A few years ago, changes were made to the English Language Learner (ELL, formerly ESL) program in Seattle Public Schools. These changes have taken non-native speakers out of one classroom and put them in the traditional classroom with native English speakers. Our sister site, MyWallingford, has more on these changes and how they’re affecting students and teachers at Hamilton International Middle School.

Read: Final bell for self-contained bilingual classes

Seattle Public Schools has just released its transportation map for Queen Anne elementary schools for the 2011-2012 school year.

From the SPS website:

In the new transportation plan, transportation eligibility for attendance area elementary and K-8 students will be based on transportation zones.

Students within the transportation zone and outside the walk zone for a school will be eligible for District-provided transportation.

Students outside their immediate transportation zone, but within their extended intermediary boundary, can walk to an attendance area school for bus pick-up if they live within a safe walk zone (up to one mile). Otherwise, they walk up to a 1/2 mile to a regular neighborhood stop. This is a temporary option to extend transportation for two (2) years (2011-12 & 2012-13).

* Transportation Zones will include the entire attendance area of a school
* Transportation Zones will extend to areas within a 1.25 mile radius from the school and within the middle school service area
* Walk zones to schools will still apply.

Here are the maps for Queen Anne-area schools (all links are .pdfs).

Catharine Blaine K-8

Frantz Coe

John Hay

Lawton

Seattle School Board District IV director Michael DeBell is holding a community coffee chat tomorrow, Saturday, March 19 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Caffe Appassionato Coffee Co, located at 4001 21st Ave W, just next to Fisherman’s Terminal.

These regular meetings, which take place on the fourth Saturday of every month, are a chance for community members to drop in and have an informal discussion on public school issues and future opportunities.

District IV represents the following schools: Adams, Ballard, C. Blaine, The Center School, Coe, Lawton, McClure, Queen Anne Elementary, Salmon Bay, and West Woodland.

For more information on Michael DeBell and the Seattle School Board, check the SPS website. Can’t make this month’s coffee chat? DeBell will be hosting three more–on Saturday April 16, May 21, and June 18 (same time and place)–before the school year is out.

If your child will enter the Seattle Public School system this year, or if you want a school other than your attendance-area elementary, middle or high school, be sure to apply through Open Enrollment, which runs today, March 15, through April 15.

Forms and detailed information are available at the Seattle Public Schools site. Families may also contact an Enrollment Facilitator at the Service Center at the John Stanford Center, 2445 3rd Ave S (3rd and Lander), via telephone at (206) 252-0010, or via fax to (206) 252-0761. There is also a Recorded Information Line at (206) 252-0410.

Registration and application materials may be mailed, faxed or submitted in person. The mailing address is:

Seattle Public Schools
SPS Service Center
MS 11-174
P.O. Box 34165
Seattle, WA 98124-1165

All school choice forms received during open enrollment are processed together after open enrollment ends on April 15. There is no advantage to submitting forms earlier or later during the open enrollment period. The first few days and the last few days of open enrollment are the busiest. To avoid long lines, families are encouraged by SPS to consider this when planning their visit to the enrollment center.

Current students may drop off School Choice Forms in a 24-hour drop box in the JSCEE parking lot at 3rd and Lander. Forms must be filled out completely and signed to be accepted. The drop-off box is only for school choice forms for current students who already have a school assignment but would like to apply for a different school. New students must submit enrollment materials either in person, by fax or email.

Seattle Public Schools enrollment staff will also visit libraries and community centers around the city throughout March so parents may enroll new students and/or submit School Choice Forms for the 2011-12 school year. Staff will be at the Queen Anne Library, located at 400 W Garfield St., on Tuesday, March 29 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Seattle Public Schools sent the following release:

Seattle Public Schools is hosting a Family Engagement Symposium: From Cradle to College & Career on Saturday March 12, at Ballard High School. This Symposium is aimed at providing families with the information, practical strategies, and resources they need to support their students’ academic success.

