| Seattle Public School System | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
2445 3rd Ave. S. ,Washington,98134United States | |
| Coordinates | 47°34′50″N122°19′51″W / 47.58056°N 122.33083°W /47.58056; -122.33083 |
| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Every student achieving, everyone accountable[4] |
| Grades | Pre-K through12 |
| Established | January 3, 1867; 158 years ago (1867-01-03)[1] |
| Superintendent | Fred Podesta |
| Budget | $1,044,890,979 (FY 2019–2020)[2] |
| NCES District ID | 5307710[3] |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 53,876[5] |
| Teachers | 3,192[6] |
| Other information | |
| Website | seattleschools |
Seattle Public Schools is the largestpublic school district in the state ofWashington. Theschool district serves almost all ofSeattle. Additionally it includes sections ofBoulevard Park andTukwila.[7] As of the 2021–2022 academic year, 106 schools are operated by the district, which serve 51,650 students throughout the city.[8]
The board of directors for Seattle Public Schools is an elected body representing seven geographical regions, known as Districts, within the City of Seattle. The length of the term is four years. Board meetings are generally held twice monthly. For the 2019–2020 school year (until COVID-19 disruptions), board meetings were scheduled for the first and third Wednesdays of each month, at 4:15 p.m., with some exceptions.[9] Its headquarters are in the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence.[10]
| Director | Geographical District | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Liza Rankin | I | Board President |
| Sarah Clark | II | |
| Evan Briggs | III | Member-at-Large |
| Joe Mizrahi | IV | |
| Michelle Sarju | V | Board Vice President |
| Gina Topp | VI | |
| Brandon Hersey | VII |
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Thomas E. Peiser photographed a 1905 historical marker commemorating the site of Seattle's first school. According to the marker: On this spot the first school in Seattle was taught by MrsCatherine P. Blaine in January 1854. This tablet was erected by theWashington University State Historical Society November 13, 1905. Eagle Brass Fdy (foundry) Seattle.
Like most city school systems, the district has had to facecontroversy dealing with problems concerning racial tension, student population assignments, and administrative scandal; such incidents include astudent boycott in 1966 and using "racial tie-breakers" which led to a2007 Supreme Court case.[citation needed]
When theUniversity of Washington was founded as the Territorial University in 1861, its initial class offerings were not at a level that would now be considered those of a college or university. Its first class offering was a primary school (elementary school) taught byAsa Mercer, and for some years it was jointly supervised by the newly formed Seattle School Board its own Board of Regents. It functioned as Seattle's first public school.[12]
In 1867, the public school moved to what was then the County Building on Third Avenue between James and Jefferson, the site of today'sPrefontaine Fountain. A year later, the school moved toYesler's Pavilion (later Yesler's Hall) at present-day First and Cherry. A year later the school moved again to a temporary building (called Bacon's Hall after its first teacher, Carrie Bacon) located at the site of the present King County Court House. In 1870 the first "permanent" school building, the Central School, opened on Third Avenue between Madison and Spring Streets. It originally had two classrooms; a third was built in its attic in 1881.[13]
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Meanwhile, in 1873 thetwo-room North School opened at Third and Pine,[14] and in 1875 the school district had purchased 1.4 acres (5,700 m2) at 6th and Madison, where the Sixth Street School, also known as Eastern School, opened promptly in a temporary building and grew into successively larger and better-built buildings in 1877 and 1883. The latter, an "elegant wooden building" with an imposing "French mansard roof, clock tower, and tall central belfry" superseded the old Central School as well as the North School. From 1884, it was known as the Central School. Classes extended through 12th grade, and the first class graduated from 12th grade in 1886. However the school burned in 1888.[15]
The district had, in this period, started a number of other schools, including the even more imposing Denny School on Battery Street between 5th and 6th Avenues inBelltown, opened 1884. Described as "an architectural jewel... the finest schoolhouse on the West Coast," it was demolished in 1928 as part of theDenny Regrade project.[16] When the Central School burned in 1888, its high school and first grade classes were parcelled out to the Denny School,[15] other classes to the former downtown building of the university,[12] with other classes going to temporary facilities, some of which also burned, in theGreat Seattle Fire.[15]
A new brick Central School opened in 1889 at Seventh and Madison, and was repeatedly expanded with annexes and extensions. AfterSeattle High School opened in 1902, the Central School was briefly known in 1903 as the Washington School before returning to its older name. The Central School functioned as an elementary school until 1938, and then until 1949 as the Central Branch of the Edison Technical School. The building was fatally damaged by the 1949 earthquake and razed in 1953; its site is now underInterstate 5.[15]
In 1919, there were 64 grammar schools, six high schools, two parental schools (comparable to today'syouth detention centers), a school for the deaf, and nine "special schools... for pupils who do not progress normally in regular classes."[17][18]
In the early 20th century, Seattle Public Schools were "exemplary"[19] under the leadership (1901–1922) of superintendentFrank B. Cooper and a series of "civic-mindedprogressives" who served on the Seattle school board.[19]
In 2005, it was revealed that a teacher at Broadview-Thomson Elementary had been serially molesting children at the school for a period spanning several years. The teacher,Laurence E. "Shayne" Hill, had been molesting children for at least four of the twelve years he worked at the school, according to theSeattle Weekly.[20] The article also said that several school officials had known of the inappropriate touching and did nothing to stop it, drawing outrage from concerned parents. Hill is serving his sentence as of December 2, 2005 and is facing anywhere from five years to life.
