Note: this article was originally published in November 2014.
Seattle Public Schools has built its brand around encouraging neighborhood schools — but it's been 65 years since residents of the downtown core have had one to call their own, despite kindergarten enrollments doubling from 2007 to 2012.
Good news may be in the works for K-5 parents downtown: the Federal Reserve building at Second and Spring, vacant since 2008, may soon be the site of a new elementary school. The federal government is offering it to SPS for free.
With the feds offering up the deal of the century, many downtown parents are lobbying SPS to consider the Reserve as a serious option for a school downtown. There's need for one: the Seattle Downtown Association reports that enrollment in downtown schools rose by 21 percent over the past decade, while citywide enrollment only grew at 7.1 percent. Almost 60,000 people call downtown Seattle home, and the fastest-growing population downtown is children between 5 and 9, according to a 2013 DSA study. About 450 potential students live within one mile of the school; within a mile and a half, that number jumps to 1,000.
The lack of a downtown K-5 hits families hard: parents send their children to schools on Capitol Hill and Queen Anne, requiring bus rides of up to 60 minutes. Without a school to foster relationships, communities falter and play dates are hard to come by. Parents say that having families work, learn and live downtown builds community — and the DSA adds that it reduces Seattle's carbon footprint and makes public transportation more efficient.
The Seattle School Board formally applied to federal officials in July to use the building as a school, but it's not exactly a done deal: officials from the U.S. Department of Education still have to approve the application. In addition, the project is beset by high renovation costs (potentially topping $50 million), competition from homeless advocacy groups, and a federal lawsuit to preserve the building, filed by local historical preservationists. When you consider that SPS is already plagued by overcrowding, a downtown school may not become a reality any time soon.
