Budget shortfall forces tough choices at Seattle Public Schools
Board takes up task of determining criteria for possible closures

By DEBORAH BACH

To Meany Middle School Principal Princess Shareef, the worth of a school cannot be measured solely by classroom capacity, enrollment projections or overhead.

Meany's value shows instead through the knowledge teachers have about their students, the increase in the number of seventh-graders staying at the school instead of transferring elsewhere, the waiting list the school had last fall for the first time in years.

It has also made gains, albeit modest ones, on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the statewide test administered each spring.

"Our feeling, truthfully, is that we're kind of the mom-and-pop of middle schools," Shareef said. "We're really hands-on. We really know the kids and the kids know us."

But at 464 students, Meany, located in a building on the east edge of Capitol Hill that hasn't undergone a major renovation since it was built in 1955, is the district's smallest regular middle school.

The scenario doesn't bode well for Meany as the Seattle School Board considers a proposal by Superintendent Raj Manhas to close up to 20 elementary and middle schools starting in 2006-07 to head off growing shortfalls projected for the district's operating budget.

Two of the elementary schools that seem to rank among the most vulnerable -- Martin Luther King and North Beach -- are operating in aging buildings and have experienced enrollment drops. But in both places, teachers, parents and principals make an eloquent case for staying open, citing such intangibles as "community trust."

The Complete Story At SEATTLEPI