Seattle Public Schools to Shut Low-Income Students Out of Walk Zones?

Seattle Public Schools' proposed new boundaries would push many children out of neighborhood grade school walk zones and onto buses. And these changes would disproportionately affect Title 1 (low income) schools, with 28% of Title 1 neighborhood grade schools losing walk zones compared to only 12% of non-Title 1 schools. As usual, Southeast Seattle is also disproportionately affected, with most of the schools losing their walk zones located here.

While Seattle Public Schools should not be shutting any children out of walk zones and onto buses, they should be trying especially hard to keep low-income communities within city-approved walking distance of their local schools. Higher family income is already correlated with higher performance in school, and recent studies also suggest a connection between fitness and academic success. As recently noted in the New York Times Well blog, a University of Illinois study found that nine and 10-year-olds did better at memorizing facts if they were physically fit, and the Journal of Pediatrics reported that a study of about 12,000 Nebraska public school students in fourth through eighth grade showed that fitter kids did better on standardized tests.

Nevertheless, Seattle Public Schools is pushing students at seven Title 1 schools out of their official city-approved walk zones to their nearby neighborhood grade schools and onto buses to faraway schools. Yet another layer of inequity is that this will increase the use of diesel buses in areas already disproportionately plagued by diesel exhaust and other pollution (as near I-5 and Boeing Field on Mid Beacon Hill).

Based on my initial review of the data (presented below), these are the neighborhood grade schools losing their walk zones:

• Maple (Title 1)
• Beacon Hill International (Title 1)
• Dearborn Park (Title 1)
• Graham Hill (Title 1)
• Kimball (Title 1)
• Northgate (Title 1)
• Roxhill (Title 1)
• BF Day
• Green Lake
• John Stanford
• North Beach

Shutting all these Title 1 schools out of walk zones violates almost all of Seattle Public Schools' guiding principles:

• "Ground decisions in data." (No. The data, presented in tabular format below, shows that the changes disproportionately shut low-income schools out of walk zones.)

• "Create boundaries that reflect equitable access to services and programs." (These SE Seattle boundary changes do not improve access to existing services and programs, but definitely create income and racial INEQUITY in terms of walkability.)

• "Maximize walkability." (No -- the exact opposite.)

• "Enable cost-effective transportation standards." (No -- this will take children out of walk zones and put them on buses the district has to pay for.)

• "Maintain key features of New Student Assignment Plan (e.g. opportunities for creating diversity within boundaries, choice, option schools, feeder patterns)." (There is no evidence this will be the case. SPS is proposing changing Dearborn Park into a language immersion option school, but they admit they have no plan in terms of funding, curriculum, or timeline. I asked this question several times at the Mercer meeting.)

• "Minimize disruptions by aligning new boundaries with current attendance area boundaries when feasible." (No -- the exact opposite.)

• "Be mindful of fiscal impact (costs and savings)." (No -- it will cost more to bus students to faraway schools than to let them walk to their local school.

• "Be responsive to family input to the extent feasible." (We can only hope! Absolutely no one at the Mercer meeting approved of these changes. There is huge outcry from SE Seattle about how bad these changes are to our community.)

Based on the turnout at the Mercer community meeting on Monday as well as School Board Rep. Betty Patu's monthly coffee chat today, there will be too many of us banding together against this plan for the district to ignore us. Make your voice heard, and email these groups with your comments today: GrowthBoundaries@seattleschools.org; schoolboard@seattleschools.org

P.S. Please let me know if I have gotten anything wrong below. The district makes it extremely difficult to understand how the boundaries are changing (the changes are not overlaid on the maps). Also, the new maps do not include walk zones. I did the best I could to parse all the data. Thank you!

Schools Keeping or Losing Walk Zones:

