The families of Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary are not sitting idly while they wait for Seattle Public Schools to announce what campuses it will close.
The district responded to public outcry last month by slicing the planned number of campuses to be closed from more than 20 to five.
Kris Myllenbeck, a Stevens supporter and founder of the designer inflatable pool company Mylle, has shared a letter to the school board with CHS and says that more than 170 people from Capitol Hill have signed on, with 130 providing testimonials about why the North Capitol Hill school should not be shut down.
Families fear Stevens will be on the cut list when the district names its five closures, an announcement they’re expecting next week.
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.
Under the new proposal, SPS would identify the five campuses targeted for closure and turn to a “third-party expert” to “validate the evaluation process to ensure transparency and accountability” based on five criteria:
- Building condition: Physical building safety and health levels Â
- Learning environment: Facility’s design in support of all types of learningÂ
- Analyzing enrollment and capacity: Facility’s ability to hold 400+ students, including space for intensive IEP services and preschool classroomsÂ
- Minimizing disruption for students and staff: Facility’s ability to keep as many students and families together as possibleÂ
- Maintaining student access to specialized service models: Facility’s ability to house the resources students need to thriveÂ
Stevens could find itself on the final cut list. The campus reached a peak enrollment of just over 400 in 2013 when the district adjusted area attendance boundaries to address concerns about overcrowding at the school.
The full letter from the Stevens supporters is below.
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Thank you CHS for sharing this – Stevens is such a sweet school and it’s so maddening that the district keeps shrinking the enrollment and blaming private schools instead of their aggressive re-districting.
What a bummer it would be if Stevens closes. Our two kids attended there and it was such a great buiding and community.
Sorry, but “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.” should be amended to include something like “not to mention a massive pay increase agreed to last year by the School Board who knew the budget for it wasn’t identified”.
Accountability is something we seem to have forgotten about.
Got it. So you’d like people to be accountable for keeping pay commensurate with inflation? What I understand from your comment is that you prefer teachers, one of the professions most known to be underpaid, to have their salary fall further behind inflation? That’s a cool way to address school budget. Much better than wondering about the decrease in % spent on education YoY from the state budget.
Paying the teachers is good, but not if you don’t have the money. In this case they paid the teachers when they knew they wouldn’t have the money, with ballooning deficits, potential massive school closures and further disruptions resulting. That is not the way to run an organization.
Thank you for sharing! The Steven’s community has been such a support for my daughter and our family. It is is too great to lose. Go stars!
Stevens has been more than just a school to me and my children for the past 3 years. It was family, support, community, comraderie and genuine care. Not just for the kids when they were in school, but beyond. The way the parents and staff constantly work together to meet the needs of this community, with love, dignity and compassion was more impressive than any non profit or social service group in this entire city. The engagement level of the teachers AND principal, everyone was on first name basis, always in touch, the lines of communication were always open and ran smoothly. When we were unhoused last year, Stevens became HOME, our one piece of stability, support, comfort. The entire staff was with us, the entire school was with us. We remained fed, sheltered, clothed and unforgotten, because of this community, this school. We became housed again, because of the support and with the help of the entire community, all the families who showed up and lifted us up. No, Stevens is not just a school and the loss of this spirit and community care will be devastating in more ways than just educationally to so many.