Due to declining student enrollment across the district, Bellevue Schools is looking to close several elementary schools and repurpose them for "innovative programing" (choice schools). This would disperse neighborhood school communities across various schools in the district and has the potential to cause inequities for students who qualify for Free & Reduced Lunch and students with special needs.

Bellevue School District cites declining student population and classroom underutilization among criteria for school closure. 

Bellevue School District will make a final recommendation on school closures to the School Board by February 9th. Why does this process need to be so rushed? If, as Dr. Jarvis said, we are only beginning to look at options, this should be a longer conversation with more stakeholders included. Two weeks for staff and parent input is inadequate. 

We understand the need to save money and close schools, but it needs to be done thoughtfully. 

Here are questions that we would like addressed publicly before a recommendation is made:

• When Bellevue School District considered adjusting school attendance areas in 2012 and 2016, the District formed committees that included community members to participate in the process.  Why has the District not followed these precedents by forming a community advisory committee for this process?  
• Why does the proposal focus on adjusting attendance areas for specific schools and not on adjusting attendance areas for every elementary school in the district?  
• According to Procedure 6883P, if "...the Board decides that a school closure study should take place, the Superintendent will provide the Board with a list of patrons who have volunteered to serve on district committees during the current school year." "The Superintendent will appoint an administrator to serve as district liaison to the school closure committee."  Why has the District not followed this procedure? 
• At the Board meeting, it was mentioned that Bennett wasn't selected as a school to close because if Bennett students were split in half and sent to Ardmore and Sherwood, these two schools will no longer receive Title funds. It was then suggested that the reason that it would be beneficial to combine two Title schools is that the resulting school would still qualify for Title funds. Can you please point to research or data that states that increasing the number of students in a school building who qualify for free/reduced lunch status will benefit educational outcomes for these students in the long term?
• The self-contained Advanced Learning programs at Cherry Crest, Spiritridge, Somerset, and Medina have drastically increased the number of students who attend these schools and pulled students out of their neighborhood schools. Consequently, these four schools are not on the list for consolidation and other schools (that have lost neighborhood students to the AL programs) now have fewer students. Can you please talk through your thinking as to why the restructuring of the AL program (so as not to lose neighborhood school students) was not part of the proposal that you shared on 1/12?

We are asking that Bellevue School District and the Board slow the process down and involve more stakeholders and more options in the decision.

Please speak out now to preserve the quality and reputation of Bellevue School District’s past, present, and future!