One factor that used to set Seattle aside from many main metros was its public faculties and who attended them — nearly everybody: middle-class, low-income and prosperous children.
As of late, nevertheless, Seattle dad and mom could possibly be forgiven for questioning if the varsity district needs them gone.
In response to a $104 million finances gap and waning enrollment, Seattle Public Colleges has, confoundingly, made little effort to burnish its standout gems and entice households again. On the contrary. Over the pleas of oldsters and children, SPS has threatened its nationally famend jazz music program, promised to upend superior studying and proposed shuttering 20 elementary faculties.
It’s bewildering. Simply final fall, Seattle Superintendent Brent Jones advised The Instances’ editorial board that to carry onto present households and entice new ones, SPS wanted to get higher at “telling our story.” The district has shrunk by 9% since 2019, and Jones appeared to be saying that the bleeding — which prices about $23,000 for every pupil who leaves — could possibly be stanched.
However faculty board members act as in the event that they’d reasonably see each disaffected mother or dad be a part of the 17% who put their children in personal faculties. “Nobody is forcing you to take part,” board President Liza Rankin mentioned at a public assembly final fall. (She was vp on the time and referring to households involved about curriculum. However the highhanded angle was broadly famous.)
Extra puzzling nonetheless, the district’s bookkeepers say closing faculties received’t save the cash wanted, not even shut. Solely mass layoffs can try this. So why is Seattle hellbent on a plan that received’t clear up its monetary woes and is barely prompting extra households to search for an exit?
To be truthful, there are rational arguments for consolidating faculties, and Superintendent Jones has tried to make them: Fewer buildings with extra children will enable for added nurses, librarians and social employees in every, he says. However his pitch lacks conviction. If Jones really believes this transfer will enhance public training in Seattle, it’s previous time to enter communities and present folks precisely how.
It additionally is likely to be instructive to heed a couple of classes from close by Bellevue, which was dealing with comparable issues a 12 months in the past and eyed the same answer — albeit not at Seattle’s scale. In 2023, to handle sagging enrollment, Bellevue floated the thought of closing faculties. However none have been named particularly. No neighborhood knew if theirs can be hit — identical to Seattle at present.
The outcry was speedy and ferocious. With out info, conspiracy theories flew. The anger was so intense safety guards needed to escort Bellevue board members out of public conferences.
Within the midst of this chaos, the district employed a brand new superintendent, Kelly Aramaki, who dialed the warmth means down. He diminished Bellevue’s deliberate closures from three elementary faculties to 2, supplied detailed explanations of exactly the place cash can be saved and determined towards closing any center faculties — not earlier than attempting to reverse enrollment declines by providing an Arabic-language program at dad and mom’ request. That is essential. These households felt heard. And this 12 months, the district has about 600 extra college students.
Pricey SPS, please take this compare-and-contrast train within the spirit with which it’s supplied. Households in Seattle have an enormous coronary heart for public training. They’re searching for a purpose to stay with the general public faculties. Give it to them.
Make them really feel like a part of the answer, reasonably than an issue to beat.
