United Bethany Voices

We represent over 200 families across Sato, Rock Creek, Springville & Findley Elementary schools.  Our members are from walking and non-walking areas of Stoller. This note is in support of the latest Feb 25th working map. We have come together as a community to advocate for each other in support of a solution that will not isolate or marginalize any of our schools.  We understand the various tradeoffs between walkability, split feeders, equity, proximity and community. We support the Feb 25th working map as the best balance across these vectors and ask that the progress that has been made so far be taken forward:

Do not split elementary schools.  Springville, Sato, Findley, Rock Creek and Oak Hills have all been shown split in various maps proposed by the committee or BSD.  Studies have consistently shown that minimizing transitions results in better academic performance and emotional health for children.  We are strongly supportive of the current Feb 25th working map which does not introduce any additional ES splits.

Do not divide communities.  Springville cannot be separated from its eastern neighbors, Sato, whom they are closely intertwined with.  Rock Creek is naturally tied to Springville and Bethany; it should not be removed from both. If any portion of Rock Creek is removed from Springville, it should be placed with Bethany.  West Oak Hills is part of the Bethany Elementary community and should remain so. East Oak hills is part of the Terra Linda community and should remain so. We should also not use uncertain 2025 projections to divide existing communities especially when populations decline after 2025.

Summa should not split communities.  The Summa program should go where the highest concentration of feeding school kids go in order to minimize splits. We across these four schools agree that the entire North Summa program should go to Timberland with Findley who constitute ~40% of Summa students in Stoller.

We realize that this map isn’t perfect, but nothing ever is, and this is the most balanced path going forward with broad support across a large group of northern families. We realize that there are still some issues with high-school feeder patterns for Oak Hills and Jacob Wismer and hope the committee will also look at ways to address those issues. We also support our neighbors in Barnes to not be the only Beaverton or Sunset feeding school at Meadow Park. We understand that all of us have to sacrifice something for the greater good. But, in balance, this map provides the most optimal path forward, given all the difficult constraints. We all hope that the committee and the superintendent will move forward with the Feb 25th workmap with minimal changes.