Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools
Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).
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Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction.
end of update
I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.
To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.
But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come from closing schools. A school is a living organism to those who attend and those who work there. A neighborhood school is an anchor in any area and a closure is troubling.
Update added here - In the above paragraph I talk about why closing a school is so hard on its community. Long-time employees, neighbors whose kids went to the school, parents who love the school. But those who feel it most are the student, the children who love their school community. For some schools they will not move as a group - the boundaries will be redrawn to sent some kids to one consolidation school, other kids to another consolidation school.
From my own experience in the last Closure&Consolidation, one thing parents should advocate for is that some personnel from the closed building HAVE to be in the new building. If a kid sees a familiar face - the lunch person, the custodian, front office staff - it can make that transition easier. Of course, this may happen anyway as the district will go with whatever the contract is for that group of staff and usually, it's seniority. So you might see some teachers at the consolidated school get bumped out by teachers with seniority at the closed school. Even a principal.
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Before I dive in, I do want to point out a couple of areas where the district could save money but I have heard zero about these options.
1) The district has non-school land/buildings they could sell like Oak Tree shopping center; it's available in two years. Also Leschi Elementary had a house donated to its use. Why keep that?
2) Charge the City for use of Pre-K space. When this all came about, many of us asked why the district wouldn't charge for space, even a minimal charge. This program has expanded in all directions which is a good thing but SPS needs to find money where they can. The City can do the right thing.
Elementary School Review
There are 29 schools with fewer than 300 students.
There are 7 schools between 300-325.
It is not clear if K-8s are part of the closures but I suspect so. And, looking at the numbers, many of them are struggling with enrollment. The district has always been mostly lukewarm on K-8s.
For some reason, the School Description Dashboard, where I would find current enrollment numbers, is not working. I found current enrollment numbers at OSPI.
Here's the Facilities Master Plan from 2021 for building conditions.
It's a bit stunning to see on page 27 of the FMP how all the elementary buildings are classified as "essential." This in 2021.
On page 31 they list sites that SPS leases. I knew about Center School and the capital projects warehouse not "counseling office space at Lutheran Church"? I suspect many of Interagency's sites are leased.
Check out page 20 "5-Year Growth of K-12 residents per elementary attendance area," updated in 2021.
The elementary buildings with the worst conditions:
1) Sacajawea
2) View Ridge
3) North Beach
4) Wedgwood
5) Salmon Bay at Monroe Building*
6) Catherine Blaine K-8*
7) Lowell
8) Green Lake (renovated?)
9) Sanislo
10) Decatur (renovated)
11) Dearborn Park
12) Beacon Hill
13) Maple
14) Bailey Gatzert
15) McGilvra
16) Sand Point
17) Laurelhurst
18) Graham Hill
19) B.F. Day
20) Broadview Thomson*
21) Lafayette
22) Louisa Boren*
23) Rainier View
24) John Stanford
*K-8
On page 42-44, there is Appendix E: 2020 School Capacity Charts; it's amazing to see how many elementaries were overenrolled in 2021. To note, MANY of these elementaries have "right-sized capacity" between 300-350. This idea of larger buildings is a relatively new one for the district but they seem to have quietly made this decision that elementaries should be bigger long before this point in time.
I made these groupings of schools. Feel free to disagree with me. The number after the name of the school is current enrollment. If you find numerical errors, please do point them out.
North NE
I suspect Cedar Park and Sacajawea may be closed. Frankly, many of us didn't think Cedar Park should have been reopened because it was going to be so small but yes, the district spent those capital dollars.
Olympic Hills 486, capacity 520 - A very new building that was built for more students so it's not going to close. Looks like its capacity is 520 so maybe 50 more kids in this building.
They are also rebuilding John Rogers (188) so between the two of those schools, they can take in many students. My guess would be closing Cedar Park (272) and Sacajawea (229).
To note, John Rogers (188) is slated to reopen in Fall 2025. I'm surprised but the district's info says it is only being built to hold 500 students.
