shortchanged

I agree with Chris Jackins, and he should be skeptical of the Sealth-Denny project, what was promoted and sold to the staff at Sealth was a state-of-the-art facility.

The reality is that the school that generations have attended and been attached to is going to disappear. Chief Sealth was promised a completely renovated gymnasium. That will not happen. They were promised a complete remodel on the auditorium. That will not happen.

The newly renovated library will be cut in half to make way for new classrooms. Sealth staff will lose their staff lounge. Students will lose computer labs, and will have to share five classrooms with Denny. The two schools were supposed to be separate except for music and foreign language.

Sealth was supposed to benefit from a state-of-the-art facility, but instead is losing classrooms, part of the library, computer labs, parking, and possibly office space. There is now a question about the environmental impact a new Denny, a boiler, and electrical system will have on Longfellow creek.

The voters agreed to fund these two projects, but the ballot was not written to indicate that the two schools would be joined. The $125 million that has been allocated for these two schools will be sucked up by cost-overruns for Denny, and Sealth is getting the short end of the stick and will basically end up only with a new boiler and electrical system that they will share with Denny.

So much for the pathway to success for Chief Sealth.

Danielle Terada

West Seattle