Eastside parents upset about plan to reduce overcrowding in schools

REDMOND, Wash. — Eastside parents will voice their anger over plans to ease overcrowding in schools.

Lake Washington School District had warned that if bond questions didn't pass last year, they would use more portables and school boundaries would likely be changed.

The district projects about 4,000 more students will enroll over the next eight years. To handle the growing district, without the ability to build new schools, the district is changing the boundaries for elementary schools. Some parents say the superintendent's plan to change school boundaries is not good because it would send overflow from schools within the city of Redmond to already crowded east Redmond schools.

At Evergreen Middle School, parents are upset the district plans to add four portables.

Redmond Junior High will get one portable."How can we most efficiently use the space we currently have in school buildings," said Kathryn Reith district spokesperson. "Boundary changes are the last thing any district wants to do."

The district released the new boundary maps Friday. The boundary shift impacts about 800 students. Parents at Evergreen Middle School think the district is missing an chance to address the overcrowded school. They'd like to see the district shift some students away from the middle school towards less crowded middles schools.

Instead, the district is spending money to add portables to a school they say is already overcrowded.

"It's going in the wrong direction - fiscally, socially, education perspective. From any angle it does not make sense, " said Reetu Gupta, who has a daughter in sixth grade at Evergreen.

She thinks the district needs to try other alternatives. She'd like to see more students shifted to Rose Hill Junioer High, which was recently rebuilt, and to move students to the STEM building.

She was preparing signs to take to Monday's school board meeting.

The district says adding four portables to Evergreen and one portable to Redmond Middle School are just a temporary solution as the district works on long-range planning and strategies to pass a bond.

The last bond reached 58 percent approval, it needed over 60 percent.

Elementary students who will be going into fifth grade next year are grandfathered in to their current school.Want to talk about the news of the day?

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