• Contact the Committee |
Hillcrest Enrollment Planning - archive
Minutes from Board of Education Meeting on Dec. 19, 2007
Read a redacted version of the minutes (pdf file) pertaining to Hillcrest School.
Minutes from Board of Education Meeting on Dec. 12, 2007
Read a redacted version of the minutes (pdf file) pertaiing to Hillcrest School.
Resolution from Board of Education meeting January 7, 2008
On January 7, 2008, the Board of Education met for its annual organizational meeting. David Kakishiba was re-elected as president and Alice Spearman as vice-president. In addition, the Board adoped the following resolution:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a Special Committee on School Admissions, Attendance and Boundaries is hereby created, with the specific charge to investigate, review and make policy recommendations to the Governing Board on the stated subject matter, and other matters as may be subsequently assigned, if any, by not later than the last Regular Meeting in April, 2008 (in lieu of April 2), and thereafter the Committee shall dissolve, unless extended by affirmative vote of the Board, and that Kerry Hamill, as Chair, Gary Yee and Christopher Dobbins, are appointed members thereof.
Statement from Board of Education meeting Wednesday December 19, 2007
On December 19, 2007, the Board of Education met to consider the OUSD staff recommendation to redraw the boundary lines for the Hillcrest, Montclair and Thornhill school attendance areas. At this meeting Director Kerry Hamill offered the following statement and motion. After discussion among the board members and a friendly amendment (the text of which we do not yet have), the motion was unanimously approved by the Board.
A clear and transparent enrollment process is essential for all families.
Board policies which drive the current enrollment and assignments through the options process are currently being reviewed by a board subcommittee with district staff to ensure that they fully reflect the goals and objectives of the newly empowered school board.
The process of modifying OUSD boundaries should be tabled until Spring, 2008 to give the School Board and staff time to reach consensus on board policy related to enrollment, boundaries, the district's open enrollment process and the city's need to be certain that we ensure access to a quality education to all of our students.
With these factors in mind, I move that the board postpone a decision regarding a boundary change for the Hillcrest K-8 school attendance area until the conclusion of the board's work reviewing the current enrollment policy, and that the issue of overcrowding and enrollment issues at Hillcrest and potentially other Oakland schools return to the board for future consideration not later than April, 2008.
During the intervening months, staff and members of the school board will conduct meetings with the Hillcrest, Chabot, Montclair, Kaiser and all other school communities potentially affected by the overcrowding to review future enrollment projections and other factors which may arise.
During the intervening months, the district should assess and explore any and all alternatives which could allow an increase of the supply of K-8 spaces in North Oakland, and possibly expand the number of students who may attend Hillcrest Elementary school.
For the 2008-2009 school year, all families within any OUSD overcrowded attendance area not placed at their home school will be redirected through the district open enrollment process to their next closest neighboring school.
In addition, the district has an administrative regulation to address overcrowding. It states:
OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
AR 5116- School Attendance Boundaries
Students
The Governing Board shall regularly review school attendance boundaries, taking into account school capacities and enrollment data, geographic features, student safety and transportation, racial and ethnic balance, educational programs, and community input.
(cf. 5116.1 - Intradistrict Open Enrollment)
The Superintendent or designee may place some students in a school outside of their attendance area in order to alleviate overcrowding. The Superintendent or designee places students into a nearby school taking into account space, proximity to the residence and parent preference.
Pursuant to district policy, all students have priority to attend their neighborhood school. Pre-K, 5th grade and 8th Grade families must participate in the Intradistrict Open Enrollment process by completing an application listing their neighborhood school within the Intradistrict Open Enrollment window. Upon assignment, they must confirm their enrollment by the May confirmation date or forfeit their enrollment. Priority is given first to neighborhood siblings, then other neighborhood students.
While it is our intention that students will be able to attend their neighborhood school if desired, it is possible that neighborhood applicants exceed the seat capacity of the neighborhood school. If families apply during the Intradistrict Open Enrollment window, neighborhood siblings will receive first priority, then other neighborhood students, then outside neighborhood siblings, then PI status, and then lottery.
When a neighborhood site is filled, students will be redirected to a nearby school or to their next preference on the application if space is available. After the Intradistrict Open Enrollment window, parents/guardians may appeal if their student does not receive a school they applied for. Students who have appealed to enter their neighborhood school will be placed on the waitlist for that neighborhood school. The Student Assignment and Bilingual Testing Office will make assignments from the waitlist as space becomes available through the first three weeks of school. Afterwards, requests must be made as Intradistrict transfers for the current year.
