Spokane school board takes on difficult subject: shifting school boundaries

The Spokane Public Schools board of directors took its first in-depth look Wednesday night at the complex issue of boundary adjustments.

That might seem a low priority during a time of pandemic-induced school closures and looming budget deficits, but there are plenty of reasons to think ahead.

Two years from now, parents in Spokane will care a great deal that their child continues to attend the same middle school as her neighbors, even if a boundary change places her elsewhere.

They also might raise a ruckus if their fourth- and second-graders – once accustomed to walking to school together – are suddenly split up.

Those parents – including some of the 145 attendees at Wednesday’s virtual meeting –undoubtedly will want some stability when the transition begins in north Spokane in the fall of 2022.

It’s called “grandfathering” or “legacy,” and it’s been applied in the past at many districts, but not in Spokane. The idea, which could affect about 15% of the district’s 30,000 students, is to allow some students to continue to attend the same school for a certain period of time.

But for how long? Already, a district subcommittee has studied the rather complicated issue and offered some recommendations as part of a 31-page PowerPoint presentation.

Among the highlights presented Wednesday night:

• Tenth- through 12th-grade students assigned to a different high school would be able to request Legacy status and remain at their current school through graduation. All incoming freshmen would be assigned to their new schools, but would be able to request to move to a different high school through the district’s Choice process.
• Incoming sixth- and seventh-graders would be assigned to their new middle schools, but be able to request to attend a different middle school through the Choice process. Eighth-graders would remain and finish at their existing middle schools.
• Fourth- and fifth-graders assigned to a different elementary would be able to elect Legacy status to remain at their current school through fifth grade. Kindergartners, and students in first through third grade would have to use the Choice process to remain at their current school.

Other options, with longer Legacy periods that would protect children currently placed into schools under the Choice process, also were presented.

No action was required Wednesday night, but Associate Superintendent Mark Anderson asked the board to “solidify” a recommendation later this spring.

Without a policy, district officials fear, too many families would appeal their assignments and buildings would be unbalanced. Another consideration is how students would be transported, if they chose to stay at their old school.

The issue will affect every corner of the district and is sure to provoke pushback from families, board members were warned when the topic was first raised in January.

“It’s one of the most difficult things that board members have to do,” said consultant Harium Martin-Morris, who also sits on the state Board of Education.

Spokane Public Schools hasn’t redrawn its attendance boundaries since 1982 – when ninth-graders were moved from middle school to high school.

Almost four decades later, the district must do so again. As three new middle schools come on line from 2022 to 2024, boundaries must be redrawn – even down to the elementary level – in the interests of attendance balance.

Among the most important aims of maintaining that balance, according to district documents, “is to support neighborhood communities by developing attendance boundaries” that support walkability, recognize natural and artificial boundaries, and keep neighborhoods together.

School boundaries will be finalized in the spring of 2021.

“We are far from making any decisions on boundaries,” Associate Superintendent Mark Anderson said.