First the quicker note: The next meeting of the Denny Middle School Site Design Team (most recent WSB coverage here) has been rescheduled and expanded – the 11/17 evening meeting’s been called off, and a Saturday 11/22 9 am-1 pm “design charrette” at Camp Long Lodge will replace it. Now, the more complicated note: As expected, the Seattle School Board moved forward last night — in a four-plus-hour meeting — with notification-policy changes that will facilitate a tight timeline for the next round of school closures. Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson also described the criteria on which schools are being evaluated:

• Geographic Need: How to balance capacity across the district to ensure the appropriate number of seats in each geographic area.
• Building Condition: Recent surveys and analyses will be used to evaluate the quality and condition of each building, using factors such as cost of maintenance, lot size, etc.
• Cost per Pupil: How non-instructional costs per student, including both core staffing and administrative mitigation, compare with District averages.
• Proximity: Whether other nearby schools serve the same grade levels.
• Academic Performance: Whether the school has made the expected annual academic progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The first draft of the proposed closure list is to be announced on November 25th. A whirlwind process of public hearings immediately before and after the district’s winter break would follow. The full timeline appears again in the post-meeting district news release (from which the criteria list above is excerpted); which you can read it in its entirety here.