If you value this coverage and want to support the continued independence of Central District News, please subscribe today for as little as $5/month — DRIVE ENDS SEPTEMBER 30.
Community groups that had staged a 
grassroots takeover of a temporarily mothballed Central District school building have moved aside allowing the school district to move ahead with millions of dollars in planned renovations and opening up the path to a $14.2 million renovation and re-opening of a public middle school on Capitol Hill, officials say.
Despite recent uncertainty about the future of the Horace Mann building and community groups that call it home, the Nova Alternative High School is on track open in the E Cherry Mann building next year, Seattle Public Schools says. That move puts Meany campus near Miller Community Center at 19th and Thomas, which currently houses Nova, on track to reopen as a Capitol Hill middle school in 2017.
Nova’s impending return to Mann had grown increasingly uncertain in recent months. After being stalled earlier in the year it appeared the project was on its way in June when the Department of Planning and Development approved the district’s plan to renovate the building. But community groups putting an empty Mann to use for social and educational programs formed the More 4 Mann Coalition to urge the district to reconsider the Nova move. In response Seattle Public Schools formed a task force last month to rethink plans for the 110-year-old school.
Apparently, the task force moved quickly. SPS official Pegi McEvoy tells us that the community groups have now moved out of the old E Cherry schoolhouse and the district is working with an architect on the $7.5 million renovation. UPDATE: Seattle Schools tells CHS the talks have made progress but are ongoing and that another meeting with the Mann groups is scheduled for later this week.
Also in the mix are plans to move The World School, formerly called the Secondary Bilingual Education Program. The program is is currently housed in the Meany building and will relocate to TT Minor in two years.
Horace Mann had been the long time home to Nova, which opened in 1970. Nova left Mann in 2009 and set up shop in the Meany building. McEvoy said finding a central location for Nova was critical because the school pulls students from all over the city.
In an effort to save money while middle school enrollment was declining, the school district shut down the Meany Middle School in 2009. When middle school enrollment started increasing, putting strain on the Washington Middle School, the district moved to reopen Meany.
Plans to reopen the Meany campus as a Capitol Hill middle school are moving along. Voters approved funding for the work in February with the passing of the Seattle Schools Capitol Levy. The next step for Meany will be for the district to assemble a School Design Advisory Team to begin reviewing the renovation plans. Positions are open to the public. Construction at Meany is slated to start in June 2014.
The school would be slated to open by the 2017/2018 school year. The $23 million price tag appears to be a relative bargain. A from-the-ground-up plan for a new middle school would have cost more than $82 million, school officials said.
In 2009, KUOW reported on needed seismic upgrades on the campus.
On September 18the, the Seattle school board will vote on an action to secure funding from the state to start work on Meany. McEvoy said the district is currently looking for an architect to work out the renovation plan.
The new Meany building will be mostly occupied by the middle school, but McEvoy said there’s “always potential for space allocation” when it comes to community groups that currently call the building home.
Here is the SPS plan for Mann:
“Budget $7.5 million
Project Description
Modernize existing school building to enhance learning and teaching at Nova Alternative High School.
Modernization includes:
- Abatement and demolition of unnecessary site structures such as portables.
- Abatement and demolition of interior spaces as necessary to reconfigure for optimum use.
- 15,000 square-foot addition.
- Rehabilitation of building envelope including roof replacement, exterior wall updates and painting, and installation of energy efficient windows.
- Structural work and earthquake retrofitting including replacement of roof diaphragm, tying roof structure to supporting walls, and installing lateral bracing systems.
- Interior finish work such as replacing floor and ceiling finishes and complete repainting.
- Addressing accessibility issues such as wheelchair access, restroom sizes, and accessible fixtures.
- Renovation or replacement of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
- Technology upgrades such as building-wide wi-fi and data networks.
- Installation of new fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
- New furniture, fixtures and equipment.
- Site work including installation of new building signage and energy-efficient lighting, and resurfacing and restriping of the parking lot.”
And the plan for Meany:
Budget $14.2 million
Project
The building will be completely renovated and reopened as a comprehensive middle school. With a capacity of 850, this project will address current and projected middle school enrollment growth in central Seattle and reduce overcrowding at Washington Middle School.
Modernization includes:
-
Abatement and demolition of unnecessary site structures.
-
Abatement and demolition of interior spaces as necessary to reconfigure for optimum use.
-
Rehabilitation of building envelope including roof replacement, exterior wall updates and painting, and installation of energy efficient windows.
-
Structural work and earthquake retrofitting including replacement of roof diaphragm, tying roof structure to supporting walls, and installing lateral bracing systems.
-
Interior finish work such as replacing floor and ceiling finishes and complete repainting.
-
Addressing accessibility issues such as wheelchair access, restroom sizes, and accessible fixtures.
-
Renovation or replacement of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
-
Technology upgrades such as building-wide wi-fi and data networks.
-
Installation of new fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
-
New furniture, fixtures and equipment.
-
Site work including playfield renovation, installation of new building signage and energy-efficient lighting, and resurfacing and restriping of the parking lot.”
If you value this coverage and want to support the continued independence of Central District News, please subscribe today for as little as $5/month — DRIVE ENDS SEPTEMBER 30.