On Sacajawea, the district has paid for a design to replace the current building.
Olympic View 357 - Capacity 396. So room for about 40 students.
James Baldwin 233 - brand new larger building with capacity of 650, could take in K-5 from Broadview Thomson K-8. The two buildings are just under 2 miles apart.
Hazel Wolf K-8 732, capacity 658 - newer building, popular school
South NE
Between Laurelhurst and Sand Point, the most underenrolled schools in the region in poor quality buildings, they have 488 students. Wedgwood and View Ridge have 240 extra seats. I'm not sure what they can do here. Portables?
Bryant
484 - a generally good school that is popular, updated in 2001. Its
capacity is listed at 462 so a rarity here, it's overenrolled.
Thornton Creek 455, capacity 660 - Also popular but it's an HCC school.It's an option school. . What will be its eventual fate? Newly updated during BEX IV.
Decatur 188, capacity 286. They could just move these students into Thornton Creek.
Wedgwood 355, capacity 478 -building updated in 2023
View Ridge 283 - capacity 400.
Laurelhurst 275, capacity 369, bad building
Sand Point - 213, capacity 276, bad building
Central
Hard to tell what they will do here as most of the buildings are over 300 students. Maybe they could move Green Lake to Bagley. But I can't see closing any school here besides that one.
Green Lake 323 - They have an oldish building BUT they house very specific Special Education services with accompanying equipment.
Daniel Bagley 317 - Low number but a new building for 500 students. Used to have a very popular Montessori program.
McDonald 475, capacity 471 - a good school but popular for dual language program. It's unclear where that program is headed.
John Stanford International School 417, capacity 418- Best enrollment numbers for any international elementary school.
West Woodland 380, capacity stated as 396 but now much larger - rebuilt in 1991, added 12(!) classrooms in 2021
Cascadia 489 - Will stay as HC cohort school but not adding any first
graders. Very unclear to me what will happen to this school when this
year's first graders leave as fifth graders. (Oddly, Cascadia is not on
the district's 2023-2024 Elementary School Attendance Areas map.)
B.F.
Day 414 - Another surprise as they are over capacity with listed
capacity of 352. Oldest elementary school in the district.
North NW
I think they might choose to close Broadview Thomson.
Broadview Thomson K-8 566, capacity 612. I don't see a good future for this school nor most of the K-8s.
Viewlands 267- new building that will be filled either with Broadview Thomson or North Beach 367, capacity 438. I can't seem to find the new capacity for Viewlands but it's at least 550. The distance from Viewlands to North Beach is just under 2 miles.
Greenwood 325, capacity 345 - a nice building but a school that has never really been especially popular nor full.
West NW
Close Licton Springs K-8 and move those K-5 students to Adams. The district may close Salmon Bay and move those K-5 students to fill Loyal Heights and Whitter.
Adams 303, capacity 396
Licton Springs K-8 119 - in an updated building but low numbers. Has been on staff's list for years. You can only wonder if the district had ever truly supported this school, what those numbers would be like.
Salmon Bay K-8 635 - I am hearing from parents here that say the district is underenrolling it. Has been a popular school despite an old building.
Loyal Heights 534 - brand new building for 660 students
Whittier 342, capacity 440- a steady, popular school in a good building.
Move McGilvra to Montlake. Move Madrona to Stevens (or vice versa depending on building conditions - these are about 2 miles apart)
Montlake 168- being rebuilt to capacity of 500
So upsetting to me. Folks, 20+ years ago, it was a VERY different story for Montlake as well as McGilvra. Facilities folks told me - and said this publicly - that both had two of the smallest land areas and simply could never be rebuilt bigger. Fast forward to now and look at what is happening to Montlake. A big school on a small footprint, more students but less playground space.
I suspect either McGilvra 216, capacity 278, or Stevens 152, capacity 283, will move into Montlake. Probably McGilvra as its building is in the worst condition.
