Take a minute to send email in support of QAE gym/expanded capacity

Fellow QAE Parents-
 
The District has held the last of its community meetings on the BEX IV levy, and the QAE community needs to strongly advocate for the QAE project to be included on the levy, including that it be completed earlier than now scheduled.  The project will expand capacity by 200 students and provide a new gym/multipurpose space.  The schedule for finalizing the levy project list is as follows:
 
• October 4: Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee (FACMAC) reviews feedback from the public. Board reviews public feedback
• October 10: Board work session on levies — final draft presented by staff
• October 17: Board introduction of levies proposals
• November 7: Board takes action on the proposed Capital and Operations levies
• February 12, 2013: Seattle residents vote by mail on both levies 
 
It’s critical the school board and staff hear from QAE parents prior to October 4- please take a few minutes to send an email to all of the following(one email sent to all of the addresses is fine):
 
capacity@seattleschools.org
schoolboard@seattleschools.org
michael.debell@seattleschools.org
pmcevoy@seattleschools.org
 
While you are certainly welcome to craft whatever message you like, here is something you could either edit or send verbatim. 
Thank you for your help advocating for QAE!
 
Steve Tatge
QAE PTSA Board Facilities Committee 
Chair

To the Seattle Public Schools Board, and Capital Projects and Planning Staff:
 
As a parent at Queen Anne Elementary, I want to express my strong support for both the inclusion of the QAE expansion project on the BEX IV levy, as well as moving the project up to a 2016 completion date.  QAE has been a popular choice for Queen Anne and Magnolia parents and is an
important way of relieving enrollment pressure on the other elementary schools in the McClure service area (not to mention it is providing an excellent
education for its students!).  The McClure service area, as well as QAE, is growing rapidly (already at enrollment previously projected for 2015-16) and
needs additional capacity well in advance of 2019.  The QAE expansion will address both the capacity problem in the McClure service area and what is likely to be a capacity problem at QAE within just a couple of years.  QAE is at capacity for kindergarten and first grade already, and this will continue at the upper grades as demand for the school continues to grow.  We do not want to see portables needed at QAE in 2016, as they already are at John Hay, when the levy project could alleviate the coming capacity problem.  Further, our school has no gymnasium and no space which can accommodate all-school events, like Math Night, which are such an important part of any school’s sense of community.
 
While other projects like the Downtown School also deserve support, the QAE project provides a tremendous return on the levy dollars by addressing the facility issues at the school and the capacity problem in the McClure service area.  The completion date of the Downtown School project
is too uncertain to be relied on to relieve this real and growing capacity problem.  Looking ahead, I also support using levy funds for a significant
technology and infrastructure upgrade to McClure Middle School, as a growing number of families in the McClure service area are considering that school- if you build it, they will come!
 
I strongly urge a 2016 QAE project be on the BEX IV levy.  Thank you for your consideration.
 
Sincerely,
 
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