The final outcomes for APP from the Board Vote last night are as follows:I'll be opening individual threads for parents to discuss the new programs at Fairmount Park Elementary (West Seattle) and Jane Addams Middle School (North). Please use this thread for general discussion of the changes and what it all means for the future of APP.
South APP
- The current guaranteed pathway for all APP students will remain the same (Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Washington Middle School, Garfield High School).
- There will be a new optional pathway for APP Elementary at Fairmount Park Elementary School (FPES) in West Seattle in 2014 (a "blended program" with Spectrum, details unknown at this time).
- The optional Southeast pathway and the site at Madison will not happen until some date in the future.
North APP
- APP Elementary will stay at Lincoln (until the 2017 move to Wilson Pacific)
- APP Elementary will share the Lincoln building with AS#1 and the Indian Heritage program (AS#1/Indian Heritage will be housed in the South Wing)
- APP Middle School will be split into 2 cohorts in 2014: the NE cohort going to Jane Addams Middle School (JAMS) and the NW cohort staying (for now) at Hamilton International Middle School (HIMS). Northeast APP students will not be grandfathered at Hamilton.
- The NW cohort will either move to Wilson Pacific Middle School (WPMS), or be split between HIMS and WPMS, in 2016 or 2017 depending on the size of the cohort.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
APP moves and splits
With the board vote last night, APP will be seeing some changes. The APP AC sent out an excellent summary of what will be happening:
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12 comments:
Re-posting from the previous thread:
Here's my question: will kids who live in the Eckstein attendance area but currently attend HIMS APP be allowed to enroll in (or guaranteed) in Spectrum at Eckstein?
Attachment 2 to the Intermediate Capacity Management Plan (part of the Nov 20th agenda for the Board meeting last night) states that for "APP in Eckstein AA" for 2014-18, the assignment is "JAMS 6, 7 & 8; can stay at Eckstein as GenEd".
Does anyone have a definitive understanding of this issue? As you can imagine, the plans of many families may be affected by the answer. I thought this was the District's way of forcing APP to JAMS.
Clarity please
I have a 7th Grader at HIMS who will stay there by a margin of a block or two from the boundary line. I have many questions for remaining as well as leaving.
Will there still be enough of a cohort for Advanced Math classes? What about international languages for those leaving? What about Band programs? How can we help with the establishment of the new program and the stability of the HIMS group.
Also, I heard that Chris Cronas is planning principal of Wilson Pacific. If APP is going to co-house with the MS program in future, this has to be addressed ASAP. He is on record as being hostile to pull-out accelerated programs.
Thanks,
Shannon
@ Clarity,
As a spectrum seat is now guaranteed as part of a gen ed assignment at your attendance school, any Eckstein Attendance area family should get a letter before open enrollment confirming your new APP assignment at JAMS and the letter should also include the information about how to apply for a different seat during the choice window.
According to the "current" rules, as long as you apply during open enrollment, you may return to your attendance area school. However, after open enrollment, you will most likely be wait listed as "returning" you are no longer guaranteed that seat.
But those are the current rules, I doubt there will be a big change on this before open enrollment but ...
@kellie - APP and Spectrum qualified students are now guaranteed Attendance Area Spectrum seats in middle school? When my kids were in MS, the set aside was a 1 LA/SS class, even if there were 50 kids who had the Spectrum designation. I think this is good, but I'm curious as to what now makes this possible?
tami
@ tami,
Under the choice plan, Spectrum seats were very limited. The "theory" was you could choose Spectrum at another middle school if yours was full. Year two of the NSAP, they changed it so that they can't wait list Spectrum at your assignment school.
If the school is your attendance area school and you are Spectrum or APP qualified, they have to provide Spectrum services.
This was one of the reasons that the Version 1 plan of putting NE APP at JAMS was changed for Version 2. The feedback from multiple places was the families were more likely to do Eckstein Spectrum than start a new school, again.
Kellie--
Can you tell us more about the "Year two of the NSAP, they changed it so that they can't wait list Spectrum at your assignment school."
Just last spring when I toured Whittier elementary, the principal clearly stated that there was a waitlist for spectrum. There were more qualified kids than got seats.
I also heard from a previous staff member at Whitman that there were over a 100 spectrum students this year, and only 30 seats.
Where does it say that they have to provide Spectrum classes at your neighborhood school services if you are qualified?
What requires them to provide enough spectrum classes?
That was me above
Eden
Eden,
I asked this question and received the following reply yesterday:
Hi Lynn,
If an Academically Highly Gifted (AHG) student lives within Eckstein's boundaries, they can choose to enroll in the Spectrum Program there and they will maintain their AHG eligibility.
Roger Daniels
Consulting Teacher
Advanced Learning Programs
Kellie means for middle school. Confused about "spectrum seats" and Whitman, since there are no classes associated with the designation, so everyone could have a "spectrum seat."
If it is true that you can maintain ahg designation while enrolled at middle school spectrum, that is a brand new change for today. Previously (as in last year) that was true for elementary school, but not middle school. Specifically you don't have Garfield as a pathway option unless you are enrolled in app in 8th grade, though you can retest (like everyone else) to try for Ingraham.
-sleeper
It's important to remember that unless you're enrolled as an APP student at Washington or Hamilton in 8th grade, you will not be able to enroll at Garfield High School. If you decided to transfer from HIMS APP to Eckstein Spectrum for 8th grade, you will not be able to attend Garfield. If you choose this route, you will have to re-test in order to gain access to IBX at Ingraham. But I would even be wary of this promise in years to come. In the first two years of the IBX, they admitted 60 students for IBX. This fall in year 3 they had to admit 90 students for IBX since more applied. I'm sure next fall they will have to admit more (120 or 150) since this year's 8th grade HIMS class is even larger. Since Ingraham is now the neighborhood assignment school for North Ballard and northward, Ingraham is quickly filling up with "neighborhood" kids. The principal likes to talk about how he likes his school at the size it is and doesn't want to grow it into a larger school like other Seattle high schools. This won't really be possible since all high schools are overcrowded and over-capacity, and Ingraham has land for portables. He's stated IBX will have a limited amount of students since he has to balance room for IB students and neighborhood students. This has to mean that there will eventually be a cap on IBX seats. Testing in to IBX at 9th grade would have to be re-evaluated if they can't even accommodate students who have been enrolled in APP for previous years. The whole reason you can test in to IBX as a 9th grader is a result of Advanced Learning being worried about there not being enough students to create a viable cohort for year one. Now that program viability not a problem, I'd be worried that this 9th grade entry might be ended at some point. So you may not be worried about your child's ability to pass the test in to IBX, but if this option was changed then you would have no option for Garfield and no option for IBX. Sadly, it is certainly would be within the realm of possibility for the district to change the rules on families.
North Ballard
North Ballard,
I think it's more likely that they'll end the access to Ingraham IBX for Central, SW and SE students first - and offer them IBX at RBHS instead. The next step will be to offer guaranteed access for APP in the NE and NW to Lincoln instead of Garfield.
Lynn, I agree with you that Ingraham IBX will most likely be limited to North of the Ship Canal folks first. I was surprised to hear that there are more than a few kids who come from the Central/South/SW area for Ingraham's IBX. I don't believe that it's many but there are some. When I toured Ingraham last year, some current students said that there is a yellow school bus that picks up kids on Capitol Hill and goes to Ingraham. The day is coming when Central/South/SW students will have to choose Garfield or the RB IB(X?) program soon instead of Ingraham. I hope Ingraham can keep IBX open to all for as long as possible.
North Ballard
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