Lowell 389, capacity 352 is the closest elementary to downtown to the east.
Madrona 218, capacity 390
TOPS K-8 473, capacity 437; another rarity of overenrollment
Central West
Close Blaine and send most of those K-5 students to Coe and close John Hay and move those students to Queen Anne Elementary.
Lawton 325, capacity 396
Blaine K-8 441, capacity 595 (but this is an old building)
Magnolia 441- newly renovated for 460
Coe 447- added 6 classrooms in 2021
Queen Anne Elementary 215 - renovated to fit 500 students in last BEX.
John Hay 268
I want to note past history here as well. Those Queen Anne schools used to be packed. When QA Elementary opened, they had a fabulous principal and it was very popular. But district decisions led to some of this decline.
SW North
So I am a bit baffled here unless the district is going to continue on the path of closing K-8s. In that case, they could move Pathfinder's K-5 students to both Genesee Hill and Fairmount Park. But who is going into Alki? Lafayette may have a bad building but it's full.
Alki 271- being rebuilt to a larger size (500) despite zero parking.
Pathfinder K-8 450, capacity 459. Pathfinder rebuilt in 1999.
Lafayette 505, capacity 497
Fairmount Park 392, capacity 516- new building
Genessee Hill 482, capacity 664 - new building
SW South
West Seattle could take in Sanislo; I suspect they may close Concord and send students to either Highland Park or Roxhill.
Boren STEM K-8 458, capacity 555- popular and the only elementary STEM in the district. Some updates to the building but not totally renovated. I'd better if the district had bothered to fix this building up, they would be full.
West Seattle 389- updated in 2022
Gatewood 381, capacity 464
Sanislo 171
Roxhill 272- renovated in 2018
Arbor Heights 514- newish building
Highland Park 285- rebuilt in 1999
Concord International 285- renovated in 2000
North SE
Continuing on the path of closing K-8s, they may close Orca and send their K-5 students to almost any school in this region with space
Leschi 295, capacity 324 - A two-story, four classroom addition in May 2022 "relieves overcrowding."
Bailey Gatzert 363, capacity 336
Beacon Hill International 349, capacity 407
Thurgood Marshall 469, capacity 543- houses an HC cohort - unclear to me if those HCC students will follow Cascadia's path to fifth grade. Rebuilt in 1991.
Kimball 415- opened new in 2023 with space for 650 students.
John Muir 333, capacity 342- got a fairly recent update of 4 classrooms for Early Learning and childcare. They are not going to close this school.
Orca K-8 357
Maple 408, capacity 468
Hawthorne 375, capacity 351
South SE
Close Rainier View and those students go to Dunlap. I suspect they will close MLK, Jr and Graham Hill and those students would go to Wing Luke or Rising Star.
I do want to remind readers that twice during the discussion around the Superintendent's Plan, Director Brandon Hersey said that some small schools are vital to "students furthest from education justice." The vibe I get from Jones is that he wants to make the closures as equal throughout the region as possible.
So either Hersey was doing a CYA for his region or there may be some kind of fight over this region.
Dearborn Park International 328, capacity 354 - renovated in 2006
Graham Hill 242, capacity 391- used to have a very popular Montessori program
MLK, Jr 281, capacity 336
Wing Luke 315 - brand new building last BEX for 500 students
Rising Star 327, capacity 480
Dunlap 248, capacity 303 - renovated in 2000
South Shore K-8 570, capacity 705 - the most extra-funded school in the district, it may end up being one of the few K-8s left standing.
Emerson 323, capacity 360 - renovated in 2001
Rainier View 200, capacity 309
Comments
Causation?
I think North Beach will definitely get closed in N NW.
What is the difference between "right-sized" capacity and "operational" capacity? Do we know which one SPS is using to quote the 65% utilization rate?
