IH Triple Exceptional: 2006-07 Annual Report

It is great to see Indian Hills be the first school in the district to get the Exceptional rating three times. The staff, students and parents really deserve our thanks for their hard work

The district released an information packed Annual Report for 2006-07 with a page for each school. I think it is an exceptional way to get to know the district better and get up to speed on what the district has planned for the future.

Argus Article: Keep It Together

'Keep it together,' parents ask school boundary committee members
12/24/2007
The Argus - To many, a school is the essence of community. A core group of about 20 parents again asked Boundary Committee members of the Hillsboro School District Dec. 17 to hold neighborhoods together by making wise choices on school boundary adju...

This is a good article by Lisa Cromwell, she is at all the working meetings and doing better than most keeping the various issues straight.

Updated Plan 6 IH Boundary with Taxlots

Click to zoom...

Community Meeting #5 at Century

Tonight's meeting was focused on the latino community but was bilingual so everyone could follow along. Plan 6 was presented but did not included detailed maps as have been presented for Plan 3.

There was good turnout with some comments from parents.

One parent expressed concern about some postings on the internet that were less than favorable towards an increase in spanish language students at Eastwood. He challenged the hispanic community to reach out and change perceptions.

There was also some concern about resources being available for ESL teaching and other programs like BLAST at Peter Boscow and the parent was reassured that the district would review those resources and make sure that nothing was lost in the transition.

Several other parents were concerned about keeping standards high for the kids and ensuring that school quality based on state tests was maintained - more of a general concern about really challenging hispanic kids in the schools. Mr. Pérez suggested that perhaps the district should bring the superintendent and some other district representatives back in another meeting to hear those kinds of concerns.

There were also some concerns about racism that might be brought out by school changes and what the district was doing to address the problem. Mr. Pérez pointed out that racism is a community issue as opposed to a school issue and that the district would make sure teachers had appropriate training to properly address any racism that might be encountered in the school environment.

After the meeting, one of the parents from Eastwood asked if we had heard the comment by the first parent and she wanted to reassure him that the school was an 'open arms' school. I think he was a little surprised when she approached him and (with some translation help from Mr. Pérez) expressed concern. The parent made it clear that he didn't feel that it was a reflection on Eastwood in general but wanted to make sure his children would feel welcomed at Eastwood.

Plan 6 Details on HSD Website

Plan 6 Presentation
Shows updated feeders and boundaries, Indian Hills with a 43 student increase (grades 1-6), same as Plan 3. Ladd Acres is restored to original boundaries, Butternut will feed to Brown/Century while Orenco goes back to Poynter/Liberty.

Butternut parents will be very upset, they wanted to stay as Hilhi Spartans but they spent the last few meetings complaining about Brookwood coming out of Hilhi. Now Brookwood is back to Hilhi and Butternut moves to Century.

Oregonian Article On HSD Boundaries

Here is the link to the online version Where Will They Go?
I think Michelle Trappen did a good job accurately capturing progress of the work by the boundary committee, the essential issues being discussed while graciously including a link to this blog.

If you find your way here from the Oregonian, I encourage you to check the following links:

Hillsboro School District Boundary Adjustment Page - Essential information on the boundary process including meeting minutes, future meeting schedules, latest boundary maps and community presentation material.

Straight Talk written by Hugh O'Donnell, a HSD board member since 2003 and retired HSD teacher. Visit to keep in touch with goings-on in the district from the viewpoint of an individual board member and thoughts on improving education in the district.

For those that haven't seen the paper, check out the center of today's Oregonian in the Washington County section. There is a big article by Michelle Trappen on the current status of the boundary process.

You need to go to the print version for a photo of the girls and I walking home from Indian Hills. They were a little freaked out by the size of the photo.

Last Community Meeting This Thurs 6:30p

Community Meeting #5, Final (bilingual)
December 20, 2007
(Thursday, 6:30-7:30p.m.)
Note earlier time than usual

Century High School (map)
2000 SE Century Blvd.
Hillsboro, OR 97123-8390
For more info on the process, go here (link).

Bilingual meeting, and the first to show a significant change from Plan 3.

Working Session #5: Good for Ladd Acres and Indian Hills

New boundaries were shown that will be presented at the bilingual meeting on Thursday at Century.

1) Apartments and condos at corner of Brookwood and TV Hwy go back to Witch Hazel anticipating space available with ES 27 coming in soon south of TV Hwy.

2) 'Portable' Ladd Acres neighborhood stays in Ladd Acres. (yay!)

