School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration Task Force

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Brian Schultz and District Academic Officer Mike VanOrden provided an update on the progress of the School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration (SCRCC) task force.

The SCRCC task force is charged with making a recommendation about the most viable elementary school for potential closure in the 2025-26 school year. As has been shared previously, the following schools have been removed from consideration for possible closure: Briarcrest, Cascade K-8, Lake Forest Park, Meridian Park, Parkwood, and Ridgecrest.

This presentation was informational only. No direction was given and no action was taken.

Presentation | Video Recording

At their June 6 School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration (SCRCC) meeting, task force members continued evaluating the remaining 6 elementary schools on the list to be considered for possible closure, with the goal of recommending 2-3 additional schools to remove from further consideration. This evaluation work began at the May 30 meeting, and the task force members agreed that they needed another session to thoroughly and thoughtfully review data, discuss, and narrow down the list of schools.

Schools previously removed from closure consideration:

• Briarcrest Elementary School

• Cascade K-8 Community School

• Meridian Park Elementary School

• Parkwood Elementary School

At the June 6 meeting task force members revisited the task force’s school closure consideration criteria, data provided at previous SCRCC meetings, and the group’s scoring from the prior meeting. The task force members used this information and  group discussion to inform their votes for which schools to remove from closure consideration.

Schools removed from closure consideration on June 6:

• Lake Forest Park Elementary School: Lake Forest Park serves a relatively diverse population and a large number of families supported by subsidized housing, including families who speak English as a second language. Closure of this school would also have a relatively greater impact on middle school enrollment patterns and other schools during a boundary process.

• Ridgecrest Elementary School: Ridgecrest serves a diverse population of students and receives federal funding to allow all students to receive free meals through the Community Eligibility Provision. Closure of this school would also have a relatively greater impact on middle school enrollment patterns and other schools during a boundary process.

The remaining 4 schools will be carried forward to the fall for further consideration for and analysis of possible school closure for the 2025-26 school year, with the goal of recommending 1 elementary school to the School Board for possible closure:

• Brookside Elementary School

• Echo Lake Elementary School

• Highland Terrace Elementary School

• Syre Elementary School

SCRCC task force process for fall 2024 (meeting dates TBD):

• Review back-to-school enrollment data

• Consider existing and additional data requested by the task force

• Recommend 1 school to the School Board for possible closure

• Public hearings during the 90 days before a school district’s final decision 

• Begin boundary process if School Board acts on recommendation

We would like to acknowledge the thoughtful, serious, and considerate nature with which the task force members have approached this important work. The members have shared conflicting opinions with grace and understanding for each other, and their in-depth understanding and analysis of the complex data behind their considerations is impressive and valuable for our Shoreline School District community.

School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration task force purpose:

To make a recommendation to the School  Board and superintendent about the most viable elementary school for potential closure.

• The task force will bring the recommendation in the fall of 2024

• Implications and factors related to a closure will be shared with the recommendation

• The task force will not recommend whether or not to close a school.

• Any closure, if implemented, would not take place until the 25-26 school year

Meeting presentation slides

At their May 30 School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration meeting, task force members began the work of evaluating the remaining six elementary schools to recommend 2-3 additional schools to remove from further consideration. The committee determined that an additional meeting will be needed to complete this work, which will be held on June 6.

Meeting presentation slides

At their May 16 meeting, the School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration (SCRCC) Task Force began evaluating Shoreline School District elementary schools for potential closure using criteria developed in previous meetings. The goal was to identify which schools would no longer be considered for closure, to focus the group’s work moving forward.

The 21 members of the task force represent a wide variety of stakeholders and constituents, including administrators, certificated staff, classified employees, parents/guardians, and employee bargaining group representatives. In their previous four meetings, the group learned about and discussed the condition of school facilities, a demographer’s report about current and projected enrollment, budget information, special programs offered at K-5 schools, Title I and LAP services, school capacity data, and more. Based on this learning, the SCRCC task force collaboratively developed the criteria used to evaluate schools for closure consideration.

The Criteria for School Closure Consideration are included below. It is important to note that individual schools may not fully meet all seven of the criteria below; the task force will consider the criteria in total and score the extent to which schools do or do not meet each criterion in relation to other schools being considered.

