Board Splitting

Seattle school closure plans stir doubts

By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times staff reporter

Five months into the Seattle School District's second attempt in a year to close schools, the School Board has divided the city into quarters, appointed a citizens committee and accepted public comment at a series of meetings.

It's right on schedule to decide by midsummer which schools to close in 2007-08.

But wait.

Two board members want to redraw the quarters to resolve a question of inequity.

Two think the public comment is unbalanced because not enough people of color have shown up for meetings. Another is worried that teachers have been left out.

And one member believes the citizens committee lacks diversity.

Any of these issues could be a deal-breaker for the seven-member Seattle School Board as it attempts its toughest political feat in years. As the process moves into its most controversial phase this week, when a citizens committee recommends which schools to close, a philosophical split on the board could stymie the effort.

Public meetings


The deadline for the citizens committee to give its recommendations to the School Board is May 30. The board plans to vote July 26.

Public meetings on the preliminary recommendations will be held:

• Saturday, 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Madison Middle School, 3429 45th Ave. S.W.

• May 22, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Aki Kurose Middle School, 3928 S. Graham St.

• May 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Meany Middle School, 301 21st Ave. E.

• May 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N. 41st St.

• May 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Aki Kurose, for the bilingual community.

One group of board members wants to stay on schedule despite opposition. Another group wants to air and resolve all issues before moving on, even if it means a setback.

The whole board does seem to agree on one thing: There's a lot at stake. Besides the $4.8 million a year the school closures would save, the board's credibility also is on the line. And the board depends on its credibility to persuade state lawmakers to give the district money. There is even talk of trying to change state law to appoint, rather than elect, school boards if this board fails to close schools.

The Seattle School District faces a $15 million budget shortfall for next year and a $25 million shortfall for the following year.

Enrollment in decline

Seattle Public Schools taught 97,267 students in 121 buildings in 1965. Forty years later, the district has 99 buildings — but only 47,000 students. It hasn't closed a school in 19 years.

Superintendent Raj Manhas presented a plan last year to close 10 schools, but community pressure and lack of board support forced him to withdraw it. He appointed a committee of education experts and stakeholders to review the district's finances; the group criticized Manhas and the School Board as indecisive and recommended they close schools.

That process started in January, and now the district leadership seems to be bracing for an onslaught of public opposition that hasn't surfaced.

The board is accustomed to controversy.

Darlene Flynn, Irene Stewart, Brita Butler-Wall and Sally Soriano won their seats in a major upset in 2003. They were crusaders — activists for change and critics of the status quo. But now that they're in power, the four rarely agree. They joined Mary Bass, the longest-serving board member and a self-described naysayer.

Last year, voters added Michael DeBell, who won by criticizing the existing board, and Cheryl Chow, a schools insider and the only member with significant political experience, from years on the Seattle City Council.

It's a board free of political climbers and full of passionate opinions. There are no teams. Votes are so unpredictable that members themselves are often in suspense.

"Every board member views each issue afresh," said Butler-Wall, the board president.

A recent measure to transport high-school students on Metro buses looked like a sure thing but failed unexpectedly when a couple of members changed their votes. (A revised version of the plan later passed.)

Soriano said she changed her mind during the meeting. And she thinks that's how it should be. She said she ran for office to upset a rubber-stamp School Board that seemed to agree on everything.

"I don't think lockstep speaking with one voice is the way you want a governing body to work," she said.

"Bringing up the truth"

The issues threatening to derail school closures concern equity and race — things this board has agreed to make a priority. Bass, who is concerned the Central Area has been treated unfairly, said people shouldn't blame her for delaying the process. They should look instead at those who caused the problems in the first place.

"Bringing up the truth is going to slow down the process, [but] the fact that someone's trying to obscure the process is [also] going to slow that down," she said.

But the board has to move past such disagreements if it's going to succeed in closing schools, said Paul Hill, a University of Washington professor and executive director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education.

Hill said the board must accept the citizens committee's recommendations. If the board decides not to close any of the schools on the committee's recommended list, "they'd better watch out because there will be a huge backlash," he said. Groups will realize the board is susceptible to public pressure, so they'll ramp up the opposition. The whole thing could unravel, he said.

A split vote, he added, would send a message that the board is unstable.

"I don't think you can close schools 4-3," Hill said. "That's something that the board better get its act together on right now."

Barbara Schaad-Lamphere, a former Seattle School Board member who organized a political-action committee (PAC) last year to support a slate of candidates, including DeBell, said unity is critical.

"In a school board, you can't have your own agenda because you can't move things forward," she said.

City Councilman David Della, chairman of the council's education committee, said he's keeping a close watch on the process, which he hopes will lead the board to a unanimous vote. It will be crucial for the board to keep its focus on making schools better, he said.

"Every step of the way, I think the public is looking at the school district for leadership," said Marianne Bichsel, spokeswoman for Mayor Greg Nickels. "And the mayor's office [is] as well."

Lawmakers watching

State legislators are watching, too. Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, said she supports extra pay for King County teachers because of the high cost of living here. But she said it's hard to persuade other lawmakers when the district pays to keep open so many underused buildings.

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Bellevue, said he hopes Seattle will close schools to demonstrate the district is getting the most out of the money it has.

"Some of the time you make decisions that are unpopular, and you still have to make them," he said. "If they can't pull it off, I'll be very disappointed in their ability to make rational decisions."

Some community leaders even say privately that an appointed school board would be more effective than the elected board Seattle has now. The Legislature would have to authorize appointed boards.

Della said that might be an option if the closures don't go well. The community wants more accountability for the school system, he said.

"I'm choosing not to focus on that," he said. "I want to give the School Board and the school district a chance to see their way through this."