Opposition to joint middle school/high school campus in West Seattle

Seattle Public Schools officials say they are pushing ahead with plans to build a joint middle school/high school campus in West Seattle, even as public opposition to the project appears to be intensifying.

The district is on a tight timeline for its next round of school-construction projects, hoping to stay ahead of rising construction costs by finishing them all within four years instead of six -- but the accelerated pace has left some people concerned.

It's most evident in West Seattle, where the community has been abuzz over the district's plans to use $125 million in levy money to create a new Denny Middle School on the same campus as Chief Sealth High School.

Opponents have a host of complaints about the project, from a lack of public input on the design to concerns about student safety to charges that the project shortchanges the Sealth community.

"I don't think there was ever a real attempt to engage the community at all," said Delfino Munoz, a Sealth graduate and longtime staff member who served on the project's design committee.

Parents of current middle- and elementary-school students who would be likely to attend Denny or Sealth someday aren't fans of the joint-campus plan, he warned, "and they're not going to buy into this thing easily."

The Seattle teachers union has also weighed in, voting this week to urge school district administrators to slow down and rethink the Denny/Sealth plan.

Although district facilities officials have tried to assuage some of those concerns, they say it would be costly to radically alter the design now. The building designs are set, city permits have been filed and bids are set to go out soon, said Don Gillmore, who manages the district's construction projects.

"We're at a critical point now," he said. The time to comment on a school building design is early on in the process, but people usually don't weigh in until they see actual plans and artists' renderings, he said. By that point, the district has already invested a significant amount of money into the plans. "Unfortunately, then the public input is more limited," he said.

Still, opponents hope district leaders might be persuaded to reconsider. The School Board is examining other options for the project, including adding $5 million to $10 million to the budget for extra upgrades to Sealth. And the board last week asked the district's facilities staff to estimate the costs to rebuild Denny at its current location and upgrade the Sealth building.

"That gives me some hope," Munoz said. "They're recognizing there's significant questions in the community, and that (concern) is only going to get bigger."

The $125 million budget wouldn't be nearly enough to fully renovate both schools, and Munoz realizes it.

"We believe we should do Denny right and have a first-class, state-of-the-art facility," he said. "We'll wait our turn. ... We'd rather have them do it right, than have to make up for the fact we made a shortsighted decision earlier."

Denny/Sealth isn't the only pending construction project that has met some resistance. The size and location of the renovated gym and plans to dig up an adjoining park to install geothermal wells didn't sit well with some neighbors of Hamilton Middle School. (The plans have since been altered.)

And at Nathan Hale High School, district officials are still trying to reassure parents that it will be safe for students to remain in the building while it's being remodeled.