An elementary school student would consider it simple arithmetic.

Seattle Public Schools had 100,000 students with facilities to educate them in 1960. Today there are fewer than half as many students in a lot of underused buildings.

The school district claims there's not enough money to keep all those school buildings open so the Seattle School Board is trying to set criteria to help guide district wide decisions about which schools to close.

The School Board assembled a 15-member community advisory committee to gather opinions and comments from people in the community and then make recommendations on how best to match academic programs with school facilities.

The advisory board proposed a list of criteria and then held a series of meetings around the city to get public comments about the list. The first meeting was at James Madison Middle School April 20 and about 100 people attended.

A frequently used tool for measuring public opinion at public meetings is the sticky paper dot. Ideas expressed at the meeting are written on large sheets of paper. People then stick adhesive dots next to the ideas they support.

The most dots at the Madison Middle School meeting wound up on the criterion, "Effective instruction addressing needs of all students." That would be measured by whether students show steady improvement in their scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. If so, that's a reason to keep the school's program going.

Another popular criterion gathering dots was "family satisfaction" with the school.

Third-highest rated was a criterion "Opportunity and community commitment to add missing services needed by students in that region through consolidation."

"Building condition" ranked only fourth among issues to consider regarding school closures.

"Operating cost per pupil" didn't make the top six criteria.

The audience divided into small groups and, although the meeting agenda was to discuss the proposed school-closure criteria, some of the people in one group preferred to talk about busing and employee incompetence.

To a black man sitting at the table, picking an elementary school for his child depended on whether or not it had students from a mixture of ethnicities. His wife is white, he said, and they want their son to go to school with other kids of mixed race. They chose Roxhill Elementary School.

"There's no waiting list, but our families are satisfied," he said.

Another man, who'd attended Madison as well as West Seattle High, said youngsters ought to attend the school closest to home. He said it gripes him to see school buses driving all over West Seattle with only three or four children on board.

"I lived two and a half miles from school," he said. "I got here on my own."

"They're throwin' money away," he added.

Yet another man disagreed with the premise of the meeting.

"The school district is missing the point," he said. The problem isn't underutilized schools but the poor quality of academic programs and ineffective employees, he said.

The cost of preschool activities isn't worth the investment, the man added.

People in other discussion groups were concerned about other issues.

The talk at one table was about keeping Pathfinder School. Each section of Seattle is supposed to have at least one alternative public school, and Pathfinder is it for West Seattle. The small group at the meeting wanted to make sure to keep Pathfinder open, but building improvements are needed at the former Genesee Hill Elementary School, they said.

The library is too small, said one meeting attendee. There are five portable classrooms, and kids from kindergarten to eighth grade have to share restrooms, she added.

While some people argued for students to attend the school closest to home, others said they like having a choice of schools.

"I wouldn't send my kids to our neighborhood school," said a woman who sang the praises of Schmitz Park Elementary.

"A lot of people can't afford to drive to another school," said another.

Send kids to the best school, not just the closest, another woman urged.

One woman suggested the school district temporarily merge academic programs but don't close school buildings.

Yet another woman said she felt manipulated by the school system. She has to fight for her children's school and, if successful, her victory will be at the closure of someone else's equally dear school.

Public comments from the meeting will be added to those from other similar meetings around Seattle. The Seattle School Board is scheduled to vote on recommendations in July, which will take effect next fall.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.