I think that Green Lake will close and people split between Cascadia and Bagley
They say they're aiming for 10 in each Region. In the NW region, I think it'll be: North Beach, Broadview Thompson, Salmon Bay, Green Lake, and Greenwood, which leaves it at 12, and then one of the dual-language schools (either McDonald or Stanford), leaving 11 and getting it close to ~90% utilization by my calculations
Region map: https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SPSD_regions_2022_23pdf.pdf
The current Decatur building, which shares a playground with Thornton Creek, houses the small and dwindling NE elemenatary HCC program. Decatur will likely be closed. Grandfathered HCC students, if any, will likely be sent to Cascadia.
Thornton Creek was previously located in the Decatur building (before it was used for HCC) but moved into its current larger building in ca. 2017. Elementary HCC at that time was located in the pre-renovation Lincoln High School building with Licton Springs K-8. It was called APP @ Lincoln and later Cascadia @ Lincoln before moving into the current Cascadia and Decatur buildings.
Correction
Just Clarifying
Thornton Creek is an option school. It essentially shares the same physical lot and block with Decatur which is the HCC school.
Thornton Creek attracts a lot of people from that NE catchment area that Decatur shares including John Rogers down to Sand Point from families I know whose kids attended.
If they sold the lots of Thornton Creek/Decatur, Laurelhurst and Sand Point… that would be a lot of money. It would also likely kill the district ever recovering in that area.
- Given Up
I would find it hard to believe they would close any dual language school that is full.
Oh, yeah,with closures boundaries will be adjust across the board and I suspect may need some fine-tuning.
Given Up, if they sell ANY school property, it will be a HUGE mistake.
North Seattle Parent, it's a mystery what Cascadia will end up as.
Send K-5 kids from southwest Magnolia over to west Queen Anne? And leapfrog Magnolia and Lawton Elementaries?
Better for my family, currently zoned for Magnolia ES, than shifting the boundaries so that a bunch of MES and Lawton kids are assigned to Coe, but...
My kids go there and it is has incredibly involved parent volunteers and awesome teachers. Also a large SPED program. I am beyond frustrated to think it would close and I'd have to send my kids to Viewlands - Loyal Heights is about a mile away from us and Viewlands is over 2 miles by road (2.3 miles). So will we get a choice?
We go to NB and love it, we can walk there which in no way would be an option if we had to go to Viewlands. That’s over 2 miles away by road whereas Loyal Heights is about a mile. Will we get a choice? Will they redraw boundaries? Will my kids friends get split up? It’s going to be painful.
Depressed mom
I think the district is going to pull the idea on continuing HCC stand alone elementaries. It makes things a lot simpler. Cascadia maybe they can make a neighborhood school and start rolling more kids, but Decatur is not needed for numbers. I think as they go through this year, we'll hear some version of "everything is going amazing with our HCC in Gen Ed plan, as part of the changes needed for well resourced schools, we're going to move those kids now so they can be back in well resourced schools with their neighborhood peers". Decatur goes back to their attendance schools, Sandpoint folds (back) into Laurelhurst, Thornton Creek becomes a neighborhood school (can't have options) and absorbs View Ridge and Wedgwood. Maybe Decatur becomes a NE preschool center. Numbers in the NE continue to drop as parents get fed up.
Oh, and the district's transportation budget balloons because the bigger the elementary school, the further kids need to travel, so the more buses are needed. On the plus side, they won't have to renovate Wedgwood or View Ridge.
NE Parent
NE Seattle
According to the numbers I have,Anonymous (give yourself a name), North Beach is about 80 kids underenrolled in a bad building. Is that NB's fault? Nope, except right about the time they would have put NB on the BEX list, they turned their gaze away. Loyal Heights only has space for maybe 80 students.
About "choice" for displaced students - I'm sure the district might pretend to listen but will they? I doubt it and again, where's the public input?
Wallingford Parent, thanks for those on-the-ground insights.
And that fact - about breaking up students in chunks - reminds me of something I should have said. I'll up in an update.
