Tomorrow, Seattle Public Schools was supposed to start a round of community meetings, including one in West Seattle on Wednesday, to talk about the recently announced school-closure proposals – for which most School Board directors had harsh words last week, at a meeting preceded by an anti-closure protest. Late today, the district sent families a new announcement: The meetings are canceled, announced superintendent Dr. Brent Jones, saying, “We are retooling our plans …’ Here’s his message in its entirety (thanks to the parent who forwarded it):
I am taking more time to reflect on plans to bring a consolidation recommendation this October. As a result, I am canceling the upcoming community meetings. A new schedule of engagement sessions will be released soon.
I understand the closure of schools is a very serious topic. After receiving thoughtful feedback from many of you, it is clear we need more time to carefully consider our next steps.
I am working closely with my leadership team to revise our strategy and ensure any decisions we make are sustainable and prioritize the well-being of our students, staff, and families, working together to meet our goals.
We will soon provide new opportunities for community engagement, focused on gathering your ideas and working together to resolve our challenges.
I want to assure you we are taking your concerns seriously. What we proposed last week were initial approaches, which we are now reworking. While our financial challenges are real and it’s our fiscal responsibility to resolve them, it is very clear we need more time to listen and earn your trust as we resolve our structural deficit and revisit our timeline.
I am sorry our proposed options created anxiety for many families who rely on the key programs and innovations within our schools. We are retooling our plans to address these concerns.
It is no secret we are facing tough times. We face a budget deficit that has gone on far too long. Over the past seven years alone, our enrollment has dropped by 4,000 students. Despite this, we still operate nearly the same number of school buildings, and we don’t expect enrollment numbers to rebound for many years. Like many school districts in Washington, the funding we receive from the state has failed to keep up with the costs of providing a quality education to Seattle’s students.
This has been a challenging time, especially the last few weeks, and our school system’s issues will take all of us to solve–in our city and in our legislature.
We stand committed to working alongside you throughout this process. We appreciate your partnership as we strive for equitable and thoughtful solutions that will strengthen the future of our schools and students.
West Seattle/South Park school-board director Gina Topp had moved her community-conversation meeting on Wednesday so as not to conflict with the district meeting. We’re checking with her to see if she’s sticking with the revised time for her meeting, and if she has any other comment.
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