding (the 2004-2009 Capital Facilities Plan), the Edmonds School District opted to give its administrative staff raises this year. Now they are faced with cutting an additional $4.1 million to the $4.5 million they cut earlier this year.
This is not surprising for a district that spent $2.5 million more for a piece of property than it's worth for their new administration building, has in the works a $100 million-plus high school for students that should be absorbed into existing schools, and pays its superintendent, Nick Brossoit, $202,758 a year. That's more than Gov. Christine Gregoire, who makes just $163,618 annually.
They do this along with a laundry list of other poor fiscal decisions because we let them. Until they can prove they can spend tax money like it was their own, get out and vote no on any school proposition or levy.
Defeat the Edmonds School District Technology Levy on May 20.
Claire Olsovsky
Bothell
Edmonds School District No. 15
April 11, 2008
MEMORANDUM
To: P-12 Administrators
From: Ken Limón
Subject: SCHOOL START/END TIMES
As we have been discussing over the last several weeks since the legislative session ended, we are projecting a $4.5 million budget reduction challenge. This is due to the combined effect of the state COLA and pension rates, mid-point compensation, enrollment decline, and other impacts. Unfortunately, the state budget picture is one that suggests we will be undergoing the need to reduce budgets for the future as well. In January Superintendent’s Staff recommended, and the School Board agreed, that we would NOT change the staffing ratios for basic education classroom teaching positions for next year. Superintendent’s Staff has been reviewing the General Fund budget for the past several weeks researching potential areas for reductions and creating a reduction list. This list has been reviewed with the P-12 administrative team and the Budget Advisory Council (BAC) for input and feedback. Ultimately, the superintendent must recommend a balanced budget to the school board in late June or early July, with final adoption of the budget required by state law by August 31.
One of the major areas of rising costs over the last several years has been in student transportation. About 55 percent of our transportation costs are reimbursed by the state; the remainder is funded by our levy--about $3.4 million. In anticipation of the need to reduce transportation costs, in September the school board asked the Citizens Planning Committee to examine ways to create efficiencies in this department to reduce costs.
After several months of study CPC recommended a standardization of school start and end times. Combined with a plan to pair special education schools that are closer in proximity, the accumulated savings should be in excess of $204,000 for 2008-09. The simple fact is that this new system will allow us to use fewer busses and therefore achieve savings. Below are the recommended times from the CPC proposal. For Special Education students in the paired elementary schools, the times are slightly different. The school board has approved this change.
Standardized Bell Schedule for 2008-09
High School
7:00am - 1:50pm
(Exception of Edmonds/Woodway H.S.)
Middle School
8:00am - 2:30pm
Elementary Schools
8:00am - 2:30pm
8:40am - 3:10pm
9:20am - 3:50pm
Over the years schools have been able to modify their start and end times slightly to better meet their needs and those of their families, but next year we will have five common times for our schools. This is not the only change to save transportation costs; we are in the process of reducing costs further in this department to a total of at least $500,000.
I know that it is sometimes difficult to support a change in which there was little input, but until we are able to get State funding our students, teachers, and families deserve, we will be in the process of reducing and adjusting services.
Please feel free to share this information with your staff.
Editorial: Your staff reads the blog.
If the City of Lynnwood was asked to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to a site located in Bothell, Mill Creek or unincorporated Snohomish County, would the City do it? The answer must be a resounding no. So why would the Edmonds School District unilaterally decide to uproot an established athletic complex and transplant it miles away, with the expectation that the City of Lynnwood would be interested in maintaining the site? Being located on the fringe of an area that might, one day be incorporated by the City of Lynnwood does nothing for the City’s taxpaying public. The site will draw far more people from Bothell and Mill Creek and become a resource for their community – but at no direct expense to them [aside from traffic impacts].
If the City and the District were neighbors and the District asked the City to go in on an expensive communal front yard, under what circumstances would the District be able to roll up that yard and move it to another neighborhood? Sure, the District might allow the City to come and sit on it once in a while, but why, after so much public money spent on the maintenance and improvement of the site would the City agree to let their investment go away? This seems like a serious misuse of tax money. The City of Lynnwood is being asked to invest in a communal resource that isn’t in the center of the community and therefore not a convenient resource for the majority of their taxpayers.
The City must have also developed a recreational plan around the Lynnwood Athletic Complex and likely made decisions about property acquisitions knowing they had access and on-going expenses there. How will the City backfill this tremendous void? How will the City accommodate all of the parking they need for their annual fireworks displays? How will the City recover from such a loss of recreational space to its community?