Wait -- so you think that, basically, my HC-identified daughter will be able to go to Cascadia next year (4th grade), but for 5th grade she'll be bounced back to our neighborhood school? Or you're just saying the younger grades will pull from the neighborhood? If the latter, that's what I think was already planned. If the former, wow...
Benjamin, I suspect there will be some leapfrogging because where else to send K-5 Blaine students if that happens? Magnolia doesn't have room. And gotta say,if they pull out those portables, yikes!
Boot kids from Lawton and Magnolia and send them across 15th to a school in Queen Anne, and then have the K-5 Blaine students go to Lawton and Magnolia?
This is certainly not what I want to have happen, but...... they've proposed boundaries that have Magnolia kids go to Queen Anne before......
Sinking
Sinking, one interesting clue to your thought. If you read the announcement about the public engagement meetings, it says that staff will have separate meetings. Because clearly, the conversations are going to be different. But can parents listen into those meetings? I'd bet the answer is no.
WallyMom, I am aware of all that you state but I think the district knows there is only so far they can go with slash and burn especially for popular and full option K-8s. But they are in desperate times and that fact will give them cover to do many things (and easily convince a gullible Board that ceded near all oversight.)
Teegan, I didn't see Greenwood would be closed; I just made some observations. But I am glad for on-the-ground info and any school that is keeping its head well above water. I did not consider the funding tiers in my analysis. That would be quite a deep dive plus taking into account any other monies coming into a given school for certain purposes.
I do believe that when Superintendent Jones announces the preliminary list, there should be solid and detailed documentation on why those schools.
NE Parent
As a sub, North Beach and Adams appear to be thriving neighborhood schools with involved parents and beloved, long tenured teachers. Their buildings are beyond old though. Lichton Springs is pretty much brand new but severely underenrolled (empty classrooms) and in my limited experience- not thriving. Every class at Lichton Springs is a split level and has about 22 kids max per classroom (k-5 grades). Loyal Heights is already stuffed to the brim. As another commenter mentioned, Viewlands has huge with completely empty floors in their building. They have high class sizes though which was weird to me to see stuffed classes with empty classroom space next door.
My current prediction is North Beach will go to Viewlands (with maybe a few to Loyal Heights with a boundary redraw)
Adams will go to Lichton Springs at Webster and those children will go back to their non option schools.
Queen Anne Elementary was also small when I subbed there but does house the teachers and staff for the online option. They take up a wing of the school and if those classrooms are used for in person, would need somewhere to go. The online option is technically under Cascade Parent Partnership but they don’t have space there so they are actually at Queen Anne Elementary.
Do you think Cascade Parent Partnership is safe from closure? The enrollment numbers are skewed because of online program enrollment.
What does dismantling the K-8’s do to the already overcrowded middle schools?
- parent and sub
Greenwood was doing poorly in the aughts at the same time Bagley was on the chopping block, but a strong principal at Greenwood and the Montessori program at Bagley turned them both to becoming popular schools. I worry about Bagley with its declining numbers, but having a renovated building is certainly in its favor. I wonder if Green Lake students could join the program but still be slated for Hamilton—it's where the Bagley students went for middle school before Eagle Staff was formed. (Some Bagley families were initially angry about being pulled from HMS—the line at 85th dividing the two middle schools attendance zones does a weird cut out to divide between the two.)
It feels like the district has it out of for k-8s and for anything outside of the norm. I can't believe that Licton Springs has survived as long as it has, except that the optics of closing the program have probably allowed it to pass through. It has brought in several programs, but never seems to grow.
I am interested in the two money-saving options you mentioned, especially the Oak Tree location. And perhaps they need to opt out of leases when they have empty space elsewhere.
NEMom
"As another commenter mentioned, Viewlands has huge with completely empty floors in their building. They have high class sizes though which was weird to me to see stuffed classes with empty classroom space next door."
There are larger class sizes at Viewlands because the district cannot afford another teacher. That's the weirdness of small schools who you'd think might have smaller class sizes but don't.
