This story has been updated since it was first published.
In fall 2009, Seattle Public Schools unveiled a new student assignment plan that uses home addresses to assign students to neighborhood schools. Some of the boundaries are straightforward; others do unexpected jigs and jags that require an accurate map.
Most home shoppers with kids pay close attention to which schools serve which neighborhoods, but some listings don’t have accurate information or leave it to the buyer to investigate. Recently we heard from McKenna Hughes of Estately, who told us of a new feature on the site: Estately has plotted some local school attendance zones on a real estate map.
Want to make sure your new home is the John Stanford International School attendance area (pictured here)? Check here.
Prefer a more traditional elementary school? Check out the McDonald School area here.
Looking at homes on the Wallingford-Fremont border between Stone Way and Aurora? Have an advanced learner who qualifies for the Spectrum program? Don’t care for John Stanford International School’s language-immersion program? Take a look at BF Day Elementary just over Aurora.
Love the gleaming newly renovated Hamilton Middle School? Here’s the map of its attendance area.
From Estately’s blog:
We are creating a new way for parents and parents-to-be to find a home: Estately Smart Schools. For parents who’d like their children to attend a certain school, Estately Smart Schools will help search only the homes for sale in any school’s area.
We think this is a dramatic improvement in the way people find a home. Until today, parents had to do an awkward multi-website + IRL (In Real Life) dance wherein they looked at homes, then had look at obscure school district maps and/or find someone who knows to ask, then go back and eliminate the homes that serve the wrong school, then look at a new batch of homes that fit within the bounds as they remembered them. Phew! All in all, it was a time-consuming and crummy way to make decisions.
Now you can pick the school or schools you want your child to attend, type the name into Estately (we’ll help you spell it correctly with auto-complete) and we will show you every home for sale in that school’s area.
Be careful. John Stanford is PACKED with kids this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the district moves the west line and north line closer to the school. If you buy a house in Wallingford based on the expectation of going to John Stanford, then also be sure to pay attention to district meetings and news about updates to the Student Assignment Plan.
Be careful. John Stanford is PACKED with kids this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the district moves the west line and north line closer to the school. If you buy a house in Wallingford based on the expectation of going to John Stanford, then also be sure to pay attention to district meetings and news about updates to the Student Assignment Plan.
About half of BF Day Elementary is from Wallingford too. Not sure why the author doesn't know that. Pretty offensive to the families of those 150 Wallingford kids to mention every other school by name.
Thanks for your comment. I meant no offense to the families or faculty of BF Day, but I chose which schools to highlight based on the current student assignment plan boundaries. In the current plan, students who live east of Stone Way (traditionally considered the western edge of Wallingford) will attend either John Stanford or McDonald.
True, though, the children who live between Stone Way and Aurora (which some consider the dividing line between Wallingford and Fremont) will be assigned to BF Day, and families in Wallingford may choose to apply for a spot at BF Day for many reasons (if they'd rather not have a language-immersion education, or for BF Day's new Spectrum program, e.g.).
Given this information, I should have included BF Day in this story. Estately doesn't have boundaries on its maps for all school yet. We can request that they add BF Day, and I'll update this story.
They've had BF Day since before this story ran.
http://www.estately.com/WA/B_F_Day_Elementary_School,_Seattle#map
Thank you! I didn't find it when I searched. Adding BF Day to story now…