Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson announced last night that the district is no longer considering closing a traditional high school during this round of school closures--and it sounds like she's not terribly interested in pushing for the relocation of Aki Kurose middle school students and/or the Center School program into Rainier Beach High School as planned either. This is either testament to the power of a vocal group of people to affect The System's machinations, or it is proof that the school closure list is more mutable than the central Puget Sound weather forecast. more ›

The proposed school closure list has been changed, yet again! The big news is that Rainier Beach High School (previously announced as considered for a merger with Cleveland High School, to the chagrin of almost everyone) is off the closure table. Instead, the plan is to either move Aki Kurose middle school students into the RBHS building or to close down the Center School Program and request that those high-schoolers attend Rainier Beach. more ›

Facing a $37.1 million dollar budget shortfall, the Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools announced her updated plans for school closures: Summit K-12 will shut its doors entirely, rather than moving to Rainier as had been previously discussed, and Cleveland High School and Rainier Beach High School will merge. Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson's presentation from last night's meeting can be found online here [pdf], and here's the summary [pdf] of what will probably be final recommendations for closures. Someone (or a group of someones, more likely) is bound to be unhappy about whatever solution is suggested, but we're concerned about the gap left by the Summit closure in alternative, arts-friendly education in our district. more ›

• West Seattle Blog explores the case of the missing swing-set. Thankfully, no one's figured out how to steal a public park swing-set (yet); rather, Lowman Beach's swings are being replaced by a new and improved set.
• Ooh--even better than a monorail: Ballard may get a water taxi.
• Remember how we mentioned that Cleveland High School students faced a daily death trap just getting to school? The Rainier Valley Post wasn't exaggerating about that.

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• WaMu really can't catch a break. The Belltowner and PhinneyWood report that their neighborhood WaMu branches were robbed over the weekend.
• Mid Beacon Hill explores "cheap South End fun," including a place that should be on the hipster street-of-dreams, and the Museum of Communications. Being a tourist in your own city is totally fun, so the idea of being a tourist in your own neighborhood strikes us as completely delightful.
• So that's why we didn't have power on Saturday night in the CD. Of course, since we had no power we couldn't log on to check Central District News for updates, but it's nice to know now.