Time to consider reopening Seattle high schools
As enrollment begins to creep back up, with a bubble moving toward high school, district officials may think about reopening old Lincoln High. And this is the time to make good on promises to improve South End schools.
Seattle Public Schools enrollment has bottomed out and started to climb. School officials expect enrollment to jump 3,000 students between now and 2015, up from today’s 46,000 to about 49,000. It could go higher.
And the projections are “mid-range,” that choice between exuberant and pessimistic made to cushion the prognosticators from error. Not surprisingly, the enrollment predictions, which were developed in connection with the district’s new assignment plan and shown to the school board over the past couple of months, don’t venture into the unknown. They’re based on observed trends in enrollment and data on where public school kids live.
With that conservative approach, the district’s statisticians can only assume, as they did, that the split between public and private school enrollment remains unchanged, with private schools claiming about a third of middle-class kids, as they have for more than 20 years.
What if that changed? What if the public schools got better — or that became a popular view? What if the new student assignment plan works? In the new plan, where a family lives determines which elementary, middle and high school their children will attend. Parents have been crying out for this kind of predictability for years and often give enrollment uncertainty as a reason for choosing private school. If the new assignment plan, scheduled for school board approval at its Nov. 18 meeting, effectively removes that uncertainty, enrollment growth could exceed the mid-range, maybe hit 50,000 five or six years from now.
Elementary school enrollment bottomed out three years ago. Middle school enrollment bottomed out last year. High school attendance will start upward two years from now as that population boomlet moves through the system. It’s this growth in elementary enrollment that’s forcing the district to reopen five previously closed schools. The schools include Sand Point (closed since 1988); Old Hay (Queen Anne) and McDonald (southeast of Green Lake), which will open temporarily next fall in the old Lincoln High School building before moving home in 2011 and 2012, respectively; and Viewlands near Carkeek Park and Rainier View, the city’s southernmost, both closed in 2007 and reopening in fall 2011.
The two years before the growth spurt hits high school age will give the district time to figure out what to do for more high school space. Among the options under consideration is reopening Lincoln as a high school. For the past dozen years it has served as temporary home for students whose schools were under construction.
But reopening schools may have a downside. Bringing the five elementary schools up to code and providing them with new furniture and today’s level of technology is expected to cost almost $50 million, most of which would be raised as part of a $270 million Buildings-Technology-Academics (BTA) levy scheduled for a vote in February, according to Kathy Johnson, facilities planning manager. Given the price tag, it’s likely there will be some backlash from critics who thought the district was too hasty in closing schools in 2007 and again this year.
On the other hand, “families in the north end experiencing more and more crowded classrooms will probably be pretty happy” to support the levy, said Michael DeBell, school board president.
The other cost of the new assignment plan will be keeping the promise to families that all schools will be good schools and that the de facto neglect of some schools, primarily in south Seattle, will end. At Tuesday’s school board work session on the attendance area boundaries around schools, Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and Susan Enfield, the chief academic officer, both promised that group of schools would have more leadership training for principals, more professional development for teachers, and equitable access to materials and technology. But the plans are still in the works and there’s no price tag yet.
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Comments:
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 6:42 a.m. Inappropriate
As a Queen Anne parent, I wanted to voice another reason why the school district ought to consider re-opening Lincoln High School: Queen Anne and Magnolia kids need a high school. Lincoln would be a closer option than Garfield, or even Ballard. With Hamilton middle school nearby, there would be opportunities for creatively using the facilities.
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 10:37 a.m. Inappropriate
I'm afraid I don't agree with ymehdi's comment -- Queen Anne and Magnolia families deserve a school in their neighborhood.
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 10:51 a.m. Inappropriate
Queen Anne/Magnolia certainly seems to be the population to be addressed. Queen Anne High is irretrievably (and short-sightedly) converted to apartments. I do think the district should compare the cost/benefit of re-opening/retrofitting Lincoln vs. a brand new building in Interbay. Neither would be walkable from most of Queen Anne or Magnolia, but at least there's not a ship canal to cross.
