By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Three weeks after Seattle Public Schools superintendent Dr. Brent Jones announced plans to close Sanislo Elementary and three other schools to save money, district reps came to Sanislo tonight for an info/Q&A session.

Parents and students around the room came for a fight, though the district reps on hand weren’t the decisionmakers (ultimately, that’s the School Board). They held signs like the one below to show their support for the Puget Ridge school and its staff. Principal Erika Ayer opened by talking a bit about the school’s history and traditions. But the night was largely short on specifics – talk of a “transition,” but not of how exactly it would work.

District chief of staff Bev Redmond filled in for the superintendent, who she said is sick. She said “he would tell you …. this is one of the hardest conversations to have with a (school community).” First came a presentation led by Dr. Marni Campbell (below right), the administrator overseeing the process, who said they’re in a “30-day period of public review” for the proposed closures. She insisted the district isn’t taking the closure/consolidation plan “lightly” but that it wants to ensure students have access to things they can’t do at a smaller school. The slide on the screen made lofty promises about “enhanced learning” and expanded “holistic support.”

Next, director of school operations Tyler Hamilton (above left) took the mic. Why is Sanislo one of the four schools targeted for closing? A slide carried three points: “Building condition and learning environment scores” was at the top of the list. Sanislo is in poor condition, Hamilton said, and its learning environment (“design of the building”) is “fair.” (Sanislo has a unique open design.) Also, “regional distribution of students” is a factor, and “which buildings in West Seattle make the most sense to use as schools.” He showed enrollment numbers from last month – 140 currently at Sanislo, 263 at Highland Park Elementary, with which it’s proposed to be merged. The grid he showed also looked at staffing, some of which would go down per student – one principal and a halftime assistant principal for the combined schools as opposed to two fulltime principals for the two schools, for example. A half-FTE librarian for the combined school – as opposed to half for each school.

Then came a slide selling the benefits of HPE – “a well-resourced, updated facility,” for example. They promised a “full continuum of special-education services.” Campbell said the hope is that the two schools would truly come together, even a merger of PTAs.

Next step: A hearing in December, she said, but while the closure isn’t yet a done deal, it’s important to think ahead to “what will we do, what could we do.” That led, about 20 minutes into the meeting, to the moderator for Q&A. They offered the chance for people to speak aloud or write their question on a card.

Ken was first at the mic. “This is a good school,” he declared, and then brought up Chicago’s unsuccessful bout with school closures. “Why are you closing Sanislo without evidence that it benefits students OR the budget?”

District chief operations officer Fred Podesta said they have a history of opening/closing buildings and they do know how it’ll affect the budget but they really want to invest in “schools that will be successful.” He claimed very few districts have schools with fewer than 300 students – while SPS “has 29.” “We think we can replicate what’s great” in creating these consolidated schools.

Another parent said her student will have less weekly access to arts and music, and that consolidation will mean less attention for the students already at Highland Park, so why is that better? Hamilton said Sanislo has extra music “purchased through a grant” and that’s not shown in the charts they’ve been circulating, so the situation may be better than it looks. Campbell said the teacher positions follow the students – not necessarily the same teachers, though.

The moderator then read written questions which again noted the lower per-capita staff numbers projected for the combined school, Hamilton said they’re “still working through the budget” to see what the actual plan would be. Another question again focused on the strain that will be placed at Highland Park. Campbell said that all the school administrators citywide involved with this “see the benefit of more students.” She claimed Highland Park’s principal Mary McDaniel had said it was getting harder year by year as the enrollment got smaller and smaller (some scoffing was heard in the crowd).

A parent of two Sanislo students broke into tears as she took the mic. “How can you guys guarantee that our kids aren’t going to bear the brunt of the (budget) fix – what are you guys going to give up?” The district is who broke the budget, not the kids, she said. “Do you have plans for busing the families who live super-far from Highland Park?” She said the staff makes this a special place and if the consolidation goes ahead, she wants to see them go with the kids.

Chris Carter, the district official who supervises principals in this region, and is their liaison with the central office. He said, like Redmond, he wanted to recognize “how hard” this is. “What does the transition look like? All the key stakeholders,” he said, talking about “building transition plans” for staff, students, families.

Ann, both a community member and the nurse at Sanislo and Roxhill, talked about the school sitting in the Longfellow Creek watershed, and being among the most linguistically diverse schools. Low-income children, children of color, benefit from being in these environmental spaces. Roxhill was moved from being next to the greenspace. Now Sanislo is being proposed for a move, and how does that affect social/emotional health? Campbell said that’s “definitely something to take under consideration.”

Back to cards – why aren’t the actual teachers following the kids, who will “lose contact with trusted teachers and staff.” Hamilton said, “We want the communities to be able to move together,” but they also have to honor labor agreements.” But “we want staff who want to move with the students to be able to do that.” But, he said, if enrollment keeps declining at individual schools, they have to make hard choices about what to let go, and this should reduce that.

A question read off a card was from a parent wondering if she’d be able to transfer her student to Louisa Boren STEM K-8. “That would happen during the open enrollment period,” replied Campbell. She added that they could have a “school-closure tiebreaker” to give some preference to families like that.

It was almost 7 pm by then; Redmond offered to extend it 15 minutes, as they had done at a similar meeting at Sacajawea.

The next questioner at the mic talked about her son getting extra reading help from a teacher, which she said might not be available at a larger school. She recalled that a lack of attention like that was a challenge during her school days. What are you going to do for kids not to get passed on when they don’t know the material?

Whatever transition happens, Campbell said, they’ll maintain the “caring relationships you’re talking about.”

Next at the mic, a Sanislo graduate, offering “more of a thought,” and breaking up – “This is personal to us – aside from learning, teachers, they were like our parents. They could scold us. My mom gave permission to anybody at this school to scold me.” She talked about Sanislo’s open layout, not “stuck behind four walls.” She wanted to know what opportunity people have to “raise money, get grants” to try to help with the budget problem rather than see the school “ripped away.”

What are you planning to do with the school and land if Sanislo does close? Podesta answered that, saying they’d keep the property in their inventory and “look for interim uses … as the city grows and grows it’s harder to find property” so they’d keep it, but hopefully make the greenspace available to the community. The building, though, might be torn down.

Note-card question: How does the superintendent justify accepting a raise when the district has a budget deficit? Redmond said “yes, the superintendent did receive a cost-of-living adjustment” – that drew laughter – “I won’t justify that, but” it was part of the “terms of his employment.” But, she said, “we have to hustle” to tell legislators “our schools deserve the maximum funding … we don’t want to be in a position like this.” She returned again to “It’s incredibly hard to have this conversation … I can see the love resonating in you … our next step to balance the budget is to head to Olympia.”

One more person had a turn with the mic, and impassioned words: “I’m not hearing any solution for our kids – where are our kids in this? I don’t want to lose all this for my daughter to be like a sardine.” Also, she wondered, where will the other $94 million budget savings be found. “How will you fix your mistakes by closing this school? You say this school is old … that’s your fault. … How do you say these things, with no solution? Sanislo has a lot of people behind it” – multiple generations of supporters. “You can make a family in a school – give us a solution – I’m pretty sure Highland Park already has enough work – I hope there is time … make a difference, make it work, for our kids.”

And with that, the meeting was a wrap – after the moderator was interrupted by the last speaker standing up again to say “Sanislo, we love you, we are a family.”

The next meeting will be November 25th, and they hope to have online access for that one as well as in-person.