Northshore District won't close school

The Northshore School District won't close an elementary school this year.

The School Board Monday night voted to table plans to close Woodin Elementary in Bothell for the 2008-09 school year. The plan would have relocated about 800 students in Woodin and several other elementary schools that feed into Woodinville High School.

"We're absolutely ecstatic right now," said Tiffany Barker, a Woodin parent. She said families understand that the district still needs to find $700,000 in savings and that the proposal could come back in another year as the district looks for ways to cut an additional $3 million for the 2009-10 budget.

Interim Superintendent Dolores Gibbons made the recommendation to stop the school-closure process at the start of a community meeting at Leota Jr. High School attended by about 200 parents and district staff. She said the district didn't have enough time to properly analyze the closure and its effects on students and families. The School Board unanimously approved her recommendation.

Northshore announced in February its plan to cut $3.4 million from the 2008-09 budget, including eliminating 53 staff positions and closing the elementary school. Hundreds of parents, teachers and staff members turned out at school-board meetings and community forums over the past month to protest the school closure.

Northshore has already cut about $19 million over the past six years. Enrollment in the district has dropped by about 600 students in the past two years, which means a loss of revenue for the district, and the loss of another 600 students is projected by 2010. The district also has cited inadequate state funding for basics such as transportation and special education and the rising costs for fuel, utilities and employee health care.