Northshore plans to close Woodin Elementary in Bothell

The Northshore School Board voted Tuesday night to move forward with plans to close one elementary school and cut positions, including library assistants and nurses, to save the $3.4 million needed to balance its 2008-09 budget.

The district recommended closing Woodin Elementary School in Bothell, the oldest of five elementary schools that feed in to Woodinville High School and which were being considered for closure.

About 120 people, many of them teachers and staff from the affected elementary schools, crowded the Northshore School Board's meeting room in Bothell for the meeting.

The Northshore teachers union blasted the proposed closure and blamed the state for underfunding schools.

"If education was properly funded, we would not be here," said Tim Brittell, president of the Northshore Education Association.

Parents also warned that the planned cuts would have a negative impact on a district that has prided itself on quality schools.

"This is not a community that will sit back idly and watch the education system we've invested in whittled away," said Steve Pulse, a Northshore parent.

In announcing the proposed cuts, the district cited rising costs for fuel, health care and utilities and declining enrollments and state funds. Few new homes are planned in the area to the east, where development is restricted. Enrollment at five elementary schools that feed into Woodinville High School is projected to continue to fall, said Dan Vaught, Northshore's executive director of support services.

The district estimates it will save about $700,000 annually by closing the school. The School Board decision initiated a 90-day study period during which it will take public comments and analyze the changes that must be made to bus transportation and the attendance boundaries.

District spokeswoman Susan Stoltzfus said Woodin Elementary, built in 1970, could be used for other district purposes and potentially reopened in the future if growth in adjacent Snohomish County were to continue.

The School Board is expected to announce the new boundary lines in mid-April and finalize the proposed cuts in May. It hopes to make the staffing cuts through attrition.

In a letter to parents Tuesday on the school Web site, Principal Jill Crivello said the district hoped to find a new home for the school's dual-language program and that students would probably be reassigned to Wellington Elementary or Hollywood Hill Elementary.

Robyn Metz, a district teacher and parent, told the board that staff and families believed they hadn't been given honest information in a timely matter about the proposed cuts and that the effects would likely be felt across the district.

"We're dividing communities," she said.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com

This story, originally published Feb. 15, was corrected on Feb. 16. An earlier version of this story mistakenly identified Woodin Elementary as the oldest school in the district. It is the oldest of the five elementary schools that feed into Woodinville High School.