Seattle Public Schools interest in Fort Lawton and call to email city council & school board members

Hi Supporters! Seattle Public Schools sent an announcement to families who had communicated about school boundaries and Fort Lawton land. Below you will see the attached message. At this time, our goals are to continue to advocate to the city council to ensure that the Office of Housing adds a school alternative to the Environmental Impact Statement. We are also asking the school board directors to ensure that the district fully considers this Fort Lawton Land opportunity. Your emails to the city council and board of directors at large will be helpful! We are also including key players who have voiced their support and/or are in an influential position to advocate for a school at Fort Lawton so that you can send them direct emails: council@seattle.gov spsdirectors@seattleschools.org sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov, tim.burgess@seattle.gov Rob.Johnson@seattle.gov bruce.harrell@seattle.gov rick.burke@seattleschools.org Jill.Geary@seattleschools.org leslie.harris@seattleschools.org sue.peters@seattleschools.org scott.pinkham@seattleschools.org And here is the copy of the SPS email: Dear Magnolia and Queen Anne area families: We hope your summer is off to a nice start, we are writing with some updates to boundaries and proposed changes to Fort Lawton. In preparation for the reopening of Magnolia Elementary, SPS began the boundary review process earlier this spring. The boundary review process initially suggested some required movement of students across schools in order to balance enrollment in this area of the city. This potential change created a great deal of community interest and many alternative boundary solutions. Reconstruction of Magnolia Elementary and drawing of the related school boundaries will be delayed. Recent construction bids for Magnolia Elementary came in significantly greater than anticipated. To secure more favorable bid results, the Capital Projects Office recommended, and the Superintendent approved, rebidding the project in the fall of 2017 and likely delaying the school opening until the fall of 2019. With the delay of the Magnolia Elementary project, we will also delay finalizing the boundaries. The delay will provide time for district staff and the City of Seattle to analyze the possibility of adding a school at Fort Lawton. For the past ten years, the City of Seattle has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers on repurposing the Fort Lawton site. The City has proposed using the site for affordable housing, a park, or other city purposes. Many families have expressed interest in adding a school at that site as well. Seattle Public Schools is exploring this idea with city planners. The US Department of Education manages any federal property that might be used for educational purposes. This means, that while the city may be supportive, we still need to meet multiple requirements including: Construction must be completed within 36 months of receiving the land [12 months if not doing major renovations or construction] There must be a current, demonstrated need for the land or building Specificity on educational use [what kind of school] must already be determined And an aligned budget must accompany the request to the US Department of Education Once we have clarity on whether we could meet the eligibility criteria, we will contact the city for further conversation about the timeline and what might be possible. Thank you to the many Magnolia and Queen Anne families who provided feedback during the initial boundary discussions. We look forward to reengaging as a revised timeline is developed and as we learn more about the potential of a school site at Fort Lawton. For boundary questions or comments, please email growthboundaries@seattleschools.org. For Magnolia School Construction or Fort Lawton questions or comments, please email Associate Superintendent, Flip Herndon, ltherndon@seattleschools.org