Neighborhood Grade School	Losing walk zone?	Title 1 School	City of Seattle School Walk Route	Current Map w/ Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Notes
Adams	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Lost Adams walk zone would become part of Loyal Heights walk zone
Alki	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Alki retains its walk zone
Arbor Heights	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Arbor Heights retains its walk zone
Bagley	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Bagley retains its walk zone
Bailey Gatzert	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Gatzert retains its walk zone.
Beacon Hill Intl	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Beacon Hill families in D6 of the Thurgood Marshall growth map would be forced out of the Beacon Hill walk zone to be bussed to Thurgood Marshall..
BF Day	Losing walk zone	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	BF Day students in east Wallingford will lose their walk zone and need to be bussed to Green Lake
Blaine	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Blaine retains its walk zone.
Broadview Thomson K-8	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	BTK8 families moved into Viewlands would be in the Viewlands walk zone.
Bryant	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	North Bryant families would be in the walk zone for Wedgwood
Cedar Park	No	No	N/A	N/A	Proposed Growth Map	Cedar Park not yet open
Coe	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Coe retains its walk zone.
Concord Intl	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Concord Int'l retains its walk zone.
Dearborn Park	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	N/A	Dearborn Park would become an option school, and its entire attendance zone would be bussed to Van Asselt.
Dunlap	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Dunlap retains its walk zone.
Emerson	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Emerson retains its walk zone
Fairmount Park	No	No	N/A	N/A	Proposed Growth Map	Fairmount Park not yet open
Gatewood	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Gatewood families who would be moved to Fairmount Park would be much closer to Fairmount Park than Gatewood
Graham Hill	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Graham Hill families in C2 of the growth Emerson map are in the Graham Hill walk zone but would be bussed to Emerson
Green Lake	Losing walk zone	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Green Lake students in E-F 1-2 of the Green Lake growth zone will lose their walk zone and need to be bussed to Bagley
Greenwood	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Greenwood retains its walk zone
Hawthorne	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Hawthorne retains its walk zone
Hay	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Hay retains its walk zone.
Highland Park	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Highland Park families in the SW corner of the zone will be in the walk zone for Roxhill
John Muir	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	John Muir retains its walk zone.
John Rogers	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	John Rogers retains its walk zone
John Stanford	Losing walk zone	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	N/A	John Stanford families must bus to Green Lake as John Stanford becomes an option school
Kimball	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Kimball families in B-C 3-4 of the Kimball growth map are in the Kimball walk zone but would be bussed to Maple
Lafayette	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Lafayette retains its walk zone
Laurelhurst	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Laurelhurst retains its walk zone
Lawton	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Lawton retains its walk zone.
Leschi	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Leschi retains its walk zone.
Lowell	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Lowell retains its walk zone.
Loyal Heights	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Loyal Heights retains its walk zone.
Madrona K-8	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Madrona retains its walk zone.
Maple	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Maple families in F-G 6 of the Maple growth map are in the Maple walk zone but would be bussed to Van Asselt
McDonald	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	N/A	McDonald walk zone families enter the Green Lake walk zone
McGilvra	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	McGilvra retains its walk zone.
MLK	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Families in the southern end of the MLK walk zone would be moved into the Dunlap walk zone
Montlake	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	If any Montlake families move into Stevens zone, they would be in Stevens walk zone.
North Beach	Yes	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	North Beach families just north of Golden Gardens would move to Loyal Heights and not be in that walk zone.
Northgate	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Northgate walk zone families in E7 of the Northgate growth map would be bussed to Viewlands.
Olympic Hills	N/A	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Unclear if Olympic Hills is technically losing its walk zone, since no new city walk zone has been established for Cedar Hills. Some families will need to travel further to get to Cedar Park, up to about 10 blocks total and across LCW.
Olympic View	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Olympic View retains its walk zone.
Rainier View	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Rainier View retains its walk zone
Roxhill	Losing walk zone	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink		Roxhill families in D3 of the Roxhill growth map would be in the bus zone for West Seattle Elementary
Sacajawea	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Sacajawea retains its walk zone
Sand Point	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Sandpoint retains its walk zone
Sanislo	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Sanislo retains its walk zone
Schmitz Park	N/A	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Schmitz Park is moving 3 blocks south to Genesee Hill, so the previous walk zone no longer applies.
Stevens	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Stevens retains its walk zone.
Thurgood Marshall	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Thurgood Marshall retains its walk zone.
Van Asselt	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Van Asselt families being moved into the Wing Luke zone would be in the Wing Luke walk zone
View Ridge	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	View Ridge retains its walk zone
Viewlands	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Viewlands retains its walk zone.
Wedgwood	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Wedgwood retains its walk zone
West Seattle	N/A	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	West Seattle Elem. Families in D-E 3 of the West Seattle growth map will be moved to Fairmount Park, which does not have a walk zone established yetpublished on the SPS site
West Woodland	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	West Woodland retains its walk zone
Whittier	No	No	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Whittier retains its walk zone.
Wilson Pacific Elem	No	No		N/A	Proposed Growth Map	Wilson Pacific is not yet open.
Wing Luke	No	Title 1	Walk route	Current Map with Walk Zone in Pink	Proposed Growth Map	Wing Luke retains its walk zone