school board work session on enrollment and transfers in options schools(and also a new high school)

[Anonymous]

But it sounds so awesome for the SB to say they have a whole F-load of STEAM schools! And more choice programs than you can shake a stick at. It is all about perception, don't you see? All about the resume. They do not care about what works, what is best, or what the County inhabitants want. They know better. Form over function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But it sounds so awesome for the SB to say they have a whole F-load of STEAM schools! And more choice programs than you can shake a stick at. It is all about perception, don't you see? All about the resume. They do not care about what works, what is best, or what the County inhabitants want. They know better. Form over function.

I actually think this is an unfair criticism.
Dr. Nattrous addressed how they came up with the ideas both at the school board work session, and also at the enrollment and transfers meeting (there's another one tomorrow.)
In terms of STEAM- she said that 80% of the current exemplary projects of the different schools were STEAM related. Also, when they did the community service a STEAM school was at the top of the list for what type of option school people wanted. Rather then creating a STEAM option, it made sense to say that was all the schools.
In terms of the 1300 seat high school, there are a lot of good reasons to make it an option school.
1. In the recent community survey, more than 50% of respondents (I don't remember the exact number) said they were more interested in an options high school.
2. There is literally no where they can build a high school that will have the same facilities as the current 3 neighborhood high schools (e.g. swimming pool, football field) and therefore they have equity issues if people are assigned to a high school lacking facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But it sounds so awesome for the SB to say they have a whole F-load of STEAM schools! And more choice programs than you can shake a stick at. It is all about perception, don't you see? All about the resume. They do not care about what works, what is best, or what the County inhabitants want. They know better. Form over function.

I actually think this is an unfair criticism.
Dr. Nattrous addressed how they came up with the ideas both at the school board work session, and also at the enrollment and transfers meeting (there's another one tomorrow.)
In terms of STEAM- she said that 80% of the current exemplary projects of the different schools were STEAM related. Also, when they did the community service a STEAM school was at the top of the list for what type of option school people wanted. Rather then creating a STEAM option, it made sense to say that was all the schools.
In terms of the 1300 seat high school, there are a lot of good reasons to make it an option school.
1. In the recent community survey, more than 50% of respondents (I don't remember the exact number) said they were more interested in an options high school.
2. There is literally no where they can build a high school that will have the same facilities as the current 3 neighborhood high schools (e.g. swimming pool, football field) and therefore they have equity issues if people are assigned to a high school lacking facilities.

Not true. Kenmore has the space for full facilities. One of the largest parcels of land. 32 acres. And $147M could pay for a lot of facilities as long as we are smart about it (no more slides). Maybe a pool would need to come later, but there is ample space for a comprehensive high school. Put the -300 seats there to begin with. Keep middle school there until VHC space is available, then build another middle school. And don't tell me we can't do it because of traffic. Every site has traffic.

[Anonymous]

<-- meant to type 1300 high school seats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But it sounds so awesome for the SB to say they have a whole F-load of STEAM schools! And more choice programs than you can shake a stick at. It is all about perception, don't you see? All about the resume. They do not care about what works, what is best, or what the County inhabitants want. They know better. Form over function.

I actually think this is an unfair criticism.
Dr. Nattrous addressed how they came up with the ideas both at the school board work session, and also at the enrollment and transfers meeting (there's another one tomorrow.)
In terms of STEAM- she said that 80% of the current exemplary projects of the different schools were STEAM related. Also, when they did the community service a STEAM school was at the top of the list for what type of option school people wanted. Rather then creating a STEAM option, it made sense to say that was all the schools.
In terms of the 1300 seat high school, there are a lot of good reasons to make it an option school.
1. In the recent community survey, more than 50% of respondents (I don't remember the exact number) said they were more interested in an options high school.
2. There is literally no where they can build a high school that will have the same facilities as the current 3 neighborhood high schools (e.g. swimming pool, football field) and therefore they have equity issues if people are assigned to a high school lacking facilities.

That's because the comprehensive HS, with all the amenities and of equivalent size to the three current HS, was not an option on the survey. The survey was asking what the program's focus should be, not whether it should be a program or "option" school or not. APS staff designed this survey, so at least they didn't pay thousands of dollars to Kellyanne Conway's company for this one. But it was designed to produce a specific result, the one that APS is moving forward with already despite what the community, meaning parents whose kids will have to go to these schools, actually wants. I'm sure plenty of childless DINKs and retired people who already got their kids through the system don't care about the experience for the kids yet to go through APS; they just want to keep costs down so they don't have to pay a 1 cent tax increase.