Seattle Public Schools closures/consolidations? Here’s the date for the district’s West Seattle meeting about ‘well-resourced schools’ concept

When announcing that its plan for possible school closures/consolidations was getting closer, Seattle Public Schools said it would have a series of community meetings in May/June. Now the list of dates/times is out, including Saturday, June 1, 10:30 am at Chief Sealth International High School (2600 SW Thistle). As reported after the SPS board’s latest meeting, they’re only considering closing elementary schools to create “a system of well-resourced schools,” but that could mean 20 closures citywide. The district is offering this form for RSVPs and questions. Exactly what they’ll present isn’t clear, as the specific list of possible closures/consolidations isn’t expected to be given to the board before June 10th.

3 Replies to "Seattle Public Schools closures/consolidations? Here's the date for the district's West Seattle meeting about 'well-resourced schools' concept"

  • Kyle May 16, 2024 (2:15 pm)

    I really hope the district doesn’t show up and redo what they did in the fall. Did they actually use any of that feedback? They should come with a list of schools, objective criteria, and HOW this will actually save money. Honestly, if we have less kids we need less staff and that is how the operational budget will be rectified more so than consolidating buildings. The other option is go after the transportation blunder where SPS gives $45M+ annually to for profit companies to take a percentage off the top. We honestly should have conversation about making schools more walkable, using car pools, etc. to save money given the fixed bus routes are being used to serve less and less students at higher costs.

  • wsteacher May 16, 2024 (5:17 pm)

    Consolidating buildings do not make school more well resourced. The ratios of student per resources is still the same. (different start times so fewer buses can be used?)I agree with Kyle that looking at cutting transportation costs would be the first priority then looking at the smallest school populations and possibly relocating kids to close-by schools so fewer buildings are closed. 

  • Ryan Colameo May 20, 2024 (8:09 am)

    Is there a public view line-by-line of the SPS spend against budget? I’d love to see that report over the past 5 years to truly understand what is going on. A 9-figure budget deficit does not happen overnight or accidentally. It requires persistent fecklessness. And I think the historical numbers will tell the story that the public deserves. 

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