1,200+ elementary students in Kennewick will change schools next year. Here’s the plan

Eric Rosane

The Kennewick School District is changing the enrollment boundaries for some of its elementary schools.

More than 1,200 students attending 10 if the district’s 17 elementary schools will be affected.

The change begins Fall 2024 under the plan approved this week by the Kennewick School Board.

Students attending fifthgrade during the 2024-25 school year, as well as their siblings, would be offered a one-year exemption from the shift. But families would have to provide their own transportation.

The change was made to ease crowding at the district’s two largest elementary schools, Amon Creek and Sage Crest and increase enrollment at Ridge View Elementary.

It’s also meant to accommodate future growth in the western portion of the school district.

“We appreciate everyone who participated in the boundary modification process by providing feedback,” Superintendent Traci Pierce said in a statement. “As we plan for the opening of a new and larger Ridge View Elementary, we’re looking to distribute enrollment more equitably among all of the schools starting in the 2024-25 school year.”

Construction is underway to replace the current 20-classroom Ridge View with a larger 30-classroom building. The $31 million project is being funded through the 2019 voter-approved bond measure.

The re-districting will:

  • Increase Edison enrollment from 326 to 409 students.

  • Increase Ridge View enrollment from 334 to 472.

  • Increase Vista enrollment from 358 to 434.

  • Increase Sunset View enrollment from 388 to 454.

  • Decrease Hawthorne enrollment from 476 to 400.

  • Increase Lincoln enrollment from 441 to 464.

  • Decrease Sage Crest enrollment from 624 to 467.

  • Decrease Amon Creek enrollment from 739 to 535.

  • Increase Canyon View enrollment from 404 to 438.

  • Increase Southgate enrollment from 439 to 456.

The Kennewick School Board approved May 24 a change to its elementary school boundaries that will affect more than 1,200 students in neighborhoods across the district. The change will shift enrollment away from the district’s two largest elementary schools and add students to the new and larger Ridge View Elementary. Courtesy Kennewick School District
The Kennewick School Board has approved a shift of its elementary school boundaries that will impact 10 of Kennewick School District’s 17 elementary schools. Courtesy Kennewick School District
The Kennewick School Board has approved a shift of its elementary school boundaries that will impact 10 of Kennewick School District’s 17 elementary schools. Courtesy Kennewick School District

The school board weighed two options to change the elementary school boundaries.

An online survey of 107 parents — most of them with students attending Ridge View — showed that 68% of them preferred the option that the board adopted 4-1.

Parents said their preferred option was the one least likely to displace students and kept students closer to their school.

But some complained that the boundaries should not cross Highway 395 and that teachers were not asked their opinion.

Supporters of another scenario said it would more evenly distribute the student population and allow for more room to grow at Ridge View.

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