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There are 15 people on the Enrollment Demographics Task Force plus three ex-officio members and two consultants. Each of the district's three high school feeder patterns, Bothell, Woodinville and Inglemoor are represented. The Task Force also includes a School Board liaison and an Administrative Assistant. Membership last updated December 2011.

The area code is 425, except where listed. 

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To download meeting minutes, please click on the meeting date.


Meetings Minutes 2011-12

November 17, 2011
January 12, 2012
January 26, 2012
February 16, 2012
March 22, 2012
April 5, 2012
May 24, 2012
June 28, 2012
July 19, 2012
October 18, 2012
February 28, 2013

Previous Years

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What makes it difficult to project school enrollment?

While Northshore works diligently to plan ahead, it can be a challenge to pinpoint enrollment for the coming school year. Many factors outside of our control can affect school enrollment. Some of these factors are:

What is a 'portable' classroom? How are these structures used in Northshore?

A portable is a re-locatable classroom that can be used for just about every type of educational activity, from traditional classroom instruction to weight training or other educational programs. Often times before- and after-school programs are housed in them. Sometimes they are used for small-group activities during recess.

Portables are also used to house students at overcrowded schools until funding can be secured to construct permanent facilities, or when construction projects (modernization) take place at schools. They are also used to provide the district flexibility when a school's enrollment exceeds its capacity until a permanent solution is reached. (8/18/05)

Why can't you just move in some portables to ease the overcrowding at schools and keep all students at their neighborhood school?

More portables mean more students. While the portables can serve nicely as a classroom, particularly for 4th-6th grades, the school's common facilities cannot accommodate many more students. These common facilities serve the entire school population and include the library, playgrounds, and bathrooms.

Having more students housed in portables could mean that two classrooms of students would need to be in the library or gym at one time. This is not a good learning situation. Too many children coming and going at the same time or out for recess at the same time, could create a situation in which they can't be safely supervised. Offering additional recesses to reduce the number of children on the playground breaks up the continuity of the learning process in the classroom.

When considering the addition of portables the school must also consider staffing, such as librarians to serve all the additional students housed in portables and playground supervisors to watch the expanded number of students. Other considerations include the land availability on which to put a portable, additional parking needs, and if the portable restricts the movement of people and vehicles at the school. In addition, many times the portables will take up playground space from an already crowded playground.

The portables don't usually have water supplies so eating lunch in the room or conducting art, science or other potentially 'messy' activities requires more time in the clean up - again, cutting into instructional time. (8/18/05)

Are there rules/guidelines for how many portables you can put on a site?

In addition to the reasons noted above, local city and county jurisdictions have regulations that can affect the placement of portables based on setbacks from property lines, other structures and utilities. (8/18/05)

How are alternative solutions to any defined problem formulated?

Proposals are generated from the committee, community, staff, and jurisdictional input. (6/1/04)

How are ideas/proposals initiated and received by the committee?

Ideas for boundary and/or program changes can come from several different places including, a) the committee itself, b) an individual school, c) central office staff, d) community members, and e) consultants.   (6/1/04)

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Common Areas or Facilities (also called central facilities) a term used when looking at schools that refers to such areas as restrooms, offices, multi-purpose rooms/gyms, lunchrooms, and lockers. These are typically used by all students and are centrally located within or near the facility.

Demographics the statistical characteristics of human populations. The EDTF monitors the birth rates and market share (defined below) of birth rates; proposed and new single-family and multi-family home construction within the district; resulting traffic patterns of proposed construction, (including school bus routes); student enrollment by grade and by school; census data, neighborhood characteristics; and local development regulations in the Northshore School District. Note: not sure this last clause is part of demographics.

Capacity a term often used in demographic analysis that refers to the number of students that can be served in a given building. Overcapacity refers to a situation of more students than can be served equitably in a sound learning environment or too many students in a certain grade. This usually means an increase in the student to teacher ratio at that grade level; or when the common areas are insufficient to adequately accommodate the loads put on them. Under capacity is when there are too few students, which can result in fewer classes being offered, or reduced support service staff such as nurses and librarians.

Enrollment forecasts a projection of future student enrollment based on actual attendance and several factors that can influence it, including census data, new home construction, births, regional employment, the economy, private school enrollments, and waivers

Equity in instructional programs or learning opportunities refers to a school district's attempt to provide students throughout the district the same quality of instructional programs and learning opportunities and staff ratios. For example, average class sizes should be similar; extended learning opportunities should be available, the number of students per computer should be similar

Market share refers to the percentage of children available to attend public schools. Northshore has 8% of the total school-age population in King and Snohomish Counties.

Pending developments refers to the number of single family homes and multi-family apartment buildings and condominium developments that have been proposed to and/or approved by the jurisdiction (city or county) in which the development is to be constructed.

Pipeline database The pipeline refers to the process of getting a development from the planning stages to the construction stage. The database is used as a means of tracking the process from the first application, through the permit review and approval process to the final construction and the resulting occupancy until one-year after completion of the project.

Plats Plats, also known as subdivisions, are the maps of the division of land into residential lots.

Service area refers to an individual school and the neighborhood it is located within and the students it serves. The boundaries of each service area are mapped by the district and used to determine which schools students should attend based on their location.

Springboard proposal often used as part of the demographics review process that refers to a starting point for discussion. An example would be taking current student enrollments and comparing them with projected enrollments to determine where facilities may not be adequate to serve the growing number of students as well as those facilities that are losing student enrollment. By virtue of its name, it is a springboard, or a starting point scenario that could generate both questions and answers that would lead to a revised springboard. The process would continue until a workable proposal is developed and at that point it would be shared with the public for comment and questions.

Staff requirements The number of teachers and support staff required to provide services to a set number of students in each grade level at each school.

Turnover analysis refers to the movement of children within neighborhoods in the district. Spans five or more years in which demographers record the number of students moving in and out of neighborhoods. Locations where there is no movement are considered areas of static growth.

Urban Growth Boundary delineates the edge of the Urban Growth Areas (UGAs) designated by King and Snohomish Counties. The Growth Management Act requires the County's Comprehensive Plans to designate an Urban Growth Area, where most future urban growth and development is to occur over the next 20 years; and to limit urban sprawl, enhance open space, protect rural areas and more efficiently use human services, transportation and utilities. Future urban growth is to be located first in areas already characterized by urban development where existing public facility and service capacity is available, and second in areas where public or private facilities or services are planned or could be provided in an efficient manner.

Urban planning school district enrollments reflect the makeup of the communities they serve. It is necessary to study what is happening in the urban/rural areas - the planning and the growth development or restrictions on growth to help in planning facilities and programs that will adequately serve the number of students within a specific geographic area of the district.

Waivers This term refers to a process used by school districts to permit students to attend a school in a neighboring district, or to allow a student from a neighboring district to attend schools in Northshore. Students can also apply to transfer to or from their service area or home school within the district to another school within the same district that might better meet their needs. Waivers are granted if the receiving school can accommodate the student without adversely impacting student to teacher ratio at the school and if services are provided at the school that fit the needs of that particular student.