The public wants Seattle Public Schools to provide alternative and option schools, but district administrators sadly
aren’t listening
Having failed miserably last year at trying to sell austerity as a solution for the district’s budget woes, the people responsible for the governance of Seattle Public Schools are now trying to figure out a way forward that doesn’t entail mass closures of elementary and middle schools, which would be extremely harmful to the community. But unfortunately, despite having renounced those plans, the school board and outgoing Superintendent Brent Jones now seem to be trying to put the district’s alternative and option schools on a path to closure anyway by refusing to enroll students who want to attend.
That’s right: Seattle Public Schools has pupils that want to go to its alternative and option schools, but can’t because the district won’t let them. KING5’s Maddie White did a story on this a couple of weeks ago — here’s the beginning of it:
Low enrollment: it’s what school leaders point to as partly to blame for a daunting budget deficit at Seattle Public Schools (SPS), but families at Wednesday’s board meeting claimed the district has intentionally chosen not to enroll hundreds of students in the district’s option schools.
According to its website, Cleveland STEM High School can handle up to 1,000 students, but last year they only enrolled less than 700 students. So why then, families ask, are students being waitlisted?
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/03/the-public-wants-seattle-public-schools-to-provide-alternative-and-option-schools-but-district-administrators-sadly-arent-listening.html