At 4 pm today, the Seattle School Board meets for another work session on the BEX-IV levy at district HQ in SODO – which will raise money to build and renovate schools throughout the city. A new draft proposal is on the district website for discussion at the meeting – see it here. Nothing dramatically new for West Seattle, but it does add new details to some of what’s been under discussion:
NEW SCHOOLS:
-The new Schmitz Park Elementary proposed for the old Genesee Hill site would be a 650-seat K-5, this draft says
-The new Arbor Heights Elementary would also be a 650-seat K-5, this draft says
REOPENED SCHOOLS:
-The old Hughes building, currently leased by Westside School (WSB sponsor), would be “upgraded” to reopen as a 304-seat K-5
-The old Fairmount Park building, closed five years ago, would be “upgraded” to reopen as a 304-seat K-5
INTERIM SCHOOL:
-The Boren building is listed as having a capacity as 760 and being “interim location for STEM K-5, Fairmount Park, Hughes, and Arbor Heights” – ostensibly while renovations/rebuilds are under way for each of those schools
Though Roxhill Elementary made its case at a meeting last week for needing renovations, if not a rebuild, or maybe even a move – WSB coverage here – it is not mentioned in the draft. There is a mention toward the end of the document that this proposal could result in a “potential elementary seat surplus in West Seattle.”
The document says that there will be one more round of community meetings in September before the board finalizes the levy plan later in the fall, to go to voters next February. One more note: If you want to talk with West Seattle’s school-board director Marty McLaren about this or any other issue – like the transportation (and therefore bell-time) changes – she has a community conversation meeting scheduled TODAY at Southwest Library (35th/Henderson), 12:30-2:30 pm.
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