Parents and School Board at Odds Over RWS Kindergarten Assignments

The growing enrollment within the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, particularly the impact it's having on families in the Redwood Shores and Belmont Shores communities, has prompted an outpouring of concern by parents of current and future elementary school students.

The issue, says a group of parents of incoming Redwood Shores kindergartners, is that the children have been assigned to Nesbit Elementary School, several miles and one freeway crossing away from their closest home schools---Redwood Shores Elementary and Sandpiper schools.

To address the growing enrollment, voters in Redwood Shores agreed to tax themselves by approving Measure C in 2005, which provided the funds to build a new school in the growing community east of Highway 101.

"Lack of communication and transparency at the school district"

“Measure C made the vision of having a neighborhood school a reality. The district should have made it clear to parents that they may not be assigned to RWS or Sandpiper schools.  We only built RWS two years ago and people had a false sense of security thinking that since there are four kindergarten classrooms there, their children would be assigned there,” said Amy Koo, parent of an incoming kindergartner.

A petition circulated by the parents asks the board to adopt earlier recommendations to increase enrollment caps set in June 2010 from three to four kindergarten classes (75-100 seats) at Sandpiper Elementary School for the 2013-14 school year. This, states the petition, would allow affected Belmont Shores and Redwood Shores incoming kindergartners to attend their home school. 

In March, families residing in Redwood Shores whose children will be attending kindergarten in 2013-14 (and do not have siblings already enrolled in the district) received letters stating that due to the district’s no-boundaries policy, their students would be assigned to Nesbit Elementary School for their kindergarten year. 

“That letter gave no information, no explanation of the crisis we have or how we could request a transfer,” said Amy Koo, a Redwood Shores resident whose child will be attending kindergarten in the fall.

“There was no mention of a wait list or other options. We had to do all the digging. The letter simply said, ‘you have been assigned to Nesbit,’ that’s it,” Koo added.

Koo says she’s disappointed in the lack of communication and transparency at the school district.

Koo, who has taken an informal leadership position in the organization of the families impacted by the school assignment process says the BRSSD has had several opportunities to get it right.

Under the no boundaries policy adopted by the school board in 2011, algorithms are put in place to assign students to their first, second and third closest schools (and taking into account other factors such as each school’s enrollment and capacities).

Referring to the process and the assignments to schools outside of their neighborhoods, Koo said, “The first time the parents stormed the board. The second time was inexcusable; if it happens a third time, it’s downright stupid.”

"Unless there is a big red flag saying, 'alert, alert', you have to do your research because the two Shores schools are overcapacity, and this is the reason why," why would a new RWS parent question their assumption that their child will go to one of the neighborhood schools?," asked Koo.

No plans for adding a fourth K class in RWS

president of the BRSSD board of trustees says there was much community participation and discussion among board members about the enrollment growth, assignment process and a review of the district’s actions taken to accommodate the booming enrollment.

He added that the main driver of the district’s budget woes has been the overflowing enrollment.

“We've not only built a new school in Redwood Shores to accommodate growth, but added classrooms at both Sandpiper and Redwood Shores Elementary schools. We've gotten to the point where we've almost entirely run out of classrooms to place all of our students -- both in Redwood Shores and in Belmont -- at their closest schools,” Tashjian told Patch in an email.

As to the new no-boundaries assignment system, Tashjian says the district has almost entirely run out of classroom space to place all students at their geographically closest schools---in both Belmont and RWS.

“The board has spent an incredible amount of time and effort on overhauling its old assignment system. After countless hours consulting with the community, the new system is designed to preserve our neighborhood schools and to assign as many students as possible to the schools closest to their homes.”

The reasoning Tashjian says for assigning RWS kids to Nesbit instead of adding a fourth kindergarten classroom at Sandpiper is that the district has to take into account the future capacity of the school.

“While the extra classroom would accommodate the current number of students who live in RWS, it would also increase the overall enrollment at Sandpiper above its capacity and would have ripple effects into future years.”

He added that currently the district is not considering adding additional classrooms at Redwood Shores Elementary either.

Upon considering the concerns of the RWS parents at the April 18 board meeting, interim co-superintendents Nellie Hungerford and Suzanne Roy recommended creating a task force to study enrollment growth in Redwood Shores and to suggest possible action to the board.  

“We will continue to monitor enrollment in Redwood Shores and will take the recommendations of the task force,” Tashjian added.

Related stories:

Op-Ed: Redwood Shores Parents Shocked Kindergarteners Assigned to Nesbit

Belmont Shores Parents' Voices Heard

Redwood Shores Principal Honored

Enrollment to Swell for Belmont-Redwood Shores School District