Times Article on District Closure Presentation

 The Times has an article this morning that has better information in the comments than the actual story. They don't even link to the presentation the article discusses.

A few items stick out:

The new approach was informed, in part, by four community sessions and a community survey in May and June. One of the common themes from those meetings was that the community wanted more transparency from Seattle Public Schools and they wanted to be included in the process. Another big theme was that many opposed the district’s plan to close schools.

I actually missed that last finding from the community meetings. Funny, the district isn't going to listen to parents who don't want schools closed. 

“This is frankly scary for us,” Jones said. “We’re going to articulate when we’re struggling. We’re going to articulate when there’s a mismatch. We’re going to articulate when we don’t have the information. We will do that along the way so that there’s not going to be a surprise.”

Well, it's scary to hear the top leadership say he is scared. I'm not sure I see the statements above leading to the Board giving him a raise.

Decatur Elementary, for example, had 188 students last year and can fit roughly 236 students at capacity, fewer than the district goal of 400. It’s in poor to fair condition and gets a 3.18 (fair but below SPS standards in some areas) in the learning environment rating. 

So a Decatur parent said - both at the Board meeting and the public hearing on the budget - that it appears the district is deliberately withholding enrollment. She stated that they had 45 children on the waitlist for kindergarten! And about 90 on the list overall. I have heard this same complaint from Salmon Bay K-8. 

The district has long cited declining enrollment as one of the reasons for its current predicament.

“That isn’t really the main issue,” said Fred Podesta, the district’s chief operations officer. “The reason we’re having the discussion is, how many buildings do we need to serve the students we have? Finances are related to this, but it’s not as causal as people think.”

Even if SPS somehow managed to get back the 4,900 or so students it lost since 2019, the district could still be in a financial bind. At best, it could break even; at worst, the cost of educating those students could put the district further in the red.

Wait, what!? This is new and hey Superintendent Jones "a surprise." 

I put in a comment at the story but it's mostly what I have said here at the blog.

But someone else did some number crunching and it's interesting. Please read the statement line carefully as it's important to why a school is on that list. This data is in the presentation on page 34 (it is not numbered but comes after the complete presentation).

First stat:

Schools with a building condition score of 60% or less AND learning environment score of 3.4 or more AND capacity lower than 400:

- North Beach

- Sacajawea

- View Ridge

- Wedgewood

 

Second stat:

Schools with either a low condition score OR poor learning environment score AND capacity under 400:

- Beacon Hill

- Decatur

- Green Lake

- John Stanford

- Laurelhurst

- Lowell

- Maple

- McDonald

- McGilvra

- Rainier View

- Sand Point

- Sanislo

 

 

Third stat:

 

Schools with a building condition score of 60% or less AND learning environment score of 3.0 or more AND capacity lower than 400:

- Beacon Hill

- Decatur

- Green Lake

- McGilvra

- North Beach

- Sacajawea

- Sanislo

- View Ridge

- Wedgewood

 

 

 Fourth Stat:

Schools with a building condition score 90% or higher AND a learning environment score less than 2.0 AND capacity of 500 or more (plus rounded 2023 enrollment percentage):

- Alki (2026) ** - 50%

- Arbor Heights * - 75%

- Bagley - 70%

- Cascadia - 70%

- Genesee Hill - 75%

- Hazel Wolf - 75%

- James Baldwin * - 35% (lots of space available!)

- John Rogers (2025) ** - 45%

- Kimball * - 80%

- Loyal Heights - 90%

- Magnolia - 65%

- Montlake (2025) ** - 35% (lots of space available)

- Olympic Hills - 70%

- Thornton Creek - 65%

- Viewlands * - 40%

- Wing Luke - 55%

 

 *To point out, all the schools that they are rebuilding larger - Montlake, Rogers, Viewlands and Alki - have perfect scores.

 

 

Fifth Stat:

I'm interested in what the plan is for schools with low building condition and learning environment scores, but high capacity.

- Catharine Blaine (38.83, 3.17, 523) - the lowest condition score, 85% enrollment

- Leschi (71.27, 3.04, 532)

- Louisa Boren (64.43, 3.47, 650)

- Lowell (54.1, 3.44, 610) - mistakenly included above

- Maple (58.85, 3.54, 532)

- Monroe (41.47, 3.15, 650)

- Whitworth Orca (59.62, 3.29, 506)

 

**So Blaine is a K-8 and Boren was once a K-8. Boren is a STEM school and if the district had thrown any money at that building, they could have made it a K-8 and it would have filled. 

 

Thoughts?