Updates on Seattle Schools and Closures

Let's review where the district is on this closure process.

They narrowed the list from 20 to 4. However, in the director questions and staff answers portion of the Board meeting agenda, it almost sounds like President Liza Rankin wants to review that number. 

And, in naming only four, a couple of areas in the city were left out. My belief is that every area should have one closure in the name of fairness. Where is the explanation for that not happening?

This is true especially when you have a school like Rainier View Elementary where the building is in poor condition, has low enrollment, and a long history of clashes with the principal and staff/parents. (The principal was pulled from the building and was placed somewhere at JSCEE). You can probably thank Director Brandon Hersey for that one.

The district had a community meeting for each named school. The only meeting I can give feedback on is Sanislo Elementary and that's because of the great work from the West Seattle Blog. I did ask here if anyone went to the Sacajawea one. Did anyone go to the one at North Beach? If anyone goes to Stevens' meeting on November 18th, let us know.

As well, did anyone listen in on the district-wide community meeting that was online on Thursday? 

According to the West Seattle Blog, 

- But the night was largely short on specifics – talk of a “transition,” but not of how exactly it would work.

- She (Marni Campbell) insisted the district isn’t taking the closure/consolidation plan “lightly” but that it wants to ensure students have access to things they can’t do at a smaller school. The slide on the screen made lofty promises about “enhanced learning” and expanded “holistic support.”

- To note, Sanislo has an "open concept" building which the district decided years ago was not a good learning environment. (Interestingly, Director Sarah Clark asked a question about this in the directors questions/staff answers section of the board agenda.)

They are: Beacon Hill, Dearborn Park, Green Lake, Maple, and Sanislo.

- Joining Sanislo with Highland Park (which is the plan) STILL would not give them a full-time librarian. 

- Campbell said the hope is that the two schools would truly come together, even a merger of PTAs.

That's a great question but I have heard little from the SCPTA. There is nothing about school closures at their website or on Facebook.

- That led, about 20 minutes into the meeting, to the moderator for Q&A. They offered the chance for people to speak aloud or write their question on a card.

District chief operations officer Fred Podesta said they have a history of opening/closing buildings and they do know how it’ll affect the budget but they really want to invest in “schools that will be successful.” He claimed very few districts have schools with fewer than 300 students – while SPS “has 29.” “We think we can replicate what’s great” in creating these consolidated schools.  

Campbell said that all the school administrators citywide involved with this “see the benefit of more students.” She claimed Highland Park’s principal Mary McDaniel had said it was getting harder year by year as the enrollment got smaller and smaller (some scoffing was heard in the crowd).

- Ann, both a community member and the nurse at Sanislo and Roxhill, talked about the school sitting in the Longfellow Creek watershed, and being among the most linguistically diverse schools. Low-income children, children of color, benefit from being in these environmental spaces. Roxhill was moved from being next to the greenspace. Now Sanislo is being proposed for a move, and how does that affect social/emotional health? 

- Back to cards – why aren’t the actual teachers following the kids, who will “lose contact with trusted teachers and staff.” Hamilton said, “We want the communities to be able to move together,” but they also have to honor labor agreements.” But “we want staff who want to move with the students to be able to do that.

To be clear, the district DOES have to work with SEA, PASS and other organizations that represent staff. As usual, seniority in the union is likely to be the biggest predictor of who is able to go where. That means - as I've said over and over - that throughout the district, teachers with less seniority may be RIFed to make room for a teacher with seniority. 

- A question read off a card was from a parent wondering if she’d be able to transfer her student to Louisa Boren STEM K-8. “That would happen during the open enrollment period,” replied Campbell. She added that they could have a “school-closure tiebreaker” to give some preference to families like that.

This is HUGE because that means not just changing boundaries but actually changing the student assignment plan to meet this situation. (The Board has done this several times for short-term fixes.) But saying that students at closed schools might have dibs on spots at Option Schools is a very big deal.) 

- What are you planning to do with the school and land if Sanislo does close? Podesta answered that, saying they’d keep the property in their inventory and “look for interim uses … as the city grows and grows it’s harder to find property” so they’d keep it, but hopefully make the greenspace available to the community. The building, though, might be torn down.

This may be on the table for other closed buildings if SPS cannot maintain them. I suspect that if this is the first section of a long closure process for other schools, that some may be torn down if the district can't protect or maintain them.

From the Seattle Times, we learn when the legally required public hearings will be for each school. This is a structured meeting, akin to giving public testimony at a board meeting. The district does NOT have an end time for the meetings so I'm not sure how many people are likely to be able to voice their thoughts.

The district is legally required to have a hearing at each school that faces closure before the School Board votes on the plan. Jones plans to submit his final recommendation to the board Dec. 18, and the final vote is expected Jan. 22.

The site-based hearings start at 6:30 p.m., and are scheduled for:

• Dec. 4: Sanislo Elementary School, 1812 SW Myrtle Ave.
• Dec. 5: North Beach Elementary School, 9018 24^th Ave. NW
• Dec. 9: Sacajawea Elementary School, 9501 20th Ave. NE
• Dec. 10: Stevens Elementary School, 1242 18th Ave. E

Residents can submit written and in-person testimony. In-person testimony will be on a “first-come, first-serve” basis, according to the district.

The district will post details on how residents can participate on its website.

Board members Joe Mizrahi, Evan Briggs and Gina Topp will preside over the hearings. Mizrahi will serve as chairperson. They are part of the "Ad Hoc Site-Based Hearings Committee."

I find it interesting that Briggs is part of the hearings given how she chickened out over talking to her region's PTA officers and parents.

Instructions for providing testimony or written comments will be provided on the agenda which will be posted no later than 24 hours before the meeting on the Board Meetings page.

Also, KING 5 tv reported yesterday that the October enrollment for 2024-2025 is 49,240 and for 2023-2024, it was 49,226. There were 53,000 in 2017. As well, 

K-5: Better than expected

Jr. (sic) High: Enrollment up with at least three schools exceeding expectations.

High School: Steady

This story has more meat to it than most; I recommend listening in.