General: Boundary Process

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1 Beaverton High School Boundary Process: Public Preview s / Comments by theme The following are questions submitted by community members at the January 21 st High School Boundary process public preview event. They have been grouped into overarching themes for the Boundary Advisory Committee s review & consideration. Type of General: Boundary Process General: Not specific to HS boundaries Map Design: school specific Will there be any changes to the current middle school boundaries? Will middle school boundaries change also? Will option school students need to reapply? How will the lines be redrawn at the elementary level? Will the committee be involved? And how flexible will all of these changes be? Who is going to help support our students besides our family and without our community with us? Please keep things flexible by having a percent of each school as open enrollment. When will the final boundaries be established? When is the final decision going to be made and how will it be announced? I suspect the new middle school will feed Sunset, so what will be done with Cedar Park Middle School, to provide the same experience from a facility perspective? Cedar Park is pretty old. Why not keep Fir Grove and all of Montclair & Raleigh Hills K-8 at Beaverton HS and give Barnes and WTV back to Sunset? Why disrupt so many communities? Why is the change for Elmonica & South Waterhouse region from Westview to Aloha when the projected occupancy at Aloha will be 100% and Westview 94%? Can you please give students at Raleigh Hills K-8 that will not go with the majority of their community to Beaverton HS because of the proposed boundary the option to choose to as many of us came to let our kids stay together finishing high school? It should be a priority for the closest feeder elementary school to the high school to stay at that high school. Fir Grove ES is the closest to Beaverton HS and should stay Beaverton HS. Why hasn t Fir Grove ES been moved back to Beaverton HS? Why are you creating such an exclusive school at Sunset? Why does the Southridge/Beaverton line jump across Allen? Why does the Sunset/Beaverton line not follow Cedar Hills Blvd.? Why do Aloha HS and Westview HS get to say that there are certain neighborhoods they will not give up? Why has the BHS boundary grown so much and Sunset s shifted toward Bethany? Why are walkable neighborhoods south of Highway 26 excluded from the Sunset Boundary? 1

2 Beaverton High School Boundary Process: Public Preview s / Comments by theme Type of Map Design: not school specific Map Design: not school specific Map Design: Feeder patterns Why is there such a huge discrepancy between the capacity level and percentage of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch at Aloha and the rest of the BSD, specifically Sunset HS? Not equitable treatment for Aloha! Equity- test scores history BHS vs. SHS- will the lessened diversity really equate the academics and performance; neighborhood unity- blocks away fro SHS and kids participating in sports and community activities. Years of history gone; diversity? It s important to have diversity, but in order to build that at SHS you need to move south. Make your northern boundary Thompson Rd. or Laidlaw, then go south and pick up Barnes ES and William Walker ES to get that diversity piece. Doesn t the initial springboard proposal represent the most balance boundary lines? Is the committee considering property value variations? Will the Boundary Committee consider some scenarios being discovered by the community? How is the primary criteria of safety addressed in the map of the preliminary proposal? Are clean feeder patters still being considered as one of the main criteria? Why are the proposals not reflecting the criteria set forth by the BSD capacity, proximity and transitions. Why aren t the criteria used instead to create each of the map versions shared? Why are neighborhoods changing schools when it is not warranted? Are you focusing on tier 1 criteria as a priority before looking at tier 2 criteria? Why does the map look disproportionate in terms of square miles of an area allocated to each school? How can we prevent split feeds? Statistics are everywhere about the importance of social networks. It is crucial for students on F/RLP, who lack support at home, etc. They depend on their peers for support; if they split apart from elementary to middle school and then again from middle school to two different high schools, it is detrimental to their academic and social success. Can a boundary be changed to that elementary schools are not split up? Will there be an effort to keep elementary and middle schools from being split between high schools? 2

