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New School Borders Discussed: As Hansen Elementary Nears Maximum Capacity, Urgency for New Boundaries Intensifies

Posted on: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Heather Woodward, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Mar. 11--OLYMPIA -- A citizens committee reviewing elementary school boundary lines in west Olympia has flagged four areas as potential candidates for changing schools in the fall.

At a meeting this week, the committee discussed the matter in smaller groups made up of citizen representatives from each of the four elementary schools on Olympia's west side. Principals from each of the schools met in a separate group.

After those discussions, the committee came back together and found that a majority of the group had highlighted the same four areas as spots where a school boundary line change might make sense.

Those areas are:

-- Moving Hansen Elementary School students who live north of 28th Avenue and east of Biscay Street to L.P. Brown Elementary School.

-- Moving Hansen students who live west of Kaiser Road and south of Evergreen Parkway to McLane Elementary School.

-- Moving Garfield Elementary School students who live in the neighborhoods by the Thurston County Courthouse near Lakeridge Drive, Evergreen Park Drive, Evergreen Park Court and Evergreen Park Lane to McLane.

-- Moving Hansen students who live east of Decatur Street and Caton Way and south of Ninth Avenue to Garfield.

All told, those areas have about 90 children who could attend new schools in September.

The committee also is looking at whether any of seven other smaller zones should switch schools as well.

Nothing set in stone

"It's not final," said Bob Wolpert, the Olympia School District's director of facilities and operations. "The committee has not voted on any of it."

The Olympia School Board decided in November to convene an ad hoc citizens advisory committee to review the district's west-side service area boundaries for Garfield, Hansen, L.P. Brown and McLane elementary schools. The school board is scheduled to hear an update on the committee's work so far at a meeting on Monday.

The committee is expected to meet three more times before a March 30 public forum on proposed new boundaries. All of the committee meetings are open to the public.

"They are working with a blank map," said Peter Rex, Olympia School District spokesman, explaining that the district didn't craft a proposal for the committee to consider. "The good news is they're making really good progress and working very well together. They've looked at a lot of different information and they really, I think, want to minimize the impact of these boundary changes as much as possible."

It's unclear how many students would be affected by potential changes, district officials have said. But during the last west-side boundary review in 1999, about 200 children switched schools.

"We don't want everyone on the west side to think, 'My kid is going to go to a new school,' " Rex said.

Hansen dilemma

District administrators recommended the boundary review in an attempt to alleviate crowding at Hansen.

Since 1999, nearly 500 homes have been built within the boundaries of Hansen's service area, and more than 200 more homes are expected to be built in the near future.

With 464 students, Hansen Elementary has exceeded its ideal capacity, according to two measures -- the Olympia School District's capital facilities plan and the 1999 boundary review committee's guidelines. And it's about 35 students away from the absolute maximum number the 1999 committee thought should be enrolled at the school.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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