Newport Hills Decision Tomorrow -- Students Would Switch From Renton To Bellevue

A state committee will recommend tomorrow night whether the 405-student Newport Hills neighborhood should be switched from the Renton School District to Bellevue schools.

As in any territorial dispute, there's more at stake than redrawing maps. Children's friendships, land values, traffic patterns, socioeconomic diversity and, of course, school budgets all play a role.

Proponent Doug Roach led a petition drive that signed up 351 of 427 registered voters, an 82 percent rate, in favor of the change. The city of Bellevue annexed Newport Hills four years ago.

"The most important factor to me," he said, "was the idea of unifying the neighborhood within one school district, and to assist parents in our area in dropping off and picking up kids."

A public hearing is at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Puget Sound Educational Service District headquarters, 400 S.W. 152nd St., Burien. At the end, a committee plans to make a decision, subject to review by the state Board of Education. Students could be moved as soon as next fall.

Third-grader David Rittenhouse doesn't want to leave his Renton school, Hazelwood Elementary, which won a national Blue Ribbon award for excellence six years ago.

"I'm thinking, like, yikes, because all my friends except one go here, so it's really a big deal," he said.

"When the petition was passed around," said his mother, Anne Rittenhouse, "a lot of people signed it believing it was going to go to a vote. They didn't know it would be a quasi-government agency deciding this.

"Some people are in love with the Bellevue name, and they think because something says `Bellevue,' it's better.

"I believe having money causes its own problems. I prefer having my kids in a more level, diverse environment. My kids aren't going to be driving a BMW when they're 16."

Some also think real-estate values will be higher if a house is associated with Bellevue schools, said Steve Gallemore, a retired policeman. He said he signed the petition so the city and school district in his neighborhood would be the same.

"For the people who think the Renton School District has more problems, they're kidding themselves," he said.

Gallemore's daughter participated in the Renton district's gifted-student program and his son in Renton's remedial math courses, and both got great educations there, he said.

The Renton district is fighting the move, which would reduce its tax base 2.4 percent. Losing Newport Hills could also hurt Renton schools' bond rating, driving up costs of capital improvements, the district argues.

Roach counters that housing starts are brisk in Renton.

Instead of attending Hazelwood Elementary School, McKnight Middle School and Hazen High School in the Renton district, the Newport Hills students would go to Newport Heights Elementary, Tyee Middle School and Newport High School. The Bellevue district also might reopen Lake Heights Elementary or Ringdall Junior High, now leased by Eastside Catholic High School.

Four letters in the ESD's public-comment file on the proposed switch are from parents outside Newport Hills who fear their own children will be crowded or bumped out of nearby Bellevue schools. The Bellevue district predicts it would need to add six or seven portable classrooms at Newport High.

Commutes are a big issue. Roach said Newport High School and Tyee Middle School are more convenient to commuting parents than the Renton schools are.

"Very few people in our neighborhood have any occasion to go down to their area for anything, ever," he said.

Mike Lindblom's phone message number is 206-515-5631. His e-mail address is: mlin-new@seatimes.com