Middle School To Move?

SCHOOL OFFICIALS say South Shore Middle School has an inappropriate design, and they want to move it.

Seattle schools Superintendent John Stanford wants to move South Shore Middle School into the former Sharples Junior High School in time for the start of school next year.

Both schools are in Southeast Seattle.

Stanford's proposal comes after a report determined that the school building, built in 1972, is unsuitable as a middle school.

The building has a so-called "open plan" design, meaning the walls at South Shore don't reach the ceiling. Noise carries from classroom to classroom, and it's harder to maintain discipline and a focus on teaching, according to South Shore Principal BiHoa Caldwell, who wrote the report.

"What once was a response to the open-concept fad, the physical configuration of the South Shore building, is a great disservice to the youngsters of South Shore," she said in her report.

"We have let the middle-school students of Southeast Seattle wallow in the South Shore facility far too long as it is," she said, adding that Sharples is "underutilized in terms of the number of students it currently serves."

Stanford asked Caldwell to study moving the school when he reassigned her to South Shore from Whitman Middle School.

"An open-concept school does not seem to work at the middle-school level with the new breed of students we have," said Stanford, referring to early adolescent behavior problems that commonly make middle schools tough to manage.

"What we're looking at is how we produce a middle school that provides a quieter classroom environment."

South Shore has an enrollment of 765. At Sharples, South Shore could grow to 900 students, a financially more efficient size, Caldwell said. The alternative high school and bilingual program at Sharples serve about 330 students.

School officials say the school-age population, mostly minority children, is growing faster in Southeast Seattle than in other parts of the city. More minority students could enroll at an expanded South Shore - already about 76 percent minority - because the School Board has relaxed racial balance guidelines.

Sharples, at 3928 S. Graham St., is slightly more than a mile north of South Shore, 8825 Rainier Ave. S. Sharples is home to an alternative high school, and an intensive English program for new immigrants and others with very limited ability in the language.

Stanford said those programs would have to move, possibly to a school building that's not in use.

The bilingual-education center at Sharples could become part of the new International High School, Stanford said. The superintendent has said many times he hopes to start a new school focusing on the languages and cultures of other countries, but he hasn't yet found a location or fully fleshed out the concept for the School Board.

No decisions on any of the possible moves have been made yet, but relocating South Shore and the ramifications are under study. Stanford said that he expects Ron Jones, the administrator who heads the district's program-placement committee, to make a recommendation before registration for next year starts in February.

So far, no parent meetings have been held on any of the possible moves, Stanford said.

"Parents are in favor of the move," said Caldwell. "They marvel that students are expected to learn in this atmosphere."

Dick Lilly's phone message number is 206-464-2479. His e-mail address is: dlil-new@seatimes.com