(Image: Morningside Academy)

(Image: Morningside Academy)

By Cormac Wolf, CHS Intern

A school that has found new places to live around Seattle including a stay decades ago on Capitol Hill is making its triumphant return. Morningside Academy, a private school teaching students in elementary and middle school, is celebrating their move into the historic mansion at 17th and Madison. The 1906-built mansion is a designated Seattle historical site, and prior to 2019 served as Gaffney House, an assisted living community for those with memory care issues.

Established in 1980 in a Wallingford living room, Morningside moved to Capitol Hill and was based there for its first two decades before moving to South Lake Union in 2003. Now that they’re back on the Hill after 20 years they plan to stay put for a while.

Morningside provides catch-up schooling for students struggling in traditional learning environments. The school has a student/faculty ratio of roughly 10:1, and enrolls fewer than 90 kids. Starting tuition is $23,600.

It’s the kind of school Capitol Hill and the Central District might be seeing more of in coming years.

CHS reported here on budget concerns at Seattle Public Schools that could lead to the shutdown of a few area campuses. In previous cubacks, the district closed schools but kept campuses busy by shifting programs or leasing the properties to private and charter schools. By 2016, the district was reopening its shuttered or repurposed Capitol Hill and Central District area campuses. During the shuffling a decade ago, private schools like Hamlin Robinson leased buildings like E Union’s TT Minor building until the district said it needed the properties back. The start of the 2024/2025 school year could see similar closures, leases, and shuffling.

But Morningside already has its new home.

Andrew Kieta, Morningside’s executive director, describes Morningside as a “laboratory school” where they incorporate research from special and general education. Many of their students have ADHD or executive function disorder, and the curriculum is tailored to accommodate students with a wide range of learning needs.

In its 43 years Morningside has occupied over a dozen locations throughout Seattle, most recently the former Social Security Administration building at 901 Lenora in South Lake Union. Kieta says the school’s faculty are very happy with the new location, where they’ll no longer need to cross Denny for students to play outside during recess.

“It’s got this big grand staircase in the front, and three kids described it as like Harry Potter,” says Kieta. “It’s got a big outdoor space … the kids are really happy and families are excited.”

Though the move was quick to ensure they could start the school year on time, Kieta says they were lucky that the owner had previously renovated the property, so it was already well suited to serve as a school.

“The building was basically move-in ready. We had to do very little work,” says Kieta. “The biggest challenge for us is the month of July and early August is actually our busiest time of the year, because Morningside runs a summer school where we generally will double the amount of kids.”

“So all the move happened in basically four weeks in August.”

The building was previously occupied by International School House. Yimin Chen, founder of International Montessori Academy on E Olive Way, bought the Madison property shortly before the pandemic and advertised it under a different name than her other schools. Despite being renovated the school was never opened.

Chen still owns the building and is leasing the property to Morningside.

International Montessori Academy continues to operate on E Olive Way where it opened five years ago as the street’s zoning and available buildings mixed together to create a real estate market for both childhood educations and pot shops.

The move comes as Morningside has also moved into office space on E Pine, recently bought by Meriwether Partners, a developer known for redevelopment. The property previously housed the offices of real estate firm Gerrard Beattie & Knapp for 38 years. Morningside’s move-in puts to rest for now any big changes for the location to join the mix of bars and restaurants around it or be merged with the Auto Accessories warehouse property to the south.

Asked whether their new offices implied future expansion, Kieta says Morningside is happy with their current size and are not looking to expand.

The Morningside school year began Wednesday, with students navigating a new building and families navigating a new commute. After a hectic first few days, Kieta considers the move a success.

Morningside Academy is located at 1605 17th Ave. Learn more at morningsideacademy.org.

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