The Lake Washington School District’s decision to close the Quest program at Franklin Elementary and transfer the students to other schools is the direct result of poor planning by the district caused by the lack of a full-time Facilities Planning director.

In fall 2014, the school district conducted a lengthy review process to redraw school boundaries to address overcrowding. Although the Quest Program has been at Franklin Elementary for many years, there was no provision made during the boundary review process to provide four classrooms for the program. This was a planning failure by the school district.

For those unfamiliar with the district, Franklin Elementary is in Kirkland between Lake Washington High School and Bridle Trails State Park. The district intends to transfer many Franklin Quest students either to Thoreau Elementary, which is located nine miles away in the northwest corner of the district near St. Edward State Park. The rest of the Quest students will be assigned to the new addition at Redmond Elementary — four miles to the east in downtown Redmond. The new addition at Redmond Elementary is being built to address overcrowding at Redmond schools and to provide space for students from all the new developments in downtown Redmond. It should not be used to house students who can’t be accommodated in Kirkland.

The lack of a full-time Facilities Planning director in the district has been an ongoing problem for at least a decade. The sudden decision to close the Quest program at Franklin Elementary due to “unexpected” overcrowding is just the district’s latest facilities planning blunder — and it won’t be the last.

Susan Wilkins

Redmond