Bellevue elementary school is the heart of community life

It's 7:30 p.m. at Lake Hills Elementary School, and David Chase Combs, 7, has been at school nearly 12 hours.

The second-grader with the strawberry-blond hair and impish grin doesn't seem to mind. His life revolves around this school, tucked in the heart of Bellevue.

His grandmother drops him off before school starts at 8:40 a.m., and when classes let out, the rest of his school day begins.

It's all part of a project known as Wrap-Around Services at Lake Hills Elementary. The goal is to make the school a community center, a hub for children's programs, a place where parents and other adults get help finding everything from clothing to food and from health services to computer and English as a Second Language classes.

About 50 percent of the school's 500 students are enrolled in after-school activities, but nearly all students — as well as their families — benefit from the program.

At the beginning of the year, teachers visit every family to ask what services the students and parents may need.

"The school is really a centerpiece to the neighborhood now, and that encourages people to come together," said Claudia Balducci, Bellevue's deputy mayor, who's lived in Lake Hills for 15 years. "It's truly the heart of the community."

The Wrap-Around Services give C.K. McKay, David's grandmother, who has sole custody of the boy, freedom to work, knowing her grandson is safe, getting help with homework and having fun.

"I can hardly keep up with his schedule; he's a busy boy!" she said. David's afternoon activities at the school:

• Mondays: after-school drama;

• Tuesdays: chess club;

• Wednesdays: He sees his Big Brother, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters;

• Thursdays: session with a counselor from Youth Eastside Services;

• Every school day: time with the Bellevue Family YMCA, playing basketball and other sports, and then working on homework.

One evening a month, David and his grandmother join 350-700 people for Family Fun night, a community event in the school multipurpose room. They watch students perform, do arts and crafts, and sometimes share dinner.

Hoping to expand

Lake Hills' Wrap-Around Services began in 2005 as a pilot program. It is funded and run with the help of three main partners: the city of Bellevue, the school district and United Way. Other civic and nonprofit groups also provide services.

The hope is to expand Wrap-Around Services to another school by 2009, said project coordinator Erin Boone, a city of Bellevue employee.

The primary partners would support an expansion, but, "We're actively looking for more funding," she said.

The Lake Hills program has an annual budget of about $300,000, some of which is the value of services provided free by nonprofits.

Most of Lake Hills' programs are free to neighbor families and students. But some charge on a sliding-scale according to income; scholarships are available, Boone said.

Other area schools provide only some of the same services.

David Tucker, spokesman for Seattle Public Schools, says many schools in that district provide before- and after-school care, tutoring and more. But none have the variety of services offered at Lake Hills, he said.

Lake Hills neighborhood

This neighborhood is changing dramatically and quickly. Nestled in the center of Bellevue north of Interstate 90, what was once an established '50s-era neighborhood is now a mix of affordable apartments and single-family homes. It's populated by a mix of immigrants and other transplants along with longtime residents. They vary widely in income and ethnicity.

In 2001, 33.8 percent of the school's students qualified for subsidized lunches, according to district data. That year, white students made up nearly 73 percent of enrollment; Hispanic students made up 16.4 percent, and other ethnic groups made up the rest.

Today, about 60 percent of Lake Hills students qualify for subsidized lunches. White students make up 36 percent of enrollment, Hispanic students 32 percent, and 8 percent of students identify as multiethnic, a category that didn't exist seven years ago. Other ethnic groups make up the rest of the school population.

Nearly 60 percent of today's students speak a first language other than English. Not counting English, 34 languages are represented.

Amid these demographic shifts, the city of Bellevue in 2004 began looking at how residents citywide accessed human services, according to Helena Stephens, Family Youth and Teen Services manager for Bellevue's Parks and Community Services Department.

The city found that some people in need weren't using available services. They either didn't know services existed or couldn't get to them.

At the same time, the school district was rebuilding Lake Hills school. Principal Judy Buckmaster had a vision of a school that was more interactive with the community and that provided more resources.

Many of her students needed extra assistance — academic and otherwise. She wanted the school to provide a good education and more.

It's not about giving people "a handout," she said. "It's about ... getting the family healthy." When the family is healthy, she said, children do better in school.

In the three years since the program started, more Lake Hills students are meeting standard in the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

In 2003, before the program began, 49 percent of fourth-grade students passed the WASL in reading, and in the ensuing years the scores generally went up. In 2007, 76 percent passed reading.

Results haven't been quite as consistent for math. In 2003, 33 percent of fourth-graders passed the math WASL. By 2005, 48 percent passed. But in 2007, the rate slipped to 47 percent. Buckmaster attributes the dip to an influx of new students, the changing demographics of the school, and the increasing number of children who speak another language.

Helping adults, too

At Lake Hills, services aren't just for kids. At its Family Center office, adults get help finding food programs, low-cost or free health care, or help for domestic violence, or in seeking employment.

Carmen and Miguel Hernandez moved from Renton to Bellevue in 2006 because of the schools. They didn't realize Lake Hills would assist them in so many ways.

The school helped the parents find new jobs, and when the money was tight, the school helped with getting new backpacks and back-to-school clothes for the kids. Some of the children even got free dental cleanings through a clinic that visits the school in a converted recreational vehicle.

The Hernandezes are grateful for the help and delighted at how well the kids are doing.

"Here, we are included," Miguel Hernandez said. "Not excluded."

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637