What other programs have waitlists? Lots of them!

 

Montlake, McGilvra, and Stevens have waitlists. Are these schools enrolling as many students as they can? If each of these schools would take another sixty students it would totally resolve the complaints from Eastlake families.

 

Garfield, Roosevelt, and Ballard high schools have waitlists. Are they enrolling as many students as they can?

 

TOPS has a waitlist. There is no reason that The Option Program can't be re-created. There are lots of undersubscribed schools in the north (Viewlands, Bagley, Northgate) that could fill up right away if they decided to duplicate TOPS. There are undersubscribed sites in the south that could do the same.

 

The John Stanford International School has a waitlist. Surely we can make another of those. The district could site it in a building that is now housing an undersubscribed school such as MLK or TT Minor.

 

There are waitlists for the Spectrum programs at Eckstein, Whittier, Wedgwood, Lafayette, Washington, and Whitman. Maybe others as well. Why doesn't the district create sufficient capacity in the Spectrum program to meet demand?

 

There is a serious shortage of alternative schools in South Seattle. The only ones are Orca Elementary and the African-American Academy, a K-8. Surely there is some building now hosting an undersubscribed school in the south that could fill up if it were to duplicate a successful alternative program.

 

The only alternative school in West Seattle is Pathfinder. That part of town could probably could support another alternative school, particularly a middle school. There aren't many students at High Point or Fairmont Park. Pathfinder is also the only K-8 in West Seattle. If a school converted to a K-8 that would create a K-8 and provide additional middle school capacity.

 

The middle schools in Southeast Seattle may not have waitlists, but the district doesn't have enough capacity there. Why doesn't the district build another middle school or convert an existing elementary school to a K-8? Rainier Beach High School has excess capacity, why not place a middle school there? Make it a 6-12.

 

Speaking of the excess capacity at Beach, why not put Seahawks Academy or South Lake High School on the Rainier Beach campus, instead of putting them in the South Shore building with an elementary school?

 

The district knows which schools and programs have waitlists, but has anyone ever heard of the district creating capacity to match demand? It's really simple. If people want TOPS, then make more TOPS. Make more of whatever has waitlists, and put it in the places where you have excess capacity.