3) Indian Hills boundary stays as presented in Plan 3, but loses the northern end of the add from east of 198th which now show as moved to Tobias. This was apparently done before the Ladd families were moved back to Ladd and likely will come back to Indian Hills, about 25 kids. Plan 6 shows us coming down to estimated 393 students from 507 in plan 3a, adding those kids will leave us just over 400 students, an add of about 2 classes to where we are now with the Copperleaf development gradually phasing in one more class over the next 2 years for a total add of 3 classes.

These changes depend on whether they will work out the new boundaries for ES #27 south of TV Hwy to include Ladd Acres families near Brookwood eventually.

Updated map, click to zoom (new map program so it is a little more plain)


Many other areas improved, hot spots may have been created in other places but overall a general improvement. I would be interested in hearing from Eastwood parents after the Thurs meeting on how they feel about the change.

David Hill came up again with the plan showing some going back to Farmington View but that was pulled back and likely will be the same as Plan 3.

Map of Developments In Brown Feeder

Click picture to zoom...

Community Meeting #4: Mark Finally Speaks

After sitting on the sidelines and lobbing out blog posts, I finally decided to comment (since it was the last official community meeting). Following were my spoken comments (note that I am just as wordy when speaking as I am when typing):

First of all I want to thank Mr. Pérez and the committee, this has been a very open and responsive process so far. I’ve been at a lot of the meetings and am impressed by the amount of involvement that they have allowed the community to have.

I also appreciate the consideration given to Indian Hills early in the process. There were many of us being moved out of the boundary that were very concerned about it and the committee listened and responded and we appreciate that.

It’s clear that Indian Hills needs to help relieve some of the pressure in neighboring schools. I think the school, the staff, the parents and the kids understand that and welcome, at a certain level, the opportunity to grow.

However, I believe that Plan #3A, adjusted, overcrowds our school – we look at the addition of the Ladd Acres families on the west side and the folks east of 198th and then this Copperleaf subdivision, which is just right across from Brown here. When I calculate it all out and add in Kinders, it looks like it is going to be 6 additional classes and it is going to take us to about 96 or 97 percent capacity or higher. We’re concerned that we’re possibly going to lose room for small groups to meet, we’ve got a computer room and a staff room that we would have to give up to accommodate those kinds of numbers.

Another concern is when we look at Quatama and where it is going in - it doesn’t feel like the other schools are getting good relief from that new school. I see the numbers in Orenco dropping quite a bit but don’t really see a movement of Tobias students over there to ripple the relief across to Reedville, which we know has been extremely overcrowded for many years. I think it follows through on the other side when we look at Brookwood and Eastwood schools which are right up, again, against the Quatama border - it doesn’t seem that any relief is propagating out from that new school, and that’s a concern.

When I look at slide 15, which shows the current numbers and future numbers, it’s very hard for me to make any sense from that because I know it only represents 1-6 graders, and we know there are going to be Kinders, it’s a number greater than zero, they are going to be in our schools.

The other thing that is missing is current capacity. The latest capacity data that I have been able to find is on the website and it is from 2006. I know that portables have been moved into some schools and so that has changed but it makes it very difficult for me as a parent in the district to really evaluate this proposal without knowing what the end result is going to be based on capacity.

What I’m looking for is some sort of official summary from the committee that includes:

1) current verified capacity. Does that include portables? Are those portables going to be moved? Are additional portables going to be moved in?

2) something that accounts for Kinders, it looks like it’s around 15% of grades 1-6. It seems like there should be some way to add that into the data

3) also, something that shows us what the expected growth for each school is. I know that Orenco, with Quatama coming in, is coming down to about 60%. They are extremely crowded now but they are going to come down significantly. I know there is going to be growth in that area but what number is the committee looking at to understand that and make sure that the boundaries are optimal for the growth and that we’re not counting on more growth than will occur, especially given the current economic situation?

We just want to make sure that the bond money being spent benefits all schools, not just a few neighborhoods.

Finally, to families that are being added to Indian Hills, we know that there are some that will be added, sorry if we are not your first choice for your children, we understand the desire to stay in the school you are currently in - that is perfectly understandable: We will welcome you with open arms…if there is enough room to actually open our arms.

I heard someone ask Mr. Pérez “If you’re moving us to Indian Hills what will you do to make sure that it stays a high quality school?” I’m sure Mr. Pérez will answer the same [way] he does for any school in the district, we will get a building with facilities, transportation, high quality administrative staff, 1 great teacher for every 26 students. That’s what the taxpayers allow him to give us.

