The fate of the vacant Martin Luther King Elementary School building is still undecided. The building was declared a surplus property in January by the school board. A decision will not likely be reached until this spring.
The building has been unoccupied for two years. Part of a series of closures in 2006, which included five other schools, Martin Luther King Elementary had about 100 students when it closed. The district requires a minimum enrollment of 200 students. Most of the students were moved to T.T. Minor Elementary, about 1.5 miles away, which at the time had about 180 students.
The Seattle P-I reported in January that nearby Bush School, a K-12 private school with about 560 students, had expressed interest in the property. The Bush School had sent several letters expressing their interest in the property. However, the school district will not be making any specific plans for the structure until the school board has reached a policy decision.
"The school board is considering adoption of a new policy for disposition of surplus schools," said Ron English, property manager with Seattle Public Schools. "Until the Board takes action, we will not be renting or selling the building."
Martin Luther King Elementary, formerly known as Benjamin Harrison Elementary, was built in 1913. The eight-classroom brick building was also closed once before, in 1934, during the Great Depression because of low enrollment and stayed closed for two years. It was then reopened to accommodate students from Madrona and McGilvra schools, which were then faced with overcrowding.
The school changed its name to Martin Luther King Elementary in 1974 after a school-wide vote and expanded through the fifth grade in 1989. However, according to Seattle Public Schools' history page of its Web site, the elementary school had been the smallest school in the district throughout the 1990s and had struggled to keep attendance up. The school closed after the 2005-2006 school year and has since remained unoccupied.
Alex Sell may be reached via mptimes@nwlink.com.
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