POULSBO — It’s been years since the North Kitsap School District last adjusted attendance boundaries. The changes for the 2013-14 school year will be big.
Breidablik students will have the choice of attending Vinland or Wolfle elementary schools in 2013-14.
Some students attending Poulsbo, Vinland, and Wolfle will be shifted to different schools as well.
The announcement of boundary changes was made March 14 at a North Kitsap School Board study session.
When it came to the changes, Superintendent Patty Page said administrators did their best to keep neighborhoods and large cohorts of students together.
Though the district had the option to send Breidablik students to three schools, saving the district money in transportation, Page said she felt it better to not split Breidablik students up that much.
Along with the announcement of changes to the Breidablik community, there will be changes to other schools as well.
Some students from Wolfle will attend Gordon next year. Some from Poulsbo will go to Suquamish. And some Vinland students will attend either Pearson or Poulsbo.
One of the biggest splits in communities is in the Hansville area, where there will be an east/west split. Those on the east side of the boundary line will attend Gordon, on the west side, Wolfle. The boundary line for the two Kingston elementary schools follows Hansville Road, for the most part. In the north end, the boundary line slants west. Students living in Driftwood Keys will attend Wolfle, those closer to Point No Point will attend Gordon.
The Pearson Elementary northern boundary line stops at Darter Road. All students south of Darter, except for a small portion of the county north of Sherman Hill Road, will attend Pearson.
Poulsbo Elementary lines border the Port Madison Reservation on the east, Bond Road on the north and Liberty Bay on the west and south.
Suquamish lines border Poulsbo’s east line, and Gordon and Wolfle’s southern lines.
Vinland Elementary lines go just beyond Big Valley Road to the east, up to the Hood Canal Bridge and down to Pearson and Poulsbo lines.
“We obviously had to move boundaries for all schools to make things fit,” Page said.
Though administrators will try to make school populations balanced, Poulsbo and Vinland will expect to grow the most from the boundary changes. Suquamish and Gordon will grow the least, Page said.
Middle and high schools will see changes as well.
The north/south attendance boundary line for both middle and high schools borders the Port Madison Reservation, and cuts up east of Big Valley Road to the Hood Canal Bridge. Students living west of the border will attend Poulsbo Middle School and North Kitsap High School. Those on the east side will go to the Kingston schools.
The changes in high school boundaries will make the student population between North Kitsap and Kingston high schools more even. Because Kingston High School could see an increase in student enrollment, Page said the Spectrum building located on the same road as KHS could be open to high school classes to avoid overcrowding.
Based on current district enrollment, rolling up students from one grade to the next and current kindergarten head count, the projected school enrollments for next year are:
— Gordon: 475
— Pearson: 355
— Poulsbo: 520
— Suquamish: 407
— Vinland: 537
— Wolfle: 390
— Kingston Middle: 623
— Poulsbo Middle: 746
— Kingston High: 946
— North Kitsap High: 1,067
(Numbers do not include any special education programs that could serve students outside school boundaries, or students in Options or the bilingual program that are out of attendance boundaries)
This was the fourth time attendance boundaries have been adjusted since Transportation Director Ron Lee has worked in the district. He’s worked in the district for more than 20 years.
“There was a lot of shifting going on,” Lee said.
Attendance boundary changes will be done more often from now on, Page said.
Students in kindergarten through eighth grade and high school students will have the option to choose which schools they attend. New choice forms will be available to families. Families will have until 3 p.m. April 10 to get choice forms in, after that, they will not be accepted. Forms can be turned in beginning Monday.
Choice forms will not be accepted again until school begins, Page said.
The district will make staffing changes after choice forms are in. After that, preliminary staffing adjustments will be made. The delay in staffing adjustments in buildings is delaying principals from creating their master schedules.
After staffing adjustments are made, the district will know which grades have openings, and which have too many students to allow for choice.
“We’re doing the best we can to honor as many [school choices] as we can,” Page said.
The district is still working on where special programs are being housed. Some, such as Options and Agate, will not move.
