The proposed changes were brought to the Board in February and April and impact the Hillcrest/Skyline boundary, the Hillcrest/Stevens Creek boundary and the Highland/Mt. Pilchuck boundary.

WHAT ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE AND WHY?

Hillcrest/Skyline Boundary
There is a significant amount of construction in the south end of the district that impacts Hillcrest and Skyline Elementary Schools. The Stonebriar neighborhood off of 20th St SE was formerly in the Hillcrest boundary and was slated to attend Skyline with the new boundaries. Due to anticipated growth in the Skyline boundary, Stonebriar families will continue to attend Hillcrest.

Hillcrest/Stevens Creek Boundary
A portion of the former Hillcrest boundary in the area west of Lundeen Parkway and south of (not including) 12th Place NE, Lake Stevens was scheduled to move to  Stevens Creek Elementary School but now will remain at Hillcrest. This includes housing developments accessed via 10th St. NE and 8th St. NE, where these streets are located west of Lundeen Parkway. This changes allows approximately 50 students to remain in their current school, Hillcrest, while reducing the enrollment of Stevens Creek. Hillcrest has the current and future capacity to serve these students.

Highland/Mt. Pilchuck Boundary
The Refuge, a new development in the north end of our district near Catherine Creek and State Route 92, was previously in the Highland boundary. This neighborhood, which is not currently occupied, will attend Mt. Pilchuck to maintain balanced enrollment at Highland.

MORE INFORMATION

An updated boundary map will be available in early May, along with individual boundary maps for each elementary school. Our Transportation Department is in the process of updating its system to reflect these changes.

As Lake Stevens continues to grow, district administrators will remain in collaboration with City planners to make determinations about new developments and school boundaries. This will ensure that elementary enrollment remains as balanced as possible.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Four elementary schools—Highland, Mt. Pilchuck, Stevens Creek and Sunnycrest—will feed into North Lake Middle School and three elementary schools—Glenwood, Hillcrest and Skyline—will feed into Lake Stevens Middle School (LSMS). Students who are impacted by the boundary change who are attending LSMS as sixth-graders for the 2017-18 school year will remain at LSMS for an additional year to avoid attending two middle schools.

BACKGROUND

Why were elementary boundaries changed?
In February 2016, Lake Stevens voters approved a $116 million school construction bond to build the district’s seventh elementary school—Stevens Creek Elementary School—a new Early Learning Center and to expand and modernize Lake Stevens High School. With the addition of Stevens Creek, district elementary school boundaries needed to be adjusted to determine which students will attend the new school and to reduce the number of students in many of our existing schools.

Who created the proposed boundaries?
The proposed boundaries were created by a Boundary Committee, made up of administrators, staff members, parents and community members from each of our schools. The Committee met seven times throughout the fall to review enrollment data, school capacities, elementary growth rates and projections and community growth projections.

What was the Board’s process for approving the new boundaries?
The Boundary Committee’s recommendation was presented to the Board in January 2017. School district administrators received considerable feedback from families impacted by the changes. Feedback was shared with the Board of Directors for discussion at its second January 2017 meeting. Several community members also spoke during the community comment portion of the meeting and brought forth questions and concerns.

Specific areas of the proposed boundary map were discussed by the Board based on the feedback received. Following its discussion, the Board asked the administrative team to consider making some minor adjustments to the proposal from the Boundary Committee to address concerns raised. There was no feasible way to address all concerns. However, the administrative team was able to recommend slight adjustments to minimize disruption of some students and families based on the concerns heard. These adjustments are included in the new boundary map.