Neighbors disdain the use of the Boren building as a temporary site for other schools, especially high schools, during their renovations. But now that Chief Sealth High School began classes there Sept. 3, school administrators and neighbors both think that local students and a developing neighborhood may make this a different situation - for the better.

Since Louisa Boren Junior High on Delridge was closed 27 years ago, its building has been used as a temporary site for programs. Cooper Elementary spent ten years there after it left what is now the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and moving into its new building on Pigeon Point. Alternative Education IV started there, moving to Genesse Hill in 1994 to become Pathfinder K-8.

Boren has been mostly used as a temporary home for south end schools while their buildings are renovated: High Point Elementary in 1987-88, West Seattle High 2000-2002, Madison Middle 2003-2005, and Cleveland 2005-2007.

And now it's Sealth's turn.

Facilities: Boyd makes do

Putting high school students in a building designed for middle school students is a squeeze. But, during a visit to the temporary site, Sealth's principal, John Boyd, explained that he has been able to find a space for each teacher, although in smaller classrooms than they left at Sealth. One science teacher complained her classroom is too small to store instruments she uses in her lessons. The school also had to combine two special education classes into one.

Hallways are also smaller in the Boren building, but Boyd says this helps teachers keep an eye on the students.

Physical education has struggled most with the inadequate facilities. At the former site, students had four large gymnasiums. At Boren, there are only two smaller gyms. While the school has been able to teach classes and host basketball games at these facilities, it has also bused students to the Southwest Athletic Center for athletic team practices.

Transportation to and from Boren is also difficult. The only bus route that services the south end of Delridge is route 120. While Sealth is working with Metro Transit in hopes of increasing buses and adding new routes near the school, students living in South Seattle lack ways to get home.

But despite these complications, Boyd claims students are adjusting well to the new site. Some juniors and seniors at Sealth are familiar with the Boren building, having previously studied there while Madison Middle School was under construction. Once they reconnected with their friends and teachers, Boyd said, students seem more comfortable.

"It's not the house that makes a home, it's the people in it," Boyd said.

And while the building is small, it has been cared for. Large windows in each classroom keep the spaces well lit, and the courtyards on the campus grounds have been well kept for by the Seattle School district.

"We're a great school. Our students and staff are doing great work, and that hasn't changed," Boyd said.

Utilizing local resources

Chief Sealth has the benefit of more local resources available to them than high schools had in the past.

Karen Spiel, manager of the Delridge branch of Seattle Public Libraries, plans to use the library as an extension of the classroom for Sealth students.

Leighanne Metter-Jensen will bring her English language students to Delridge. Her students, for whom English may be their fourth or fifth language, will practice reading children's stories to preschoolers.

"That way we can try to get two generations of new readers," Metter-Jensen said.

After school, volunteers at the library help students with their homework. This year, Spiel said, she hopes to coordinate with Sealth's homework program.

This wasn't possible with Cleveland.

Spiel started at the Delridge library in November 2005, just after Cleveland started at Boren, and during the next two years, Spiel herself was reassigned for eight months. The Delridge library went through several managers and librarians before she returned to stay in early 2007.

"We didn't have the continuity to do the planning or the follow-through then," Spiel said. "We were in a reactive mode. All we could deal with was the day-to-day."

Cleveland had an open campus policy that allowed students in the library during all school hours. They often crowded around computer terminals, intended for one user, talking loudly. Spiel called security to remove chronic offenders, banning some from the library.

Sealth students have had no violations so far, but Spiel admits it is early in the school year.

"What is new this year is the level of communication," Spiel said.

Down the street, the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center will be offering its dance studio, recording studio, media lab and an 150-seat theater for Sealth's use.

"Boren is an old building," said Randy Engstrom, director of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. "The rooms are smaller. It has no theater. It doesn't have the facilities that even the preconstruction Sealth has."

When Youngstown opened in February 2006, Cleveland had been at Boren for a year, and the arts center wasn't in a position to the school.

"We were so busy building a rental facility that we couldn't do a lot of outreach during our first 18 months," Engstrom said.

By spring 2007, some Cleveland students were included in some theater and visual arts, including Dwayne Jackson's popular hip-hop dance class.

"It's too bad we didn't meet sooner," Engstrom said.

Now Engstrom has a larger staff and more lead time.

