Keep APP As a Community - No Partial Move - SIGN BY MONDAY, JUNE 27

The Seattle Public School District has released its plan to address capacity issues at Lowell.  In an attempt to deal with severe overcrowding, the district is proposing that only the 4th and 5th grade APP classes move to Lincoln, starting this upcoming school year, 2011-2012. 

While we appreciate the district realizing that the serious capacity issue at Lowell needs to be addressed in a timely matter, we believe this is not the best solution and a better one is available: move all of Lowell APP to Lincoln.

There are numerous problems associated with the 4th/5th split proposal.

By dividing the APP community now, siblings will be split between two locations, and our 4th and 5th graders, along with their teachers, will be detached from the larger school community and their entire APP cohort. This will adversely affect the cohesion of the program. It would also create a potential inequality with the other APP elementary location, Thurgood Marshall, which is not splintered in this manner.

The 7 classrooms with 4 newly hired teachers would have limited access to professional development and institutional knowledge that the entire teaching staff can provide.

We understand that moving out the APP population will allow for the long-established special needs children, and the early education and growing neighborhood population to thrive in a safe and healthy environment.  

Please sign this petition, forward to other APP families and add to blogs.  Get the word out!  For the benefit of all of the Lowell children, let's move our APP population as a whole this school year. 

The district decision is being made within days, so we need to act as a collective voice IMMEDIATELY.  

Reality checks:

• The projected enrollment for Lowell Elementary School for September 2011 is hovering at approximately 149% overcapacity, translating into about 230 students more than the building can handle.

• Such overcrowding is a consequence of having 3 streams of guaranteed seats in one building (Medically Fragile/Low incidence program, Attendance area general ed./ALO, and APP) plus the Early Education Preschool Program.

• Extreme over-enrollment can cause health, safety and sanitation issues and compromise the quality of the academic environment, thus harming the education of all Lowell students.

• The current overcrowding is untenable and potentially devastating in the event of an emergency evacuation, especially for the medically fragile population.

• The SPS District is aware of the urgent nature of the problem and is working diligently to avert such an over-subscribed building thereby alleviating problems before they arise.

• Families new to Lowell signed onto a program during Open Enrollment without the opportunity to consider their decision with a split 1-3 and 4-5 split locations.

• Removing some but not all of APP from Lowell will break-apart professional teacher cross-training groups, which are especially vital given the growth of the program and the high proportion of new APP teachers. These teachers will benefit by being mentored and by having close working relationships with the experienced veterans of the program.

• This plan would make the transportation logistics far more expensive as bus routes would need to weave through the same neighborhoods twice to transport children from the same stop to two disparate locations.

• A division is not only unnecessary, but, unwise as the Lowell building could fill with growing population of neighborhood children in 2 to 3 years. Also, dividing some of APP now only means that the balance of it will have to be extricated as soon as September 2012 to accommodate the attendance area children who have priority due to the New Student Assignment Plan (NSAP).

• Lincoln, with a capacity rating of nearly 1700, can readily accommodate the Lowell APP cohort now, so, if all of Lowell APP will be heading to Lincoln, it makes far more strategic sense to do it together as a group so as to foster the best possible educational experience for all of the 4 groups concerned in this dilemma.

The parents and community of Lowell APP hereby request that APP Grades 1 through 5 be moved together as it is possible, advisable and beneficial.

Signed

Elise Kim & Sue Peters