You also asked about the Cascade Partnership which is the district's help to homeschoolers. On the one hand, it's quite an impressive program but on the other hand, that's a LOT of classes, organization,etc. I think the district is legally obligated to provide some degree of service to homeschooled kids, but I would think this goes beyond that. It may be in trouble.
You also mentioned the issue if the district does close some K-8 schools, where would the middle school kids in those schools go if many middle schools are overcrowded. That's an excellent question especially when the district started pulling back on renovating middle schools. Washington, Eckstein, Whitman are all in buildings way past their prime.
As well, many parents who have their student in a K-8 very much do NOT want their child in a large middle school.
So I have no answer to that question and I repeat that the district has not confirmed that K-8s are part of the plan but I believe they are.
WSEA Mom, didn't know Sanislo had an open concept school. I thought all those had been done away with (South Shore used to be one as well.)
Cedar Park parent, I hear you, loud and clear. The district was hell-bent on taking back the building (there was an artist group in there for years)and reopening it and didn't listen to those of us who worried about the lack of sidewalks and how small a building it is.
And now we are here. I know that the Cedar Park parents have worked hard to create community. I hope at some point, one of your group comes to a Board meeting and says this all out loud for the public record.
NE Mom, the issues just keep coming and here you are with another. Let's review:
1) closing schools will end established school communities. What's the plan for mitigating that (think for a second about what you will need to do to consolidate two schools).
2) Transportation. The district wants to go back to two tiers of transportation to save money. But if some kids from a closed school need transportation to the new school, won't that add more kids to the buses? How many fewer kids will walk or bike to school?
3) HCC kids will be returning to whatever neighborhood school that still exists for them. For some schools, a few kids but it could really shake things up at other schools. Which leads me to...
4) Boundary changes. I think that may be even a BIGGER fight than closing schools. Because when one elementary school has been linked to one middle
school for a long time, people in that region get mighty upset when they are drawn out. HCC kids returning will also be part of the boundary puzzle.
When our neighborhood was reassigned to Eagle Staff, our community had very strong data showing Eagle Staff would be overpopulated. Our school board member raised the issue with staff at two different board meetings, and the staff refused to answer his questions. During the third board meeting, our board member told us it was too late.
The argument staff made at the time was that our neighborhood had been assigned to Eagle Staff to save on busing costs. No surprise, Eagle Staff had too many students, which was the argument used to kick Licton Springs out of the building, and our neighborhood was then assigned to Jane Addams Middle School. In one bizarre case, staff drew the boundary for our neighborhood elementary school a block from the school.
My suspicion is that the various staff have a whole set of unspoken priorities. For example, redo the boundaries to mix ethnic groups. Redo the boundaries to mix socio-economic groups. Redo the boundaries to qualify for Title 1 funds. Redo the boundaries because of “x”. In one case, staff drew the boundaries using census tracts clearly because that was the easiest thing to do. We have also heard about “well-resourced schools” and “OSPIs” 400-student model as the District has built new elementaries to house 650 students.
Take James Baldwin, which is a beautiful new facility that advertises all kinds of features to reduce energy consumption while ignoring the fact that replacing smaller walkable schools with larger schools requiring busing is terrible not only for communities but also for the environment.
Board Director Brandon Hersey was the board member assigned last year to negotiate the performance criteria for Superintendent Jones. I expect he will have some sway. But beyond a few Directors with sway, our experience in the past was that our board member was ignored, and he left. My experience is that staff will stonewall as much as possible to get what they want.
Melissa's analysis is excellent. But don’t forget the district model, which is that elementary schools feed middle schools and, where possible, middle schools feed high schools. The current headline is that the District is closing 20 elementary schools. But this could very well mean boundary changes for a much greater number of impacted elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. It's also very possible that the change in boundaries will change overall district attendance and that the boundaries will again have to be changed in the coming years.
