On Jan. 26, the Northshore School District Board of Directors approved the final boundary adjustment plan to accompany the opening of North Creek High School and grade reconfiguration in the fall of 2017. This plan—which has been processed for over two years—not only creates the service area and feeder pattern for North Creek, but also provides relief to over-crowded schools and better balances enrollment across the district.

The plan is far-reaching; it will impact roughly 3,500 of our 21,000 students and touches each of our current 29 school service areas at some level. As we plan for the 2017-18 school year, we also know that dozens of teachers and support staff will also need to move to different schools to meet our changing student composition with the opening of North Creek, boundary adjustments and grade reconfiguration.

With the boundary plan finalized, our attention now turns to facilitating the myriad of transitions that await us in the fall of 2017. To that end, we are undertaking two initiatives to hear from our families and staff about your transition needs. The first is an on-line survey that was sent out earlier this week. This survey is intended to solicit input not only about transitions but also about grade reconfiguration issues. The second is a series of upcoming open houses for participants to interact directly with district staff to share your questions, concerns and hopes for these upcoming changes. In addition, there will also be staff available to answer questions about the in-district waiver process, enrollment growth in general and updates on the construction progress at North Creek High School and Phase 3 of the Woodinville High School renovation.

The open houses are from 6-8 p.m.: March 2, Inglemoor High School; March 9, Bothell High School; March 15, Skyview Junior High; March 23, Woodinville High School; and March 31, Woodmoor Elementary for Spanish-speaking families.

I hope you will be able to complete the on-line survey and/or attend one of the open houses. We are committed to doing everything possible to make the 2016-17 school year and the changes in store for the fall of 2017 as positive, supportive and welcoming as possible. Hearing from you is key to our planning and implementation efforts over the next 18 months.

Larry Francois is the Northshore School District superintendent.