Pioneer Elementary selects 330 students by lottery for district’s first magnet school

A total of 330 students were selected to attend Pioneer Elementary School in a lottery Wednesday, April 1, which was live streamed via Zoom. These students represent 265 families who will begin the 2020-21 school year at Pioneer, the first magnet school in the Peninsula School District.

About 550 students applied. Those not selected will go on a waiting list, the district said.

“I am overwhelmed and overjoyed to welcome the students and families to our community of learners at Pioneer,” said principal Stephanie Strader in a news release. “And while it’s bittersweet that we could not take all students, I am excited to put faces to the names of those who will be joining us. Pioneer is starting to feel like a real school, full of hope and possibility.”

The magnet school will open as a STEAM themed school, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. It will draw students from across the school district and help relieve overcrowding at all eight elementary schools.

An interest survey was available to families in February and March, and 412 families representing 522 students expressed interest in attending Pioneer.

For the 2020-21 school year, Pioneer will house 330 students, with 15 classrooms of grades kindergarten through 4th grade. For the 2021-22 school year, the school will expand to 550 kindergarten to 5th grade students in 30 classrooms, after the 37,000 square foot addition to the existing building is complete.

Families have until April 3 to accept or decline enrollment into Pioneer, at which point Strader said they will move on to students on the waiting list.

Pioneer was opened this year in the former Boys and Girls Club at 8502 Skansie Avenue in Gig Harbor. A major expansion of the building is underway, with completion scheduled in the fall.

This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 12:00 AM.