With new demographics, Shoreline Schools are no longer considering school closures
Thursday, November 7, 2024
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| Highland Terrace Elementary will remain open Photo by Frank Kleyn |
Dr. Susana Reyes, Superintendent, Shoreline Public Schools sent a message to parents:
Today, November 5, 2024, Shoreline School District leadership
received updated information from our demographer about enrollment
projections for next school year and beyond.
Due to the demographer’s enrollment projection coming in well above his
April 2024 projections and higher fall enrollment than budgeted, we
are no longer considering the closure of Highland Terrace or any
Shoreline K-5 school for the 2025-26 school year or in the near future.
I recognize that the consideration of a possible school closure has
taken an emotional toll on our school district community.
The district
remains committed to full transparency in our work and to being
responsive to the latest information available to address the ongoing
budget emergency that still exists.
Though the increased enrollment will
help our financial situation, district expenditures continue to outpace
revenues. We will continue to share information with our community as
soon as we are able, including more detailed enrollment and demographic
information at an upcoming School Board study session, to be scheduled
soon.
As a result of this change, the planned School Boundaries Committee work and public hearings are now canceled.
Thank you for your continued engagement and understanding as we work together to support our schools and community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Susana Reyes
Superintendent, Shoreline Public Schools
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7 comments:
My 10 year old could have told you this. Why in the world didn't they wait for the new demographics before stressing everyone out? New leadership is needed.
This is just weird. How did the demo's change? When did they change? Did they suddenly find a pot of gold two days after the election?
Public schools are failing kids anyways! Cut the budgets! Kids sit all day and learn stuff they could care less about. We need a new model. More electives. More hands on classes. More real world education. Not boring history, foreign language (we live in America), weight lifting.
Please read - it wasn’t just a new projection by the demographer, there is also higher enrollment this fall. The state has an enrollment based allocation system on actual numbers. Education budgeting is tricky and administration appropriately alerted and involved the public.
This process has been very concerning for the community. Due diligence was not taken into account. A lot of people didn’t even know about the proposed closures until last month.
New boundaries are sorely needed now. MP is crowded and BKS is like a private school
I find it funny how upset people get about potential school closures nowadays. I grew up in Shoreline and these decisions were made with much less planning and forethought than today.
I grew up in the same house as my older brother and sister. They attended 3 Shoreline district schools. I attended 6. At one point, those of us in my class from our neighborhood attended 4 schools in 4 years -- North City, Cordell Hull, Kellogg (the original one) and Shoreline. We were bussed to kindergarten at Cromwell Park. They proposed, debated and voted to close Cordell Hull within a month's time after school ended for the summer in 1982 (we left that last day antcipating coming back in September). And then they closed Shoreline just before our senior year.
Yet somehow, we survived and thrived in spite of the challenges. We learned to deal with adversity and that life isn't always fair. We learned that we don't always get what we want in life.
So while I feel for the parents and students who want their school's saved, I wonder if all that negativity and energy could be put to better use to improve our schools in other ways, knowing that the kids will survive such potential displacement and, maybe even come out the other side more prepared for the real world?
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