President Steve Fischer of the Westwood Neighborhood Council, which organized last Tuesday’s panel-discussion meeting at CSHS (WSB text/video coverage here), sent the list of audience questions that remained when time ran out. As promised, he has forwarded them to the district to request answers online the same way they answered questions (here) from their 2/4 meeting at CSHS. Here’s the list (reading it, we see there is one toward the end that we can answer, as it involves WSB):

Questions Not Asked

Can the school board assign a 3rd party to objectively present the info from this point forward so that the public can make their decisions based on objective data without the influence of hidden agendas?

How to do you keep the students safe?

Is there something about the demographic background of students at Denny and Sealth that the district thinks will not allow these students to succeed unless their campuses are combined?

If we can’t maintain a good math program for high schoolers, how will we maintain one for 6-12?

What happens if in six years into a combined campus we decide we have built a mistake?

Is there any possibility that Sealth could only move out for a duration of 1 year?

How is the district going to get the science and computer labs at Boren up to par for the IB program next year?

What amount of funding and how many additional security personnel will be needed?

Are there statistics indicating whether joint campuses are beneficial or detrimental to the academic progress of students?

What happens to the real estate currently occupied by the portables at Sealth? Could it be adapted for the convenience of special needs students?

Will community and parents have an option of choosing one of the options?

Please specifically define “modernized” classrooms, science labs and computers labs as well as “spaces and facilities” at Sealth that support the IB program. Within the confines of the more limited budget allotted to Sealth’s remodel (less than Denny) doesn’t additional 10 million come out of the levy technology funds?

Coming out of the BEX technology fund is $5 million to pay for infrastructure. Isn’t this $10 million in option 2 taking away from other school projects?

Is the district considering any options that don’t involve cost overruns?

What happened to the “state of the art” athletic facility that was originally promised to replace the Denny sit as part of the “consolidation”?

If the decision is made to go through with option 1 or 2, what does the district plan to do with the Denny property?

Is it really possible to provide adequate oversight of these age groups?

The district is using the student assignment plan because of the high costs of transportation. How can you justify the added costs of transportation by having different start times?

For Carla Santorno: It was stated that combining the schools would give teachers a chance for more deliberate curriculum planning. Is being one block closer really going to make a difference?

Wasn’t the Ignite Mentoring program brought into Sealth to stop the drop out rate?

Community and parental involvement and support have been excellent at both Denny and Sealth, why would that be different if the two schools were co-located?

How many breeches of security have there been this year between middle and high school students with the schools separated?

How can you compare Sealth’s future enrollment to that of West Seattle and Ballard when they did not have middle schools placed on their campuses?

What was the $2 million dollars spent on?

Why if BEX III is for high school renovations a middle school like Denny is receiving a large amount of money instead of being a part of the BEX IV project?

I understand there is 70-80 space shortfall in faculty parking. How is OK to use our residential streets as your parking lot? (Kenyon, Elmgrove, 27th SW, 28th SW have increased traffic and parking problems)

The students “at risk” already skip school and hang out at both Denny and Sealth. How will these students be kept apart on a co-located campus?

What fields are the school teams to use if those facilities are removed make space for Denny in options 1 and 2?

For Carla: You stated that the district does not have resources to create planning time for Denny and Sealth teachers to work together on a shared academic plan. Then how will this be done in light of Sealth teachers moving twice in three years?

It has been stated many times that the “bones of Sealth are sound”. The building has stood through every earthquake since 1957. What truly justifies seismic upgrade when Sealth shows no signs of structural damage?

If safety and money is not a problem why don’t you fix or have a plan to fix the gym floor?

Why can the district spend $100 million on other high schools but not at Sealth?

Is the district planning to combine the campuses of Rainier Beach High and the new school at South Shore?

Is it true that the average tenure of Superintendent nationwide is something like 2 or 3 years? Once built, how long would a combined Denny/Sealth campus be expected to last?

How will all the separate lunches all going to fit into one day?

How will the issue of skipping to go with high schoolers in cars to other lunch locations be addressed?

Do the residents of the Westwood neighborhood agree with Dr. Felder that the Summit 6-12 program has a greater potential for success because it is in a “safer” neighborhood?

Will the district address the “inequities” between the north end schools and the south end schools? The Sealth campus is being shortchanged.

How did “Schools First”, a private political organization get the co-location info (mail it to 45,000 households, not all voting households) but King County did not? How is this not bait and switch?

There are misrepresentations on the district’s website regarding Sealth student polls and Denny staff polls. How can the district use these as factual/accurate representations of the staff and students at both schools?

I heard that the student written article in the Sealth school newspaper was “pulled” because of the opposition expressed. Is this true?

Did legal counsel of the district ask the West Seattle blog to remove the student written article for “factual inaccuracies”, is this true and why?

Why are the response sheets biased towards Denny and the merger? Sealth surveys and concerns are not addressed.

How many drive by shootings have there been at Sealth in the last five years?

Regarding that third-to-last question mentioning WSB, we posted about that in a 2/6 addendum to a 2/3 post. Read it here. (11 days have passed, and we have yet to receive the “correction” the district said would be sent – our offer to publish it whenever we get it is still open.) Meantime, as mentioned previously and frequently, the comment period on Denny-Sealth remains open till school-board members take their final vote a week from Wednesday; their contact info for your comment(s) is here; WSB Denny-Sealth coverage is archived here.)