Parents protest Seattle school closures

Roxhill Elementary parents touted their school's diversity and wondered aloud at a Seattle School Board public hearing Thursday night if the school's poverty and high number of students of color made it a target for closure.

Alternative School No. 1 and Cooper Elementary parents questioned how their schools could share space with two other schools, Summit K-12 and Pathfinder K-8.

About 100 people turned out for the first public hearing on the Seattle Public Schools' latest recommended closures for the 2007-08 school year.

They were overwhelmingly opposed to Superintendent Raj Manhas' recommendations to close Roxhill and Genesee Hill, both in West Seattle, and Alternative School No.1, near Northgate. Genessee Hill is home to Pathfinder K-8.

The Pathfinder program would move to Cooper Elementary School, and Cooper students could attend Pathfinder or enroll elsewhere. Roxhill students would be dispersed to Gatewood and Arbor Heights elementaries. Alternative School No.1 would move intact to Summit K-12; the programs would remain separate but share the building.

The recommendations follow the School Board's approval July 26 of seven other closures. In all, the district hopes to save $3.4 million by closing 10 school buildings next school year.

In the coming weeks, the board will hold additional public hearings at each of the three schools targeted for closure. A final public hearing will be held at the district offices on Oct. 24. The board is scheduled to vote on the second phase of closures Nov.1.

Parents criticized the district for recommending closures that would affect more students of color and poor families than other students. Roxhill teacher and parent Chris Robert said district officials are afraid of losing upper-middle-class families to other districts and know Roxhill families can't afford to leave.

Roxhill's enrollment is split nearly evenly among white, African-American, Asian and Hispanic students, most of whom come from families in poverty.

Other parents criticized the district's process, saying more people should have been involved in discussions before the recommendations were made.

"Work with us, talk to us," said Lucy Sloman, an Alternative School No.1 parent. "If A.S. No.1 and Summit are to cohabitate, then we want a marriage of love, not a shotgun wedding."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com