Tuesday night is the final meeting in Seattle Public Schools‘ series of community conversations about defining “well-resourced schools” – considered to be a prelude to a possible recommendation of closing/consolidating some schools. That meeting will be held online at 5:30 pm. Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones is expected to deliver his recommendation in November. Also as a prelude, the School Board met this past Wednesday for what was described as a “budget work session,” though few numbers were presented. See the meeting documents here; the video is below:

“We’re back at it again,” Dr. Jones declared, noting that the district had solved a $131 million budget gap for this year, in part with $81 million in non-recurring funding, and now face a “$105 million challenge.” Deputy superintendent Dr. Art Jarvis noted, “Small schools no longer match the state (funding) model.” Our area’s school board director Leslie Harris observed that “closures and consolidations are coming .. this is coming at us like a tsunami.” Though district administrators promised to keep advocating for better state funding, chief of staff Bev Redmond observed, “Our answer has to come from within.” The bulk of the discussion was geared toward process, including this timeline:

That includes the date for Dr. Jones’s recommendation – November 15th.

Back to this Tuesday’s 5:30 pm online community meeting: As of Wednesday’s board session, Redmond said more than 300 people had registered to attend; the link is here. And if you haven’t yet answered the survey that’s been circulating throughout this process – you have until Friday (September 29) – find it here. (If you missed the Southwest region in-person meeting last month, our coverage is here.)