Westside School at 10015 28th Ave. S.W. needs to move. The school has been operating in the space since the fall of 1993, and shares space with Explorer West, an independent private middle school. All the lease options for the inventoried Seattle Public School buildings were presented at the School Board meeting on April 21, and the vote will take place May 5.

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Westside School has put in a proposal to lease the E.C. Hughes building on 7740 34th Ave SW, and hopes to start the 2010-2011 school year in this new location. It's looking likely this will happen, according to school officials. Westside has been growing since 2006, and has outgrown its current location.

Head of the school Jo Ann Yockey said, " We have had a strategic plan which we began in 2006 to add one section at each grade level, before that we were one section at each grade, preschool through 5th grade. We started by adding another kindergarten class and then another 1st (grade) and so this year we have two 3rds."

Last December the Seattle School Board announced that they were putting schools up for inventory. "We took a look at them and put a proposal in, in March," said Yockey.

The move, at least in part, is about safety. The current location has no sidewalks and very limited parking. So pickups and drop offs at peak hours are a challenge.

Portable buildings have been the short-term solution, but the school is excited about this new building that has enough square feet to meet all its current program needs.

Next year, Westside will have about 230 students, grades preschool – 5th, and has not only run out of classroom space but also room for other important programs like P.E., music and art. This year the school has 218.

The move to E.C. Hughes will give the needed space for all day PE classes, office space for Spanish and Chinese teachers, and classrooms for music and art while allowing every classroom to be in one building and bring the school together into one building.

The only drawback seen at Hughes is that the play field is all paved. They are exploring options to break it up to establish some areas of grass. While the building does need some refurbishing there are plans to paint walls, polish floors, and they may install new carpet, so bids are out now for that work. "We're not expecting it to be costly in terms of cleaning up the building. We're leasing the building so we're not going to be doing any major renovation at this point," Yockey said.

An art teacher with 15 years at the school, Marjorie Lamden said ,"I'm excited about it because I won't have to rush between the classes. I'll have a space, a home! If I had a child I would want them to come to this school...and the kids love being here."

Westside School first operated out of Tibbetts United Methodist Church in 1981, leaving when the Church needed space, and they moved to a church in Arbor Heights for one year, then moved to its current location in the fall of 1993.

Yockey added, "We are truly excited and we're hoping that they accept our proposal and that we're good to go in May."