The Battle Over Seattle’s High School Future
A debate on the school board regarding the legality and necessity of funding a dedicated high school facility.
The story, cleaned up
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I. A. Nadeau, a member of the Seattle board of education, explained the constitutional question regarding the city’s right to maintain a high school and the purchase of a block on the Denny tract for a high school site. He noted that the board had been searching for a suitable site as current facilities were inadequate. Mr. Prosch, another board member, opposed the plan, arguing that the city did not need additional high school facilities. The board majority disagreed, citing the need to remove high schoolers from the Central school building. The legal conflict centers on the definition of 'common schools' in the state constitution. The board attorney, W. H. White, advised that the city lacked the legal power to maintain a high school, though it could purchase the land. Other attorneys disagreed. President McDougal, Mr. Burwell, and Mr. Nadeau have taken steps to settle the matter definitively, emphasizing that a high school is a critical draw for those seeking to move to Seattle.
“Our school system as now constituted is an admirable one, lacking only the proper facilities for the high school.”
The late 19th-century anxiety over public school funding and facilities mirrors Seattle's ongoing struggles to expand educational infrastructure to meet a growing population, showing that the debate over 'common schools' is a perennial civic issue.
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