Story by Tracy Record
Photos by Torin Record-Sand
for West Seattle Blog

The message above, one of several inscribed in small “cozy corner” seating spaces scattered inside the new Alki Elementary School, are meant as reassurances for its future students, but could also apply to those who fought over the plan for the ~$67 million rebuild and expansion.

Those battles are in the past, and so are two years of construction. A student body more than 50 percent larger than last year will occupy the new Alki ES in one month – 409 enrolled, compared to last year’s 260, according to principal Mason Skeffington, in part because Alki will be the regional center for Highly Capable education. Skeffington’s in his seventh year as Alki’s principal, and after three of those years in interim quarters at the former Schmitz Park Elementary, he’s excited. He led us on a long-planned tour of his new school earlier this week, along with the district’s project manager Brian Fabella.

We started outside:

Crew members were installing the landscaping for raingardens and other areas outside the school’s new entrance, which faces north, where a side entrance used to open onto a parking lot. The area in front of the school- designed by Mahlum Architects and built by Cornerstone Contractors – is now a “parkway”; the line where concrete pavement gives way to asphalt pavement is the line between Seattle Public Schools and Seattle Parks property. As was the case pre-rebuild, the two will share the playground north of the building:

It’s not finished yet but the plan is for it to be ready to go before school starts September 2. That’s actually the start date for all but the kindergarteners, who start classes on September 8 9. And that date the later start factors into tile work on the front of the school:

Inscribed in the tile work are the high and low tides projected for September 9, the (second) day all Alki Elementary students, kindergarteners through 5th graders, will be together in the new building (which is 8+ years in the works, going back to BEX levy planning in 2018). The tide tiles are near the main entrance, where two sets of doors will enhance security, with the office entrance to the right.

Though the office is a fairly traditional area, with a front desk that will be the gateway to some administrative offices including Skeffington’s, it won’t be a total “hub” type of set up.

Other staffers who serve the whole school have their areas integrated on classroom floors – for students who need services, it won’t be that dreaded “trip to the office,” for example. There are also meeting rooms for everything from staff gatherings to meetings about students’ Individualized Education Plans.

Back to the ground floor, you’ll notice two things about the commons – aka lunchroom: It’s close to the entrance:

And it’s an atrium, with the ceiling open all the way to the top of the building:

Another feature you might not notice until it’s pointed out are two circles in the floor like this:

They represent another feature that Skeffington says the students will learn about – the school itself being “a curriculum” (as mentioned previously) – the caps to the geothermal wells factoring into the school’s heating/cooling system, visible in other ways around the school.

Students will also learn more about stormwater in a small ground-floor courtyard that hosts a stainless-steel cistern and a rainwater-ladder type of feature nearby:

The ground floor is also the gateway to an area that the school will continue to share with neighboring Alki Community Center, the gym:

The Alki seagull logo is a prominent feature on the gym’s new floor:

The gym also has a wall with a 16-foot board that can be used for projection or can be written on.

On every floor, the restroom areas will feature a shared sink but mltiple individual, private stalls:

These are meant for safety as well as privacy. Heading up to the second floor, what comes into view are the views themselves – such as the northward view from this deck:

Most of the staff area (except for a private lactation lounge for nursing/pumping) opens onto the deck, from which you can glimpse the water of Elliott Bay, which is also visible from the big new library:

The upper floors are dominated by teaching and learning areas – and lots of windows.

The hallways are the only places where overhead lighting provides more illumination than natural light through windows:

As with other recently built school buildings we’ve toured around West Seattle, the spaces are flexible, with many different configurations of tables, chairs, and other seating, as well as open hallway-adjacent space where either multiple classes can meet or breakout sessions can be held. There are some specialty classrooms too, like the art room – with a kiln. Throughout the classrooms are tech features both modern and classic, from telephones to emergency buttons to PA systems to outlets accommodating USBs as well as power plugs.

We asked project manager Fabella about his favorite part of the new school. He replied: Its mass-timber construction. Not only does it result in the warm appearance of wood – though most of it is wood-laminate – but it is a major factor in earthquake safety, as the beams and supports will help the building flex in a quake. The method of construction also meant faster framing, he addded, and leaves the building weighing less. Overall, the supports are “like a shock absorber for the building,” Fabella explained.

And he recalled a story told by Duwamish Tribal Council member Ken Workman, about his ancestors being part of the trees, so they’re now part of the building too – as will be the first students to learn in the building starting in a month.

WHAT’S NEXT: Teachers are moving in August 17. That’s nine days before the ribboncutting, 10:30 am Wednesday, August 26th (they’re hoping to be able to allow community members into the building, too). And as mentioned above, Wednesday, September 2 is the start of classes for all Seattle Public Schools students except kindergarteners, who will start (updated) on Tuesday, September 8.

SUNDAY NOTE: Though the principal told us kindergarteners were starting September 9 – and said that was the reason the exterior tilework is inscribed with high and low tides for that date – reader K noted in comments that the district calendar says kindergarten classes start September 8. We asked a district spokesperson about the discrepancy and they confirm that Alki kindergarteners will also start September 8. So what about the tile work – will the date/time/tide inscriptions have to be changed? Reply: They’re “checking with the design team.”