A $125 million project was announced last week to demolish Denny Middle School and move it to a new address on Kenyon Street to bring it closer to Chief Sealth High School, where other new facilities could be built to serve both schools.

"It will be the biggest project in the history of Seattle Public Schools," said Jeff Clark, principal of Denny Middle School.

Denny and Sealth would maintain their separate autonomy but share some facilities, such as a library, an arts center, language studies or tutoring.

A shared cafeteria, or even separate cafeterias, would mean just one kitchen needed for two schools. The number of gymnasiums needed between the two schools could be similarly reduced.

Seattle Public Schools has been looking for ways to save money since the school district found itself in the red a few years ago.

If built separately, a new Denny Middle School would cost about $70 million and a new Chief Sealth High School about $100 million. Building joint-use facilities would save an estimated $45 million, school officials said.

The announcement was made at a public meeting Sept. 14 at Sealth High School. About 25 people attended.

The biggest change would happen at Denny Middle School, currently facing west at 8402 30th Ave. S.W. The new Denny would be built northeast of Sealth High and face north.

"Kenyon Street becomes a middle school area," Clark said. "Kids would be supervised 100 percent of the time."

The new building would be laid out to form clusters with five classrooms each. It would be similar to the design of Madison Middle School which, according to architect Don Gilmore, is the current model for Seattle middle schools.

There are 900 students at Madison but the renovated school seems smaller because each cluster has about 125 students, Gilmore said.

Denny students would continue attending the existing school while the new school is being built.

Meanwhile the Chief Sealth building is in pretty good shape but it needs a new $10 million heating system, Gilmore said. Installation of the heating system will require so much interior demolition the school district decided to go ahead and fix other problems at the same time, said Fred Stephens, Seattle Public Schools' director of facilities. Electrical wiring will be replaced throughout the school as well as the power connection from the street, he said.

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