Students Blur District Lines: Academics, Climate, Convenience Factors in K-12 Transfers

By Heather Woodward, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Mar. 21–Fifth-grader Nathan Lamping, 11, travels 40 miles round-trip every day so he can attend Tumwater Hill Elementary School. That was his neighborhood school before his family moved to Rochester three years ago. His mother, Jeanelle Roper, liked it so much that she wanted her children to continue in the Tumwater school district. Tumwater Hill also is closer to Roper’s state job in Olympia than Rochester schools. “I love the school because it’s so personal with each student and each parent,” said Roper, whose older daughter attends Black Hills High School in the Tumwater district. Two- to three-thousand students in Thurston County’s three largest school districts are enrolled outside their neighborhood schools. Some attend another school in their designated school district; others go to school in another district altogether. Each spring, parents must sign their children up for the school they want to attend. Roughly 1,500 students in North Thurston Public Schools go outside their neighborhood school zone to other schools in the same district. That’s almost three times as many students as do so in the Olympia and Tumwater school districts combined. The Tumwater School District takes in the largest number of students from outside its boundary lines — about 520. Tumwater also has the fewest students — about 200 — leaving for schools outside the district. By comparison, North Thurston takes in about as many students from elsewhere as leave the district — roughly 350. And the Olympia School District sends about 100 more students to other districts than it takes in. Parents seek out schools beyond their neighborhood for many reasons, including the academic, athletic or specialized programs offered at a particular school. Climate and safety can be factors as well. “I think the reasons are as varied as people,” said Sue Haskin, a Tumwater School District spokeswoman. But often, educators and parents say, students transfer to schools outside their neighborhoods for the sake of convenience. Perhaps another school is closer to the parent’s workplace or the family’s preferred day care center. “Rochester is a boundary that is close to us,” Haskin said. “Parents who work in town bring their kids in because they want to be close to their kids so if somebody falls down on a playground, they can buzz right over to the school from work.” Convenience was part of but not the whole story for parent Matt MacKinnon, who lives south of Olympia near Yelm Highway. MacKinnon’s two children grew up in the Olympia School District. And both began the school year attending Washington Middle School, which is at capacity and hasn’t accepted students from outside its boundaries in several years. Because the family’s new home was just outside the district’s boundary, MacKinnon learned, his children would have to attend Tumwater schools, though they can see the Olympia School District bus stop from their back yard. MacKinnon appealed his older son’s case. “He’s been in the Olympia School District, and that’s where his friends are,” MacKinnon said of his seventh-grade son who now is attending Bush Middle School. “He really wants to finish with his classmates.” Educators say they face tough choices when it comes to allowing transfer students into already full schools. Some schools and districts review all transfer students — new students and those who previously attended the school — every year based on space. Others simply evaluate whether there’s room for new transfer students. Often, schools give students priority treatment if they attended the school in past years or have a sibling at the school. But a school’s primary mission is to serve students who live within its boundary lines, educators said. For example, though Washington Middle School has received 88 requests from students seeking an out-of-district transfer into the school, it accepted three this year. “There are students who come in at the elementary level from outside the district, and suddenly we have to turn them away,” Washington Middle School Principal Joni Wolpert said. “That’s heartbreaking, but it has to be done because then we’d be taking kids from outside the district and not have room for our own.” About 125 students at Horizons Elementary School live outside the school’s boundary lines — either in another part of town or in another school district entirely. Because the school is full, accepting such students could get harder in coming years as new homes are built in the Horizons service area, principal Tim Fries said. “The policy is if you have the space you take them,” he said. “I think that next year that’s something that, depending on what happens at Horizon Pointe (housing development), we’re going to have to be very careful about.” By the numbers North Thurston Public Schools 1,505: Students living in the district who are attending a school other than the one in their neighborhood. 353: Students living in the district who are attending a school outside the district. 344: Students living outside the district who are attending a North Thurston school. Olympia School District 208: Students living in the district who are attending a school other than the one in their neighborhood. 244: Students living in the district who are attending a school outside the district. 354: Students living outside the district who are attending an Olympia school. Tumwater School District 378: Students living in the district who are attending a school other than the one in their neighborhood.

203: Students living in the district who are attending a school outside the district. 519: Students living outside the district who are attending a Tumwater school. At a glance Top five schools that take in the most students from other school districts: Elementary schools East Olympia: 54 Garfield: 44 Tumwater Hill: 44 Michael T. Simmons: 41 Peter G. Schmidt: 40 Middle schools Bush: 44 Tumwater: 33 Jefferson: 22 Komachin: 15 Marshall: 12 High schools Tumwater: 110 Black Hills: 82 Olympia: 79 Capital: 63 Timberline: 42 Top five schools that send out the most students to other school districts: Elementary schools Horizons: 31 Roosevelt: 24 Tumwater Hill: 23 Hansen: 21 McLane: 21 Middle schools Komachin: 17 Chinook: 12 Nisqually: 12 Marshall: 12 Washington: 10 High schools North Thurston: 62 Timberline: 51 Tumwater: 46 Olympia: 40 Black Hills: 36 School Intradistrict transfers Interdistrict transfers Out In Out In North Thurston Public Schools 1,506 1,506 353 344 Evergreen Forest Elementary 94 100 8 17 Horizons Elementary 50 97 31 32 Lacey Elementary 76 32 18 19 Lakes Elementary 105 74 15 13 Lydia Hawk Elementary 59 89 17 8 Meadows Elementary 157 37 11 3 Mountain View Elementary 73 62 15 13 Olympic View Elementary 135 38 14 8 Pleasant Glade Elementary 71 52 11 26 Seven Oaks Elementary 42 284 3 32 South Bay Elementary 35 42 16 18 Woodland Elementary 62 52 7 16 Chinook Middle School 37 24 12 9 Komachin Middle School 28 33 17 15 Nisqually Middle School 33 41 12 7 North Thurston High School 148 137 62 24 River Ridge High School 183 58 31 33 South Sound High School 1 99 2 9 Timberline High School 117 154 51 42 Community Youth Services 0 1 0 0 Olympia School District 208 208 244 354 Boston Harbor Elementary 7 1 Centennial Elementary 18 9 Garfield Elementary 7 44 Hansen Elementary 21 11 Lincoln Elementary 2 0 L.P. Brown Elementary 10 20 Madison Elementary 8 20 McKenny Elementary 9 10 McLane Elementary 21 8 Pioneer Elementary 10 8 Roosevelt Elementary 24 20 Jefferson Middle School 7 22 Marshall Middle School 12 12 Reeves Middle School 8 6 Washington Middle School 10 3 Avanti High School 0 18 Capital High School 30 63 Olympia High School 40 79 Tumwater School District 378 378 203 519 Black Lake Elementary 10 46 12 28 East Olympia Elementary 34 5 19 54 Littlerock Elementary 24 11 14 34 Michael T. Simmons Elementary 68 34 18 41 Peter G. Schmidt Elementary 35 55 21 40 Tumwater Hill Elementary 27 47 23 44 Bush Middle School 8 9 5 44 Tumwater Middle School 9 8 9 33 Black Hills High School 48 37 36 82 Tumwater High School 37 48 46 110 Secondary Options 78 78 0 9

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