Colbert Crunch Overcrowding At Colbert Elementary School Forcing Students To Attend Another School

From the North Side Voice, June 17, 1999, page N2: CORRECTION A graphic in last week’s North Voice comparing Farwell and Colbert elementary schools contained some incorrect information. Here are the correct figures and programs for the two schools.

Farwell Programs available: Title I, learning assistance program, special education services, a developmental preschool and YMCA before- and after-school day care. Students eligible for free and reduced lunch: 44 percent.

Colbert Programs available: Cross-grade tutors, learning assistance program, Mead Authors’ Celebration, challenge program, St. Jude’s math, DARE, personal safety, accelerated reader. Students eligible for free and reduced lunch: 20 percent.

Brandon Hunt doesn’t know where he’s going to school.

Hunt will be a kindergartner in the fall. Originally, he was scheduled to go to Colbert Elementary School with his older brother Ryan, who is in first grade there now.

But in order to alleviate the overcrowding at Colbert, the Mead school board last week decided to send Colbert’s fall kindergarten class to Farwell Elementary School.

After a year at Farwell they will return to Colbert for first through sixth grades.

But Hunt’s parents aren’t sure they want their boy bouncing from one grade school to another at such a young age.

“We bought our home where we did because of all the great things we heard about Colbert,” said Jean Hunt, Brandon’s mother. “I’m not sure at this point if he will go to Farwell. I’ve let him know we don’t know where he’s going.”

The Hunt’s are considering sending Brandon to a private school.

They’re not the only ones. A number of Mead parents are considering their options after a protracted - and sometimes heated - discussion over ways to alleviate the crowding problems at Colbert Elementary.

For months now, anxious parents have listened to a Citizens’ Boundary Review Planning Committee try to come up with the best way to address the overcrowding at Colbert.

The school has nearly 700 students and is the largest elementary school in the district. it has more students than Mead Middle School and about the same as Northwood Middle School.

It was an issue that was bound to ruffle feathers. Few parents wanted to see their kids sent to other schools, particularly Farwell because it’s five miles from their neighborhood.

Many argued at public meetings that they bought their homes with the grade school specifically in mind.

The district appointed a planning commission made up of a chair and two members from each elementary school. The committee met once a week for the last seven months.

At first, some Colbert parents did say they weren’t opposed to seeing their kids sent to nearby Meadow Ridge. But that option was rejected by the planning commission because transferring students there would have crowded Meadow Ridge.

Eventually, the committee submitted four recommendations before the board. Three of them were approved and one was rejected.

The rejected recommendation would have sent to Farwell all current Colbert students within the area of Lane Park Road, Highway 2, Mt. Spokane Park Drive, Chronicle and Lowe Road, including Nancy Court and Greenleaf.

With the board’s decision, Farwell officials - currently with less than 500 students - are preparing to welcome Colbert area parents and students. The school will host an open house tonight from 6:30 to 7 p.m., followed by an hour-and-a-half ice cream social.

Farwell principal Annie Lehinger said she understands the concerns of Colbert parents and is encouraging them to contact the school.

“It’s tough to think of changes for your children,” Lehinger said. “They don’t know us yet, but once they get a chance to, I think they’ll like what they see.”

Time will answer that question. Though no one would say it publicly, privately some Colbert parents are wondering if socio-economic factors will effect the level of education their children will receive at Farwell.

According to Lehinger, 47 percent of Farwell students receive free or reduced lunch. That compares to a district average of roughly 10 percent.

But Lehinger defended her school saying the lower income level at Farwell hasn’t deterred teachers from providing a high level of education.

“I’ve heard those rumors and know they’re not true,” Lehinger said.

In the past three years, Farwell students have increased their test scores by an average of 25 percent, she said. Students needing extra academic help now have more tutorial programs available to help them meet their needs.

Farwell also just received a grant from the Washington Reading Corps and is in the process of launching a developmental learning center for kids with special needs, Lehinger said.

“I do think there is a perception that (the school is) not as good, but we have very bright kids,” Lehinger said.

