Westwood Neighborhood boundary for Roxhill Elementary School.

To:  Seattle School Board

Position:
As parents of children attending Roxhill Elementary School and concerned community members, we are writing with deep concern about the new student assignment plan as it pertains to the recommended attendance boundary for Roxhill ES. We strongly request that the boundary for Roxhill ES encompass the whole Westwood Neighborhood boundary: Roxbury to Holden and 35th to Delridge.

The recommended boundary shows 30th Ave SW instead of 35th Ave SW as the western boundary, and Holden as the northern boundary, which serves to narrow and lengthen Roxhill’s attendance area through the Delridge corridor. This does not serve the board’s charge regarding equity, diversity, neighborhood identity and efficient bus routing. The boundary is also problematic by further diminishing the number of households from the initial proposed area (35th, Thistle, Delridge and Roxbury).

Diversity Opportunities & Demographics This move further exacerbates the inequities already existing in the neighborhood schools not alleviate it.
1. Increases the concentration of Free-Reduced levels at Roxhill currently at 80%. Delridge corridor demographics includes medium and high density Free-Reduced Levels,
2. Takes away participation of our middle-income families in the 35th to 30th AVE SW corridor by forcing them into to Arbor Heights.
Proximity to School & Safe Walk Zones
1. Houses in sight of Roxhill will not be in the attendance area.
2. Illogically & artificially erects a barrier by putting Roxhill in a Southwest corner for a neighborhood school.
o The chunk of 35th to 30th AVE SW between Roxbury to Thistle are all within safe walking distance of Roxhill
o 30th Ave SW, some families, who can see Roxhill campus from their front door, will be crossing 2 heavily traveled streets and an uphill climb if they are moved to the Arbor Heights attendance area.
o The chunk between Roxbury and Barton, families can reach Roxhill without crossing any arterials or major streets.
o The area between Barton to Thistle all still fall within Roxhill’s safe walk zone but in the Bus zone for the other school.

With this in mind, we respectfully request that the board revert to the original western boundary of 35th Avenue SW plus add the section from Thistle up to Holden. This boundary will allow us to retain a diverse socio-economic, and demographic mix more closely representative of the Westwood neighborhood and meet Seattle Public Schools’ publicly stated objectives: Proximity to School, Safe Walk Zones, Demographics, Diversity Opportunities, Neighborhood Identity and Efficient Bus Routing.

Roxhill PTA
12 November 2009

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Westwood Neighborhood boundary for Roxhill Elementary School. Petition to Seattle School Board was created by Roxhill Elementary School PTA and written by May Ovalles (mayvoxwork@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.