By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Since Seattle Public Schools superintendent Dr. Brent Jones decided not to go public with an expected list of school closures/consolidations until September, it’s become a summer of waiting, and dreading, for many involved with the district – staff, students, families. One SPS employee in attendance at School Board Director Gina Topp‘s monthly community-conversation meeting, seeing coworkers and students at summer school, described it as “waiting for a giant hammer to fall.”

Anticipation of, and concern about, what’ll be in the proposal dominated Topp’s meeting, held online a week ago (she switches up formats, locations, days, and dayparts in hopes of increasing accessibility). The director herself, in her first year on the board, representing a district including West Seattle and most of South Park, repeatedly described herself as “disappointed” in the delay, particularly because it will result in a condensed public process between the time the announcement is made and the time the board will have to vote on any closures to take effect in the ’25-’26 school year.

Topp started the meeting with a few updates, including the board’s recent vote to finalize the budget for next school year.

Part of closing a $100 million gap, she said, was an increase in class sizes – secondary classes will have one ore student, on average. The district also is implementing “voluntary athletic fees,” and Topp said the intent is to watch the effects closely, hoping they don’t become a barrier to participation. The board also approved a $27.5 million internal “loan to ourselves” that will have to be repaid.

She suggested that school closures might not be all bad if they result in enough savings to stabilize the district so it doesn’t go through a wrenching budget-cut process every year. But she won’t know if that’s possible until Dr. Jones’s plan is made public, she stressed repeatedly.

One participant wanted to know more about the criteria with which schools are being chosen for potential closure. The toplines have been discussed but not a further breakdown – for example, what is “building condition” based on? Which set of seemingly conflicting district numbers is “capacity” based on? Topp didn’t have the answer but as with many things, promised to ask.

Another participant observed that though the closures supposedly would just involve elementary schools, the entire district is likely to be affected because attendance boundaries will have to be redrawn. That led to a discussion of concerns beyond just the basics of closing/consolidating schools – how will the students be supported as they deal with changes? What resources will be needed – and can the district learn lessons from other districts’ experience? Participants mentioned two districts elsewhere in the country, Chicago and San Antonio, where they said students were “adversely affected,” including with “learning loss,” by school closures.

More questions/concerns: Is there a chance that closing schools will accelerate enrollment decline, therefore worsening the district’s finances? And could the timing of the announcement be moved up to, perhaps, the next board meeting August 28 – since the September board meeting isn’t scheduled until September 18th? This discussion in turn shone light on the current plan for the School Board to start meeting only once a month instead of twice, meaning, among other things, only one monthly opportunity for the board to hear public comment. Topp said she had already put herself on the record as opposed to the once-a-month meeting schedule and will be pushing to restore the twice-monthly schedule.

The school employee who said that waiting is like a “giant hammer” poised to drop said she “can’t believe they’re making us wait” – it’s stressful for everyone, including the students in her summer program, who, she said, keep asking, “What’s going on?” Overall, she declared, “The people in my community are crabby.” She had another topic of concern: Safety. “We need more cameras. The schools that remain open have to be safe for our kids.” She implored Topp to be sure the board focused on safety, and Topp said she agreed that it’s “a massive concern.”

A final concern came from a Pathfinder K-8 parent who reminded Topp that the ongoing issues there – including safety and special-education access – haven’t been resolved, voicing concern that parents’ demand for an administration change at the school isn’t being heeded.

Topp’s final words about the looming closure/consolidation proposal were that she and her colleagues will have to consider, “How do closures give us better outcomes? If (they don’t), why are doing this?” But what “this” will turn out to be, no one knows until the superintendent goes public with the long-awaited plan.

Director Topp’s contact information is on this district webpage.