Loyal Heights Elementary parents and community members have filed a court appeal of a Seattle School Board decision as they seek to halt the district’s big expansion of the school.
A group of parents and community members is continuing its fight to prevent a big expansion of Loyal Heights Elementary by filing an appeal of a Seattle School Board decision.
The legal action is part of a long effort by the Ballard group members, who say the expansion creates a “mega school” in an area where a larger school isn’t needed. The appeal is the second they’ve filed this year. The group lost the first appeal in April.
Under current building plans, Loyal Heights Elementary would expand by 54,000 square feet and could hold up to 660 students, compared with the current 38,000 square feet and enrollment of 450 students. The group members say the expansion on the 2.6-acre lot also would shrink the playground by 30 percent, and a grass area installed by the neighborhood would be paved over.
Construction on the $37.2 million project is set to start next year and be completed in spring 2018.
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The appeal, filed in King County Superior Court in August, comes down to a conflict over how an interior courtyard would be used. The School Board approved details for the project that stated the courtyard would not be used as a play space. A city of Seattle decision to grant a permit for the school project, however, said students would be allowed to play in the space.
Classes would be disrupted if students were allowed to hold recess or other activities in the courtyard, Loyal Heights parent Frank Swart said. He and the other group members who want to keep the outside space available argue that any construction should be halted and the School Board should address the discrepancy.
Not all parents and community members are against the expansion plans. Real-estate agent and former Loyal Heights parent Eleanor Heyrich said she has seen more families with school-aged children move to the area, often in condo and apartment buildings. The expanded school will be able to accommodate those new students, she said.
Flip Herndon, associate superintendent of facilities and operations, acknowledged that the construction plan does combine a large school with a small size and limited play space. However, the size is comparable to Hazel Wolf, a K-8 school in Pinehurst opening this fall, Herndon wrote in a district briefing paper.