3 Beaverton High School Boundary Process: Public Preview s / Comments by theme Type of Transition: Grade Levels Transition: Academics (IB/AP, etc.) My daughter is concerned about the quality of her senior year at Beaverton HS because of the influx of so many new students. Has there been any consideration given to allowing juniors and maybe sophomores the option to remain if there is a process by which this could happen fairly evenly across the schools? Perhaps a lottery for open/optioned spots at the junior class level? Why not make the transition the least disruptive and not start kids out at one high school to have to move to another? Have you polled students and parents on the transition question? Please do so as I think you will see overwhelming majority want juniors and seniors to stay. Will there be any exceptions or grace granted to allow seniors to graduate from their current high school? What is being done to ensure all students currently attending a high school will be allowed to finish at that high school? Can a student who will be a freshman next year choose to go to the new school? Will some grades be grandfathered in? In theory, each high school would need to adjust 20% to fill out the new school, instead the current map has more than 70% of the school district impacted. Is there a less disruptive option? How about a 20-30% fill from the immediate area then co-use the building with ISB for a few years while the Southwest area has time to build out Will there be an effort to offer the same programs at each of the comprehensive high schools (AP/IB/language)? Ideas to cross AP to IB.without students losing two-plus years of credit? Options to allow upperclassmen to remain at their school? Is the committee taking into account the differences in the AP and IB programs? Are administrative transfers still going to be allowed for students who choose to go to a school based on AP or IB preference? What is the process to apply for an out-of-district school (current school Aloha)? When will the new high school be accredited for AP/IB classes? Students transferring from other school in IB/AP- how will they be accommodated? How will the issue of students shifting from PYP/MYP SUMMA schools now feeding into non-ib high schools be handled? 3

4 Beaverton High School Boundary Process: Public Preview s / Comments by theme Type of Will the transfer policy be tightened or loosened for the first few years? Will you publish your current transition plan before the next public hearing? Transition: Sports How will youth sports be affected? If a student attends an option school, can they continue with sports teams where they are currently zoned? At the new high school, what will be the process for extracurricular activities? Will there be sports teams, band, choir, etc.? If an activity is not offered, can a child access it by going to the closest high school that does offer the activity? What are the available options for transferring to a different high school? My understanding is that So. Cooper Mt. area high school will not have teams until My daughter currently plays for Beaverton HS- can she stay? Or does she have to play for her new school, Southridge? Band and sports programs for new high school- will they be fully operational the first year? How? Transition: Siblings How can I ensure my two sons (one an 8th grader, one in 10th grade) remains at Beaverton HS regardless of boundary change? Transition: Special needs & accommodations Facilities: Options schools as alternative Facilities/Transportat ion question Will there be the same IEP support at all of the schools? Will all the high schools have similar accommodations for special needs students, or will some schools have specific facilities/resources for different needs? Options to use South Cooper Mt. high school as an option school or to house multiple option schools. Is it possible to form a couple of magnet schools to alleviate overcrowding and leave the current boundaries alone? ISB is a great success story for BSD. Why are there no plans to create a second option school like this north of Hwy 26? It is my understanding that option schools do not require the same 40 acres as a regular high school. Why hasn t there been any serious discussion of converting an existing high school to an option school? Is there a way to expand the option schools program at the HS level? Are support facilities (parking, bus capacity, etc) being considered in the high school capacities? 217 is one of the worst traffic highways in the state. How do we keep kids safe who are located above Highway 26? Why were their no traffic studies done showing the impact of these changes? How long will my child be on the school bus on 217 to get to BHS? How does that compare to Sunset? 4

5 Beaverton High School Boundary Process: Public Preview s / Comments by theme Type of Facilities & Planning Why is such a large district-wide boundary adjustment happening when the schools will be over capacity again in 2022? At what time in the future may high school boundaries change again? Are there projections for when the District may build another high school? What plans does BSD have to build a HS on the north end to alleviate overcrowding from all the new building? Why did they build the new high school in the South Cooper Mountain area instead of in Bethany? Why is the boundary process not taking a longer view? What about a 10 year plan and beyond which would minimize additional transitions and disruptions to education? Why aren t District committee members looking forward and revising boundaries for the upcoming elementary and middle schools at the same time? Process How are these questions going to be answered and who will be answering them? Please open up the process to allow for more direct input from the community. What process has been used to create the various boundary maps proposed so far? Why is Portland Public Schools taking 18 months for the same process? This process is being pushed, forced, sped through in order to get it done. PPS is listening, done due diligence in traffic studies, neighborhood unity discussions and more. Why are you not using technology mapping to figure out what boundaries make the most sense for the most people? Why does the committee not have access to more robust data analytics so they can evaluate criteria in realtime? The data and tools are available and others have used this approach. Administrative Will the superintendent make additional changes before making the map final? What are the plans to crack down on improper use of addresses at all schools? What will be done to bring Beaverton High School up to the same level, academically and in rankings, as Sunset? If we are unable to reduce the FRL percentage at Aloha HS, what are the District s plans to alleviate the difficulties of having such a high poverty school? Why do we have a school in BSD (Aloha) that would be significantly lower ranked than the rest of the high schools? 5