Will Bellevue Foreshadow What Seattle Schools' Consolidation Looks Like?

 In what might be a precursor to the time when Seattle Schools begins its talks about closing schools because of their huge budget deficit, the Seattle Times has a story about how Bellevue School District has now made changes to their consolidation plan.

1) At a public hearing held last month for the Ardmore community, families and staff noted that Ardmore is a Title I school, which means it receives federal funding because it serves a high percentage of low-income students. About 38% of students are English-language learners. Speakers said the proposals had sown confusion, especially for families whose first language isn’t English.

The revised recommendations took into account Ardmore’s student population with a “high percentage of students and families who are farthest from educational justice,” Jarvis wrote in a presentation with deputy superintendents Melissa deVita and Eva Collins. The Arabic heritage program, which the district already planned to add to an existing school community, would add about 130 students to the school, many of whom aren’t yet in the district.

Seattle Schools has made supporting Black male students the hallmark of the Strategic Plan and often uses the same term, "students and families who are farthest from educational justice." So look for that to feature prominently in Seattle's discussion. 

To note, the district told the Board that many of the 300 and under schools in the district are in the north end and West Seattle so it might not be a surprise if the district doesn't close any Title One school. I'd have to believe the outrage of closing one would be a public relations headache for SPS even if it did make sense. 

Interesting to see that, for Bellevue, the magic number is 400 students or fewer. 

2) For Eastgate students, the district proposes sending students to just Spiritridge instead of Spiritridge and Somerset elementaries. Sending students to just one school rather than splitting them would help maintain a familylike culture, the superintendents wrote. 

There's another idea - keep school communities together as much as possible. I think it would be quite hard on children to split their community between other different school communities.  

3) Some Bellevue staff spoke about feeling put in a difficult position. If they advocated for keeping their schools open, that could mean layoffs and losing their jobs, Bellevue Education Association President Jill Rock said.

“Clarity could have calmed the chaos,” she said.

SPS, please take note of this. Clarity and open discussion will be key for this to be successful for students and families. But if all SPS wants to do is clear their budget deficit, then by all means, use a heavy hand. It will be interesting to see if the Board steps up to make this process better.  

I still do not see any notice of a public meeting on this effort. Hmmm.