Closure strategy is valid

One by one, or in large gaggles of color-coded T-shirts, the people took to the stage to denounce the plan to close some Seattle schools.

The 300 parents and kids were rousing. Defiant. Occasionally outrageous. Some said closing these nine schools is a racist attack on black children. Or that it will rip out their neighborhood's heart. Or that their school is too great to deserve such a fate.

What was striking was how little any of it spoke to the actual rationale behind the citizen-led plan to close schools.

Ever since a masochistic group of 13 volunteers announced its suggested school-closure list last week, it seems the whole point has been lost in emotional diatribes and conspiracy theorizing. Here's what I haven't heard anyone saying:

• These schools are on the chopping block because parents are rejecting them.

Of the nine schools, only one — Sacajawea — is full and seeing slightly rising demand.

Most of the rest have shrunk at least 20 percent in the past five years. Three lost more than a third of their student bodies.

Isn't a mass exodus by the customers a sign that something is amiss? Isn't it possible that kids at unpopular schools would be better off going somewhere else?

• For all the shrillness about racism, the reason more schools are slated for closure in the minority-heavy South End is far more mundane. It's because enrollment is declining there.

Some neighborhoods south of Interstate 90 are slated to see enrollment drops of 30 to 40 percent in the next decade. It's mostly due to demographics and birth rates, the district says.

Yet enrollment is rising in the north — what one parent dubbed "Whiteyworld." Wallingford, Queen Anne and north Green Lake are all expected to see the number of kids in public school soar by 50 percent or more.

So yes, most schools on the kill list are south of the Ship Canal. It's not racism. It's where fewer schools are needed.

• Finally, let's cut the speeches about how closing these schools is an attack on these neighborhoods. The other night someone dubbed Graham Hill Elementary the "jewel of Seward Park," and said it's that area's only option.

Really. Of the 400 elementary-school kids living in the school's designated neighborhood, only 80 go to Graham Hill now. The rest go to public schools somewhere else.

It's true for most of these schools. One, Martin Luther King, only has four students from its neighborhood.

It's painful to close schools. But we need to. Seattle has the most space per student of any district in the state. We're about to have a school with fewer than 100 kids in it.

It's time to stop cowering. And do something. Several districts in Oregon — Eugene, Portland — just closed schools amid great controversy. It took them just a few months to do it.

This list may be flawed. But it's the best one yet. It comes from the people. I say close at least some of these schools.

If the School Board can't, then please, don't try again. Put a tax increase on the ballot and just admit we're going to be the priciest — and the roomiest — school system around.

Danny Westneat's column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.