Seattle Public Schools’ strategic plan, Excellence for All, includes a commitment to manage the District’s facilities more wisely. We have thousands of excess classroom seats, as well as an imbalance that leaves some schools crowded and some under enrolled.
The superintendent’s Final Recommendations on District-wide capacity management are based on the preliminary recommendations announced November 25. They have been modified and strengthened based on questions and comments from School Board members; comments and testimony from hundreds of staff, family and community members; and additional analysis. These recommendations will move Seattle Public Schools toward the goals established in Excellence for All. They will strengthen the District’s ability to deliver on the promise of an excellent education for every student by:
- Moving or adding programs to improve equity and access to quality programs across the District
- Focusing resources on fewer facilities and programs in order to protect our long-term fiscal health and strengthen our ability to support student learning
- Improving the balance of classroom capacity with respect to projected enrollment and the geographic location of school-aged children in the city.
THE NET EFFECT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT’S FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS:
· Five buildings will be closed, one of which will be closed temporarily and may reopen;
· Eight programs will relocate from one building to another;
· One new program will be created (a new K-8 school in Northeast Seattle); and
· Five programs will be discontinued and their students reassigned to new schools in fall 2009.
This plan would achieve estimated net general operating fund savings of $16.2 million (M) over five years, factoring implementation costs in the first two years of $1.9 M. In addition, net savings from deferred maintenance (capital costs) are estimated at $33.1 M over the next three years, inclusive of $0.5 M in implementation costs.
|
SUMMARY OF SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FINAL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS |
|||
|
BUILDING CLOSURES |
RELOCATED PROGRAMS |
NEW PROGRAMS |
DISCONTINUED PROGRAMS |
|
Genesee Hill Mann T.T. Minor Van Asselt Old Hay (may be temporary, depending on enrollment) |
Half of Lowell APP to Thurgood Marshall Half of Washington APP to Hamilton NOVA to Meany Pathfinder K-8 to Cooper SBOC to Meany T.T. Minor Montessori to Leschi Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Dunlap and Hawthorne Van Asselt to AAA |
New K-8 at Jane Addams
|
African American Academy Cooper Meany T.T. Minor Summit K-12 |
GETTING INVOLVED: More details are available at www.seattleschools.org. Information about how to provide feedback on these recommendations is included on page four of this document.
WHICH BUILDINGS AND PROGRAMS WILL BE AFFECTED?
The Final Recommendations address the District’s imbalance in capacity: there is currently too little classroom space in North Seattle to meet demand, but too much space in the Central, South, Southeast and West Seattle clusters. By balancing capacity with demand, the District can use its resources wisely, meet student needs and ensure that every student has equal access to a high quality educational program.
|
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FINAL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS (1/6/09) |
||
|
NAME |
BUILDING |
PROGRAM |
|
Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center (SBOC) at Old Hay building |
CLOSE Old Hay building (may be a temporary closure depending on enrollment growth) |
RELOCATE SBOC program to Meany building and co-locate with NOVA |
|
Washington Middle School |
CREATE space for Meany general education students at Washington Middle School building |
RELOCATE half of the APP program to Hamilton Middle School Other half of APP program and other students remain |
|
Meany Middle School |
HOUSE co-located NOVA and SBOC programs in Meany building |
DISCONTINUE Meany program and reassign students based on where they live |
|
Hamilton Middle School |
ADD half of the APP program from Washington Middle School to Hamilton Middle School |
ADD half of the APP program from Washington Middle School |
|
NOVA program at Mann building |
CLOSE Mann building |
RELOCATE NOVA program to Meany building and co-locate with SBOC |
|
T.T. Minor Elementary |
CLOSE T.T. Minor Building |
RELOCATE T.T. Minor Montessori to Leschi DISCONTINUE T.T.Minor Elementary program and reassign students to Lowell Elementary |
|
Leschi Elementary |
ADD Montessori from T.T. Minor to Leschi building |
ADD Montessori from T.T. Minor Current Leschi students remain |
|
Lowell Elementary |
CREATE space for general education students at Lowell building |
RELOCATE approximately half of elementary APP to Thurgood Marshall with half remaining at Lowell Elementary REASSIGN T.T. Minor students to Lowell Elementary At this time, no major relocation of the Special Education programs is contemplated. However, service needs and availability across the district continue to be evaluated in an effort to bring services closer to where students live |
|
Thurgood Marshall Elementary |
ADD half of elementary APP to Thurgood Marshall building |
ASSIGN approximately half of elementary APP to Thurgood Marshall RELOCATE two EBOC classrooms to Dunlap Elementary and two EBOC classrooms to Hawthorne Elementary Other Thurgood Marshall students remain |
|
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FINAL CAPACITY MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS (1/6/09) |
|||||
|
NAME |
BUILDING |
PROGRAM |
|||
|
Dunlap Elementary |
ADD two EBOC classrooms from Thurgood Marshall to Dunlap building |
ADD two EBOC classrooms from Thurgood Marshall Current Dunlap Students remain |
|
||
|
Hawthorne Elementary |
ADD two EBOC classrooms from Thurgood Marshall to Hawthorne building |
ADD two EBOC classrooms from Thurgood Marshall Current Hawthorne students remain |
|
||
|
Van Asselt Elementary |
CLOSE Van Asselt building |
RELOCATE Van Asselt program to African American Academy building |
|
||
|
African American Academy (AAA) |
HOUSE Van Asselt Elementary program in AAA building |
DISCONTINUE AAA K-8 program. REASSIGN AAA K-5 to Van Asselt or schools in their home cluster REASSIGN AAA 6-8 students based on where they live |
|
||
|
Summit K-12 at Jane Addams building |
HOUSE a new traditional K-8 in Jane Addams building |
DISCONTINUE Summit K-12 program. REASSIGN students based on where they live |
|
||
|
Pathfinder K-8 at Genesee Hill building |
CLOSE Genesee Hill building |
RELOCATE Pathfinder K-8 program to Cooper building |
|
||
|
Cooper Elementary |
HOUSE Pathfinder K-8 in Cooper building |
DISCONTINUE Cooper program. REASSIGN Cooper students to other schools in West Seattle |
|
||
HOW WILL SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS BE SERVED?
