Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting. In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance. - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
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K-5 STEM proposal to stay at Boren, rolling into a k-8, with APP program has broad support from all. Makes so much sense. Fingers crossed, holding breath.
As far as I've seen there are tons of families who prefer K-8. Our oldest went to one and it was just right for her. It seems like an option there's a lot of demand for.
As as an incoming STEM and current APP parent, I'm enthusiastic about the K-8, especially because there isn't a middle school pathway that makes sense.
I am much less on board with splitting the south end APP program--despite the terrible bus ride from West Seattle, it's the right size and it's working.
--3kids 3schools
There is only 1 K-8 (Pathfinder) in all of West Seattle and it's in the Madison area. There is no K-8 option in the Denny service area. K-5 STEM is the only other option school in all of west seattle. It's currently in the Denny service area, but proposed to be moved to Madison.
In the next few years, projections are that we will need about 300 middle school seats. Not enough for a full middle school (and there isn't one planned anyways), but enough to justify another k-8.
So, I'm curious, why isn't adding a k-8 in the Denny service area the direction the district should go in?
Not STEMified
-W.Seattle parent
Denny won't need it; Denny has a brand new building. Why in the world would Denny need Boren?
There are four secondary schools in West Seattle and all four of them were recently redone - West Seattle High School and Madison were totally renovated as BEX projects, Chief Sealth has been renovated in a series of projects, and Denny is new construction. The District won't need to move any of those schools into an interim site for over thirty years.
If Boren were a K-8 there is no reason to expect that the middle school capacity in West Seattle wouldn't be sufficient to meet the foreseeable demand.
There may be some need for additional high school capacity in West Seattle, but not enough for a whole school. If you want to get ahead of that need, then let's work to develop a boutique high school that would serve West Seattle. That's the smart way to do it, not to leave the Boren building empty and unused for ten years so we can find space for 300 students in 2022.
HIMSmom
In case of an emergency, there are lots of other options and resources from the state, county and city that can't turn their backs on an emergency. Other districts cope without an empty building, so can we.
SE Parent
I wouldn't count on that.
Our district does like to put kids in a separate building while they renovate/rebuild. It allows them to move faster (so they say) but I agree that it's not a great idea to have an empty school building. However, Boren seems to be in line for a number of uses in West Seattle.
SE Parent, sadly, I think you are right. I've said this for many years - Sealth and Ingraham, while never getting a complete renovation, have had tons of work on their buildings. So, they won't get anything like that. RBHS, though, has had some spotty things done but until the enrollment goes up, the district has no motivation to do anything.
Do you think if the district renovated RBHS 800 more students would enroll there? If so, I think it would be worthwhile. Renovating a school that size for less than 500 students makes no sense.
Lynn
But it certainly didn't help Cleveland and that's why STEM got put there and not RBHS. (Question is, why put STEM at Cleveland when Franklin is the high school right next to light rail and STEM is an all-city draw?)
It just leaves RBHS ripe for taking over by a charter (either completely or partially). Luckily, I think the charter law is in such limbo that it won't happen any time soon.
Heidi, you said:
"Not STEMified?" Who said that because I can't find it anywhere on this thread. K-5 STEM is an option school so yes, that does make it different from Arbor Heights or Schmitz Park.
You ask "what's with the hatin'?" Bit hyperbolic, no? I don't believe anyone should be required to send their kid to an option school just because the district can't manage its capacity, let alone the latest crises.
SE Parent, I hope you get a building deserving of the students and families who live in the neighborhood and want a decent education in a decent building. Same goes for Aki and Mercer. There are many substandard buildings what will need a place to land once their number comes up in BEX. Every one else should get in line.
I agree with those who say elementaries are easy and cheap to house. It is middle schools and high schools that cost $60M<$X<$120M to build and must be planned sooner, rather than later.
Not STEMified
--3kids 3schools
Sped parent
--3kids 3schools
Umm... Van Asselt.
Curious NE
curious too
I don't believe that the Magnolia school is in suitable condition for use as an interim site. There are no interim sites available elsewhere in the Central Region. There are, however, over 300 empty seats at Lowell.
The South/Southeast Region has Columbia and Van Asselt. T T Minor and Mann, the only other unused buildings in the region are spoken for.
West Seattle has E C Hughes and either Schmitz Park or Boren as available space. Unless, of course, the District leaves STEM at Boren and opens a new, small attendance area school at Schmitz Park.
The District doesn't need a lot of interim sites and they have all they need. West Seattle is richer in interim sites than any other part of the city.
It is a wonder because the directors seem to have try to even get the information they need to do their jobs.