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Opening paragraph of five-page freedom of information request
The Renton School District has been served with a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for records regarding the taking of business property for the expansion of Renton High School.
The formal request was officially submitted by Piper O’Neill, partner in the world-class Chihuly-style “GlassEye” Studios that was making arrangements to locate to Airport Way in Renton before Renton School District initiated an eminent domain action to take their building.
Under our State’s open public meetings and public records acts, virtually all correspondence sent or received by local elected officials regarding official agency business are considered public records. The same is true for most other agency records. This request seeks relevant correspondence generally dating back to September 1, 2023.
The full Public Records Request can be found here.
Glass Eye Studios was preparing to introduce Renton to Chihuly Style Glass creation in a new Renton Studio.
A current Glass Eye facility where art is created for shipment all over the world, and students learn the art of glass blowing
Good. There’s no reason to spend millions for a new ball field.
Renton School district has a student proficiency problem. After fixing that, then they can work on student ball hitting and catching proficiency
I’ve voted yes on every school bond and levy issue that has come before us, but I feel this is one where I wish I had voted no. Only about 30-40 percent of Renton School District’s elementary and middle-school students are at grade proficiency in reading and math, and we absolutely need to fix this. But a $500 million replacement and expansion of our historic Renton High School, with the collateral loss of 32 homes and 8 businesses, does not seem like the go-to solution. I would have liked to see this money spent on teachers, aids, tutors and counselors, all urgently focussed on getting students to top academic proficiency.
If State Law prevents our finite local tax money from being used for this purpose, and requires local money to be spent on buildings, then our Superintendent and School Board should be using their influence and connections to get the necessary amendments to the state law as required. They should also be performing a deep-dive examination of why scores are dropping when they have the highest per-student revenues ever of $20,000 per student.
I live in a 1959 house that has been added onto and partially-remodeled several times just like Renton High School. My wife and I, and my kids and grandkids, love our house and have zero desire to tear it down to replace it with something modern. It may be old, but it works, it’s got character and its meaningful to us. It would also be poor environmental stewardship to put my entire house in a landfill just to replace it with modern finishes and materials. If I had a child struggling in school, I would get them tutors or other help, but would not seize on the idea that I need to spend all my money tearing down my house and replacing it as a means to solve my child’s academic problem.
Here is a report with Renton’s test scores: https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/washington/districts/renton-school-district-110593
2 School Board Directors are up for re-election this year. I don’t know if the incumbents are running again or if there will be open seats. Candidate Filing is May 5-9. We will all know more then!
Marcie Palmer
Marice, I’m sure you know some great folks who could step up and lead. The district really needs strong advocates for students right now, and your voice and connections could help make a big difference. If you’re thinking about getting involved or supporting someone who is, many people would be eager to help.
Even people who may not always see eye to eye politically are starting to realize that something has to change. Our students deserve better. There’s too much waste and not enough accountability.
It would be refreshing to see leadership focused on students instead of pet projects.
Anonymous, I’d love to talk to anyone thinking about running for the RSD School Board. Or maybe you’re suggesting I run? lol. The School Board is different than City Council, as each of the 5 are elected by districts, so candidates must run for the district they live in. Sorry, I’m not familiar with the specific boundaries.
Marcie Palmer
Just TODAY Renton School District made the below post on Instagram, in an apparent reaction to this freedom of information request. They refer to this bond issue passing “overwhelmingly,” and imply it was a mandate to rebuild the high school at its current location. While it’s true that a construction bond issue passed in 2022, it exceeded the threshold needed for passing by less than 1700 votes in a school district of 130,000 residents. I challenge calling this an overwhelming margin. If 850 voters said “no” instead of “yes” it would have failed.
Especially because voters were not told beforehand that the historic Renton High School would be torn down and replaced by a new one on the same site, with 32 homes and 8 businesses taken to move the ballfields. I discussed that here in detail. Voters were instead informed that a new site would be found, and the historic high school would be repurposed. If voters had been told about the loss of homes and businesses, its easy to imagine that 850 votes would have flipped the oher way.