Parents Involved in Community Schools (PICS)

We are a group of parents and community members who believe in promoting neighborhood public schools in the Seattle Public School District. Every child should have the right to attend their neighborhood school if that is their choice. We believe that neighborhood schools foster a strong sense of community and help create a safe place to raise children. The benefits of attending a neighborhood school are multiple, including access to after-school activities like tutoring, club and athletic participation. Parents can more easily attend parent/teacher conferences and monitor their child's progress in school as well as attend other meetings and fundraisers. We believe that neighborhood schools help create successful students who make good citizens.

PICS is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation that was formed in June of 2000 to challenge the Seattle School District (SSD) in its use of a racial tie-breaker when assigning students to high school. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 28, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of PICS. For more information on the case, go to the U.S. Supreme Court website at www.supremecourtus.gov. Click on "Docket". The docket case number is 05-908.

The SSD has not used the racial tie-breaker since 2002, while litigation was pending, and the schools are still diverse. The impact of this case is that Seattle today (2008) is returning to neighborhood schools, which was one of the goals of PICS.

PICS is currently proposing that another high school be built in the Queen Anne/Magnolia neighborhoods to create more access for neighborhood students. Current Ballard High School is over-crowded. Too many neighborhoods are relying on access to one high school.

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at piics@comcast.net.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Brose
President
Parents Involved in Community Schools