Somehow We All Missed This?
Update:
I probably fired off too quickly. Yes, I know that the district has SAID they aren't closing schools at the earliest in '25-'26. But listening in on Board Work Sessions on the budget, it seems to come up every time. Seems weird if it's settled that they would waste one minute on closures and yet they do.
Going on decades of experience and my Spidey sense, but I don't think they will wait that long. I don't say that lightly; I know parents and school communities are worried but that hole in the budget is huge.
end of update.
So I'm reading the Seattle Times this morning and there was a story about community partnerships to continue jazz and music programs in Seattle Schools. In that story was a bit of a big surprise:
The district has ruled out closing and consolidating schools as part of its deficit response for the 2024-25 school year and has said that budget cuts have been mainly confined to the central office. School-level cuts were generally one-time expenditures and related to supplies, said Art Jarvis, the deputy superintendent of academics.
That might not be the case for future years. Budget proposals for the 2025-26 year will be made public in May and might contain deeper building-level cuts.
“Certainly we’ve got major work to do for [20]25-26, and that would impact the buildings if, in fact, we can’t find the tools to right-size the district,” Jarvis said.
I have written to district communications about this news. I did check the Budget information page at SPS and, to my surprise, there was this:
The superintendent will present a plan to realize the vision for a system of well-resourced schools in May 2024. This plan may include school consolidations for the 2025-26 school year and beyond, grade level reorganizations, and program adjustments and restructuring.
The Onyx Fine Arts Collective also approached the district about erecting the Acox statue on the Garfield High School grounds, but, so far, the district has demurred.
While the district does not have a policy on putting statues on school property, Jarvis said doing so for one individual could be seen as endorsing everything that that person has done. The district, he said, does not want to be put in that position.
That seems odd because many school buildings are named for people and I never heard that argument used when that happened.
Comments
This was approved by the School Board when they voted on the Fiscal Stabilization Plan on Nov. 13. It says: "School consolidations, to be implemented in the 2025-26 school year and beyond."
Seattle Times covered it here: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/no-seattle-schools-will-close-next-year-superintendent-says/
—Jane from Seattle Hall Pass
Or do you think they are just delaying as long as possible?
As you mention, there are things in play like the teachers contract but also Superintendent Jones' contract. That should be quite the contrast between the two contracts because I think Jones will want to stay and the Board does NOT want to launch a superintendent search. But they will give him a good raise to get him to stay.
I think the district would like to close some buildings as soon as they can. I'll review the Work Session on the Budget at last night's Board meeting but, looking at the materials, they are about at the end of what they can do. But with the sadness/anger it will bring PLUS those other contract negotiations, the delay is probably better.
But it sure will leave some schools even more underresourced for the next couple of years which will be painful.