Seattle’s Garfield High School is kicking off its school year with more students than it expected, which officials attribute to a new assignment plan pushed by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. At last Wednesday’s school board meeting, Seattle Public Schools’ director of enrollment Tracy Libros told the board and Goodloe-Johnson that an additional 120 students had showed up at Garfield. Fifty of them were new ninth graders.
However, some say that the number of students over capacity at Garfield is even higher. School board director Kay Smith-Blum pointed to a letter from Garfield principal Ted Howard to parents that says that 1,784 students registered for classes this year. Smith-Blum pointed out that the school was originally built to hold only 1,600 students. How are we going to deal with Garfield’s bubble in the long run? she asked.
District spokeswoman Patti Spencer suspects that the overcrowding results from the new student assignment plan that was rolled out this year. Under the old plan, every school had an enrollment limit. Spencer told the Stranger that the new plan guarantees incoming kindergarten, sixth, and ninth graders a place in their neighborhood schools. The rest were being grandfathered into their old school through the highest grade. Garfield had been prepared to accommodate 1,650 students this year.
Spencer said “not every student had a full schedule the first few days of school.” And Garfield was understaffed when it opened Sept. 8. Although the district had been preparing over summer for the launch of the new assignment plan—increasing staffing, adding classroom space and portables where needed— it looks like Garfield somehow slipped through the cracks. Likewise, Jane Adams elementary classes and Lafayette Elementary School also exceeded their enrollment this year, Spencer said.
UPDATE: Tonight the Garfield High School PTSA will do an Q&A on its enrollment numbers with Libros and Executive Director of Schools Nancy Coogan, starting at 7 p.m. at the school.
Garfield’s enrollment has a funny history. The enrollment was over 1,700 in 1985, during busing, and was then forced down to about 1,200 (or 1,100, I can’t remember) in 1990 by an enrollment cap that was sort of rammed through by Cheryl Chow. But a lot of people at Garfield thought of the enrollment cap as a bad thing, because it deprived the school of funds that supported its award winning science and art programs. A lot of people talk about overcrowding as a problem that diminishes the quality of education, and that may be true, but back in the day it was also kind of a funding boon for an inner city school to provide great programs. Or at least that’s my memory of the discussion that last time something like this happened.
Well clearly the Tea Bagger freaks will scream this shows why we should cut even more money from our bloated budget for public education.
Anyway it’s Garfield HS; those students are only going to get beat up by the cops anyway..
Overcrowding was not caused by the new assignment plan which most parents support, it’s been caused by drawing the boundaries wrong and misjudging student population in school boundaries. Move the Rainier Valley line north a few blocks and problem solved
Or let the gunfire thin out the numbers.
Probably tough counting illegals.
I blame all the gay married couples on the Hill who keep having and adopting kids.
It’s your fault.
Cause they’re your kids.
The new assignment plan blows.
Calling it a “neighborhood” plan is also a lie, at least for some of us.
Then move.
You’ll find north of the Ship Canal we take care of our own.
Those lab fees can be a killer, tho.
Yes, gone are the days when guilty white liberals could move to shitty, dysfunctional neighborhoods and then send their kids north of the ship canal for schooling. Enjoy your ‘hood school and if you don’t like them majoring in “yo bitch” just move up here.
I do live North of the Ship Canal.
Closest high school = walking distance.
Our assignment = 4 miles away.
Ahhh, poor thing, north of 85th so your kids have to go to Ingraham instead of Lilly white Ballard?
I don’t give a shit which school he goes to, as long as he can walk.
Duh.
And no, I’m not going to sell my house and move closer to Ingraham.
If you and your kid spent that last 8 years thinking he was going to go to the high school that you drive and walk past almost every day, and then the school district says “Go to this other school you’ve never seen in a neighborhood you’ve never been to” you probably wouldn’t be too happy either.
I don’t give a crap how lily white BHS is. You can move Ranier Beach and it’s entire student body over here – if it’s walking distance and he can go, we’re happy.
In fact, I’d probably prefer it.