"I'm confident we can get (Sealth students) here and make this place meaningful for them," Engstrom said.

Youngstown offers All Access - free after-school classes including break dancing, spoken word performance, music recording, video production, hip-hop - beginning in October.

Neighborhood that is unsafe?

When Chief Sealth announced that it would be moving to the Boren building for two years, a few parents questioned the safety of the Cottage Grove neighborhood and withdrew their kids from the school.

But while students from West Seattle and the Cleveland may have felt unsafe, Sealth will be part of a different neighborhood.

While Cleveland was at Boren, vagrants lived in three vacant houses across the street. Owned by Edson Gallaudet and his Great Northern Land Company, the houses had broken windows and graffiti-tagged siding. Their yards were strewn with appliances, garbage and abandoned cars.

"The three houses were a blight on the community," said Mike Giomi, a West Seattle developer. "The best way to enhance the neighborhood was to tear down the buildings. He bought them and promptly did just that. He is now framing 15 townhomes set back from Longfellow Creek."

Ron Angeles, Neighborhood District Coordinator for the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, explained that members of the Cottage Grove neighborhood have made significant efforts themselves in recent years to improve their community, including the establishment of a neighborhood council.

"Like a lot of neighborhoods there are public safety issues, but there have been people doing something about it in last five years," Angeles said.

Boyd, who lives just a few blocks from the Boren school, agrees.

"People still have an image of the neighborhood that doesn't match," Boyd said.

Still, the community has brought up concerns during recent crime prevention meetings at the Southwest precinct, including drug dealing in nearby apartment buildings and incidents of domestic violence.

Underdeveloped roads also serve as opportune places for crime. The lack of sidewalks and few crosswalks on busy Delridge Way make pedestrian safety in the neighborhood a concern.

Detriment to the neighborhood?

Mike Dady, a resident of the neighborhood and co-chair of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, well represents the sentiments of some neighbors who have experienced the trouble that high school students circulating through Boren building tend to cause.

"Personally, I don't think it's helping the development of the neighborhood," Dady said. "It's very frustrating."

Angeles said that when West Seattle High School used the Boren building neighbors grew frustrated with kids hanging out on street corners and wandering over to Longfellow creek. He remembers instances where students were found smoking cigarettes and using drugs in the neighborhood.

Dady said he made efforts to get Cleveland students connected with the community - to battle litter, loitering and problems at the library - but received little interest.

"It was clearly a sign the students didn't care," Dady said. "And I can understand that, attending a low-slung school, shipped halfway across the city."

Wayne Floyd, who served as vice-principal just before the school moved to Boren, said he introduced himself to the nearby convenience stores, warned them of the influx of students at lunchtime. He also took the football players dressed in their jerseys out to pick up litter around the school. But neighbors still complained.

"I think that people may have gotten spoiled. They had had the neighborhood to themselves when a school's not there," Floyd said. "When you live near a high school, there's always problems."

But Boyd expects things to be different this time.

More proactive

Sealth's home site is much closer to the Boren building than West Seattle's, and especially Cleveland's. Because the students already live in the neighborhood, Boyd thinks they will take more ownership of it.

The school has also taken many proactive measures to reach out to the community, working with the Department of Neighborhoods and hosting a neighborhood barbeque.

The school enacted a stricter attendance policy to prevent off-campus loitering. Boyd met with local businesses in hopes students will cause fewer problems than they have in the past.

To help keep litter down, Boyd will require students to pick up the garbage as a disciplinary measure.

So far, these measures have been effective, but already neighbors have reported problems, suspicious adults mingling with students on Delridge Way, students wandering off campus into the neighborhood.

Boyd says the school will stay aware of any future issues by attending every safety meeting at the Southwest police precinct.

Angeles said the police department is also addressing these problems. Clearing bushes around stairwells deters criminal activities. Police may increase patrols around the school during hours when trouble occurs.

Last week, Boyd walked among students milling in front of the Super 24, the closest convenience store to Boren. Gripping a black walkie-talkie, he chatted with police officers and school security.

"How ya doin' Mr. Boyd?" called out one student.

Boyd waved, then said, "Shouldn't you start working your way back to school?"

Rose Egge may be reached at 932.0300 or rosee@robinsonnews.com and Matthew G. Miller may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com.