Lincoln High School Alums might be interested to know that Seattle Public Schools is thinking about reopening Lincoln as a high school in 2018; but before everyone breaks out the red and black pom poms, this is very early speculation. At this point, Lincoln must remain an interim site for schools that are either undergoing renovation, or, as in Lowell Elementary School’s case, over capacity. And then Lincoln will need to be modernized, including undergoing seismic retrofitting. Plus, there’s a small matter concerning a new levy which needs to be put to public vote in February 2013, called the Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy Project, which, if passed, will fund necessary renovations and construction of new school buildings. This comes at a time when the city is also putting forth a levy to fund the Seattle Public Library.
Lincoln, which is located on Interlake just south of N. 45th, is one of many schools throughout the District that are under consideration for BEX IV. You can view the full list of construction projects under consideration for the new levy here. What seems to be prevalent on the list is the need for more capacity in elementary and middle schools, especially here in the north end. There are community meetings scheduled for the public to ask questions, provide feedback, and learn more about BEX IV from the Capital Team. One meeting is being held tonight (I know, I know – sorry for the late notice), from 6:30 – 8:00PM at Denny International Middle School (2601 SW Kenyon Street). The next meeting is on Tuesday, April 10, from 6:30 – 8:00PM at Mercer Middle School (1600 S. Columbian Way). The School Board will vote on a final list of projects for the levy in October, and then the public will vote on the levy in February 2013.
On another note…Seattle Public Schools announced the following:
Last day of school at Seattle Public Schools finalized: Friday, June 22
The Seattle School Board on Wednesday decided to extend the school year by two days to make up for January’s inclement weather.
The last day of school will be Friday, June 22. Seattle students lost three days of school in January because of severe winter weather conditions. One day was made up on Jan. 27.
The School Board voted 0 to 7 against applying for a waiver from the state, which would have allowed Seattle Public Schools to not make up those two days. Not making up the days would have saved the district about $500,000.
‘This is a statement on the value of classroom instruction,’ said Board President Michael DeBell, after the unanimous vote.
Are you kidding? The traffic in the neighborhood is already bad. (Tried walking across Stone Way at 5:30pm lately?)
Next come three high rises on Stone Way — none with adequate parking — and then a high school? (Many high school kids drive to school.) We simply don’t have the roads or parking availability for this kind of density.
Luna,
Roosevelt (roughly 1600 students), Garfield (roughly 1700 students) and Ballard HS (roughly 1600) moved into Lincoln while each of their schools were renovated for two years at a time. This was from 1998 until Hamilton used it beginning in 2007. I didn’t see a surge in motor traffic from the high school students, but I did see a HUGE surge in foot traffic. The kids in high school have off-campus privileges for lunch and so QFC and the surrounding quick lunch places were packed around noontime. The boys over at Satay will love it!
I also don’t think Lincoln will garner those kind of enrollment numbers from the established high schools. I predict enrollment will be like McDonald Elementary, where the school will open and the numbers will increase each year.
And yes, traffic was GRUESOME this afternoon! Crossing 45th from Wallingford was impossible!
Proud Lincoln grad – Wahoo!!! Lincoln is one of the most beautiful schools in the City. The closure was NOT well thought out. Obviously the school is not nearly as bad as previously stated. It has been used as a home for students in buildings which were being remodeled for how many years? I would be thrilled if this wonderful school were to open again. In the 60+ years that it was operating as a viable school how many grads are feeling the pain? The history here is irreplaceable.
I’m more worried about the traffic generated by the new buildings on Stone than I am about Lincoln. Lots of HS kids are bus riders. Their impact before was negligible.
And I agree – Lincoln is a beautiful building with lots of history. It would be nice to see it get some more work done on it and have it reopen as a fully functional HS, or perhaps as a 6-12 model that some cities are trying in order to take the load off some of the middle schools.
Presumably a significant number of the students who would attend a reopened Lincoln would come from Wallingford (which would be more likely to attract families with the ability to attend K-12 in the neighborhood). They might actually walk to high school.
Go Lynx!
Yay!!! I hope this happens for real. I attended the BEX IV meeting at Eckstein and it looks like repopening Lincoln appears in all three versions of the plan (which the school board will vote on in October and put before the voters in February).
For those concerned about traffic, consider that if Lincoln reopens it won’t be exactly like when Roosevelt and Garfield were temporarily housed there. Hopefully our Wallingford and Fremont students would be able to walk or bike to high school instead of driving, and there would probably be fewer school busses. Lots of pedestrian traffic at lunch time of course, but maybe our local businesses will see some benefit there.
Three cheers, re-opening Lincoln as a high school would be wonderful news for our neighborhood businesses and students! That building just oozes with history and character, how wonderful that northend demand has grown enough to fill it again. Surely the multi-millions of dollars spent on updating that facility in the last decade would minimize the investment needed, making it possible to reopen Lincoln High to meet the demand, BEX IV or not?
I know there is a HUGE contingent of Lincoln alums who will also be delighted, including the dedicated group of volunteer alums who worked so hard to maintained the landscaping throughout the years the building was leased to outsiders. (Does anyone know if they still work out there?)
