Parents file suit over school move

The parents of two home-schooled students are suing the Edmonds School District over plans to temporarily move the district's alternative high school to the same campus with its home-school resource center.

Attorney Paul Veillon and his wife, Anna, filed suit Oct. 25 in Snohomish County Superior Court arguing that the district failed to provide families notice of the proposed move until after a decision had been made. The lawsuit seeks to block the relocation of the alternative school.

Veillon said he's concerned about the safety of students using the Edmonds Home School Resource Center, which is located at the former Woodway High School campus in south Edmonds.

Edmonds Assistant Superintendent Ellen Kahan said Scriber Lake High students have been successfully housed with other district programs including a developmentally delayed pre-school and kindergarten.

And she said the discipline problems at Scriber are not different from those at other high schools in the district.

Veillon cited Lynnwood police records showing that officers responded to incidents at Scriber Lake alternative high school about 80 times between January 2005 and September 2006. Those calls included two weapons incidents, five drug-related incidents and nine reported thefts or burglaries.

He called the Scriber Lake students "good kids" but said they should be relocated to a campus of their own because "some of them make dangerous or disruptive decisions."

Home-school parents plan to protest the decision at the Edmonds School Board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Educational Service Center, 20420 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood.

The school district announced in May plans for a three-way move that allowed it to sell its commercially valuable bus-barn site near Alderwood mall by relocating it and building a new central office on the 19-acre Scriber Lake High School site in Lynnwood.

The district plans to move the alternative high school to its current headquarters, next to Edmonds Community College, after the building is remodeled. The plans call for the Scriber Lake students to be relocated at the home-school resource center from September 2007 through June 2009.

Kahan said plans to leave Scriber Lake High School intact while the district builds its new administrative building nearby, fell through because of land-use restrictions.

Kahan said the district is working to hire a uniformed police officer for the two-year relocation. Scriber Lake, which enrolls about 250 high-school students plus another 150 in an options program for seventh- through 12th-graders, currently is the only district high school without a uniformed officer.

The Edmonds Home School Resource Center offers classes and workshops to about 450 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

But Laura Lind, whose daughter takes some classes at the center, said parents with more than one child can't supervise all their children at the same time.

"We don't think students who have problems with impulse control should be on an open campus with young kids who are vulnerable," Lind said.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com