Popular alternative school told to refocus or move out

The 170 students at a Seattle alternative school were shaken by news last month that a classmate had been killed and three other current or former students wounded in two separate shootings.

Now the students — many of whom dropped out or were kicked out of traditional schools — have learned their school itself is in danger.

King County's top transportation official has told the school known as Opportunity Skyway that it must return to its aviation-related roots or move out of its home in an old aircraft hangar at county-owned Boeing Field.

Transportation Director Harold Taniguchi said he delivered that message to Principal Cindy Ortega last week because the 9-year-old school had strayed from its original mission. The school pays no rent to the airport.

Ortega said she expects to move some students out of Opportunity Skyway next semester. She doesn't yet know where the students will go; discussions with the county are continuing.

"It makes me feel like they gave up on our school," said Lanisha Secrest, 17, a senior who chose the small school largely because of the personal attention teachers give students.

The school began as a county-run work-training program for teens and young adults, focused on aviation. Seattle Public Schools assigned an academic teacher to work with the county's occupational-education teacher.

In 2002, when the county stopped funding the program for budgetary reasons, the school district took over and expanded it into the largest of 11 Interagency Academy sites, a network of alternative schools.

"It was a great match," Taniguchi said of the original partnership. "What's happened recently is the programming at Opportunity Skyway has expanded beyond an aviation focus. It's that element that I can't continue to support on airport property."

Before Taniguchi and Ortega could meet to discuss the school's future, four current or former students were shot in separate incidents at Westfield Southcenter Mall and outside a convenience store on Rainier Avenue South.

Daiquan Jones, 16, was killed in the mall shooting. The injured boys were 15, 16 and 17. One returned to school Thursday.

The shootings heightened safety concerns at the airport, Taniguchi said. But it was the school's lack of an aviation focus, not the violence, that led him to conclude things had to change, he said.

The airport school recently hired a new teacher to work with students full time on aviation projects and on career possibilities in the field. Several airplanes built by students over the years are in the hangar-turned-school.

As the school has grown in popularity, its teaching staff has grown, focusing more on academics and behavior issues. Ninety-six students graduated last spring — a few with GEDs, the rest with high-school diplomas.

Ortega said she will make sure the school restores its focus on aviation.

"That's the original agreement we had with the county, and it makes sense we should be held to that original agreement," she said.

"The program is just so popular because it's so successful working with kids that haven't had success in the past. It's hard for us to turn kids away."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com