Four community meetings later, the same central question remained about Seattle Public Schools’ pitch to close about 20 elementary schools by the next school year: Which ones?
But these meetings, at times contentious and emotional, did shed more light on how SPS would decide which schools to shut down, the categories of workers who stood to lose their jobs, and how much of a dent the closures will make in the district’s big budget problem.
While only 20 yet-to-be-named elementary schools are targeted for closure, the impact will be felt in nearly every K-5 building. That’s because SPS intends to redraw attendance boundaries broadly. Only “a handful” of schools might emerge unscathed by the changes, according to Fred Podesta, the district’s chief operations officer.
Read more from The Seattle Times.
