Happening now: School-closure opponents’ march, rally

Taken a short time ago just after hundreds of anti-school-closure marchers left TT Minor, with full police escort (since they’re marching in the street), headed for Garfield. (We have video in the other direction, to add a bit later [5:28 pm, here it is])

There’s a Cooper contingent in the crowd too – we spotted at least one “Save Cooper” sign. ADDED 3:01 PM: The marchers have just arrived at Garfield – here’s the sign-bearing Cooper reps including Jonah Von Spreecken and Brittany Abbott, who has twin sons at the school:

(added 4:33 pm – closer look at the Cooper reps in this video clip – note the fast-n-furious snow)

(added 11:59 pm – Brittany shared this photo of her sons at the pre-march rally)

(back to 3:01 pm update) And on the right side of this next photo, with the pink sign, is West Seattle-based district watchdog Chris Jackins, who has repeatedly asked the school board to cancel all closure plans:

All the while, snow continued to fall – there’s a little bit sticking on the ground here in the Central District. We’re heading back to HQ to add video. The marchers’ chants included, “School closures/No thanks/Bail out schools/Not the banks.” They’ll be rallying inside the Garfield Community Center for the next few hours. Ongoing coverage at CentralDistrictNews.com. ADDED 8:42 PM: Thanks to Scott at CDNews for sharing his video of Cooper parent/employee Shelly Williams‘s emotional speech at the rally that preceded the march:

Westwood Resident January 25, 2009 (3:42 pm)

I know people don’t like to see schools close, but…
Seattle School District was/is operating schools that had a capacity of close to 100,000 students. The enrollment has steadily declined over the years to around 50,000. To keep open and operating the same amount of schools with a substantially lower student enrollment is a waste of money.
Of course the big battle comes over which schools to close. No one wants to see it happen to “their” school, even though they might see the sense in closing schools to more match the enrollment of today vice 20/30 years ago.
That being said I would be more concerned with what they are doing with the money saved from closing the schools than the actual school closings.

Gina January 25, 2009 (4:04 pm)

I can’t figure out why there are still portables at elementary schools. There are an average of between 400-500 students at present in a school that had @1,200 at peak enrollment during the 60s.

brittany January 25, 2009 (7:29 pm)

thanks for coming out in the snow, tracy!

wseadawg January 27, 2009 (12:18 am)

SPS has closed dozens of schools over the years, and couldn’t stuff 50,000 students into what they have open and operating now. The proposal purportedly eliminates about 2k seats out of 47,000. Demolishing and disposing of portables costs money too. At prevailing wage rates for government work, permit fees, and disposal fees it may cost 10-20k each just to get rid of each portable.

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