Next school year, West Seattle Elementary will be closed regardless of the pandemic status; construction will be under way on the project that will expand and modernize the school, including a 2-story, 20,000-sf addition east of the current building, with 12 new classrooms and two learning commons, plus a new entrance, upgraded mechanical systems, new play areas/fields, and technology upgrades. The project is in the permit phase, and Seattle Public Schools has scheduled a community-update meeting. It’ll be online at 6 pm Thursday, November 12th; information on how to watch/participate is on the project webpage, where you can also preview more of the design. The BEX V-levy-funded project, designed by Miller Hayashi Architects, is now budgeted at $28 million; when last we wrote about it in July, the cost was listed as $22 million. Assuming in-person learning has resumed by the 2021-2022 school year, WSES students and staff are expected to spend that year at the former Schmitz Park Elementary, returning to their newly expanded school in fall 2022.