Seattle Public Schools has announced a series of meetings across the city starting next week to discuss its proposals for shutting down up to 21 elementary schools including nearby campuses like Stevens Elementary and McGilvra Elementary to help address a looming budget shortfall.
The meeting focused on the city’s Central Region will take place October 1st. The series is scheduled to begin next Tuesday with an online-only session.
Community Meetings
We are hosting five regional in-person meetings and one online meeting.
- Online: Tuesday, Sept. 24, 6:30 p.m., Zoom Meeting (Families and staff will soon receive the Zoom meeting link, and the link will be posted on our website.)
- Southwest Region: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 6:30 p.m. Genesee Hill Elementary, 5013 SW Dakota St., Seattle, WA 98116
- Southeast Region: Thursday, Sept. 26, 6:30 p.m. Wing Luke Elementary, 3701 S Kenyon St., Seattle, WA 98118
- Central Region: Tuesday, Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m. Kimball Elementary, 3200 23rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98144
- Northeast Region: Thursday, Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m. Olympic Hills Elementary, 13018 20th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125
- Northwest Region: Monday, Oct. 7, 6:30 p.m. James Baldwin Elementary, 11725 1st Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125
Translation and interpretation services will be provided at each meeting. American Sign Language (ASL), Amharic, Cantonese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese interpreters will be available. After the online meeting, a recording will be posted to the district website.
We hope you can join us! Take a moment to RSVP.
Learn more about Well-Resourced Schools plans, timeline, and FAQs.
“In these meetings, SPS leaders will share information on how our district is working to provide every student with the support they need at a school close to home,” the district said in its announcement. “The Well-Resourced Schools proposed options seek to consolidate resources and reduce building operating costs in order to offer stable staffing, art, music, physical education, social-emotional support, and inclusive learning environments.”
CHS reported here on the district’s Option A and Option B approach. Each proposed option would shutter five elementary campuses in the Central Seattle area including Stevens and McGilvra. SPS says the closures would save between $25.5 million and $31.5 million a year.
Cuts in state funding and a forecast for a continued near-term drop in enrollment has the district scrambling to cover a $131 million budget deficit for the current school year with continued financial shortfalls expected over coming years.
While the plan would slice away schools in neighborhoods across the city, it is particularly harsh on the system’s “option schools” which allow students from across the district to choose campuses based on specialized programs. A dozen option schools would either be shut down or repurposed as neighborhood campuses.
Family groups have responded with calls for a pushback on the district’s proposals saying other cutbacks should be considered and making the case that campus closures produce less cost savings than projected. In an op-ed on CHS, the McGilvra Advocacy Committee writes that the district’s effort to close campuses “divides communities, zoning neighborhoods into different schools and dividing classmates, families, and friends, including the deaf and hard-of-hearing community at TOPS.”
“We have enough wealth in Washington to solve the public school budget crisis,” the McGilvra group writes. “We just need the political will.”
The committee has provided a list of actions people can take to advocate against the district proposals.
At a recent count, SPS said it hosted 22 cross-district option schools, 63 elementary schools, 11 K-8 schools, 12 middle schools, and 18 high schools.
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Due to Stevens’ designation as a historical building, it is expensive to operate. The enrollment in the school comes nowhere near matching the building’s capacity.
The school has a wonderful community that interacts with the neighborhood. There is a childcare center attached to it, which would also be closed if the school shutters the building.
Nearby, you have Lowell, whose building is not in good shape. The parts of the roof that caved in last year because of the rain? Sure, they did tear them out, but you still have to wonder how the mold abatement was handled. You would think that shifting some of the population from Lowell to Stevens would be a good idea. The difference in travel time? Lowell already has a geographically diverse population.
It’s not just these two schools that parents should be concerned about. SPS is opening a new middle school next year, which will add 1,000 seats, and there has been no communication about where the students will be pulled from to fill that building.
Both Meany and Washington are not anywhere close to being filled to capacity.