SPS Policy 6883: School & Instructional Site Closures

School Closure

It is the policy of the Seattle School Board that prior to the decision to close any school buildings(s) for instructional purposes the following steps will occur:

1. Development and presentation of the Superintendent’s preliminary recommendation for school closure(s) and publication of analysis of possible effects of proposed school closure(s) to include:
1. Criteria for school closure(s)
2. Demographic and integration effects
3. Relationship of the proposed closure(s) to any on-going, established long-range program for facility use, and
4. Proposed site classification
2. Public review of the Superintendent’s preliminary recommendation for school closure(s) (minimum of thirty (30) days).  A copy of the recommendation and summary shall be made available in each school proposed for closure(s) and distributed to each school parent organization and community council in the affected area.
3. Public hearing(s) for each proposed site on the Superintendent’s preliminary recommendation for school closure(s) will be held in the general geographic area of the affected building.  The public hearing will be held in the affected school where feasible.
4. Presentation of the Superintendent’s final recommendation for school closure(s).
5. Public review of the Superintendent’s final recommendation for school closure(s) (minimum of fourteen (14) days).
6. Public hearing on Superintendent’s final recommendation for school closure(s).
7. School Board discussion of Superintendent’s final recommendation for school closure(s).
8. School Board Action on school closure(s). (The Board’s final decision shall be made within ninety (90) days of the time hearings are held for each proposed site for closure(s) (#3 above) and no less than seven (7) days after the public hearing on the Superintendent’s final recommendation for school closure(s).)

Notices of the hearings in steps 3 and 6 above containing the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearings shall be published in the Seattle daily newspapers. These notices shall be published once each week for two consecutive weeks, with the last notice to be published not less than seven (7) days before the hearings.

In addition to the notices in the daily newspapers, outreach to potentially impacted communities shall be achieved via a combination of some or all of the following methods:

• Notices in local newspapers
• Notices on the Seattle Public Schools website & television station
• Notices on local television and radio stations
• Notices sent to community centers, libraries, and city neighborhood centers
• Notices sent to families via automated telephone service
• Notices sent home to families in the impacted schools

In the event exigent circumstances make adherence to the above policy infeasible, the Board of Directors may so declare and make a school closure(s) decision following a process consistent only with the minimum requirements of RCW 28A.335.020.

Temporary relocation of students and staff during periods of school building reconstruction or renovation is not considered a school closure and this policy does not apply.

Instructional Site Closure

It is also the policy of the Seattle School Board that prior to the district decision to close an instructional site, the following steps shall occur. An instructional site is defined as a facility or building that houses one or more Seattle Public Schools classrooms. The facility or building may be one site of a multi-site OSPI-registered school and include a physical location not on a school campus, but is where participating students regularly receive the majority of their classroom instruction. Students are assigned to instructional sites via the student assignment plan (e.g., Middle College and Interagency sites).

1. The decision will be considered in the context of the student assignment plan.
2. Development and public presentation of the Superintendent’s recommendation for an instructional site closure(s) which will include the publication of analysis of possible effects of proposed site closure(s). The analysis will contain:
1. Criteria for site closure(s)
2. Demographic and integration effects
3. Relationship of the proposed closure(s) to any on-going, established long-range program for facility use, and
3. School Board discussion of the Superintendent’s recommendation for site closure(s).
4. School Board action on site closure(s).

In the event adherence to the above policy regarding instructional site closure puts students’ safety at risk, the Superintendent is authorized to make the closure decision as long as the Board is informed prior to the decision being made.