Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary and three other Seattle Public Schools campuses targeted for closure in a long and painful system budget process will not be shut down next year, the district has announced. The move as has become the norm with the district’s handling of the closure plans leaves as many questions as answers.

Superintendent Brent Jones announced the full retreat on the shutdown plan as students head into the Thanksgiving holiday this week, saying the months of worry, changing roster of possible closures, and evolving accounting of possible savings from closures “highlighted the need for constructive conversations and collaboration to replace conflict, as meaningful progress for our students requires unity and shared purpose.”

“The projected $5.5 million savings from the proposed closures are significant,” Jones said in the announcement. “However, we agree that achieving these savings should not come at the cost of dividing our community.”

At Stevens on North Capitol Hill, life for the kids continues with hopefully fewer distractions over undoubtedly confusing talk of their small school closing. Announcements for the popular PTA fundraiser holiday tree sale were going out despite the planned closure. Continue reading →

A parents group is calling for action after the Seattle Public Schools superintendent told the school board earlier this week he is considering fully backtracking on a planned shutdown of campuses including Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary.

“This is a pivotal moment for Seattle Public Schools from which we believe it can learn and grow,” the All Together For Seattle Schools group said in a statement. “The district’s announcement that it may reconsider its closure plans demonstrates that the district needs to fundamentally rethink its governance and management approach, and the way it engages the community.”

The group is calling on Superintendent Brent Jones and the district to immediately “abandon its school closure plans,” saying “there remains no benefits to student outcomes or the budget deficit, and enrollment projections are on the upswing.”

Tuesday, Jones announced he is considering shelving the shutdown plan and withdrawing his “preliminary recommendation” in an update to the district’s elected school board. Continue reading →

Families will be demonstrating Tuesday night as the Seattle School Board is scheduled to be updated on Superintendent Brent Jones’s plan to begin a painful period of campus closures including the shutdown of Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary next year.

Friday night, Stevens families were left mostly frustrated in a question and answer session with Seattle Public Schools officials on hand to justify the recommendation to shutter the North Capitol Hill campus and move its students to nearby under construction Montlake Elementary as part of a plan that would begin with four schools closing in the 2025-2026 to help address an expected more-than-$130 million budget deficit.

Repeated details from officials Friday night of the long, multiyear, and seemingly predestined path to shutting down Stevens left many parents frustrated about what will only be around a $1.5 million a year savings, the district says, from the school’s consolidation with nearby Montlake.

“The moment that Montlake went under construction, we knew Stevens was on the slate to be closed,” one parent told the assembled SPS representatives.

CHS reported here on the questions around the proposed Stevens closure after it emerged as one of four Seattle elementary campuses on a list of planned “consolidations” as the district backed down from an initial plan that could have cut 21 campuses from the system after public outcry.

Friday night, district officials repeated the overarching message of what could be a series of shutdowns over the coming years. “Schools need to be a certain size” to be efficient and make sure the district is financially viable,” with “appropriate scale, and appropriate design,” one official said. Continue reading →