There will be a hearing on January 20th from 6:30 – 8:30 to discuss the possible closure of Lowell Elementary School. The hearing will be held at Lowell (the school is located at 1058 E. Mercer St) and is open to the public. I encourage people to attend and voice their concerns, as closing the school would likely have a negative impact on the North Capitol Hill community; an abandoned school would almost certainly become a magnet for graffiti and general delinquency and offset the other great neighborhood developments in progress. Please see http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/389462_schools26.html for more information
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I’m not at the “family” stage yet but closing a school does sound like it could be pretty bad for the community. Keeping it open as a school is a priority, but if that isn’t feasible, what about the possibility of turning it into some other type of community asset? There is a big parking lot next to it that I imagine is school property, that could be a P-Patch, and the school could be turned into maybe some local artist space, a community center, or even just a space for some local businesses.
The District is talking about taking the entire APP program, which is currently housed at Lowell, and breaking it into pieces – something the people in the program are very concerned about for good reason. It’s also about taking a great location – walkable in a district that is already blowing way too much money on bus transportation – and potentially taking it out of service. Makes no sense.