View the latest news about the boundary review process by
clicking on links in the left column, under Boundary News. To view all
maps, click on the links under Boundary Links in the right column.
Boundary review part of huge changes coming to Tahoma
In January, the Tahoma School District began the largest boundary review process in its history.
"This is a big system shift, not just an adjustment," Superintendent
Rob Morrow said earlier this year, noting that the boundary review
process will most heavily affect students who are currently
pre-kindergarten through third grade.
While the outer district boundaries will remain the same, officials
estimate that nearly 6,000 of the district's students will attend a new
school building in the fall of 2017 when the new high school opens. In
addition to the new high school, which will include grades 9-12, the
district will open a new, smaller Lake Wilderness Elementary. There will
be six elementary sites total, including both of the current middle
school structures, which will be overhauled to convert them into
elementary-appropriate buildings. Middle school students will attend at
the current junior high (renamed "Summit Trail Middle School") and high
school (renamed "Maple View Middle School") sites.
To create the boundary committee, the school board called for
applicants and received about 170 volunteers. They then drew names from a
hat for each elementary and middle school attendance area, along with
two at-large members and a pool of alternates. The committee also
includes district and transportation staff. Members will consider
several alternatives presented by transportation staff, since whatever
proposal they recommend to the board has to be able to be bused. But,
the committee can also come up with its own ideas, as long as they are
possible from a transportation perspective.
One of the biggest challenges the committee will face is the fact
that the majority of Maple Valley's growth is to the south, while four
of the six elementary sites lie to the north.
The timeline for the review process calls for giving all families at least one year's notice of the changes. To see the current boundaries, click here. Or, from our main page click on "Our District," then "Boundary Maps."