Seattle Schools to RBHS: We don't have to talk to you

Oh what a night!  We started off at RBHS’s community meeting to address the proposed closure merger of “tha Beach” with Cleveland High school.  While I sat in the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center with over a hundred other concerned community members, teachers and students, district officials were dtown in their big, overpriced building changing the RBHS plan.

Amber Campbell and I noticed earlier today that the RBHS meeting was not on the board calendar.  After numerous calls to various pairs of eyes and ears dtown, it turns out the the District’s policy for sites that are proposed for merger or relocation (but not a closure of the building itself) is that they are not required, thus do not have to host or participate in any meetings, including tonight’s.  You may have valid points to raise about the District’s decisions- – but they don’t have to hear them.  It’s a big fat “talk to the hand” situation right now, and it’s shameful.

While Raj Manhas was an idiot overall (professionally speaking of course), he at least held meetings at every site impacted by his closure decisions; the only thing that has changed here is we have a new Sheriff in town, and she ain’t trying to hear your mouf.

Many got up to speak to the various issues and decisions that have led to the decline in enrollment and academic standards at RB.  That’s not to say that RB hasn’t already made impressive gains, their WASL scores are some of the most improved in the entire state, let alone the District.

So what is going to happen to RBHS?  Well, you had to be dtown, not at RBHS to find that out.  From the District’s “Potential Final Recommendation”:

Option 1

Discontinue the Center School Program (currently at Seattle Center) and assign students to Rainier Beach.

Option 2

Move Aki Kurose program to Rainier Beach and create a 6-12 comprehensive performing arts program at Rainier Beach.  (if you’ll look to my previous post, you’ll see I outlined that option before the District did, because this has been quietly in the works for over a year now)

We have gone from moving Summit K-12 to RBHS to scrapping that after parents clutched their pearls and called their lawyers District reps to object, to merging RBHS with Cleveland, to now either moving in Center School Students, who are also high school students, or moving in Aki students, which are middle schoolers.

Potential Building Closures

TT Minor

Van Asselt

Pinehurst

Genesee Hill

Montlake

Old Hay

Mann

(Aki, depending on HS option chosen)

Potential Discontinued Programs

African American Academy

AS 1

Summit K-12

Meany Middle School

(Center school, depending on HS option chosen)

Other new changes:

Keeping Lowell open, but moving the app to Thurgood Marshall, moving Pathfinder to Cooper, and reassign Cooper students, closing Center School and reassigning them to Rainier Beach, which is now off the closure list.

The next public hearings on the possible school closures will be held next Monday at three locations: TT Minor Elementary, Pinehurst Elementary and Van Asselt Elementary. All meetings will be from 6:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m.

More to come…

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