Parents battling school closure

Hundreds of frustrated parents urged the Northshore School District to delay its plans to close an elementary school next fall, citing the disruption to about 800 students and unanswered questions about the district's finances.

Parents wore life jackets and held up signs that said "Talk With Us" at a School Board meeting Tuesday night that ran until almost 2 a.m. Many speakers said the School Board was moving too fast in its proposal to close Woodin Elementary in Bothell as part of its plans to cut $3.4 million from the 2008-09 budget.

Board Chairwoman Cathy Swanson told the standing-room-only crowd that while it may seem like the school closure is a done deal, "we're still listening to the community and weighing our decisions."

The district took another step toward the closure Tuesday in announcing student-reassignment plans for the elementary schools that feed into Woodinville High School. Plans call for 367 students from Woodin Elementary, including 225 in the school's dual-language program, to be relocated to Hollywood Hill Elementary, about five miles east. An additional 66 would move to Wellington Elementary.

About 122 Hollywood Hill students would move to Cottage Lake Elementary, with 42 more to be divided between Sunrise and Bear Creek Elementary Schools.

The district estimates it will save about $700,000 annually by closing a school. Enrollment in the district has dropped by about 600 students in the past two years, and the loss of another 600 students is projected by 2010.

The district also has proposed eliminating seven teaching positions, 30 library assistants, three school nurses and 13 administrative-support positions next year.

The Northshore teachers union said it disagreed with the district's income projections. Its own analysis showed the district has $3 million more in revenues than it had a year ago, said Tim Brittell, president of the Northshore Education Association. He also said the union projected a year-end general-fund balance that is $1.7 million more than the board-required 2 percent reserves.

When Swanson suggested that some of the more than 150 people who had signed up to speak at the public meeting instead submit comments to a district Web address, many in the audience booed and held up bright yellow signs that said "Talk With Us."

Parents have complained that no School Board members attended three community meetings on the proposed budget cuts earlier this month. And they asked why the community hadn't been more involved in finding alternatives to closing a school.

"I can't believe school closure would be considered before you consider every other option," said Karen Kapovich, a teacher at Woodin.

Parents, teachers and students at Hollywood Hill Elementary complained that the district was effectively destroying two elementary schools that had built up strong community support and effective educational programs.

Some also wondered how the Woodin students, about a third of whom come from low-income families and a quarter of whom are Hispanic, would fit into the more affluent Hollywood Hill community.

For many families, "it's off to private schools. It's as simple as that," said Peter Burnham, a Hollywood Hill parent.

Others worried that Hollywood Hill's special-education students would suffer in any move.

After the meeting, Brittell suggested that the district was using its enrollment decline as a way to leverage concessions from its unions in upcoming bargaining talks.

District spokeswoman Susan Stoltzfus said posturing in advance of contact negotiations was "a two-way street."

As for the union's budget analysis, she said, "there is no extra money. It will all be spent by August," the end of the fiscal year.

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com