Parents pack Seattle Public Schools meeting to protest student waitlists, option schools
Seattle Public School parents upset over enrollment issue
Parents and members of the public packed a Seattle Public Schools meeting Wednesday night, frustrated that hundreds of students are waiting to get into their school of choice.
SEATTLE - Parents and members of the public packed a Seattle Public Schools meeting to protest a number of issues.
Those included the subject of ongoing waitlists for students hoping to get into schools of their choice.
Parents and guardians said Wednesday that the school district was leaving some students in limbo.
"I’m here to talk about under-enrollment, yet, I see 400 families on the wait list," said one parent during public testimony.
Another dad, Phillip Duggan, says his child, Ronan, is one of the kids sitting nervously on a waitlist.
"We are trying to get into kindergarten at Hazel Wolf, which is a block away from us," said Duggan.
Instead, he says Ronan was assigned to a school further away. The five-year-old drew a picture of Hazel Wolf that Duggan brought to the school board meeting as an appeal to be let in.
"Always expected this to be where we were going and I was really excited. Now we are all a little bit worried and stressed. We are number five on the wait list," said Duggan.
Parent of a Cleveland student, Tammy Morales, also spoke out.
"Today we’ll hear that school assignment decisions are being made to balance students. From my perspective, what’s really happening is parents are being forced out of the district," said Morales.
She believes the answer isn't to block students, but instead to add staff.
"The answer is to staff and resource schools appropriately," said Morales.
"It’s not that there is not enough space in these schools for teachers to teach them, it’s a predetermined plan by the district on what schools they want to enroll in, and which ones they don’t," said parent Erin Combs.
Combs said that she believes that putting a student on a waitlist could cost the district money.
"The district spent all of last year telling us that they had to close schools because enrollment was declining, and there was a major budget deficit. They actually didn’t enroll over 2,700 kids in the schools that were trying to go to school here," said Combs. "21% of those, I think 450 some, ended up leaving the district entirely."
Parents say they are frustrated that students are turning to charter and private schools instead.
"If they can’t go to the school that they think is best for their kids, they will go to a private school. We are reducing enrollment even further," said Duggan.
It's not clear what the district plans to do next regarding the wait lists.
Parents say they plan to keep engaging the school board about waitlists and option schools.
The Source: Information in this story is from Seattle Public Schools and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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