Mead District Sets Strict Attendance Boundaries

Mead’s stringent intra-district transfer policy will likely mean school officials learning many ways of nicely saying no.

Attendance boundaries, particularly for Mead High and Mount Spokane High, will be high walls difficult to cross when the latter school opens next fall.

Parents must show utility bills to prove their children’s address. Loopholes in the policy, which the school board is expected to approve later this month, are tight.

“It’s not a real liquid boundary,” said Mount Spokane principal Mike Dunn. “But it is the intent of this school district to look at the needs of patrons and families.”

The policy was drawn in expectation of transfer requests from high school students. Mount Spokane High, the district’s new showpiece on the Peone Prairie, will collect students from the eastern half of the Mead district; Mead High pulls from the west.

The school district has strong reasons for keeping students at their “home” school.

Boundaries were meticulously drawn to keep schools balanced. Unbalanced enrollments - between the two high schools, for example - could limit course offerings at the smaller school.

“Equity between the two high schools is very important to us,” said Mead School District superintendent Bill Mester.

To maintain equity, a committee of parents and administrators drew up strict rules for transfers. Requests must show “substantial hardship.” The hardship must be unique, different from the difficulties of even a small minority of students and not motivated by sports.

Reasons that won’t fly, said Dunn, include seperation anxiety of good friends, such as those at Shiloh Hills and Midway elementary schools. Attendance boundaries for those schools are split between Northwood and Mead junior highs.

And don’t try giving the I-gotta-be-with-coach reason. “Is it nice for a kid to run for Pat Tyson. Yes. Is it a hardship for him not to? I don’t think so,” said Dunn.

But waivers could also be granted for seemingly unconventional reasons. Divorce, said Dunn, could be considered a hardship, even though a large number of students endure it.

If hardship waivers are granted, the transferring student will be eligible for all sports. Waivers are granted by a committee of the two principals and the superintendent, and are effective until the student graduates to another school.

, DataTimes