After receiving significant comments from community members, as well as School Board member Steve Sundquist, the school district is researching Cooper as a new home for alternative school Pathfinder K-8.

Superintendent of Seattle Schools Marie Goodloe-Johnson recommended on Nov. 25, among other changes throughout the district, to close Arbor Heights elementary program so that Pathfinder might move into the building.

Immediately Sundquist questioned whether Cooper Elementary School might be a more appropriate facility for Pathfinder's programs.

The Cooper building, located at 1901 Southwest Genesee Street, was built in 1999. It has been rated 96 out of 100 for buiding condition, compared to Arbor Heights which was built in 1948, with additions through 1958, and is rated 70.74.

Cooper is also closer to Pathfinder's current location, the Genesee Hill building. But Jennifer Giomi, president of Pathfinder's Parent, Teacher and Student Association, says that proximaty to the current location might not make too much difference. As she explained, Pathfinder draws students from all over West Seattle. So while Cooper is more centrally located in the neighborhood, students at Pathfinder are typically bused to the school no matter where it's located.

Since they found out their school's future was in jeapordy, members of Arbor Heights Parent, Teacher and Student Association have been researching a number of other schools in West Seattle that might be a more appropriate alternative than their own school, which they desribe as a "model neighborhood school." They presented their findings at a school board meetng on Dec. 3.

At Arbor Heights, during the 2007-2008 school year more than 62 percent of incoming kindergarteners selected the school as their first choice, compared to just 22 percent at Cooper.

Community members from Arbor Heights have also emphasized how their program fits the model of a neighborhood school which the district says it would like to move towards. It has been estimated that 52 percent of the student body at Arbor Heights live in the school's reference area, and 90 percent live in the West Seattle South cluster. At Cooper Elementary 29.5 percent of students draw from the school's reference area.

This is not the first time that the Cooper building has been considered for Pathfinder. Under former Superintendent Raj Manhas, the district considered closing Cooper in the Spring of 2005 and later discussed incorporating Cooper into the Pathfinder program in the Fall of 2006.

The School Board is not expected to make a decision regarding Cooper or Arbor Heights until a special board meeting on Jan. 29.

Rose Egge may be contacted at 932.0300 or rosee@robinsonnews.com