Anyone send their kids to Vashon Public Schools?

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I’m curious as to the number of kids from West Seattle that head over on the ferry. I’ve checked out the info on the Vashon Schools website and the entire process seems geared towards middle and high school kids with the bus transferring, waiting for the ferry and all. Are there any elementary kids that do the commute? If so, I’m assuming a parent escorts on the ferry (at least for younger elementary, say K-4). Is there some sort of parent group that rotates this? Just curious about school options down the road for my kids and whether this is viable. For those who do send their kids to Vashon, I’m assuming you’re a fan or you wouldn’t go to the effort. What is it you like and dislike about the schools over there? Thanks for any insight!

We don’t, but I thought I would chime in with what I do know. Everyone that we know that sends their kids to Vashon have kids in Middle and High school. I don’t think that I have heard of anyone choosing this option for their elementary age student. I think that is mostly about parents not wanting to be a full ferry ride away from their kids that are in elem. school in case anything were to happen. That being said, I know that there is quite a community of commuters who head out there (in the neighborhood of about 90 or so is my understanding)

20 years ago I worked the A.M. shift at the ferry dock and we had about 10 or less kids go over to Vashon in the morning for school. I now work a shift where I can see the kids get off the boat after school. Wow! I was shocked at how many there are now. There had to be at least 100 of them walking up the dock the other day.

Our Daughter is a Freshman at Vashon High School. She has been commuting since 6th grade. We/she chose it for it’s quality education, small class sizes, and small school/town feel. In middle school her class sizes were about 25 students. Her high school class has about 140 students total. The “commuter kids” are welcomed into the school with ease. As one “island kid” said at the Freshman parent meeting, “we like getting new kids in our class because we have all been going to school together since kindergarten.” In fact the Senior class homecoming princess was a “commuter kid.” So in terms of the social aspect they are welcomed and active in school activities. It is a commitment both parents and child have to make to go to school over there. They are gone a larger part of the day than say a middle schooler going to one of the schools here. They take the 7:05am ferry over and get back to WS at 3:45. They fill up 3 school busses with both middle and high school students, last year it was only 2 bus loads. A few years ago there was talk of having a teacher ride over from Vashon in the am/pm to escort any grade schoolers who were coming over. I don’t know if that is happening now. If you are thinking of sending your child over there for high school, it is easier to get them in as a middle schooler as there is more open spots for off island students. Once they are in the middle school they will be counted as part of the class moving on to High School. From that number they will decide on how many off island students they will take on any given year. We have been happy there. Feel like our daughter is getting a good education. We went over to homecoming last night and got to see the Freshman class’s float, they were ridding in the back of a dump truck.

Thanks for the replies so far. Very helpful! Que, excellent point about being a ferry ride away if something happened. Hadn’t considered that factor. Pigeon, I bet that’s an impressive sight, all those kids walking off the ferry! Dmtippy, thanks for the insight. Really good to know about the difference between getting in at the middle school level vs high school. And I’ll have to check out whether it panned out with the teacher riding the ferry with elementary kids. I love that the island kids like the influx of “fresh blood.” My partner grew up in a small town, less than 15 in her graduating class, so she can totally relate to that. But the best is the dump truck for the class float.

As a vashon mom and resident, I have to disagree with the statement that we Vashon families “like the fresh blood” idea of off Island students coming over to attend our schools. What benefit could this possibly have for us and OUR kids? we have new families moving to Island every year…that brings fresh blood. Besides, unlike myself and my Husband (who grew up on Vashon), I like the idea of my kids going to school with the same group of kids they are growing up with. Most of us made the decision and the commitment to move to Vashon for the very reason that we like the quite, safe and rural lifestyle you get by living on the Island. We chose to live in and send our kids to school in a small, rural community because we wanted to keep our kids somewhat sheltered from the “big city ” ways of the off Island school system. We also liked the fact that the Vashon school district is highly rated, with small class sizes and a better student to teacher ratio. That has gone up with the influx of off Island students. My son has 32 students in his science class this year (Mc Murray middle school). We like the fact that we all pretty much know the other families in our community and if we don’t, we can get to know them and their kids quite easily through an acquaintance . We know the kids and families of the kids that our children are hanging out with. We Residents pay high levies that go into high property taxes which go toward the Vashon school district. Both the residents and businesses of Vashon donate hundreds of thousands of dollars towards the school system every year. We certainly DON’T willingly do this so that West Seattle families can send their kids over and reap the rewards of our labors and also change the demographics of the schools. Our kids are on over- crowded busses, sometimes, don’t get one of top 3 choices in electives, sit in larger class sizes and just miss placement in AP classes because of the large influx of off Island students attending our schools every year. The District receives$ 5,200 per off Island student…the 2012/2013 per pupil expenditure is $11,011. I suppose it’s our donations and tax dollars that is making up the difference there?? Truly the way most of us are feeling is that WE are paying the price for your kids to attend “private school”…both monetarily and otherwise.