New Hilltop Heritage Elementary Boundaries

Renton School Board members at their October 12, 2022 meeting voted unanimously to name the district’s new elementary school, Hilltop Heritage Elementary. The school naming committee—comprised of parents, teachers, community members, and district staff—received over 150 unique names for consideration. The name, Hilltop Heritage, is intended to encompass the rich history of the area, including Native peoples, the first Black families to settle in Renton, and the culturally rich communities of families who currently live in the area, and those yet to come.

Hilltop Heritage Elementary School is located at 1075 Duvall Ave., Renton.

The school is scheduled to open for students in the fall of 2023.

A group of district family members and staff are working to create a recommendation for proposed boundaries for the new Hilltop Heritage Elementary School, which likely will mean changes to school boundaries (and school attendance areas) for six of our current elementary schools:

• Hazelwood Elementary
• Highlands Elementary
• Honey Dew Elementary
• Kennydale Elementary
• Maplewood Heights Elementary
• Sierra Heights Elementary

There are no changes to middle and high school boundaries.

We’re hosting a community meeting to share the work and present the proposed boundary recommendations on 

• Tuesday, January 31, 2023
• 6-7:30 p.m.
• Maplewood Heights Elementary School, 130 Jericho Ave. NE, Renton

Families unable to attend this meeting will be able to review the presentation and provide feedback. The presentation will be posted on this webpage beginning Friday, February, 3, including a comments form (comments should be submitted by end of business on Wednesday, February 15). 

Former Bryn Mawr Elementary School Principal Jaime Maxie is serving as planning principal of the new elementary school. Principal Maxie brings 23 years of experience in education to the position, most recently serving as principal at Bryn Mawr since 2014. She has also served as assistant principal at Dimmitt Middle School, an instructional coach at Nelsen Middle School and Lindbergh High School. She began her teaching career at Dimmitt Middle School as a special education teacher and 6^th grade teacher.

Hilltop Heritage Elementary School is made possible thanks to overwhelming voter support in the 2019 School Construction Election measure. Population growth, and the many new construction projects planned over the next few years by the City of Renton and developers specifically in the Highlands/Sunset area, has led to the need for additional classroom capacity for elementary school students.

We’ve been able to build this school and make much-needed improvements at schools across the district while seeing our  district tax rates decrease for property owners.

Our District Project Manager, Traci Rogstad, is working closely with Hutteball + Oremus Architecture and General Contractor/Construction Manager Cornerstone Cornerstone General Contractors on the construction of the new school.

This new elementary school was overwhelming approved by voters in November 2019. Additional classroom capacity is needed to better accommodate over-crowded schools in the northeastern portion of the district due to development growth in that area over the past decade.

Additionally, the City of Renton has many large construction projects currently in progress or planned during the next five years that will add nearly 8,200 additional living units within city limits. Six of the large construction projects are in the Sunset/Highlands area which will add nearly 1,000 single and family living spaces, more than a third are affordable housing units which costs less than 30% of a household's income.

The new school will have the capacity to house 650 students in kindergarten through 5th grade.