There was talk of relieving Washington Middle School’s overcrowding sooner rather than later by providing a temporary location for students who would be assigned to Meany post-renovation. Has anybody heard anything about that recently?
Note to Hamlin Robinson: you do good work and have a vision. When your lease runs out, squat in TT Minor and ask the district for a handout. They’ll oblige and give you what you want.
“Horace Mann had been the long time home to Nova, which opened in 1970. Nova left Mann in 2009 and set up shop in the Meany building.”
It’s important to note that Nova didn’t LEAVE the Mann building, they were moved by the district. There’s a difference, and this wording makes it sound as if Nova chose to relocate – which is just the opposite of what happened.
http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2013/09/horace-mann-task-force-meets-this.html
This story reports that there is a fourth meeting tonight and comments on a perceived flaws in the original story. I agree that there was never any evidence that the District was rethinking the plan. However, District actions have let the situation fester and left room for such speculation.
Superintendent Banda is a sore disappointment as a leader of education. What leader of education would put the convenience of the most privileged. Nova is 70% white, with outcomes near 87%. Everyone knows that Seattle was supposed to be seeking a Superintendent that could work with communities of color and close the achievement gap.
That is not done by assuring no displacement for the privileged. He says that Nova has an all city draw thus needs to be in the Central Area. That is a big crock of poop. If the most privileged need not be discomforted by travel, what then should our Supt supply for the least privileged, I would say every thing the District and the City of Seattle have to offer. This show of no plan or concern for African American students, parents and the community is deplorable to say the least. I can not take one more blatant statement against African American children, parents and community members of all races who support them. These children, parents and supporters of having Horace Mann located in the heart of the African American community have shown the best of African American ability to education to excellence little black and brown children. Everyone who visited them this summer agrees to this. We all know that it is an easy sell to any to put a school of excellence in the neighborhood and in close proximity to where the world icons of Quincy Jones and Jimi Hendrix grew up. In a building named for the father of public and equal education. Come on School District get it right this time. What do African Americans have to do to prove their worth as full residents of Seattle. The Education and Levy is being handled by Mayor McGinn as if African Americans are still colonized or not worthy of what the people voted for. That is to close the achievement gap. They are not a colonized people they are fully engaged and worthy of what Seattle Schools wants to guarantee a 80% white student population. A new beautiful home in the African American community.
Please no race baiting statements from those who think that whites are victims to any black who wants equal education. We are a better city than that or we use to be and can be again. It will take abolitionist type whites to come out of their liberalism an solve this one with African Americans.
“That is to close the achievement gap”
there’s no achievement gap with AFrican immigrant kids. Why is that?
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017046660_newgap19m.html
‘Alarming’ new test-score gap discovered in Seattle schools
For the first time, Seattle Public Schools officials have broken down test scores by specific home language. The recently announced results revealed a surprising trend that may have implications for policy around the district.
By Brian M. Rosenthal
Seattle Times education reporter
African-American students whose primary language is English perform significantly worse in math and reading than black students who speak another language at home — typically immigrants or refugees — according to new numbers released by Seattle Public Schools.
District officials, who presented the finding at a recent community meeting at Rainier Beach High School, noted the results come with caveats, but called the potential trend troubling and pledged to study what might be causing it.
Michael Tolley, an executive director overseeing Southeast Seattle schools, said at the meeting that the data exposed a new achievement gap that is “extremely, extremely alarming.”
The administration has for years analyzed test scores by race. It has never before broken down student-achievement data by specific home language or country of origin — it is rare for school districts to examine test scores at that level — but it is unlikely that the phenomenon the data suggest is actually new.
As the parent to two graduates at NOVA, I can assure you that these kids are not 70% privileged. Don’t make such easy assumptions, they are totally incorrect. Further, let’s elevate the knee-jerk white vs black arguments concerning how this neighborhood should function. We all live here. We should endeavor to make our schools excellent for ALL the students who live here.
Dawn Mason,
You could always enroll your kids at NOVA. It’s not actually set up to be a school for white kids.
The original article is in no way a true reflection of what is happening and may even have made the situation worse. While, Dawn Mason and I may have different takes and strongly disagree regarding the promises of the levy and the community outreach to the residents and neighborhoods here, she and I do share a deep disappointment in Superintendent Banda’s leadership.
Maybe the clarity is that Banda does not plan to meet with the group again, and Pegi McEvoy’s remarks were portrayed correctly. The more I think about it, it is true that the District has been clear about the plan to move forward with Mann. I have never heard anything different, and if t4 Mann continued to want to make about the building, the superintendent is done. That would be clarity. The question is what was/is the goal of this task force now.
my typos annoy me:
, and if the 4 Mann group continued to want to make the narrative about the building, Perhaps the superintendent is done. That would be clarity. The question is what was/is the goal of this task force now.
I thought readers might be interested in this upcoming workshop on the “Call to Action to Eliminate Racial Inequity in Discipline” in Seattle Schools. It will be held on October 12th and you must register to attend. http://bit.ly/153DJH3
Wow. Good luck with that mission. I can’t imagine a successful path to equity. If we offer special allowances for some groups it actually degrades them. If we do nothing they remain degraded.
How do you get to where people have opportunity and confidence to take the opportunity. I really can’t get my head around it.