Lake Washington School District


The Lake Washington School District #414 is a public school district in King County, Washington, in suburbs east of Seattle. it is the fourth-largest school district in Washington. It serves the region to the east of Lake Washington, one of the wealthiest in the Puget Sound area. The district serves the communities of Kirkland, Redmond, north Sammamish, and southern parts of Bothell and Woodinville.
In October 2018, the district had a student enrollment of 29,987.

Education reform

Lake Washington has taken a leadership role in education reform. They adopted reform mathematics texts such as TERC and Connected Mathematics, although these and similar text have been blamed for a dramatic decline in math skills of students entering the University of Washington, and some parents protested the complete omission of elementary arithmetic, particularly from TERC. The district is also piloting the requirement of a culminating project, which is being considered by the state, a move also protested by some parents who consider it an undue burden. The district leadership has been historically supportive of Outcomes-based education and the MSP assessment. Another part of their goal to help students achieve their maximum potential in the classroom includes web monitoring and filtering of harmful sites in and around a student's work environment. This also includes blocking sites such as Google, YouTube, and blogging websites at times. Various gaming websites are blocked too.
In recent controversy, the district has been under scrutiny after the board hired investigator Rick Kaiser to spy on students at their homes after parents reported child abuse to school officials carried out by school Principals. Washington Advocates continue to work to expose Lake Washington School District and their employees.

History

The district was formed in 1944 by combining three smaller districts:
The new district had seven schools; as of 2015, it has 53.
In August 2012, LWSD moved the freshman class into its four high schools, and converted the junior highs to middle schools.

High schools

Traditional high schools

Formerly operated as senior high schools, the four high schools added the freshman class in August 2012. All compete in the Kingco conference; all but Eastlake are Class 3A, while Eastlake is Class 4A.
The junior highs became middle schools in August 2018.
1) Includes a National Junior Honor's Society and Builder's Club.

Elementary schools

As of Jun 2020, there are 33 elementary schools in LWSD.