School boundaries could change

The Seattle School Board will soon focus its attention on school boundaries within the district, including the boundaries for Ballard High School, as they develop a student assignment plan.

We’ve received many emails from concerned parents that the line will cut off just north of Ballard High, sending students north of 67th to another high school. According to the school district, no specific lines have been drawn yet and the rumors of specific boundaries are just rumor. Michael DeBell, President of the School Board, sent a letter to the Whitman Middle School PTSA:

“The 1981 closing of both Lincoln (Wallingford) and Queen Anne HS leaves a major geographic hole in predictable assignments in the triangle between Ballard, Roosevelt and Garfield HS. If Ballard HS alone was designated to fill this hole then one could speculate that the assignment boundary might move to just north of the school. That is speculation and it runs counter to another stated aim of the assignment plan framework which is to encourage and enable more students to walk to school (for obvious savings in transportation and green benefits.)”

The Whitman Middle School PTSA has invited the local school board representative to come talk for a few minutes prior to their monthly board meeting Tuesday night. “This is not a meeting to discuss school boundaries, although it may come up,” Sue Rauda, PTSA co-president tells us. Micheal DeBell and Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson plan to attend the February 12th Ballard High School PTSA meeting to hear concerns and answer questions on community issues, including the assignment plan. The School Board will make a final decision on the assignment plan in June of 2009.