Federal funds were used to improve and enhance the Lynnwood Athletic Complex. These funds came from federal taxes and there is an obligation that such funds be used in a responsible manner. In order to even consider uprooting a federally-supported athletic complex, there must be a similar amount of comparable real estate taking its place. The new Lynnwood High School in Bothell, Mill Creek or unincorporated Snohomish County will hardly fit that bill. The Federal government identified the City of Lynnwood as being in need of infrastructural improvements and recreational opportunities. The District cannot, with a clear conscience, disregard that Federal mandate, roll up their carpet and drag it out of town. This would be no different than removing all of the furniture from Lynnwood City Hall and taking it to Mill Creek. The enhancement earmarked for one community cannot be easily transferred to another - and certainly not at the whim of an agency as small and as unsophisticated as a school district.
This would be the same agency that believes they have the right to sell public property - at any time - to support the pet projects of a flash-in-the-pan Superintendent. Public property must remain public property at all times. Just because one school administrator has a friend in need of property to develop doesn’t warrant the unloading of a public asset. Such an asset will only have to be restored at considerable expense when the children return. Without a doubt, the children will return. It would have been far better to allow another public agency to make use of the property in the interim.
Why is the Edmonds School District ground leasing the Edmonds Civic Playfields to the City of Edmonds for one dollar a year? Would it not have made more sense to sell the Civic Playfields to the City? Would it have made more sense to ground lease the Old Woodway Elementary site to the City of Edmonds for a period of ten years, while the City resolved their funding issues for an eventual purchase? During the ten year ground lease, the City could have demolished the building and improved the site. Of course, one would hope the property would lease for slightly more than a dollar a year.
It is deeply distressing to witness the thoughtless plundering that has gripped district administration. Their lack of wisdom is comparable to a crazy homeowner that removes his roof based upon a single day of sunshine. The District no longer does any real planning and missed their own boat, dock and lake regarding student enrollment forecasting. This same district now believes there will never be an increase in long-term student enrollment that might one day warrant a high school across from the Alderwood Mall AND on North Road.
The future taxpayers in our community will have Hell to pay. I just hope I won’t be around when the bill comes in.
I would like to shine the light on the infamous, but never found, named or listed BAC - Budget Advisory Committee. Who is this? What kind of advisers are they? There are NO community members in this group. They are ALL a part of the Supt staff or department heads.
What kind of results can we expect the group farthest away from students to create? Searching the district website yields NO results. Telephone calls all shield the identity of the members.
It is certain that no one wants their name attached to the "proposal" to slash 4 million dollars.
And when is the "proposal" unveiled?
Regarding your last post-
Librarians HAVE been surplussed. The six smallest schools are being reduced to half time librarians. Six at the six smallest schools were asked to "give input" on their next assignment. Coincidentally, there just happened to be enough vacancies due to leave/non-continuing contracts. The spin is already underway to say that no librarians lost their jobs. How can this be a proposal? Let the double speak begin.
The difference between the sixth smallest and seventh smallest schools is less than ten students; possibly 1 depending on when and how you count. And why not cut partial FTE at a greater number of schools? This also plays the envy card between schools- the big vs the small. Who is responsible for boundary lines? Who is watching enrollment numbers? or is this a matter of convenience?
This is wrong in so many ways. To what extent is it a proposal, when you've already told six schools to plan on getting by with a half time librarian? Which means a library staffed half time; and dark half the time. Librarians who work hard to integrate technology? (so why get more with a levy?) Another way it's wrong is in creating second class schools. It may be more painful to close a school, but the levels of service should be equitable between schools. They all pay the same taxes. Other points briefly include curriculum collaboration, instructional support, access to books and technology, reading promotions, etc.
Of course, no one is suggesting part-time principals, or part-time supt. staff. There work is going down with fewer students right?
Librarians are inspired by the esd15 blog and have created an esd15lms.blogspot.com communication vehicle.
Please enjoy occasional entries from this blog with more details for librarians.
Our big goal is to get a huge crowd wearing red symbolic of bleeding at the April 22 Board Meeting. Cutting librarians cuts the wrong spots, and one too close to students.
Would you consider republishing your million dollar list of cuts? It was a great entry which will certainly be timely again very soon. Add to it the mailing of any PR to the households of the 6 cities. Mail runs every other day. No assistants to the assistants. etc. Transportation cuts. Outsourcing. Maybe you've got another million dollars out there?
Other item of interest-
Here is the "party line" which has gone out to staff, parents and others in the exact same form.
March 28, 2008
Dear Mountlake Terrace Elementary Staff,
I understand there are questions regarding the budget process. All school districts in the state are facing this type of fiscal challenge and are having to seriously look at reductions that none have ever wanted to consider, just to meet operational levels.
We do appreciate the service of all staff and we understand the need to pay employees a competitive wage; the issue is a lack of state funding to meet these obligations.
