Pinehurst K-8 Success
We at Pinehurst K-8 understand that the Seattle School Board and capacity planning entities are pursuing co-locating our school on the Broadview-Thompson site, in portables. We think this is a great idea. Pinehurst K-8 at Broadview-Thompson provides the district with a much-needed Option School in the northwest area. Currently, the northeast cluster has four Options Schools, while there is only one Option School in the northwest, Salmon Bay. Salmon Bay is over-subscribed and not able to meet the demand in the NW area. As you may know, Pinehurst K-8 (formerly AS#1) is Seattle's first alternative-education school, and we are excited to bring Pinehurst’s experiential learning model and social justice philosophy to Seattle’s NW corner. As Pinehurst K-8 community members, we consider these requests to be reasonable for the success of the co-location: • That we retain our principal, administrative staff, and instructional staff to ensure stability for our entire community during the transition; for initial negotiations with Broadview-Thompson staff regarding scheduling and sharing spaces and resources; and for crucial institutional memory. • Wet portables. • A “resource portable” for our library, including our special collections, and for our computer lab. • Guaranteed access to common areas and physical spaces such as the gym, cafeteria, library, and playground, with the understanding that Pinehurst K-8 is its own distinct community. • Transportation with a hub stop at the Pinehurst building. We feel strongly that our administrative and instructional staff is critical to the success of our co-location. Without them, it is difficult to imagine maintaining the integrity and distinctiveness of our unique school. We were told that a final decision of the location of our school would be made by the end of this current school year (June 2013). We hope that our reasonable requests are included in the outcome.
Comment