The Seattle School board voted 5-2 to approve superintendent Raj Manhas' final recommendations on school closures, after a tense special meeting last week.

The merger of the Fairmount Park Elementary program at High Point Elementary sailed through along with six other closures, four of which are mergers.

During a second phase of closures this fall, the board plans to work with the community to find a location for the Pathfinder K-8 Alternative program, now in the deteriorating Genesee Hill facility. Pathfinder escaped a controversial move to the Louisa Boren building in the Delridge neighborhood after parents and community members staged rallies and lobbied against the move.

Genessee was originally on the closure list but was taken off the superintendents final recommendations released July 5. The district has denied that any changes to the closure list were a result of community protest. The E.G. Hughes interim site will also close under the newly approved plan.

The board voted that three additional schools would close in fall 2007 during the second phase of school closures. The district plans to recommend closing another school in the North, Northeast, or Northwest cluster, another in the Central area and in West Seattle.

Board president Brita Butler-Wall acknowledged how difficult the process has been for the district, families and students, but said the closures are necessary because of declining student enrollment and growing budget shortfalls.

"We don't need 70 elementary schools anymore and it's (the board's) responsibility to face that fact."

West Seattle's school board member, Irene Stewart, said she was against school closures for years until she realized that it's necessary for the district to address equity and declining enrollment.

"This is the most difficult thing I've had to do as a school board member and we realize it's the school communities that are really affected," said Stewart. "But there will be at least one more school that will close in my district and I am committed to seeing that through."

Board members Mary Bass and Sally Soriano sponsored many unsuccessful amendments to spare some schools from closure. They were also the only two members to vote against the entire package of school closures.

"I'm surprised at how good academics have really been ignored in this process," said Soriano, earning enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Several audience members made their distaste for board decisions known, often shouting and snickering at board members. Board president Butler-Wall had to call the meeting to order several times and even ruled one audience participant "out of order."

The board also approved an amendment to protect schools intended to house a merged school from potential closure in the second round.

"It would be pretty shocking to learn that any of those schools that merged might still be vulnerable to a closure," said Stewart, who sponsored the amendment. "That's just not acceptable to me."

All schools targeted for closure in the first and second phase will be shuttered in fall 2007.

Before voting against the entire plan, board member Bass said she wasn't sure closures were necessary because the district didn't look to other money saving options, such as selling surplus buildings, before they decided to close schools.

It was the second time the district attempted to close schools in the last two years. Last year's effort was halted due to public protest over the process that many thought was unfair.

But this year a community advisory committee was commissioned to study the schools and solicit community input. The citizen committee was tasked with deciding which elementary and alternative schools should close based on a number of board determined criteria and principles, such as academic achievement and building condition.

A series of public meetings were held before and after the committee released its preliminary and final recommendations to the superintendent. The superintendent and his staff then analyzed the recommendations accompanied by several more public hearings. The process culminated with the board vote last week.

It will cost about $1.4 million to close the schools and move programs and supplies, Manhas has said. Along with removing up to $350 million in potential capital levy projects, a potential savings of $4.4 million in capital costs and about $2.1 million in operating costs for the first year is expected. The district anticipates the total savings will rise each year

Families of students affected by the first round of closures will be notified of their new school in August, district officials said. Those families will be given the option to sign up for another school during open enrollment in January.

A preliminary recommendation list for the second phase is tentatively scheduled for mid-September and the school board vote is scheduled for Nov. 1.

The final recommendations result in seven building closures, five of which are mergers or consolidations:

* Viewlands - Close building; recommend a new location for the Viewlands Autism All-Inclusion Program in second phase.

* John Marshall - Close building, relocate programs

* M.L. King - Close building, merge at T.T. Minor*

* Hughes (interim site) - Close building

* Fairmount Park - Close building, merge at High Point

* Whitworth - Merge program at Dearborn Park

* Orca at Columbia - Close building, relocate to Whitworth, expand to K-8

* Rainier View - Close building, merge at Emerson

*Community generated merger previously approved by superintendent; will merge fall 2006.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com or at 412-4866.