As Seattle Public Schools start classes today, Pathfinder K-8 principal David Dockendorf and his student body – now grown to almost 500 – begin in the Cooper building on Pigeon Point. As you heard him say during those remarks at the “opening ceremony” last night, Pathfinder is finally under one roof, after years on the former Genesee Hill Elementary (now closed) campus with some classes in portables. He also acknowledged the difficulty of the changes for those who were displaced by the district’s closure process, including the hundreds who were in the Cooper Elementary “program” when it closed. Also speaking at last night’s Pathfinder ceremony, Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen:

This morning at Pathfinder, principal Dockendorf and PTSA president Akemi Hart will welcome parents with a reception after their children have gone off to class.

Start times are big news at many West Seattle public schools this year – Pathfinder will start classes at 8:20, not long after the start times at the public middle and high schools here, but many elementaries are starting later – as late as 9:25 am, at Sanislo and Schmitz Park. (Start/end times districtwide, school by school, are listed here.) The district says the new transportation policies that led to start/end time changes will save $2.2 million.

Other SPS notes for West Seattle – Several local schools start the new year with upgrade work completed over the summer (Alki and Lafayette among them); this is the second and final year that Chief Sealth High School will be in the Boren building, as renovations and upgrades are completed at its permanent campus, where a new Denny Middle School is being built (scheduled for occupancy in 2011). Aside from Boren, other shuttered schools in West Seattle – Hughes, Fairmount Park and most recently Genesee Hill – are scheduled to remain idle this year.

Today of course also is the first day of school for most of the West Seattle private schools that haven’t already started: among them, West Seattle Montessori (WSB sponsor) opens its new campus in White Center; Tilden School starts with a half-day today, and a Back-to-School picnic tonight. (Got school news? Let us know!)