As many North Seattle families are affected by overcrowding in a number of Seattle Public Schools, many people are wondering why some of their neighborhood schools are being closed down.

Closed last year but still seen as a reasonable solution to increase classroom space, numerous Ballard residents don't understand why Viewlands Elementary School was not kept open to help ease the overload of students in certain neighborhoods.

"Viewlands is not slated to be reopened because most of our rise in enrollment is occurring in the Northeast cluster and to some degree in Queen Anne and Magnolia," said David Tucker, spokesperson for the Seattle School District. "Viewlands is not that far from Broadview-Thomson so those schools consolidated last year."

The need for classrooms is rooted outside of Ballard and more to the north.

There have been discussions and recommendations to turn the Decatur building into a K-5 and Thornton Creek School into a K-8. It would than be moved to the Jane Adams building, currently housing Summit K-12, which has plans to collocate at Rainier Beach.

Seattle Public Schools also recommended building closures because it will allow the school district to "increase academic achievement by focusing resources on a smaller number of buildings and to use facilities wisely and build on what is working. It will meet students' needs by balancing capacity with the number of students in neighborhoods throughout the city and to ensure that each student has access to a high quality educational program. They hope that it will also prepare for future needs by closing the buildings in the poorest condition and by planning program moves to respond to the city's demographic trends and respond to difficult economic times by addressing a $24 million or more shortfall with a recommendation that will result in both one-time capital savings and ongoing operational savings."

There will be a public input process that will take place for a number of weeks and a final recommendation will be made on Jan. 6 and the school board will take it's final vote scheduled for Jan. 29, 2009.

For a list of meeting times and locations visit www.seattleschool.org/area/capacity or to send comments call 252-0040 or e-mail capacity@seattleschool.org.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.