The Cooper School community made sure their objections were made known to School Board members over the proposal to shut down their program, despite a public hearing not being required.

Before any public school building can be closed district policy requires that a public hearing be held, at which community members can testify in response to the proposed closure. But if a program is recommended to close without shutting the doors to its building, no such hearing is required.

So when Cooper was recently recommended to end its program so that Pathfinder K-8, West Seattle's only alternative school, might move into the facility, the proposal was not subject to its own public hearing. However, on Jan. 13, the Cooper community organized a community meeting, which was attended by five board members: Steve Sundquist, Sherry Carr, Harium Martin-Morris, Cheryl Chow and Michael DeBell.

After breaking into about a dozen small groups, the school community presented questions and concerns to the board. Although the entire board could not respond (according to state law, when that many board members present that cannot respond to a public body without it being considered a school board meeting), Sundquist and Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno responded to some of the community's concerns. Most apparent were parents' assertion that reassigning Cooper students to other local schools could compromise their academic success. They claimed that compared to other West Seattle elementary programs with similar demographics, their program was thriving academically.

"We feel like we're being punished for succeeding," said Sue Sutton, a grandparent at Cooper.

Santorno responded by explaining that despite some short-term discomfort, the district's goal was to raise the education level of all Seattle schools over time.

Several parents also claimed that their school would not be large enough for Pathfinder's program. The district has assessed that the Cooper building could hold 461 students. The Pathfinder program currently includes 391.

However, Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's final recommendation proposes that Cooper's autistic program, which occupies 75 seats, remain in the building. Furthermore, students who currently walk to Cooper would be invited into the Pathfinder program.

This could leave Pathfinder with just 361 seats, although the School Board says it has yet to receive information regarding capacity of schools from the district.

Other parents questioned the motivations behind the final recommendation, but Santorno defended the superintendent’s proposal, explaining that the district strived to provide equal access to alternative education program across the city.

Goodloe-Johnson's recommendation that Cooper close is part of city-wide capacity management, which will close some school buildings, discontinue or relocate programs and eventually modify the current student assignment plan. The changes come in response to a projected $25 million deficit in the district's budget for next year.

A public hearing in response to all of the superintendent's recommendations will be held at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence on Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. The school board will vote on the recommendation on Jan. 29.

Comments can be sent to the school board at capacity@seattleschools.org, schoolboard@seattleschools.org or mailed to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA 98124-1165.

For more information visit http://www.seattleschools.org/area/capacity/index.dxml.

Rose Egge can be reached at 932-0300 or rosee@robinsonnews.com.