The symposium, which runs from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., includes a Resource Fair with community resource booths and activities for children ages 4 and up. Families will learn how to support their children in the areas of early learning, math, reading and writing non-fiction, special education, parent leadership, college and career readiness, graduation requirements and four-year planning, and apprenticeships among others. A light lunch will also be provided courtesy of the Alliance for Education.

Click here for more information on the event

The Seattle School Board has changed the Seattle Public Schools Transportation Plan to create new neighborhood-based Transportation Zones, in an effort to streamline bus routes for attendance area elementary and K-8 schools starting in September.

The Board estimates the new Transportation Plan will save the school district up to $4 million, or the equivalent of 45 teaching positions. The new Transportation Zones should decrease the bus ride time for attendance area schools to 25 minutes or less, and reduces the bus fleet by about 80 buses.

From Seattle Public Schools’ press release:

Children within the transportation zone and outside of walk zones will be eligible for district-provided transportation. Transportation Zones will include the entire attendance area of a school, extending to areas within a 1.25-mile radius from the school within the middle school service area. Existing walk zones to schools would still apply.

Under the approved plan, bus transportation for middle schools, high schools, option schools, English Language Learners, Special Education and Advanced Learning would have minimal changes.

In addition to the new zones, some bus arrival and departure times will change, with some high schools and middle schools arriving 10-15 minutes earlier and elementary schools arriving 10-15 minutes later. School bell times will be set by the individual schools.

As a result of the plan, an estimated 3,600 elementary students currently receiving transportation reside outside of the new transportation zones. They will still be eligible for the following transportation:

• Students who live within a half of a mile from the Transportation Zone boundary can walk to a bus stop within the zone. Seats will be allocated on a space available basis.

• Community stops will be created so students can catch a bus at or near an attendance area school and take it to another school.

• Students who are no longer eligible for transportation will receive a guaranteed assignment to their attendance area school if requested.

Families can request an assignment to a different school based on these changes in transportation service. To allow for this, Open Enrollment is being extended and will run from March 15-April 15, 2011. This will give the Transportation Department time to notify all families of 2011-12 transportation eligibility, and will also allow families to participate in Open Enrollment if they wish to do so.

Letters to families regarding their student’s transportation eligibility for next year will be sent out in March. Online informational maps and additional information on the eligibility changes are available on the Transportation Services website.

Right now parents who have children in full-day kindergarten are charged $207 each month of the school year. With an estimated $35 million budget gap for next year, Seattle Public Schools wants to know what you think about raising that rate to $310.

Although SPS will continue to accept survey responses through Friday, those filled out by Wednesday at 3 p.m. will be reviewed by the School Board during their work session that evening.

From SPS:

The state of Washington funds only half-day kindergarten (there are a few exceptions to this for high poverty schools). For many years our district has added funding for a further half day to ensure there would be one full day kindergarten available in every school. Over the years schools added “pay for K” programs as more and more families wanted full day K for their children. For the 2010-11 school year, we implemented a standard $207 per month Pay for K program across the district. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch receive tuition waivers.

With the severe budget crisis, we are considering various options to balance the budget and one is related to Kindergarten services. We want your feedback about these options. Thank you.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HYTDGHZ

Just a friendly reminder that Seattle Public Schools is hosting a public meeting on the district’s new school Transportation Plan, which if approved will go into effect for the 2011-2012 school year, tomorrow, Thursday, February 3 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Hamilton International School, located at 1610 N 41 St.

The proposed Transportation Plan changes would save the district an estimated $4 million by creating new transportation zones for bus routes for attendance area elementary and K-8 schools. Get details on the new plan here.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the proposed plan at its February 16 meeting, where there will be opportunities for public comment. More information about signing up for public testimony is available here (.pdf) and on the school board website.

If you can’t make Thursday’s meeting, don’t worry. There will be a third meeting regarding the proposed plan next week from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 8, at Chief Sealth International High School, 2600 SW Thistle.