CFAC
Hello Stanwood-Camano families! We plan to provide weekly updates on the efforts of the Capital Facilities Advisory Committee (CFAC) as they work toward reestablishing elementary attendance areas.
This week, we want to focus on the topic of “capacity.” CFAC has been analyzing survey data and sentiment about balancing our elementary school enrollment, the question of school capacity is always at the forefront.
Right now, our five Stanwood-Camano elementary schools are unbalanced. Some school buildings are at or near capacity — and estimated to see steady enrollment growth in the coming years under the status quo.
Building capacities have been calculated using the maximum desired classroom sizes. Class sizes are also reflective of space needed to support the different educational programs and goals at each school — meaning schools with similar footprints can have different enrollment capacities.
Below is a graphic representation of our current 2022-2023 enrollment by school. Generally, red is at or very near capacity, yellow is getting close to capacity, and green has available capacity. Each dot represents a classroom (filled in if in use, slashed if used but not for a traditional classroom, and unfilled if unused). Each square represents a portable classroom.
The lion’s share of available school capacity is on Camano Island, which was a large driver in CFAC’s plan presented to the community last month. That proposed map of new elementary school boundaries included enrolling some students who live in Stanwood to Utsalady Elementary. About 20% of survey respondents asked to see what school capacity would look like if no Stanwood area students were designated to attend Utsalady and instead were evenly spread across the three Stanwood schools.
Below, you can see that if all the Stanwood area students are more balanced between the Stanwood schools, Cedarhome, Twin City, and Stanwood elementaries are at or near capacity — and forecasted to increase further in the coming years.
CFAC’s enrollment map from December was one of the first steps toward finding the right balance of enrollment between the five elementary schools. Below is a forecast of what capacity would look like with the most recent map.
CFAC met Jan. 3 to analyze the data and comments from the two public forums in December and the more than 450 responses to the online survey. The goal is to have an updated map or multiple maps available for a community forum later this month. The community meeting is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 18 at Cedarhome Elementary. It is open to everyone.
Next week, we plan to provide further updates on CFAC’s process as well as explore more about why finding a balance is important.
Meanwhile, please visit our CFAC webpage for more information.