And Farwell PTO President Karen Stebbins said the Colbert parents objecting to the move are ignoring one important fact: Their students will benefit from being in an uncrowded school.

Specific details - such as bus routes from Colbert to Farwell - have yet to be worked out. Kindergarten teachers at Colbert will go with the students to Farwell.

School board members admitted the arrangement is a short-term solution to a complex issue. The board doesn’t know how much more growth will effect the area and what future boundary lines may look like.

More growth is taking place in the northern section of the district than in the south, said Al Swanson, Mead’s superintendent of finance.

Farwell, one of Mead’s southernmost elementary school, is the only school in the district with less than 500 students this year.

But they aren’t yet planning wholesale redistricting for the elementary schools, said school board president Frank Hoover.

“I just think future enrollment figures are too fuzzy to justify redistricting,” Hoover said.

Four sidebars appeared with the story: 1. OPEN HOUSE Farwell Elementary will host an open house tonight for new parents and students from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., followed by an hour-and-a-half ice cream social.

2. DETAILS RECOMMENDATIONS The Citizens Boundary Review Planning Committee was given the task of studying elementary attendance boundaries and making recommendations to the Mead School Board. These are the recommendations that were submitted to the board and how they voted on them. 1. Adopt the policy of no more than 23 classrooms for each elementary school - Yes. 2. Conduct annual reviews of all intradistrict transfer students and allow no more grandfathering - Yes. 3. Implement the transfer of all kindergarten classes to another elementary school if enrollment requires the use of more than 23 classrooms at an elementary school - Yes. 4. Send all current Colbert Elementary School students within the area of Lane Park Road; Highway 2; Mt. Spokane Park Drive; Chronicle and Lowe Road including Nancy Court and Greenleaf to Farwell Elementary School - No.

3. DETAILS SCHOOL INFORMATION Colbert Elementary School Address: 4625 E. Greenbluff Road Students eligible for free and reduced lunch: less than 10 percent* Students enrolled in Oct. 1998: 670. Programs available: Title I, learning assistance program, special education services, a developmental preschool and YMCA before- and after-school day care. 1998 4th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning: Math - 33; Reading - 70; Writing - 40; Listening - 86.

Farwell Elementary School Address: 13005 N. Crestline Students eligible for free and reduced lunch: 47 percent Students enrolled in Oct. 1998: 458. Programs available: Cross-grade tutors, learning assistance program, Mead Authors’ Celebration, challenge program, St. Jude’s math, DARE, personal safety, accelerated reader. 1998 test scores: Math - 39; Reading - 61; Writing - 42; Listening - 82. *An average of Mead elementary schools, excluding Farwell. Source: Mead School District

4. COLBERT OVERCROWDING CAN BRING OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE By Kevin Blocker Staff writer Judy Poynor had barely said hello before she received an earful of venom on the phone one day last week. The Colbert Elementary School mom heard a woman said, “You working moms and your latchkey kids need to get your scummy neighborhood to Farwell where you belong. We don’t want you, the teachers don’t want you, and obviously the school board doesn’t want you.”’ The hostile call was the low point for Bill and Judy Poyner, who lobbied against having two of their children sent from overcrowded Colbert to Farwell Elementary in the fall. It also signaled a shift in the usually polite and proper Mead School District. The increasing questions on how to solve overcrowding problems in the popular school district brought out the worst in some people. “This community has been really been pitted against itself,” Poynor said. The Poynors live in the northwest corridor of Peone Prairie in the Mead School District and their neighborhood was slated for redistricting. Instead, next year’s kindergarten classes will go to Farwell, then return for first grade in 2000. Those who would have been affected, like the Poynors and Bill and Diane Kruiswyk, threatened to pull their children from the district in favor of home or private school if the measure passed. “We didn’t want the neighborhood broken up,” Diane Kruiswyk said. “It wouldn’t have worked.” The five-member school board agreed, unanimously rejected the idea. However, people like Judy Poynor are concerned about the animosity that has risen in the Colbert community. “The community didn’t pull together the way it normally does,” Poynor said. “It’s time to start rebuilding some of that trust.”