Issaquah school district budget cuts (Renton, Highland: 2015, apartments, vacation home)

[seavik]

I came across this news and was curious to know why so many students have left Issaquah SD leading to
budget problem and staff layoffs. Does anyone have insights on this?

https://www.king5.com/article/news/e.../281-f0b74359-
98ea-4ed1-8d00-eec2ce51b682

[Hemlock140]

I was also concerned about this, with my wife working in the Lake WA school district. From what I have gathered from various sources, it's the pandemic. Issaquah has a lot of apartments, and some of those people with kids have been laid off from their work and moved to less expensive areas or with family in other areas. Then Issaquah also has well off residents, who have placed their kids into private schools which have been doing in-person learning earlier, or have more effective virtual learning programs.

Lake Washington actually dropped in 2020 too, but only 1.5%, not nearly as much as Issaquah which declined over 8%, and Lake WA had increased every year since 2015.

[flyingsaucermom]

Yes, I can tell you about it. As I have homes in two adjacent communities (Renton, Issaquah) I now see how Issaquah families/community are more tapped into social networking than others. It starts with the main group, Issaquah Highlands FB group, but there are an abnormally high number of split-off groups originating from this main group. Actually.. before that it starts with the official organizing structure of the community, Highlands Council, which has always used social media as it was being rolled out (over the last 15 years). In any case this is important as I believe it makes information flow quicker and more efficiently, but it can also mean more reactivity and irritability (if you will).

I joined a Issaquah student/family advocacy group that formed last year as districts around the country and private schools in our own state brought their students back in for in-person teaching. The advocacy group really started with a few highly connected, highly informed parents in Issaquah and those individuals attracted similar people in surrounding districts to the point that these fringe groups are now starting a statewide 503c organization to help give families and students a voice against the dominating unions. As far as I know, it started in Issaquah...

The group started early so the communication of which parents have moved or are moving or who have filled out private school applications or who have already moved their kids to private moves quickly. When I talk about community reactivity and irritability, I don't mean that in a negative sense, rather, it just means that individuals are quick to trust the information and the people giving that information and quick to react....

So there has been an exodus of kids already. Personally I know lots of families that have moved and/or doing private school and/or online school. Yes, these are families that can afford it... they own vacation homes in other districts/states and they're highly compensated professionals like doctors and can more easily shell out the $75k to send their three kids to Eastside Catholic.

We had a comments section happening during the special school board meeting this week to discuss next year's budget. The school board wants to blame the "pandemic" in a general sense, but of course that's not it. It's the district's resistance to put kids first and catch up with the science and with what most districts around the country have been doing since last fall.

The district will continue to lose families because it won't commit to full-time learning for the fall. This is unacceptable for many families that can afford options.

What will happen is staff will lose their jobs and will have to go look elsewhere... elsewhere probably meaning other districts that did the right thing from the beginning and put the kids first and have already committed to in-person teaching and thus don't have the mass student exodus. Which means that the Issaquah teacher resistance to get back into the classroom will be a moot point when the teachers have to go find another job in another district that will force them into the classroom anyway. This is where I see nothing but unnecessary stupidity.

The damage between the IEA and families is awful.

But I don't care. In fact, I'm neck deep in schadenfreude. We teach our kids that there are "natural consequences" for certain behaviors. I believe that the district is (finally) beginning to experience the "natural consequences" for the unnecessary hardships it has placed on families and children.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Yes, I can tell you about it. As I have homes in two adjacent communities (Renton, Issaquah) I now see how Issaquah families/community are more tapped into social networking than others. It starts with the main group, Issaquah Highlands FB group, but there are an abnormally high number of split-off groups originating from this main group. Actually.. before that it starts with the official organizing structure of the community, Highlands Council, which has always used social media as it was being rolled out (over the last 15 years). In any case this is important as I believe it makes information flow quicker and more efficiently, but it can also mean more reactivity and irritability (if you will).

I joined a Issaquah student/family advocacy group that formed last year as districts around the country and private schools in our own state brought their students back in for in-person teaching. The advocacy group really started with a few highly connected, highly informed parents in Issaquah and those individuals attracted similar people in surrounding districts to the point that these fringe groups are now starting a statewide 503c organization to help give families and students a voice against the dominating unions. As far as I know, it started in Issaquah...

The group started early so the communication of which parents have moved or are moving or who have filled out private school applications or who have already moved their kids to private moves quickly. When I talk about community reactivity and irritability, I don't mean that in a negative sense, rather, it just means that individuals are quick to trust the information and the people giving that information and quick to react....

So there has been an exodus of kids already. Personally I know lots of families that have moved and/or doing private school and/or online school. Yes, these are families that can afford it... they own vacation homes in other districts/states and they're highly compensated professionals like doctors and can more easily shell out the $75k to send their three kids to Eastside Catholic.

We had a comments section happening during the special school board meeting this week to discuss next year's budget. The school board wants to blame the "pandemic" in a general sense, but of course that's not it. It's the district's resistance to put kids first and catch up with the science and with what most districts around the country have been doing since last fall.

The district will continue to lose families because it won't commit to full-time learning for the fall. This is unacceptable for many families that can afford options.

What will happen is staff will lose their jobs and will have to go look elsewhere... elsewhere probably meaning other districts that did the right thing from the beginning and put the kids first and have already committed to in-person teaching and thus don't have the mass student exodus. Which means that the Issaquah teacher resistance to get back into the classroom will be a moot point when the teachers have to go find another job in another district that will force them into the classroom anyway. This is where I see nothing but unnecessary stupidity.

The damage between the IEA and families is awful.

But I don't care. In fact, I'm neck deep in schadenfreude. We teach our kids that there are "natural consequences" for certain behaviors. I believe that the district is (finally) beginning to experience the "natural consequences" for the unnecessary hardships it has placed on families and children.

Then it's very interesting that the teachers and their union are causing much of this, yet it's the support staff, not teachers being laid off. . .so far anyway. Hopefully most can find jobs at Lake WA which is hiring:

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Then it's very interesting that the teachers and their union are causing much of this, yet it's the support staff, not teachers being laid off. . .so far anyway. Hopefully most can find jobs at Lake WA which is hiring:

To say something is "interesting" is the upper middle class-ly subtle way of denoting a displeasure or disapproval and something that I abhor.

I would use lots of other words than "interesting" to describe this $hitshow and none of them are subtle.

People should feel sorry for the support staff in the way they should feel sorry for the kids. Especially the minorities (district said they "disproportionately" have academically struggled throughout the pandemic) and the hundreds of IEP kids that have had gone without their supports. And just kids in general. Many regular kids have experience profound setbacks.

In my opinion this just unveiling the true carnage of a single, powerful group's stubborn selfishness.