Superintendent's Preliminary Recommendation

Analysis by region: SOUTH

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Overview:

There are fourteen neighborhood schools in the South region (Beacon Hill, Brighton, Dearborn Park, Dunlap, Emerson, Graham Hill, Hawthorne, Kimball, Maple, Muir, Rainier View, Van Asselt, Whitworth, and Wing Luke), and two regional alternative schools (ORCA and The New School) that provide a total of 6,194 seats for kindergarten through fifth grade students. There is also one alternative all-city draw in this region (African American Academy), but those seats are not counted in the capacity analysis. Currently 5,558 of the elementary students attending Seattle Public Schools reside in this region. The number of resident elementary students attending Seattle Public Schools is projected to decrease to 5,069 by 2014.

Currently there are 636 excess elementary seats; by 2014 we anticipate having 1,125 excess seats. Therefore, we recommend closing two buildings and repurposing one.

Building Closure Recommendations:

• Rainier View ( school analysis)
• Columbia (currently houses Orca K-5— school analysis)

Building Repurpose Recommendations:

• Whitworth Elementary program ( school anlaysis) eliminated and students reassigned based on the proposed new student assignment plan.
• Whitworth building repurposed from a K-5 elementary to a K-8 alternative school for the Orca program.

Other Recommendations:

• Expand Orca alternative program from K-5 to K-8.
• The New School program ( school analysis), currently located at South Shore building, will be reconfigured from a regional K-8 to a neighborhood K-5 program and will be consolidated at the Dearborn Park building ( school analysis).
• The African American Academy, currently an all-city draw, will be reduced to a South and Central region draw.

Criteria Metrics:

Note: Buildings within the region are ranked on each criterion in descending order from 1 to 16, with 1 indicating the most preferred.

Discussion of the Criteria and Rationale:

In overall ranking, the Rainier View building is the lowest ranked of any building in the region. Although it has a large site size, its building condition is the worst in the region, and it is at the bottom in terms of overall first choices. It also has the second lowest capacity in the region, behind Columbia, which is also recommended for closure (see below). Its geographic location combined with its small building size mean that neighborhood students can be accommodated by nearby schools.

The Columbia building ranks the second lowest across all basic criteria in the region. It has a very small site size, and it located in a commercial area, which makes it less desirable as a school. It has the lowest student capacity in the region, the third smallest site size, and it lacks a gymnasium. The building currently houses the Orca alternative K-5 program, and while the recommendation is to close the Columbia building, we recommend that the Orca program be retained and expanded to a K-8 by moving it to the Whitworth building.

Whitworth, with the capacity for 436 students, is large enough to accommodate a newly expanded Orca K-8 program. While there are other large buildings in this region, the Whitworth Elementary program is among the least popular, with among the fewest number of first choices.

We recommend that the African American Academy, currently an all-city draw, be reduced to the Central and South regions. A majority of the students attending African American Academy reside in one of these two regions, so it is anticipated that changing the assignment plan will have a minimal effect on the students attending the school. Additionally, the costs of providing transportation across the entire city for a few number of students is extraordinary, and reducing the draw will reduce those costs. It should be noted that with these recommendations no elementary, middle, or K-8 schools retain their all-city draws. Two high schools do maintain all-city assignment plans.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Overview:

There are two schools in the South region (Aki Kurose and Mercer) that provide a total of 1,978 seats for sixth through eighth grade students. There is also one alternative all-city draw in this region (African American Academy) but those seats are not counted in the capacity analysis. Currently 2,712 of the middle school students attending SPS reside in this region. The number of resident middle school students is projected to decrease to 2,339 by 2014.

Currently we need 734 middle school seats; by 2014 we anticipate needing 361 seats. Therefore we recommend closing no buildings, and repurposing one building to accommodate the middle school students who live in the region.

Building Closure Recommendation:

• None

Building Repurpose Recommendation:

• Repurpose South Shore building for a neighborhood middle school and South Lake alternative high school and re-entry programs.

Other Recommendation:

• The African American Academy, currently an all-city draw, will be reduced to a South and Central region draw.

Criteria Metrics:

Discussion of the Criteria and Rationale:

With the proposed assignment plan, we need middle school capacity in the South region, given the number of middle school residents in this area. We recommend repurposing South Shore as a middle school to add enough capacity to serve all middle school students in this region, along with Aki Kurose and Mercer.

The South Shore building was originally built as a middle school, and currently houses two different programs: South Lake High School and The New School. As discussed above, we recommend consolidating The New School with Dearborn Park.

We also recommend continuing to locate the South Lake alternative high school and re-entry programs on the South Shore property.

HIGH SCHOOL

Overview:

There are three comprehensive high schools in the South region (Cleveland, Rainier Beach and Franklin) that provide 4,056 seats for ninth through twelfth grade students. There is one alternative high school in the region (South Lake) although those seats are not included in the capacity numbers. Currently 3,981 of the high school students attending Seattle Public Schools live in this region; we anticipate a decrease to 3,192 in 2014.

Currently we have 75 excess high school seats in the region; by 2014 we project having 864 excess seats. We recommend closing no buildings at this time, and we recommend that the South Lake programs remain on the South Shore property, in a new building.

Building Closure Recommendation:

• None

Building Repurpose Recommendation:

• None

Other Recommendation:

• Retain the South Lake programs on the South Shore property in a new building

Criteria Metrics:

Discussion of Criteria and Rationale:

The alternative high school and re-entry programs are important to the students in Seattle Public Schools. The District offers an alternative and re-entry program north of the Ship Canal Bridge (currently located in the John Marshall building; proposed to be relocated to the Wilson-Pacific building; see the Northwest regional overview for a discussion of that move), and the South Lake programs provide the same opportunities to those students living south of the Ship Canal. Continuing to house the program on the South Shore property will allow students to continue to access classes and activities at nearby Rainier Beach High School . Because the South Shore building needs to be re-built to house the proposed new South Shore middle school (see discussion above, in middle schools), the opportunity exists to build the South Lake program a building that suits their needs.