In a 5 to 2 vote, the Seattle School Board has passed Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's final recommendation on school closures, effectively closing Cooper Elementary school and splitting the Accelerated Progress Program at Lowell Elementary school.

Two board members, Harium Martin-Morris and Mary Bass, voted against the recommendation.

On Jan. 6, Goodloe-Johnson introduced her final recommendation, which suggested discontinuing the Cooper program and moving Pathfinder K-8, which has outgrown the Genesee Hill building, into the Cooper building.

The superintendent also recommended splitting the Accelerated Progress Program (APP) at Lowell Elementary so that the West Seattle students in the program would be transferred to Thurgood Marshall elementary.

There were several interruptions during the School Board meeting as audience members heckled the superintendent and board members while they spoke. Security removed one man who repeatedly stood and interrupted as well as James Bible, president of the Seattle and King County NAACP, though Bible was later invited back into the meeting.

"You guys should be ashamed of yourselves! We shouldn't even be having this discussion!" shouted one audience member to the board members

School Board President Michael DeBell repeatedly asked the audience to be quiet and even threatened to hold the meeting without the public present.

While the overall recommendation was passed, board members also discussed several proposed amendments to the recommendation.

Board member Sherry Carr's proposed amendment, that APP-qualified students who live within walking distance of Lowell, be allowed to remain at the school, was approved.

Board member Harium Martin-Morris also proposed an amendment that both Cooper and Pathfinder K-8 remain at their current facilities.

"To say, 'yeah you've done a good job but you're not worthy enough to keep you're building,' is not okay with me," said Martin-Morris. "It's my personal belief that Cooper has been working for some of our most challenging populations of students."

Bass agreed: "It's the right thing to do."

Nonetheless, the amendment failed with the support of only Martin-Morris and Bass.

School Board member Mary Bass's proposed amendment, which included a recommendation that APP remain intact at Lowell, also failed after it was voted against by all board members except Bass and Martin-Morris.

School Board members Bass and Martin-Morris voted in conflict with the rest of the board on all six amendments.

For the 2009-2010 school year, students currently attending Cooper Elementary will be reassigned to Gatewood Elementary, Highland Park and Arbor Heights.

The superintendent's final recommendation had suggested that students be assigned to any of West Seattle's elementary programs, according to the reference area that they live in. However, Sundquist's amendment to the proposal asked that students only be reassigned to those three schools.

Parents who are not satisfied with their student's assignment may apply for another program through the district's standard school choice process.

In her final recommendation, Goodloe-Johnson justified closing Cooper to preserve Pathfinder K-8, West Seattle's only alternative education program. Pathfinder is currently located in the Genesee Hill building, a facility that is too small for the program which costs the district too much to maintain.

Cooper's geographic location made it the best choice for Pathfinder, according to the superintendent. The building is not located in the heart of a neighborhood, and therefore is considered a more appropriate facility for a "choice" program, which draws students from all areas of West Seattle, than a neighborhood school.

But the school community strongly disagreed. Parents have expressed concern that Cooper students will receive a lower quality education if reassigned to other West Seattle schools. Compared to other elementary programs with similar demographics, Cooper has scored relatively high on the Washington State Assessment test. The school has also been successful in addressing a high percentage of students in poverty as well as English language learners.

Also beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, West Seattle students in APP at Lowell will be transferred with other students from South Seattle to Thurgood Marshall to begin a new program there, with the exception of any APP students living within walking distance of Lowell.

The decision to split Lowell was suggested by the Superintendent for two reasons. First, the district wishes to provide better access to APP, and expects that splitting the program would give more students the opportunity to participate. Secondly, the district strives to expose all students in special education programs, including APP, to general education. Moving half of APP to Thurgood Marshall's general education program and adding the general education program from T.T. Minor to Lowell would accomplish that.

Still, parents at Lowell are concerned that the district will not have enough time or funding to develop APP adequately at Thurgood Marshall. They have also expressed concern over splitting the student body in half.

The city wide implications of the school board's vote are as follows:

School buildings to close: Genesee Hill (home of Pathfinder K-8), Mann, T.T. Minor, Van Asselt and Old Hay.

Programs to discontinue: Cooper, African American Academy, Meany, T.T. Minor and Summit K-12.

Relocated programs: Pathfinder K-8 to Cooper, Half of Lowell APP to Thurgood Marshall, Half of Washington APP to Hamilton, NOVA to Meany, SBOC to Meany, T.T. Minor Montessori to Leschi, Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Dunlap and Hawthorne,Van Asselt to African American Academy.

New program: New K-8 at Jane Addams

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