1. District Capacity: The closure should not result in a shortage of classroom space within the district over five years.
2. Facilities and Operations Costs: The closure should yield relatively higher savings compared to other schools.
3. Impact on Populations of Students and Families: The closure should not disproportionately negatively affect historically marginalized groups.
4. Impact on Programs: The closure should not significantly disrupt key district programs (e.g., Special Education, Title, Multilingual Learners, Dual Language, Highly Capable).
5. State and Federal Funding: The closure should not negatively impact students and families benefiting from state and federal programs.
6. Middle School Enrollment: The closure and subsequent boundary adjustments should not significantly alter middle school enrollment patterns.
7. Transportation: The closure and boundary changes should not substantially increase travel times for students, nor disproportionately negatively affect historically marginalized families.

The task force conducted an initial review and came to consensus on removing the following schools from further consideration for possible closure:

• Meridian Park Elementary: With the highest enrollment and most unused classrooms in the district, closing this school would leave insufficient space to accommodate all students elsewhere. Its capacity is also crucial as other closures are considered.
• Cascade K-8: As a special-purpose school serving both elementary and middle school students, closing it would save less than half the amount compared to other schools.
• Parkwood and Briarcrest Elementary: Parkwood was recently rebuilt, and Briarcrest is undergoing significant renovations, resulting in lower maintenance costs for both schools. Both schools also house special programs (Parkwood’s Special Education and Briarcrest’s Dual Language Program) that would be costly to relocate. Additionally, both receive state and federal funding due to a higher number of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals.

At the May 30 School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration meeting, task force members will evaluate the remaining six elementary schools and recommend 2-3 additional schools to remove from further consideration.
In the fall, the task force will review district enrollment data for the 2024-25 school year and then identify one school for potential closure to the Shoreline School District Board of Directors. Following a 90-day period during which the Board must hold hearings to receive testimony from the public about the school being considered for closure, the School Board will decide no later than January 2025 whether to close a school for the 2025-26 school year.

Meeting presentation slides

At our April meeting, task force members heard a presentation by Les Kendrick from Educational Data Solutions about projected demographic trends in Shoreline. This included expected population changes, housing starts, and enrollment changes. Given current projections, Shoreline Schools are not expecting to see significant increases in enrollment over the next 5-10 years.

Demographic presentation slides

Next, task force members heard about our transportation system from Sue Skorjanc, Shoreline School District's Director of Transportation, including how we would route students and expected travel times for students if a school were to be closed. In summary, re-routing students from a closed school would not pose a significant challenge and we would expect that the longest additional time on a bus that any student might expect if a school were to close would be 5-10 more minutes. 

The task force will be meeting twice in May to begin evaluating schools for potential closure using criteria developed at our last meeting.

Meeting presentation slides

At our March 21 meeting, task force members heard a presentation about the condition of all K-5 schools and Aldercrest as well as associated cost estimates of maintenance, operating costs, and needed renovations. The members asked questions of presenter Dan Stevens, Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Capital Projects, to help inform their understanding and development of future evaluation criteria.

Members also reviewed evaluation criteria that were first drafted at the preceding meeting, including descriptions and the data needed to evaluate schools based on each criteria to refine them in advance of evaluation. Revised criteria will be shared at the next meeting.

For the April 18 meeting, the planned agenda includes demographer and transportation reports.

March 21 presentation slides

At our March 7 meeting, task force members heard a presentation about the ongoing critical fiscal challenges facing Shoreline School District. Members then broke into small groups to review sample criteria used by other school districts to evaluate schools for closure and began to identify important criteria for Shoreline School District to use to evaluate individual buildings for potential closure. For each criterion, the group identified data that would be needed to use it. At their next meeting on March 21, the group will hear a facility report and then review the criteria and data that were drafted at the March 7 meeting.

March 7 presentation slides

There were no decisions made at this meeting.

Meeting Outcomes: To understand our consideration process and begin to identify criteria to inform our recommendations.

Agenda:

• Welcome, Group Purpose, Timeline
• Background Information and Data:
  • Enrollment Trends
  • District Budget
  • Demographer Report (Jan. 2024)
  • Capacity Data
  • Facilities Status
• Begin Drafting Evaluation Criteria (moved to the March 7 meeting due to time constraints)
• Closure and Next Steps

February 6 presentation slides

There were no decisions made and no actions taken or assigned at this meeting.