The principal of Capitol Hill public school Lowell Elementary has stepped down to take a new job out of state. Gregory King’s resignation follows a spring in which he reportedly lost a job he was prepared to take in Tacoma after a Seattle investigation of his handling of a personnel issue came to light.
The news — and meeting about the situation — came in the midst of a long 4th of July week as many families were on holiday. Details on a Tuesday night meeting, below, were sent to parents on Monday. The district is inviting feedback on the hiring of a new principal from parents via email through Friday.
The change marks another summer of transition for Lowell. The summer of 2011 was marked by debate over how to handle overcrowding in the “accelerated progress program” at the school. The solution was to split the program across the city.
Dear Lowell Elementary community,
On Friday evening we received the resignation of Principal Gregory King, who is leaving to take a position in Michigan.
We are committed to finding an excellent principal for Lowell for the start of the 2012-13 school year. Please join us at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 3 at Lowell Elementary to talk about next steps in the principal hiring process. We are committed to ensuring staff and families will be a part of the hiring committee, including three staff members and two parents.
We recognize this is a tight timeline. If you cannot make Tuesday’s meeting, please send your input on leadership qualities you would like in your next principal to Nathan Fitzpatrick in Human Resources at [email protected] by Friday, July 6.
The District will work with staff and the community to make sure we find an excellent leader who is the right fit for Lowell.
Sincerely,
Nancy Coogan
Executive Director of Schools, Central Region
Seattle Public Schools
The district has been trying to close Lowell for a long time. Here’s an article from back in 2008:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/35115544.html
That was stopped by outraged parents, but the district then purposely overcrowded the school to create a crisis, then moved out most of the students on very short notice. Now, the school is mostly empty and probably will be closed soon. I guess the value of the land has the district eyeing it for sale or something, but, whatever the reason, the administration really wants to close Lowell and will get what it wants eventually.
The really sad thing about all this is that Lowell Elementary was rated one of the top schools in Washington State in 2006. It was one of the best schools Seattle had, that all of Washington State had. Now its gone. Not sure what the problem is, but it seems like public schools in Seattle can’t have anything nice. Got to destroy it if it works, mediocrity for all, hooray.
Lowell is in a key location to serve the resurgence of families in the neighborhood. We need to get Lowell back on the right track.
Jon, I am not sure what relationship you have to Lowell. I have been involved with the school and it has not been “sad” for my family.
My daughter has attended Lowell for the past three years (since kindergarten, now going into 3rd grade), so I can knowledgeably say that it has been a terrific past few years for the students and families who have gotten to continue at Lowell. Not to minimize the unhappiness and disruption caused by the abrupt move of the APP program out of Lowell, but in three years we’ve had three fantastic teachers, gotten to know terrific families in our Capitol Hill neighborhood, and generally been so impressed with the quality of education at Lowell. My daughter loves the school and loves her classmates. While the school has room for more students, it is certainly not “mostly empty.” Parents/guardians are actively involved in the school and supporting the teachers’ excellent work.
I hope we get a great new principal who keeps Lowell going in the positive direction it’s on.
Lowell has been there for a very long time and I hope it continues to stay open, but in my opinion it does not need all of the northern 2/3 of the land area, which consists of a huge playground (used mainly by the kids at recess, not by community groups) and a parking lot. Yes, kids do need a play area, but not one that large and not one that is otherwise under-utilized.
Why doesn’t the school sell off the northern half of the property? It would make possible some (hopefully tasteful) new residences and thereby contribute to urban density. With Volunteer Park one block north, and the soon-to-be-built (as yet un-named) park one block south, there is no need to use the Lowell property as open space.
My 3 kids went to Lowell in grades 1-5 and it was a terrific experience all around. When the school is running at full capacity, it definitely needs the playground space – in fact they had to switch to 3 different lunch/recess times instead of 2, due to the amount of kids.
The District has not been great about forecasting demographics so better not to sell any part of it – it would be impossible to get back once a condo has been built there!
APP is no longer in that building, so it is a neighborhood and special ed building and would be fantastic to keep supporting the site so it becomes like mcgilvra, topps and stevens – a great school and one that can attract families from private school so they add their volunteering and donations into the public system :)
Wait, he’s saying it’s a good school. He’s agreeing with you. The only point you don’t agree with him on, is that it’s overcrowded. Do you feel they are trying to close the school down?
Under crowded, that is. Not over.