As the next major step to align each of the three high schools schedules in the Issaquah School District, administrators encourage parents and students to become involved with the Liberty High School Schedule Committee that will be formed this month.

The parent and student application and a timeline of the project are available online now.

Applications are due to Kathy Schroeder in Liberty’s main office by May 18, and parents of Maywood Middle School and Liberty students are especially encouraged to apply.

The school will continue with the same eight-period schedule for the 2012-13 school year. Issaquah and Skyline high schools have a six-period daily schedule in place, while Liberty has eight.

ISD Superintendent Steve Rasmussen required action on the topic after a high school scheduling committee was formed last year to take on and rectify problems associated with the schedules.

In the scheduling committee’s final report, two main issues emerged: the need to increase student and teacher interaction time at Liberty and provide student access to more courses throughout the school year, especially at Issaquah and Skyline.

Because of Liberty’s eight?period block schedule, it is approximately 24 hours under the requirement and approximately 36 hours below Issaquah and Skyline High Schools, which have six period schedules, Rasmussen wrote in a statement to students, staff and parents in January.

Rasmussen outlined the beginning of the 2013-14 school year as the final date for implementation on a new schedule. The Liberty schedule committee will meet between September and November and submit a new schedule proposal to Rasmussen on Nov. 7.

“The goal of a common schedule is important because it will allow sharing of resources, an improved educational experience, standardized professional development and comparable expectations around pacing and instruction, and potential for increased opportunities for all students to access courses and programs that do not exist in a student’s home school,” he stated.

Voting by mail in the weeks leading up to April 17, roughly 58,000 registered voters in the Issaquah School District will have the chance to decide whether the schools can sell $219 million in bonds to pay for major renovation and maintenance projects throughout the district.

The capital improvement plan presented by district officials includes a wide variety of projects, including replacing several schools, and installing new roofs and carpet at other facilities. The plan was created by a long process that started in early 2011 with meetings of a bond feasibility and development committee. That group made recommendations to Superintendent Steve Rasmussen and the package eventually had to earn the approval of the school board.

The board had the final say on whether to put a bond before voters and what projects would be proposed. In dollars, the largest projects include the replacement of Clark and Sunny Hills elementary schools and Issaquah Middle School, and major renovations to Liberty High School.

The oldest schools in the district

District officials are quick to point out that Issaquah Middle School (built in 1955) Sunny Hills (built in 1962) and Clark (built in 1950) are among the most aged schools in the district. In his recommendation to the school board, Rasmussen said it was no coincidence that replacing those schools accounted for nearly half of the cost of the overall capital proposal.
Register to vote

Unregistered voters looking to cast a ballot in the April 17 special election need to register online or by mail by March 19.

Ballots for the all-mail election are expected to go out March 28.

You must have a valid Washington driver’s license in order to register online. Go to www.kingcounty.gov/elections/registration.aspx. From there, you can find a form to use for mail-in voter registration. Forms are also available at King County Elections and branches of the King County Library System.

March 19 is also the deadline for previously registered voters to change information such as name or address. Would-be voters also may register in person at one of two locations — King County Elections headquarters, 919 S.W. Grady Way, Renton, or the King County Voter Registration Annex, King County Administration Building, 500 Fourth Ave., Room 311, Seattle. Call 206-296-8683.

Voters who have never registered or voted in Washington previously have until April 9 to register, but all registrations after March 19 must be done in person.

In the board-approved package that cut Rasmussen’s proposal by $8.5 million, the price of the three schools totals $109.1 million of the overall package of $219 million. Rebuilding Issaquah Middle School will cost $62.5 million. The price tag for Clark is $19.5 million; for Sunny Hills, $27.1 million.

Officials said there are numerous efficiencies that can be achieved in new buildings.