In June 2006, Andrew J. Coulson of theCato Institute wrote a column in theSeattle Post-Intelligencer taking the district to task for a page on "equity and race relations" on its website that indicated, in his words, that "only whites can be racist in America" and which, among other things, stated that "Emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology" and that this and preferring a "future time orientation" were forms of "cultural racism."[21] The page[22] was removed from the site the same day.[23]
In June 2007, theUnited States Supreme Court decided the case ofParents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, where they rejected Seattle Public Schools longstanding use of "racial tie-breakers" in assigning students to schools. The decision prohibited assigning students to public schools solely for the purpose of achievingracial integration and declined to recognize racial balancing as a compelling state interest. In a fragmented opinion delivered byChief JusticeJohn Roberts, five justices held that the School Boards did not present any "compelling state interest" that would justify the assignment of school seats on the basis of race. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."Associate JusticeAnthony Kennedy filed a concurrence that presented a more narrow interpretation, stating that schools may use "race conscious" means to achieve diversity in schools but that the schools at issue in this case did not use a sufficient narrow tailoring of their plans to sustain their goals. Four justicesdissented from the Court's conclusions.[24][25]
In January 2013, the entire teaching body of Garfield High School refused to administer the standardized Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, which is administered system-wide, three times per year. The teachers called the tests useless and a waste of instructional time.[26] TheAmerican Federation of Teachers has endorsed the school's boycott of the tests.[27] Garfield's boycott of the test quickly expanded to other Seattle schools and drew national attention. In May 2013 Superintendent Jose Banda announced that the Seattle School District will no longer require MAP tests at city high schools.[28]
In September 2024 SPS announced two possible school closure lists it is considering to help address the $100 million budget deficit. One scenario would close 21 schools, keep 52 schools open, and save an estimated $31.5 million annually. The other scenario would close 17 schools, keep 56 schools open, and save an estimated $26 million annually. 16 schools appear on both closure lists, with K-8 and option schools heavily impacted.[29]
Several former Seattle Public Schools buildings are on theNational Register of Historic Places (NRHP):
Elementary Schools, Grades K–5
Middle Schools, Grades 6–8
High Schools, Grades 9–12
As of 2022–2023, the enrollment figures for the district are:
Total students: 51,542[30]
By ethnicity:[30]
Caucasian: 45.5%
Black or African American 14.6%
Asian 12.3%
Hispanic 13.9%
Multiracial 12.7%
Native American/American Indian 0.4%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.5%
By gender:
Male: 51.4%[30]
Female: 47.5%[30]
Gender X: 1.1%
As of the 2020–2021 school year, 32.1% of students are eligible for the free or reduced price meal programs.[31]
Further Reading
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help). Apparently no ISBN. Originally available online as a series of PDFs, which are now on the Internet Archive. As of 2018, all of the chapters are available as HTML onHistoryLink, but they do not provide a table of contents; chapters can be found viahttps://www.google.com/search?&q=site%3AHistorylink.org+%22Building+for+Learning%22
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