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ELLEN M BANNER –THE SEATTLE TIMES Students run to recess from their portable classrooms at Schmitz Park Elementary in West Seattle. The school has 12 portables and is getting two more double ones this summer. |
From our news partners at The Seattle Times: Big new schools to be built in the next few years will ease overcrowding in the Seattle school district, but in the short term, the problem will get worse before it gets better. By Linda Shaw.
With the passage of its $695 million capital levy last Tuesday, Seattle Public Schools is now moving forward with plans to replace, expand and fix many aging and overfilled buildings.
But in the short term, the crowding that already plagues many schools will only get worse before it gets better.
To squeeze an estimated 1,300 more students into its schools this coming fall, the district plans to place 24 to 30 more portable classrooms across the district, bringing the total number to 214-220. A few schools already have a dozen or more.
More art and music rooms will be converted to regular classrooms, and at least two schools will continue to hold small-group lessons in aging RVs.
The levy — the largest to pass in district history — will help eventually, of course. Over the next decade, the district plans to renovate nine schools and build or rebuild eight others, to handle an additional 7,000 students.
Yet all that won't happen overnight.
