ML neighborhoods move to new grade schools

MOSES LAKE - Elementary school children in some neighborhoods will be reassigned to new schools for the 2014-15 school year in an effort to reduce crowding at Park Orchard and Sage Point.

Moses Lake School Board members approved a proposal from district administrators to move some neighborhoods out of the Park Orchard and Sage Point attendance areas at the board's last meeting.

District superintendent Michelle Price said elementary students living north of Interstate 90 to Gibby Road and the west side of Broadway Avenue will be reassigned to Peninsula Elementary. Previously those neighborhoods were assigned to Sage Point, Price said.

The Cascade Valley neighborhood from Valley Road to Cochran Hill will be reassigned to Knolls Vista, Price said. Previously those neighborhoods were in the Park Orchard service area, she said.

Both Sage Point and Park Orchard are at capacity, Price said. As a result, some kids were moved from those schools to Knolls Vista and Peninsula at the beginning of the school year. Both had empty classrooms, she said.

Parents were told they could return their kids to the assigned school for the 2014-15 school year, Price said, but crowding is still expected to be a problem at Sage Point and Park Orchard. In those circumstances district policy allows neighborhoods to be assigned to a new school without changing boundaries in the whole district, she said.

"Geographically, they (the neighborhoods) work fairly well," Price said. Parents will be notified of the changes this week.