Plan to build Denny at Sealth doesn't sit well

Several teachers, students and community members pleaded with the Seattle School Board on Wednesday to rethink the district's plans to build a new Denny Middle School on the same site as Chief Sealth High School.

The two are already near each other in West Seattle, and the district intends to use $125 million in construction levy funds to upgrade Sealth, rebuild Denny on the Sealth site and create spaces such as a "Galleria" commons area, which will be used by both schools. Construction is scheduled to begin next summer.

District officials have stressed that the two schools will remain separate and that there will be minimal, if any, contact between middle school and high school students.

Still, the idea didn't sit well with speakers such as Sealth sophomore Dan Davis, a Denny graduate who urged the board to reconsider the plan. High schoolers might be a bad influence on middle schoolers, he said, and mixing them together would be a mistake.

Denny "is on the brink of becoming a better school," Davis said. "If we combine these two schools, we'll set that process back."

Eleanor Trainor, the district's capital projects community liaison, said the district's hope is that having the two schools adjacent to each other could help ease the transition between middle and high school and allow teachers to better align curricula.

Under the current plans, the two schools would have separate libraries, but would share an auditorium. A "Galleria" between the two buildings would house the cafeteria and kitchen, and would have a wall divider to split the room so middle schoolers and high schoolers would have their own space.

The Sealth remodeling will also include safety and accessibility upgrades and add in energy-efficient windows and lighting.

The board will discuss the project at 4 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Stanford Center, 2445 Third Ave. S., and is expected to vote later that month on whether to approve the plans.

The Denny/Sealth project is one of seven major remodeling projects planned as part of the $490 million Building Excellence III program. When finished, Sealth would be able to hold 1,200 students, and Denny could house 900, Trainor said.

Denny now has 630 students, and Sealth more than 900.

Despite the scheduled improvements to Sealth, critics of the project say the school will lose more than it gains.

"It was sold as, Sealth would have a major remodel," said Delfino Munoz, a Sealth graduate and longtime staff member who served on the project's design committee.

"What it's looking like is we'll get new rugs and paint. But we'll lose half our library, two computer rooms ... we'll have less classroom space than before."

Several speakers at the meeting complained that the district didn't give the community ample time to comment, and that the process to complete the plans is being rushed.

"We are asking you to delay any vote in January until there can be some authentic community input," said Susan Harmon, who lives in the Westwood neighborhood. "It's not just the staff and students at Sealth, or the staff and students at Denny who are involved. All the stakeholders need to be at the table."

The door is still open for the board to make changes to the plan, said board member Steve Sundquist, who represents West Seattle.

"We are actively in listening mode ... I'm confident we can and will work to a successful resolution to this project," he said.

Opponents of the plans say they have no problem with Denny being rebuilt -- they just want to make sure Sealth gets the same treatment. In Seattle, high schools that offer a number of Advanced Placement classes or have newly remodeled buildings tend to draw more students. After West Seattle High School was remodeled in 2002, its enrollment jumped significantly.

Sealth started offering a rigorous International Baccalaureate program this fall, and staff members had hoped for a substantial remodel for their building -- even if it meant waiting a few years.

"There's a whole question of equity," Munoz said. "When it is our turn, we expect to have equity with all the other high schools."

Not every school in the district is in line for new building, however. The district has tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance projects and limited money available to complete them. Given that, the goal is to make sure each school building is an adequate space for students to learn, Trainor said.

Sealth isn't likely to get a major remodel. "It has great bones; it's a solidly built school," she said. But with planned mechanical and technology upgrades, as well as some changes to the building's exterior, people should still see a major improvement, she said.

"You will not recognize Sealth when you drive past it," she said. "It's going to be transformed."