Why is Seattle Schools Seemingly Dragging Its Feet On School Closures?

There are several stories I do want to get to but I have two questions for my readers and I am truly interested in your viewpoint. I'm going to do a separate post for each.

One, why do you think the Superintendent and staff are dragging their feet until the end of October to announce the five schools they believe should close? 

And, secondarily, why is the Board okay with this? 

My take is that the Superintendent and staff are continuing to run out the clock. So rather than announcing them sooner, they want to push it as much as possible to the end of the year. 

Keep in mind that the Superintendent promised the Board, before the end of school year 2023-2024, that sure, they could have some meetings over the summer. Didn't happen. Then, after the preliminary list was announced, the Board again asked about public input and Jones said something about "workshops." Didn't happen.

Of course, that means any kind of community pushback for the five schools selected will be limited, probably to the single hearing legally mandated for each. 

As I said previously, I'm not sure the district can legally get a final vote out of the Board before the end of the year but even if it's legal, how fair is it? 

I saw elsewhere that parents are saying if your school was on the original list but now won't be on the five-school list, that NO ONE should give up on advocating for other schools. Because again, it will NOT be just five. 

But maybe if the Superintendent and staff are being extra careful and taking extra time, learning from other districts' mistakes, and having a well-fleshed out transition for schools to be closed, maybe it will be less painful overall. 

I also want to let you see what is happening in Chicago Public Schools which is the nation's largest school district. Their enrollment has been steadily dropping and here's how their ideas for closure have unfolded. 

Background via WTTW News:

A former middle school social studies teacher, Johnson helped lead CTU’s 2012 strike and campaigned against former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to close 50 schools in 2013, the largest school closure in the nation.

The promise from Mayor Emanuel was that student would go to better schools plus the district would save money by closing buildings. 

More than a decade later, the closures did nothing to steady the district’s financial position and left deep wounds in communities where schools were closed.

September 26, 2024 via WTTW News:

The Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday evening to prohibit the closure of any public school until after the 2026-27 academic year, acting after reports that as many as 100 schools could be on the chopping block created a firestorm of controversy.

The 6-0 vote by the board overseeing the Chicago Public Schools came two days after CEO Pedro Martinez announced he had refused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request to resign, an unprecedented show of public 

October 4, 2024

It’s been more than a year since Mayor Brandon Johnson, fresh off his runoff election victory, hand-selected the new members of Chicago’s Board of Education — a diverse group he described at the time as district parents and “education champions” who were dedicated to “creating learning environments that support our children in the classroom and beyond.”

Now, 14 months after those appointments, all seven members of the board will step down amid ongoing strife between Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez following squabbles over finances, possible school closures and the district’s ongoing contract negotiations with Johnson’s former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union.

The move comes just weeks before the first set of board elections, in which the board will expand from seven to 21 members, 10 of whom will be chosen by the public. That hybrid board will serve for two years before the board becomes fully elected in 2027.