For example, it costs 27.4 percent more to heat Issaquah Middle School than Pacific Cascade Middle School, Rasmussen said. In regard to its oldest schools, the district reached the point where a decision had to be made whether to keep spending substantial dollars on maintenance of older buildings or ask voters to allow an investment in newer structures, said Associate Superintendent Ron Thiele, who also mentioned safety issues at the older schools.

For example, the layout of doors at Issaquah Middle School makes it difficult to lock the building down in cases of emergency, he said. Moving central offices would provide better, direct views of parking lots, and students coming and going.

“I don’t want to give the impression those schools are unsafe,” Thiele said. “They are adequate… It goes to the overall improvement of the learning and teaching environments at those schools.”

As the schools are rebuilt, some will be relocated. Clark and Issaquah Middle would change places, putting Issaquah Middle closer to Issaquah High School. Tiger Mountain Community High School also would move to part of the existing Issaquah Middle School location.

Liberty High School

Renovation plans for Liberty total $44.5 million. That includes $4.8 million for rebuilding the athletic fields and stadium. Still, the biggest portion of the dollars aimed at Liberty would go toward what’s been labeled “Phase B” of its reconstruction and modernization.

Future plans for Liberty include reconfiguring and expanding the commons area; relocating and remodeling administration and counseling offices; modernizing a large number of classrooms; completing a video/TV lab and production and editing studio; modernizing the school library; and adding a new auxiliary gym. The roof would be replaced outside of the new or remodeled areas.

The existing football bleachers would be converted to the visitor’s side. New home bleachers would seat 2,000. Plans call for a press box on the west side of the field.

Tiger Mountain Community High School

The district’s alternative high school is aimed squarely at students who have struggled in a more typical classroom environment or students who simply prefer, and do better in, an alternative-learning environment. If the bond package wins approval, the school would be relocated to the current location of Issaquah Middle School. Total cost: $3.9 million.

A renovated and modernized Tiger Mountain would allow the expansion of career and technical training for district students, not necessarily just those who attend Tiger. In the past, school board members and administrators have discussed making new Tiger programs available to all district students as much as possible.

The revamped Tiger would have added hours of operation in order to give students more classroom time. Officials envision new science-, technology-, engineering- and math-related programs. A culinary arts program would be expanded. At one point, administrators said they had not fully programmed the new Tiger, as that seemed a bit of a wasted exercise if voters do not approve the bond.

Tiger also could serve as home base to expanded online educational offerings.

Stadiums and artificial turf

As preparation of the bond package moved forward, administrators and school board members admitted this part of the package might be a tough sell with voters. The proposal calls for a major revamping of stadiums at all three mainstream district high schools. Additionally, artificial turf would replace existing natural fields at all district middle schools. Rubberized running tracks would replace existing cinder tracks. Total cost of athletic field work at all schools, not including Issaquah Middle School, is $18.3 million.

Of the high schools, Skyline would receive the most attention with a $6.4 million project. Covered, home-side stands seating 2,500 would be built at Skyline’s stadium, along with a bigger press box, more restroom space and additional concession areas.

Maintenance and other projects

The project list includes specific work at roughly 21 of the district’s 24 schools. Besides those projects already listed, the program would include $7.2 million in expansion and improvements at Apollo Elementary School. Issaquah Valley Elementary School also would receive an addition and other improvements at a cost of $8.5 million. The space additions would create room for 120 more students at each school.

Other schools would receive greatly varying degrees of attention. For example, Challenger Elementary School is slated for new flooring, an upgraded intercom system and a new fire alarm system. Total cost is $455,000.

The program list also includes numerous district-wide projects. Electronic locks and a card-key access system would be installed at all schools. The district would spend $2.6 million to install security cameras and closed circuit TV systems in each building.

Patrick Murphy, executive director of secondary education for the Issaquah School District, said he believes a volunteer committee will meet a seemingly ambitious Dec. 14 deadline and come up with a uniform schedule to be implemented at all four of the district’s high schools — a goal that could have significant implications to Liberty High School’s class schedules.