My question back to parents coming into Indian Hills is “If you are coming to our school, what will YOU do to make sure that Indian Hills STAYS an exceptional school?”

And for anyone that is wondering, yes, I will be going to the spanish language meeting at Century.

Community Meeting #4
December 13, 2007
(Thursday, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.)

RA Brown Middle School (map)
1505 SW Cornelius Pass Road
Hillsboro, OR 97123-6727
For more info on the process, go here (link).

Latest numbers show Indian Hills just short of 100% occupancy which could threaten the ability of small groups to meet, affect teacher staff room and computer room. Please come and comment if this concerns you.

Here is the latest from the District presentation. For some reason, instead of just adding 66 students from Ladd Acres, the total add is 77 from the original Plan #3 numbers.

Not sure where the extra 11 kids came from but it makes the numbers much worse unless they were added to compensate for Copperleaf. I also added Orenco as a Brown feeder, the area where most growth is predicted.

Community Meeting #3: Temperatures Rising

Strong turnout from Brookwood and Eastwood parents (and lots of teachers!) at tonights meeting, otherwise a repeat performance from previous meetings. Number of parents from Ladd Acres speaking increased.

Deputy Superintendent Pérez mentioned that he has been getting a lot of heated email and that he wanted to keep the emotion out of the discussion as much as possible. He even apologized later when he contradicted a parent's statement.

Confirmed that Plan #3 adjusted number for Indian Hills shown below is correct to within a couple students, briefly spoke with a committee member about the concern with overcrowding at IH and was told that would be a topic at the next working meeting but it is clear that the primary focus will be Eastwood/Brookwood.

Will be checking the district website for updated slides that show all new school numbers.

HSD Plan 3 Adjusted, with Tax Lots

Estimate of District Numbers

While Plan #3 Adjusted puts a lot of students in Indian Hills, I can see why the District is considering and why they would think it puts us more in line with other schools in the Brown feeder area. School capacity is unverified and will be updated by the district later.

IH adds are slightly different from previous calcs since some of the numbers given don't exactly match, below is based on Plan #3 presentation, not statements at working meeting which put the Ladd Acres add at 66 and east of 198th at 46.

Community Meeting #3 - Monday

Community Meeting #3
December 10, 2007
(Monday, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.)

Poynter Middle School (map)
1535 NE Grant Street
Hillsboro, OR 97124-3421

For more info on the process, go here (link).

Indian Hills has a big impact of 66 students added for a total of 112 additional enrollment [ed - grades 1-6 only] from current boundary levels. Please plan on participating in this meeting.

[ed - bumped to top]

Plan #3 Adjusted: Number Crunching

Note: District is now calling it Plan #3 Adjusted, not Plan #5.



ASSUMPTIONS
Class size: 26 students
IH capacity: 532 students, (source)
SGR for new homes: 0.362 (source, table 8)
Kinder as % of 1-6: 16%, (source, table 13, Century area projection)

Copperleaf Subdivision Near Brown

I stopped into the sales office of Riverside Homes in the subdivision being built across from Brown MS, currently in the IH boundary.

Summary
Planned size of the subdivision: 75 homes over 2 years,
Sold so far: 17 homes since April (recently had first move-in)
Occupancy by fall '08: ~35 homes
Occupancy by fall '09: 75 homes

She said that sales have been strong because they are on the higher end of the market and are seeing a lot of folks interested in upgrading from within the IH boundary because they don't want to change schools and there is very little high end housing in the neighborhood.

She expressed a preference to remain in the IH boundary since the school is very close and has been a selling point.

Update
Based on the PSU enrollment forecast study on the HSD website (here), table 8 shows that for new large lot (>3250 sq ft lot size) detached single family homes built recently (data based on 2003 build date) Student Generation Rate (SGR) for K-6 is 0.362.

The home count multiplied by SGR (75 x 0.362) shows the subdivision would likely add 26 students to IH boundary upon full occupancy, one full class added by 2009 school year.

Currently, plan #5 proposes to add 112 students to IH (not counting Kinders). Based on a class size of 26, that is an addition of 4.3 classes to IH fall 2008. Add in the expected 35 homes of this subdivision, it would be 4.8 classes.

With plan #5 add combined with subdivision growth, IH would be pushed to well over 5 total classes added by start of school 2009. Add in uncounted Kinders from plan #5 add and it is higher.

Working Session #4 - Indian Hills Big Add

Quick update before I eat dinner:

The only key decision made in today's working session was to add Ladd Acres students back into Indian Hills and this will be presented as Plan #5 next Monday and Thursday at Community Meetings. This adds 66 students to 46 added east of 198th (2 more kids being added south of Johnson) for a total add to current enrollment of 112 students.

