review seattle eastside high schools and kids with learning disabilities (Bellevue: spring break, school district) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

chicagoburbmom · 03-06-2009, 05:50 AM

Hi. Our family is moving to the Seattle area soon from Chicago suburbs. I have a 14 year old son with learning disabilities. I have done quite a bit of research online and have been in contact with staff at Lake Wash and Issaquah schools. I am trying to find the best fit for my son who is college-bound but needs a good deal of support. We would like to find an environment that will challenge him while being accepting of him. I know that this is a tall bill, but any insight you have about the environments at the area high schools would be a great help to us. I have read reviews on greatschools and there is quite a bit of negative feedback about Skyline High and Lake Washington High schools about them being very competative with many kids who are not very kind. On the other hand, Redmond High has been characterized as more accepting of kids with differences. There are only a few comments, and some are dated back to 2006, so I'd like to know what the current feeling is about these schools.

Many thanks for any insight you can provide!!

Redline · 03-07-2009, 12:26 AM

Which Chicago 'burb are you from? Naperville? Good schools there I hear. I think if you should be fine with most any school on the eastside from what I hear but I don't have any personal experience yet.

chicagoburbmom · 03-09-2009, 07:58 PM

We live in Libertyville, IL. Which is about 45mins from Chicago. The schools are good, and the kids are good for the most part. It is a great town to raise a family.

Heiwos · 03-11-2009, 12:32 AM

I'd be surprised if there is a major difference among the Eastside schools. Bad apples can of course exist at any school. That said, Issaquah might be the best, and I'm saying that only because I lived there for a decade+ and the kids were almost always polite. I'm thinking the downtown Issaquah high school specifically--less pretentious around that area.

texastrigirl · 03-11-2009, 10:17 PM

Issaquah HS, Skyline HS and Eastlake HS are the only high schools I can speak to. They all have great reputations academically and I know families with kids at each school...generally nice kids too. Obviously there are always exceptions anywhere you go. My son's 2nd grade teacher has taught at both Skyline and Issaquah and feels Issaquah is a little more accepting of diversity. Her opinion only. Wish I could help more with personal experience. Are you wanting to live in Sammamish or Issaquah? A friend of mine that just moved here from Colorado put her son at Eastside Catholic when he thought Skyline would be a little too big and overwhelming for him. They have been happy there so far. Obviously it's private but you may feel you get better support in that situation. Good luck!

chicagoburbmom · 03-24-2009, 07:23 AM

Thank you very much for your response...it really helps me. I have heard good things about Eastside Catholic school as well. I am coming to the area over Spring Break and hope to visit a few of the schools to help finalize our decision. Issaquah HS also sounds like a good fit. We have heard wonderful things about the other eastside high schools as far as academics, but I have heard fairly consistently that Issaquah has good support for kids with learning differences.

jojo7 · 03-27-2009, 12:58 AM

Just thought I would give you another school option which is located in Renton called New Horizon School. It's a private school that handles learning disabilities. I found it when I was doing a research for my son who has learning disabilities but unfortunately the schools starts from 6th grade to 12th grade and I was looking for an elementary school.
New Horizon School - Home
Just want to mention my son had extra support for his learning disabilities starting from Kindergarten which was great through the Bellevue Public School. Unfortunately, as he got older, the support just deteriorated with each passing year and the expectations and demands they placed upon him grew to a point where he lost all confidence in himself. I had to remove him from the public school. He is now enrolled in a very tiny private school in Seattle and is receiving the support he needs in an environment that can accomodate his special needs. So, I guess what I am saying is if you should decide to go the public school route, just make sure your child is going to get the support he deserves to help him succeed and have them be very specific on how they will help your child. I wish you the best and I know how challenging it can be to find the right fit.

dxenopoulos · 03-27-2009, 07:33 PM

Bellevue School District is pretty good with learning disabilities and has various levels of assistance depending on the needs of kids. Kids will be kids regardless of where you go to school, but I think Bellevue is the best academically, it is quite a diverse district as well. I didn't attend Interlake High School, but it's just been remodeled and I find those kids to be the nicest and least pretentious in the district - it's a very diverse school. Newport is very competitive, and Bellevue High is surprisingly down-to-earth despite serving some extremely wealthy students.

Eastside schools are not the same across the board. Avoid Lake Washington School District - the 'student culture' is not the friendliest on the Eastside. If you're looking at Issaquah School District, I think Issaquah is much better in terms of environment than Skyline or Liberty. Eastside Catholic is a good school from what I've heard.

texastrigirl · 03-27-2009, 08:50 PM

I know plenty of nice kids that go to Eastlake HS which is in the Lake Wash District. I don't think it is really a much different culture from Skyline HS which is in the Issaquah District. They are blocks away from one another with the same area demographics in terms of socioeconomic background and I think very comparable academics. And let's not forget, in terms of Skyline and Issaquah HS, many of the kids went to Beaver Lake or Pine Lake Middle Schools together, both of which have excellent reputations...and then the kids went to Pacific Cascade 9th Grade Campus together. I would be really shocked if someone with no opinion or heresay would find a huge cultural difference in the Issaquah HS's. I think the question in general is does a school district dictate good support for students with disabilities and then is that plan implemented well at a particular school within the district. That is what would be most helpful to know for the OP I guess.

KikiMonster · 09-11-2009, 08:19 AM

joJo, can you let me know other schools you might recommend? My little girl was just diagnosed with ADHD and we might be moving back to Seattle this year. I tried Morningside Academy and another school in Mercer Island--what else should I consider?

Any advice that you could recommend to us at this point?

Thanks in advance.