Frustrated neighbors say school big enough
But after the Bertschi School bought an apartment building two doors away in the 2200 block of 10th Avenue East and as it is about to buy a three-story house next door, many disgruntled neighbors say they've had enough.
The purchases mean Bertschi School will take over the entire east side of a block near many million-dollar homes.
"I am really frustrated at this point," said homeowner Larry Hettick, standing outside the apartment complex which soon may be replaced with a gym and classrooms. "They are nicking away at this neighborhood."
Similar frustrations are being voiced in other urban neighborhoods in King County, where 40 percent of the state's private schools are concentrated.
While public schools are built on public property, private schools are more likely to get started in homes, churches, day-care centers and other small businesses. As they add on to their buildings or buy up adjoining properties in neighborhoods with little growing room, conflicts sometimes arise:
• The Bush School, with about 560 students in grades kindergarten through 12, will tear down three school buildings and expand on its current property near Madison Park, at a cost of $23 million. Construction could start as early as next summer. The school has been meeting regularly with neighbors who've been concerned that traffic may increase.
• Seattle Country Day, which has about 300 students in grades K-8 on north Queen Anne Hill, wants to demolish five houses it owns and double its current size, at a cost of $10 million. Neighbors worry their existing concerns about parking, traffic and noise will only intensify.
• Epiphany School in Madrona, with students in grades K-5, has purchased a house to convert into classrooms next fall at a cost of $1.2 million. In the next five years, school officials want to buy three more houses and expand from 130 to 200 students. A group called Neighbors of Epiphany School has formed to oppose the expansion.
Where the students are
Private schools invest heavily in Seattle, on the Eastside, and in other major metropolitan areas because that's where the market is for their services.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's most recent data show that King County has 199 of the state's 425 registered private schools and has nearly half of the 76,430 private-school population.
Many private schools are adding classrooms, music-and-art facilities or gyms — not just to meet demand, but also to use as marketing tools, said Paul Auchterlonie of Appian Education in Seattle, one of the leading private-school consulting firms in Western Washington.
" 'We have a new program. We have a new science building,' " the schools can say, he said. "For a parent who is investing $15,000 a year [in tuition], that becomes attractive. The schools are cognizant of that. It is a major issue for them."
A little preschool that grew
Bertschi School, which attracts some of the area's brightest students and whose annual tuition is about $13,450, rose from a humble start.
In 1975, Brigitte Bertschi, a teacher from Switzerland, started a one-room school with 15 preschoolers in Capitol Hill.
A year later, she moved a mile south to 10th Avenue East and converted a day-care center into a three-classroom school for 40 students. She later bought two more properties and entered into a long-term lease on another property to house about 205 students, kindergartners to fifth-graders.
Needing more room, school officials purchased the nearby apartment complex for about $1.4 million in 2001, and in January they expect to complete the purchase of the next-door house.
Hoping to start the $6 million building project by next spring, Bertschi administrators said they need to double the size of the campus to accommodate the students already served. The school does not intend to increase enrollment much, administrators said.
School officials want to convert the three-story house into classrooms for pre-kindergartners for next fall. (The school had stopped enrolling pre-kindergartners in 1997).
The school wants to replace the apartment complex with a center housing art and music rooms, a multipurpose room, underground parking and a play area in time for the 2006-07 school year.
The school has met zoning requirements, but the city has yet to decide whether the project meets all other building codes. A decision could come by January.
Scott Jennings, co-president of the North Capitol Hill Neighborhood Association, said Bertschi has added to the congestion and has offended homeowners further by threatening to change the "character of the neighborhood" with its latest expansion plans.
"When they started, it was a school with 20 students or so — that didn't raise anyone's eyebrows. Then they started taking over buildings," said Daniel Voran, who lives across from Bertschi. "And soon you have an institution that the neighborhood was not designed for."
Tension has been building since the school grew to 200 students four years ago. Some neighbors have complained that playground noises have awakened some seniors and toddlers from naps. Others have complained of staff members' parking filling up the residential streets, and of parents blocking driveways when they pick up their children.
Like several homeowners who live behind the school, Hettick, 57, an Air Force veteran who moved here 12 years ago from Washington, D.C., said he avoids leaving his house during the morning and after-school hours because of school traffic.
Bertschi has hired an off-duty police officer after school to keep parents from blocking driveways and to redirect parking away from many residential streets. Parents are encouraged to drop off children earlier to ease rush-hour traffic. For big events, the school now uses designated parking areas and shuttles families in.
School officials have met with homeowners to try to settle their differences, but some residents doubt the school's goodwill gesture will last long after it expands.
The school's founder believes the school and the homeowners can coexist. "We are part of the neighborhood. We have been here for 29 years," Bertschi said. "This is an urban environment. Our purpose is to work with the neighbors."
Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com