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 11:04 a.m. Inappropriate
How about selling the excess capacity SSD properties over time and allowing Lincoln and the other schools to become private schools? It would be better if the SSD enrollment stayed at approx 45,000-46,000 and the 3000-4000 additional kids had the chance to go to private school. Also, the 46,000 number in October of each year usually shrinks as kids graduate early , drop out, or otherwise move on.
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 12:31 p.m. Inappropriate
Good article Dick. I have to admit I had the same thought as I reviewed the recent redistricting maps. Ballard High seems to be serving less and less of Ballard. Using Lincoln to help serve Queen Anne and Magnolia would make sense but this would be a band-aid solution.
Long term, the Seattle School District needs to build a high school to serve not only QA/Magnolia but the growing Belltown, Downtown and Lake Union populations. Perhaps an Interbay or Seattle Center site could be found.
Enrollments will rise and fall around the city over time. Someone should be studying city growth patterns and acquiring school sites. There was a time when new subdivisions were required to provide school sites and open space as part of their proposals. Is anything being required of the condo builders in SLU or Belltown?
Posted Thu, Nov 5, 7:42 p.m. Inappropriate
Thank you for this great article Dick! As a very frustrated parent of 2 North Beach elementary students, it's a breath of fresh air to actually see someone with some options for the mess the assignment plan has created for our high school plans. We live 5 blocks north of 85th, across from NB Elementary. As it stands right now our kids would be sent 4.8 miles away to Ingraham so that students in QA and Magnolia can bus to Ballard High, (which my kids could almost walk to). Rather than send our kids 5 miles away to high school, if things don't change, we will be considering other options, i.e. private.
When I brought up reactivating Lincoln at the recent assignment plan meeting at Ballard High the SSD folks basically scoffed, saying it would be far too costly. Even under their current plan, I understand some estimates put Ballard 300 - 400 students over capacity. I'd love to hear the powers at SSD come up with some practical options, like you have, to get the QA and Magnolia students their own high school. It would be great if they took more input on this from past experts such as yourself.
Posted Fri, Nov 6, 8:52 p.m. Inappropriate
Improve schools with better principal training????
The money spent on "Professional Development" is largely a waste!
If schools were more of a place of learning and less of a daycare and entertainment center maybe this state could climb from 43rd in high school completion back to 39th where it used to be!
Posted Sat, Nov 7, 7:33 p.m. Inappropriate
Those of us living in Queen Anne / Magnolia still marvel at the shortsightedness of the decision to squander QA High School, but what's done is done.
Now that Seattle has turned the corner in establishing truly mixed-use urban neighborhoods in Belltown, Uptown, and South Lake Union, it's time to get serious about making downtown living more feasible for families with children, and address the absence of a high school that can properly serve the QA and Magnolia neighborhoods.
One site that comes to mind already belongs to the Seattle School District - the Memorial Stadium site at Seattle Center. The City has been eager to wrest control of the stadium site away from the School District for many years, since it's a terrific development site and the stadium is an eyesore whose time has passed. The School District should be looking elsewhere (Interbay?) to locate its sports fields, but the stadium site is perfectly located for a public high school to serve downtown neighborhoods and QA/Magnolia...and it already belongs to the Seattle School District.
Rather than being a small "Option School," the Center School (already at Seattle Center) could be expanded into a full-scale high school with its own assigned territory and great proximity to partner institutions providing world-class learning opportunities in the arts, as well as health sciences.
CP
Posted Mon, Nov 9, 11:30 a.m. Inappropriate
Interbay or Memorial Stadium or a City/Schools trade between the two, makes the most sense for a longterm solution for QA/Magnolia. One would have to question the wisdom of initiating busing students to Lincoln when the intent of the current Assignment plan revisions is to REDUCE busing! Besides, remember that Lincoln is a very small site and does not have any athletic facilities, something that can be overlooked for an interim use. Interbay seems ideal and new construction is 20% to 50% less expensive than District remodels of existing buildings.
Greg
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