There are no work sessions planned prior to those meetings so there are unlikely to be any changes made unless it happens behind the curtain.

I will add to this post as I can, email went out to PTO mail list to share the update. I encourage those who are best in touch with the impact of adding 27% to current enrollment to put together a statement for the next meeting in one week, Monday night at Poynter.

Bad News: No resolution on Eastwood/Brookwood. The committee seems resigned to Plan #3 boundaries for the schools after devoting most of 2 working sessions to the problem. They briefly considered sending Brookwood to Brown/Century but nothing was established and no changes going into the next Community meetings for the 2 school boundaries from Plan #3.

Meeting Notice - Monday Work Session

Boundary Committee Work Session #4
December 3, 2007
(Monday, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.)

Board Room
Hillsboro School Administration Center (map)
3083 NE 49th Place
Hillsboro, OR 97124-6009
Phone: 503-844-1500

For more info on the process, go here (link).

"...the public is invited to attend the boundary committee work sessions, provide brief comment during the citizens’ participation portion, and listen to the committee’s discussions."

Compare and Contrast: Beaverton and Hillsboro

Beaverton is currently going through a somewhat reduced boundary adjustment process north of Sunset Hwy. I did some reading through the BSD website and it was interesting to see the differences.

Communication from Hillsboro is great, we got off to a slow start but the district website is very up to date and it is easy to find relevant info. The Beaverton site is a little harder to find, less crisp.

Another interesting difference is the tone, Hillsboro has been extremely open while Beaverton's process seems a little more closed.

The Oregonian has more:
Not Just School Boundaries At Issue For Board

The tone with parents is slightly combative as can be seen in this exchange with a parent group apparently with Superintendent for Beaverton Schools Jerome Colonna:

Emerald Estates - appears to have changed the destiny of a larger group of approximately 250 students, 30% of the total amount of displaced students. If you don’t keep in mind capacity and safety in a well established neighborhood, staying on Wismer Dr., if my child does not attend Wismer Elementary it is an irony. Is it the "pizza slice" that creates this change? It appears a small group of students tips the balance one way or the other.

Response: I am aware of the feeling among the community that those who speak the loudest and the most about a particular topic have the greatest opportunity to make changes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease so to speak. If you simply ask long enough or hard enough with enough people, you will be successful is swaying the final decision. It is understandable. What is swaying the District to change are better ideas. Change will not be made based on the number of people who speak about a particular topic.

A little testy perhaps, but it gets a little more pointed from parents in a following exchange:

Terra Linda – As a teacher and parent I have worked hard to fund the schools. This last bond was passed for capacity reasons. Now Findley will be over 100% capacity, Terra Linda reduced to 80% and the Beaverton School District is not doing what it said it would do with the bond dollars. Why did we pass a bond to work on capacity and even out the schools, making it so Findley could have Kindergarten on site which is not considered in this proposal? Have you looked to the future? You discuss buildings and buying land, but where is that money going to come from? My concern is all the people who voted to have their taxes raised in order to alleviate over crowding. They are not going to vote for a bond when the Beaverton School District has not done what it says it’s going to do.

Response: I have received several email messages that indicate if we change the boundary the person would lose faith in the Beaverton School District. They didn’t feel they could support a future bond. I am sorry people feel that way. My colleagues and I are trying to do the very best that we can for the overall District four years out...A bond measure is not for an individual son or daughter, one classroom or one school. It is for public education across the entire District. We live in a State that does not fund growth for schools and that puts the burden on community members. If in the best of our ability to try to make the best decisions we can causes the community see the District as not following through with what we said we would do with the bond and loses faith, I am really very sorry about that...If it doesn’t go quite your way, I hope with time, in your heart, you would be able to find for the greater good, to vote against future bond measures against thousands of people’s children in a State that does not fund growth is a fairly extreme measure and I hope that we can regain your faith.

I think that the argument that voting against future bonds just hurts kids is a weak one and that a district must be committed to working with the community for the best solution now, for the parents who fought to get a bond passed and expect to see their children benefit. Everyone won't be happy but the more open the process, the easier for parents to deal with the result.

Given the turmoil in Beaverton, I also think that the Hillsboro School Board decision to place the boundary process in the hands of competent administrators was the right move to make.

I hope the Hillsboro School District and District parents keep on the same path we have been on with open dialog and constructive input to the process. As the process gets closer to an end, we need to make sure the communication stays positive and everyone is working for an optimum solution.