When boundaries are changed, the Superintendent or designee will make every effort to keep siblings together, therefore "grandfathering" the neighborhood sibling priority for one year. If a redirection must occur due to space availability, families who appeal will be placed on the waitlist for that neighborhood school. The Student Assignment and Bilingual Testing office will make assignments from the waitlist as space becomes available.
(Emphasis added.)
OUSD Response to questions from Hillcrest community regarding recommendation for solution to overcrowding (12/12/07)
A set of questions was posed to OUSD subsequent to the proposal presented by OUSD at the December 6 meeting at Hillcrest. Read OUSD's response (pdf file).
Please note: For purposes of simplicity, the portion of the current Hillcrest area redistricted to Chabot is referred to as Area C, the portion redistricted to Montclair as Area M and the portion retained as Hillcrest as Area H – as some of the questions relate to the grandfathering and middle school priorities. Unless otherwise specified, all of the priority questions refer to what happens after the 2008-2009 transition period.
OUSD Board Meeting December 12, 2007 at 5 p.m.
The following is a statement that a representative from the Hillcrest Long Range Planning Committee read at the OUSD Board of Education meeting.
Statement of the Hillcrest Long Range Planning Committee to the Board of Education Oakland Unified School District
December 12, 2007
I am pleased to be here on behalf of the Hillcrest Long Range Planning Committee. Our committee, formed in May, worked for 4 months to develop recommendations for OUSD to remedy the severe overcrowding at and growing excess kindergarten demand for this small school. The LRPC was comprised of: 3 pre-K parents, representatives from different grade bands in the school, a neighbor with no children at Hillcrest, the PTA president, and a school site council representative. We operated by consensus – there were no votes – we all agreed on the recommendations and recognized they would require compromise by all members of our community.
We thank the district staff for their hard work in crafting a solution to the overcrowding problem, which was pitting neighbors against one another and creating intolerably tight space in which the kids have to learn. District staff studied Hillcrest's situation, with its high retention rates at all grade levels, and recommends that you redraw attendance area boundaries to better match supply of space with demand from the neighborhood. The staff also recognizes the importance of the successful Hillcrest Middle School. Our community's support for the middle school and the K-8 model is extremely strong.
As a committee, we support the staff recommendation to shrink the Hillcrest attendance area. We urge the district staff to continue to evaluate attendance area data as it makes the decision to ensure that the lines are properly drawn so as to minimize impacts on neighboring schools, while still ensuring that the Hillcrest excess demand problem is solved. We understand that some have suggested that the line towards Montclair may need adjustment so as not to overburden Montclair. We ask that the district staff review their data in the next week as well as the data provided by the LRPC to confirm or adjust that line. Importantly, lines need to be redrawn by next week so that families enrolling for fall 2008 have certainty about school assignments. Hillcrest cannot tolerate another year with our overcrowding and enrollment demand unresolved. We urge that the Board take final action to adjust boundaries on the 19th.
We also ask you to consider LRPC Report Recommendation 5. Board policy should specifically address how children that request but are denied entry to their neighborhood school will be prioritized in school assignments. OUSD now has excess demand for neighborhood schools – Hillcrest, Redwood Heights, Peralta, at least – yet Board policy is silent on what happens in these situations. Families need assurance that, if their kids are denied their neighborhood school, they'll have the highest priority to attend the alternate school of their choice that has room for intra-district transfers. Please adopt a policy to fill this gap.
Again, the Hillcrest LRPC thanks the OUSD staff and the Board for addressing these issues, and urges you – the board – to adopt boundary adjustments at your meeting next week.
THANK YOU.
Map of Recommended Boundary Adjustment now available
Click here for the map (pdf file).
OUSD Slides from December 6, 2007 meeting available
Click here for slides (pdf file).
The OUSD has provided the slides that they presented at the December 6, 2007 meeting at Hillcrest regarding the staff's proposed solutions to the overcrowding situation at our school. Please note that Kirsten Vital has asked that we consolidate any clarifying questions if we can. To that end, if you have a question about their policy, please forward to president@hillcrestpta.org and we will send to Kirsten by mid-day on Monday. The hope is to get answers back to you all before the board meeting on December 12th.