A series of community meetings to discuss the second phase of Seattle Public Schools closures was cancelled last week because the school board thought too many families would be still be on vacation, said district spokesman Peter Daniels.

"Participation might not be as wide range as it needs to be," said Daniels, adding that public meetings will be rescheduled for early September.

According to a recent statement released from the district, the meetings were called off to give the district more time to consider options for the second round of school closures. A group of principals, teachers and parent teacher association representatives convened to discuss options, review data and figure out the next steps in the process.

That group also said more time was needed before the larger community meetings should happen, said Daniels.

In June, the board voted to close seven buildings and the district plans to shutter an additional school in each of the north, central and southwest parts of the city by fall 2007.

During that first round of closures, the board approved a school-generated merger of the Fairmount Park Elementary program at High Point Elementary and the closure of the E.G. Hughes interim site.

Superintendent Raj Manhas is also looking for a better site for the Pathfinder K-8 program, currently in the Genesee Hill facility. Pathfinder avoided a proposed move to the Louisa Boren building in the Delridge neighborhood after parents and community members staged rallies and lobbied against the move, saying that Boren was no better than the ailing Genesee.

Manhas is still set to deliver preliminary recommendations on Sept. 18, after which will follow a series of public meetings in October to gather input on those recommendations. The school board is scheduled to vote on the second round of closures Nov. 1.

Daniels acknowledged the district's swift timeline, but said it's necessary to make sure there's enough time for the district to submit ballot measures by mid-November for any capital funds it might seek.

"We need to know which schools will still be on our list," he said.

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