Olympia School District Votes to Close 3 Schools

 

Photo: Olympia community members packed the room for the Olympia School District board meeting Thursday night. Citing declining enrollment and to balance a budget shortfall, the board voted to close three elementary schools.

By Janine Gates Little Hollywood

Children and their parents broke into loud sobs and shouts of shock immediately after the Olympia School District Board voted to close three elementary schools at its meeting Thursday evening. School district board member Maria Flores was the only “no” vote.

Students at all three schools, Madison Elementary, LP Brown Elementary, and Margaret McKenny Elementary, are expected to attend other elementary schools at the beginning of the 2027-28 school year.

A mother tried to console her sobbing child as they left the building after the meeting. “We’re going to keep fighting, buddy….”

The district took the action to address a budget shortfall of about $3.1 million. After a public hearing, the often-raucous meeting concluded at 8:20 p.m.

About 175 people packed the room and 35 people signed up to speak for public comment. According to district rules, each speaker was allowed one and a half minutes. One speaker commented, “One minute is not a public hearing.”

Many spoke to the unique sense of community at each small school and lamented the lack of creative solutions to school closures. Some threatened lawsuits and promised future school levy failures. Parents offered to help the district with finding revenue sources.

Several speakers were students at the schools targeted for closure. One student listed 10 reasons why LP Brown shouldn’t be closed, saying, “You won’t save money and money isn’t everything.”

Photo: Hannah Middlebrook, an organizer with OSD4All, speaks to a crowd in front of Madison Elementary School before a march to the Olympia School District board meeting.

Earlier in the evening, OSD4All organizer Hannah Middlebrook, a mother with three students at Madison Elementary School, addressed a crowd and led a march from Madison to the Olympia School District’s new building on Bethel St., the former offices of The Olympian newspaper. Several protest signs suggested that the district sell the building to address the budget shortfall. The school district spent about $4 million to purchase and renovate the building in 2017.

After the meeting, Middlebrook cried and hugged other parents. 

Photo: A march from Madison Elementary School to the Olympia School District offices on Bethel Street before the public hearing.

Middlebrook, who grew up in the Eastside neighborhood and attended Madison, has worked to prevent the school closures since 2023. “It’s been good, necessary trouble,” she said in an interview with Little Hollywood before the meeting.

In a late Thursday night post on Instagram, OSD4All said, “The sound of children wailing tonight is something that will haunt us as we try to sleep. Right now, we grieve. We are heartbroken, angry. Angry at the lack of integrity, courage, and accountability from those entrusted with protecting our public schools. Tonight, we grieve with our children, our educators, and our community. We have no more words tonight.”

Photo: A homemade sign saying, “If I was a school board member...I would regret buying this $4 million building. Sell it before ever closing schools.”

For more information, go to @Ja9Olympia on Instagram and Janine Gates on Facebook (picture of me kayaking) for video of Superintendent Patrick Murphy explaining the school closure purpose and calling for the vote, and a video of the march from Madison Elementary School to the Olympia School District offices.