Seattle councilmembers, legislators join fight to renew Northwest Center lease

The struggle to keep a Queen Anne daycare that specializes in children with disabilities in the same space it has been for 28 years continues, but now it has more support.

As of now, the Seattle School District plans to not renew Northwest Center’s lease in June. The district wants the building back so that they can cater to a growing student body.

But that hasn’t sat well with parents of children who go to the Northwest Center.

“How do you relocate 100 kids in six months, and relicense the facility in six months? Especially for the broad range of children that they serve,” said one parent.

“It really is a jewel in the Seattle community and it’s something that we can’t jeopardize in anyway,” said another parent.

After hearing from the Seattle Public School Superintendent as well as the Northwest Center staff and parents some members of the Seattle City Council are jumping in the ring.

Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, along with two other councilmembers and three state legislators, wrote a letter to Superintendent Jose Bandas to urge him to extend the lease of the Northwest Center.

“The goal of the letter was not to shake our finger at anybody, but to say, ‘We know there are needs, we know that there’s difficulties. Let’s figure out a way together that we can help find that space, in a systematic way,'” said Bagshaw.

Bagshaw holds regular coffee meet-ups with members of the community but she was overwhelmed with parents from the Northwest Center at a recent meet up. It prompted her to take action.

“What touched me, were the parents,” said Bagshaw. “The parents that were there were saying we have a community, and the community supports each other. And it’s not just our children going to preschool. It’s these families that are in Queen Anne or Seattle, coming together and being able to support each other in school and out of school. That, to me, spoke volumes. They were people that needed support.”

While Bagshaw admitted the city council has no governance over the school board, they act independently of the city, the legislators and councilmembers who signed the letter to the Superintendent did so in order to be a part of the solution.

“The has got plenty of population data information that we can share with the school district, I’m suggesting let’s do that. (Let’s) figure out what is the short solution and what is the long term solution in a way that protects these Northwest Center kids at the same time,” said Bagshaw.

Many have suggested that there are other vacant buildings around Seattle the school district or Northwest Center could take over to solve the space issue but it’s never that simple.

Northwest Center, for instance, would need to make that building accessible for children in wheelchairs and also retrofit the building that’s functional for a daycare. They say that’s just not possible by the June “move-out” date the school district has given them.

Bagshaw said if the district would just extend the lease for NW center by a year or 18 months everyone would win.

“We don’t have any magic bullet,” she said. “There’s nothing that I’ve got in my back pocket to say, here’s another school, you could move them there,” she said. “But we can let them know that we support the work they’re doing. We support all families, all children, getting the best possible education we can provide them – and we’re in this together.”

The Seattle School Board Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent declined an interview KIRO Radio Monday, saying their stance hadn’t changed since they last talked. They are still waiting until enrollment numbers are in on March 7 before deciding what to do with the Northwest Center’s lease.