District watcher
I think that would be insane of the district, and the program will be safe: (disclosure: I’m a parent so this may be wishful thinking, but here are my reasons)
1. The building is recently remodeled and seismically retrofitted at great cost
2. It is growing. We added enrollment throughout the school year and I believe we are getting more students next year.
3. It takes very expensive students largely off the district’s hands. Myself and families I know who have or are coming to the school have neurodivergent children with extensive IEPs who were scared away from “regular” school after terrible experiences there. But given the type of program it is, and heavy parent involvement, our children don’t need the full minutes and services in their IEPs to be served at Cascade. For example, many of our kids are entitled to a one on one aide as per IEPs, but at Cascade the parent serves that role in classes. That’s huge salary savings per student for the district. A quarter of Cascade students have IEPs or 504s, a greater proportion than in the past.
4. Having either chosen a homeschooling approach outright or been driven to it from our experiences in schools, if they were to close Cascade, almost none of us would stay in the district, so there’s over a hundred families’ worth of enrollment lost either to full homeschooling or to the parent partnership program in the Shoreline district.
5. When they close neighborhood schools, other cities’ experiences show that a certain proportion of families will choose homeschooling rather than move schools. Cascade offers a way for the district to capture back some of that otherwise-lost enrollment.
The district isn’t always rational, of course. But hoping they are in this case.
-SpEd Mom
Seattle Parent, yes, Eagle Staff MS seems to have been kicked around a lot (and they even put in Marnie Campbell for principal). I concur - I think over the next five+ years, the boundaries for ALL schools will change/get tweaked revisions.
And if some of the thinking in the boundaries is to somehow seek a racial imbalance, will the district admit that? Do they want to get taken to court again if, say, a public disclosure request shows they gerrymander borders for this reason? Hmmm
District Watcher, I have heard of this bullying issue in middle school and I believe it is easier to bully at large middle schools. I was saddened this week to read that two elementary children in public schools in different states killed themselves over bullying. Both families had begged the districts over and over for action but very little appears to have been done. Just tragic.
Cascade Mom (I'm giving you that moniker since you did not do as I ask and give yourself a name), good points. It will be interesting to see what the district does.
Pretty big assumption that those kids can just go to Fatima; that they can afford Fatima; that they'd want to go to a Catholic school; and that Fatima can take them.
If I were the district I'd put them in MES and Lawton after having kicked out enough current students via boundary redrawing (sending them to Queen Anne) to make room. Note: This is NOT what I want to have happen. Far from it.
Where do those kids go? Basically i think one of the three schools in the GL zone (JSIS, McDonald, green lake) needs to be a neighborhood school. Either one of the DLI schools turns into a neighborhood school or GL stays open but I don’t see any scenario where GL could be closed and keep both DLI schools as option schools.
LH, that's a great question but considering they have already enrolled kids for 24-25, I guess the die is cast. I'm not sure all those incoming parents know what is happening. They could enroll for one school that then is closed next year and now they go to another school.
And again, those boundaries are changing as well so it's quite the crapshoot.
~ Rational Seattlite
-DragonBee Dad
Please feel free to use and share this tool to help advocate for your children. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send them my way! I will be adding more functionality once SPS releases its official proposed list.
https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/seattle-plans-to-close-20-schools-heres-one-way-parents-can-keep-them-open. - Shannon
Well, you could but I reread the law. It sounds like only an EXISTING charter school could have the right of first refusal for a closed school building. People seeking to open a charter school have to have all their ducks in a row to get the charter. I don't think "we're going to try to get space at a closed SPS school" will cut it.
But, if a school that closes, is able to revamp themselves and get a charter, they could ask for an SPS building. Not sure if the district can pick which building or how long a lease it might be.
Shannon
A few years ago, Hawthorne and Orca area got rezoned from Mercer to Aki Middle School. I imagine that same area will be rezoned so that those same areas feed into Rainier Beach High School’s new building instead of Franklin.