At this point there are a number of ideas that are being reviewed. Included is the idea of reducing the 6 smallest elem. school LMS positions to .5. Details associated with this type of change are still being reviewed. Also, the enrollment of special education students has been declining in the district; special services staff are processing reductions to match that decline. We will still be supporting special services with general fund dollars, well beyond state and federal funding.
These concepts and many others, including reductions to central office administrators, have started to be processed yesterday with the work of the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC). It will progress to the P-12 group later in April, then to the Board in a study session. The budget development process will continue through the end of the school year and results in our final recommendations to our Board in July and an August approval by the Board.
To even think about reducing staff we all value and know make a difference in children’s lives is painful. Any ideas generated that would help the district meet its fiscal realities for 08-09, are welcome and will be considered. However, few if any have been able to come up with ideas or areas we have not already reduced as a system in prior years. Thus, we are looking at reductions and changes in how we do the work, reductions in what work is done, and reductions in the number of staff available to do the work.
Thank you again for your dedication and passion in working with our students. I appreciate your patience as we work through this difficult task. We will keep you informed as the process continues.
Sincerely,
Sue Venable
Assistant Superintendent
Edmonds School District #15
(425) 431-7155
venables@edmonds.wednet.eduEditorial: Thank you to another anonymous contributor.
Fun Factoid: Mark Zandberg is the son of a Librarian.
Everett Public Schools is building its case for an "investment" in land for future schools. The district's foregone conclusion is that it needs three new elementary schools and additional classrooms for middle- and high-school students by 2028. But, is that premise valid?
As a district taxpayer and one of many property owners targeted for land acquisition, I seriously question it. The school district's singular and thinly researched justification relies on Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM) data purportedly stating district population will grow between 15 and 20 percent within 20 years. That is guesswork. OFM does not make population forecasts at the school-district level. Its most detailed forecasts are on a county-by-county basis.
Shouldn't the analytical bar be set much higher before serious consideration is given to acquiring land by an agency able to wield the power of eminent domain?
While OFM doesn't make school district forecasts, it does assess district population growth retrospectively.
The Everett school district's population increased a reported 10 percent between 2000 and 2007; that, notably, is in common with other more-urban school districts in Snohomish County.
Population growth in outlying Snohomish County school districts, by contrast, was much higher — ranging from about 15 percent to over 25 percent. Judging from the greater growth capacity in outlying areas and the absence of additional OFM forecasting tools, one can only conclude that future countywide population growth within 20 years will be similarly skewed toward outlying areas.
The outlying areas, with lower-cost housing, are magnets for growing families. Outlying school districts are more apt to swell than Everett's.
What impact has a 10-percent population growth had on Everett Public Schools' enrollment?
The district's own data indicate that between the 2000-2001 and 2006-2007 school years, there was a minor change in total enrollment of 155 students out of more than 18,500 students.
Put in perspective, this is an increase of about 0.2 students per classroom. That is hardly a ringing endorsement for the need for new schools. Moreover, population growth almost exactly offset the trend toward fewer school age children.
Can we anticipate a turnaround? And, what can we learn from our neighbors?
The adjacent Northshore School District is nearly identical to Everett's in past population growth and future growth potential. The Northshore superintendent has reported a trend of declining school enrollment. Northshore projects the loss of 626 students in the next three years, a number equal to the student population of an entire elementary school. The district reports this is not a result of student flight to private schools but of changing demographics. Despite population growth, there are simply fewer school-age children living in the area. Rather than expanding the number of schools, Northshore is considering which schools to close.
As individuals expected to sacrifice our properties and community — with all of the hard work, memories and satisfaction they represent — for the school district's benefit, it should not be too much to ask for it to be much more analytical and far less cavalier in defining real needs and how best to address them.
Perhaps a more justified use of public funds is to accurately scale the district's needs and make expansion plans for existing neighborhood schools, where the infrastructure to support them is already in place.
But, could another agenda be at work? The district's land interest is limited to properties next to the existing urban-growth-area boundary. Without a solid justification for new schools, the district's investment zeal looks more like land speculation pending movement of the boundary, and using eminent domain for muscle.
The district has considerable explaining to do. While doing so, it should consider this Will Rogers quote:
"We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others."
Dr. Eric Holmes is a biochemist who has lived in South Snohomish County for over 25 years. He and his wife own one of the properties being eyed for acquisition by Everett Public Schools.
A reader of the blog recently commented that the brand new field at Evergreen Elementary looks great. It struck me as odd since the school is scheduled for closure - pending the charade of a "study" by the Board. Why would the District, when facing budget problems, spend anything on the field at Evergreen when they plan to close the school?