I would be thrilled if my child could walk to elementary, middle, and high school! We want to start a family in a few years, and this makes Wallingford even more appealing for long-term living.
As a participant of the Lincoln Liaison Committee since it was established by the School District in 1996 to handle mitigation associated with the interim use of Lincoln, I can say that auto traffic and parking issues were significant under the use by Ballard, Roosevelt and Garfield. The traffic circles in the neighborhood around Lincoln were installed during Ballard’s stay and paid as part of the construction budget used to restore the school whose roof had collapsed and was in truly wretched shape from zero maintenance for 15 years since closing in 1981. An RPZ was finally established in the neighborhood around Lincoln during Garfield’s stay after many years of failed negotiations with the District.
All work for Ballard was done to middle school standards for the eventual move of the Hamilton program to Lincoln, first promised after Ballard left in 1998, then postponed until after Roosevelt and Garfield could use the building until 2008. We negotiated the agreement to move Hamilton in the District’s Facility Master Plan, the Wallingford Neighborhood Plan in 1997, and had worked with staff at the city to realize shared community space once Hamilton moved.
As noted in Margaret’s article, there is a shortage of middle school space in the north end. This was recognized by the District and the LLC throughout the deliberations and planning that occurred from 1996 though 2009. A major benefit of the move by Hamilton to Lincoln would have realized additional middle school capacity plus approximately 12,000 of dedicated space for the APP program (in addition to combined cohort space with the Hamilton program), as well as a dedicated performing arts space, an all-weather sports field, ground-water heat pump system, and space for shared community use such as adult-ed classes and a larger library.
Yes, it will be good to see Lincoln used again as a school. When I hear this, however, I am reminded of the huge lost opportunity to the District and the neighborhood of not following through with the District’s plans, the Neighborhood Plan, and the City’s plans. And yes, it is great that Hamilton finally received the remodel that many of us had worked for since Lincoln closed in 1981… but it could have been so much more and would have met District needs for so much longer had the program moved to Lincoln as many in the neighborhood pursued for so many years.
Unfortunately, if Lincoln reopens as a high school it will not likely be attended by many neighborhood kids, since the international programs at John Stanford and McDonald feed into Hamilton and then Ingraham High, the new international high school for the North End.
Not sure that there is much of an international program left at Hamilton after it was overrun by APP. If Lincoln ends up with the APP program, at least there will be plenty of space on the north side of Lincold for the APP parents to land their helicopters.
Oops. Meant “north side of Lincoln”. I guess there’s a reason why my kids aren’t in APP.
The portables at Eckstein and Whitman attest to population in the area of middle school students.
Rachel, you’re forgetting that half of Wallingford is B.F. Day. (The AWESOME half. Ha, just kidding.) Our classmates in Fremont are just as excited about possibly being able to walk/bike to high school as we are. Plus, I’ll bet some of the JSIS/McDonald alumni will want to stay in the neighborhood and opt for Lincoln.
HIMS parent, I seriously doubt APP is going to overrun anybody. Since they’re a program and not a school, they’d most likely be the ones to get moved. It’s happened before.
But if you are concerned about capacity at Hamilton — and we all should be, because there doesn’t seem to be any plan to address it as part of BEX IV — I strongly encourage you to send an e-mail to this address and weigh in on it: [email protected]
To second what Floor Pie said, the recent school board action has made the JSIS enrollment zone so small I venture to say you could throw a baseball from one end of it to the other. (At least I could back in the day!) For all intents and purposes, BF Day is now the elementary school for Wallingford. Which already means less walking to school no matter what. (At least we got three business days to review the plan and object to it! ) Remember that, by the way, when the kids and parents are out fundraising. We should support our neighborhood schools and our elementary school is BF Day.
Further, the school board has also made no secret of their wanting to make JSIS a district-wide option school as early as 2013. If that goes through, then very few Wallingford elementary school kids will be able to walk to school.
Finally, I have been talking with Sherry Carr and Tracey Libros at the school board for the past few months and the strong impression I get is that the board is overmatched for the task of managing the growth/capacity issues for the schools in this area. (Could be worse… West Seattle residents are nearly at the point of forming lynch mobs.) We all know the Seattle School Board doesn’t have the best reputation so I advise everyone on this board to participate in the process to insure they have the input they need.
If I were a parent who had expected to have children in JSIS and now they ar eheaded for BFDay I would be appealing that decision with a LOT of information. Its available to anyone on the internet… test scores, demographics, programs..
Something about the demographics at B.F. Day that you don’t care for, eeyiiee?
eeyiiee — If you look at the comments on the post from a few weeks about about the retirement of Ms. McClosky, the BF Day principal, you’ll find a fair bit of information from those of us whose children are having an excellent elementary school experience at BF Day.
http://www.wallyhood.org/2012/03/bf-day-principal-mccloskey-leaving/
What do you think would be a basis for a successful appeal? That a particular family deserves language immersion because they expected it? That it is unfair to place one’s children with students who do not share one’s demographics? I understand the disappointment with expecting one thing and getting another — that’s human nature. But, it might be worth pausing to see if you’ve found the most constructive, positive way to deal with the disappointment.