Many parents, especially those from Liberty, haven’t been shy about expressing their thoughts regarding the current high school schedules. Liberty operates on a different pattern than the other district high schools and many parents and students alike are defensive of the flexibility they believe that unique schedule allows.

One figure thrown out had Liberty students spending 38 percent of their time in electives. The same figure was given as 27 percent at Issaquah and Skyline high schools. In some minds, added elective time is a big plus to be protected. For others, electives are seen as digging into time for core classes, such as math and language arts.

“I’m still being open-minded about the whole process,” said Karen Odegard, president of the Liberty PTSA.

But Odegard also said she hopes whatever new schedule emerges doesn’t cut the access of Liberty students to elective classes, arguing other schedules somewhat limit students to core courses. Like others, Odegard also doesn’t want to see class times sliced. Some Liberty classes run as long as 90 minutes, while she maintained classes at other schools run only 38 minutes.

“That’s not enough time to take attendance,” she said.

Jody Mull, a former PTSA president at Issaquah High School, took almost the exact opposite tack than Odegard. Mull said Liberty students don’t score as well as others on standardized math tests. She said she feels the reason is students at Liberty don’t spend enough time studying core subjects.

“The math scores are a big red flag for me,” Mull said.

A member of Liberty’s Associated Student Body, sophomore Neil Chakravarty, is also a student representative to the high school schedule committee.

“It’s a big subject at Liberty right now,” he said of the schedule question, adding that the majority of his classmates are taking a defensive stance hoping to protect their current schedule. He also said he knows change is likely inevitable.

“There might be some tension at first,” Chakravarty said if the Liberty schedule is changed, “but given time, people will get used to it.”

Various district officials have said there are advantages to having uniform high school schedules. In an email distributed around the district, Superintendent Steve Rasmussen said uniform schedules would allow the district to better share resources and consolidate professional support for staff. He also talked about the change allowing the entire district to take full advantage of what’s known in the district as the “optimal high school experience,” an ongoing attempt by local officials to outline best high school practices.

Murphy said providing students sufficient contact time with teachers and plenty of access to electives are the key factors in designing a new schedule. But judging from a meeting of the schedule committee Nov. 16, there are a lot of different ideas on how to make those two things happen.

During the two-hour plus session, Murphy’s repeated goal was to come up with quantifiable factors under numerous headings such as teacher planning, college preparation and financial considerations. Those were in addition to the two central questions. Committee members voiced plenty of different ideas.

For example, Liberty science teacher Mark Buchli hoped contact time, or class lengths, would be uniform for any given class.

“Certain things need certain blocks of time,” he said.

Another committee member said teachers were asking her to ensure they received at least 20 minutes of planning time daily. One recommendation called for at least one 80-minute lab period for each science class weekly. That comment quickly was modified into perhaps ensuring every subject had at least one longer class period per week to allow for in-depth projects or study.

The committee consists of the principals of all four high schools, along with teacher, parent and student representatives. The group has met five times so far. Public comment is invited at each session. No members of the public were in the audience for the Nov. 16 meeting and Murphy said public attendance at committee sessions has been sparse. He estimated the largest number of speakers at seven or eight.

The committee also is accepting email comments, with the total submitted so far at about 40.

Despite what seemed to be a lot of issues still up for debate, Murphy said he believes the committee can complete its work by its last meeting Dec. 14.

“We have a very thoughtful, committed committee … one dedicated to meeting the needs of students,” he said.

Once the committee has completed its work, Murphy will present any recommendations to Rasmussen. The school board has the final word.

Get involved

The remaining high school schedule committee meeting is slated for Dec. 14 in the Issaquah High School library, 700 Second Ave. S.E. The meeting is scheduled from 6-8:30 p.m.

Email comments to the committee at hssc@issaquah.wednet.edu. Meeting agendas, research articles and other information can be found online at www.issaquah.wednet.edu.