The Final Recommendations above apply only to general education students (except where specified) and students whose needs can be met with resource room services. Seattle Public Schools has also developed recommendations for special education students who require other specialized services.
SPECIAL EDUCATION FINAL CAPACITY RECOMMENDATIONS (1/6/09)
|
PROGRAM |
CURRENT LOCATION |
RECOMMENDATION |
|||
|
Autism self-contained primary program at Summit K-12 |
Summit K-12 at Jane Addams building |
REMAIN at Jane Addams building to become part of the new K-8 |
|
||
|
Generic self-contained high school program |
Summit K-12 at Jane Addams building |
REASSIGN students based on where they live. These services are offered at all comprehensive high schools |
|
||
|
Internalizing Disorder Program (IDP) secondary program |
Summit K-12 at Jane Addams Building |
RELOCATE to Meany Building as part of NOVA |
|
||
|
Autism self-contained program at Meany |
Meany |
REASSIGN students to existing autism self-contained program at Mercer building
|
|
||
|
PROGRAM |
CURRENT LOCATION |
RECOMMENDATION |
|||
|
Behavior Intervention Program |
Meany |
REASSIGN students based on where they live. These services are offered at all comprehensive middle schools. |
|
||
|
Low Grouping Program |
Meany |
RELOCATE to Washington MS |
|
||
|
Low Incidence A Programs (2) |
Meany |
RELOCATE one program to Washington MS and one program to Hamilton MS |
|
||
|
Medically Fragile Program |
Meany |
RELOCATE to Washington MS |
|
||
|
Primary and Intermediate Behavior Intervention Programs |
T.T. Minor |
REASSIGN students based on where they live to schools that offer appropriate services |
|
||
|
Generic self-contained primary and intermediate programs |
Van Asselt |
RELOCATE to African American Academy building to remain part of the existing continuum |
|
||
|
Two autism self-contained and one inclusion program |
Cooper |
REMAIN at Cooper to become part of Pathfinder K-8 |
|
||
HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?
A motion on Final Recommendations will be introduced to the School Board at its meeting on January 7, 2009, and the Board will vote on the Final Recommendations on January 29, 2009. Families, staff and community members are encouraged to provide comments. Opportunities include:
|
Date |
Time |
Type of Meeting |
Location |
|
January 7 |
6:00 p.m. |
School Board meeting |
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence* |
|
January 20 |
6:30–8:30 p.m. |
Public hearing |
Lowell Elementary, 1058 E. Mercer Street |
|
January 21 |
6:00 p.m. |
School Board meeting |
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence |
|
January 22 |
6:30-8:30 p.m. |
Public hearing |
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence |
|
January 29 |
6:00 p.m. |
School Board vote |
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence |
*John Stanford Center for Education Excellence: 2445 3rd Avenue South
To testify at the Lowell or Final public hearings, email hearing@seattleschools.org or call 206-252-0042. For the Lowell hearing, individuals who were on the public testimony list for the original hearing date (postponed due to weather) have first priority. Updated information about the process and timeline will be provided via the district’s Web site, www.seattleschools.org/area/capacity. In addition, comments can be emailed to capacity@seattleschools.org, schoolboard@seattleschools.org or mailed to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA, 98124-1165. The School Board office phone number is 206 252 0040. Comments from December community workshops and hearings are available at www.seattleschools.org. Select “Capacity Management” from the navigation bar on the left.
