City 2600 SW Thistle St
posted by on June 27 at 17:55 PM
West Seattle
The Seattle School District is planning to combine Denny middle school and Chief Sealth high school onto one campus and some parents are, as expected, freaking out.
In a recent report from the Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, some parents and teachers at the schools voiced concern about the potential for violent or sexual encounters between high schoolers and middle schoolers.
It’s worth nothing that sweaty, hormonal 6-12 graders have safely shared space at Summit k-12 for years.
Seattle Public Schools’ spokesman David Tucker says that while the schools will have some integrated art, language and music classes, “the schools would still be primarily divided between the middle and high school. This is going to modernize Sealth. Classrooms are going to be upgraded with technology upgrades, a 1000 seat auditorium and increased art spaces.” Besides, Tucker points out, “intermingling is already occurring. [Sealth and Denny students] are already riding the same buses.”
Denny Middle School, which is across the street from Sealth, will move onto Sealth’s campus and the former Denny site will be turned into a sports field.
The school district plans to begin construction by the summer of 2008.
What's the big deal? There have been one room schoolhouses for years in rural areas. K-12. Those kids turned out just fine. My community has already combined middle school students with high school students. There has been no disruption in education from this combination. With proper supervision, this change is AOK.
Hmmm...6-12 graders in the same school. I don't think it'll make the middle schoolers any more sexually precocious, but I do figure that the kids who wake up and smoke pot will start a bit earlier. It'll be the same damn kids, mind you, not new potheads, but just getting a bit of an earlier start.
i went to a 7-12 school. it meant that the middle school aged kids were less monstrous, because they were at the bottom of the social barrel trying to live up to the seniors. my memory is that older kids either ignored the younger ones or were tolerant of them. much less bullying than middle schools, and dating someone too young was not socially acceptable. once the administration sets the tone, it will be fine.
Parents are freaking out because the school district has done little or no public process and is presenting it like a done deal. Many of us in the hood are also concerned about turning the Denny site into locked sports fields instead of a mix of uses that would help the neighborhood instead of visiting ballplayers.
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