Superintendent Manhas says that school closures are now "off the table," but that the district, with additional community involvement, will "continue working on a revised student assignment and transportation plan for implementation in 2006-2007." The future of TOPS, and of all Seattle alternative schools, will be greatly affected by the outcome of this process. We, as members of the TOPS community, and citizens of Seattle, wish to have our perspectives, analyses, and hopes included in this discussion.

The original 'reshaping plan' and much of the current discussion seems to suggest that it will be reasonable for alternative schools to draw only from a single cluster. This presumes that all alternative schools are essentially the same, and that students seeking an alternative education will be well-served by whichever particular alternative school is in their cluster.

We disagree.

Seattle has many fine, very different alternative schools. Many of these schools draw from large portions of the city. Their variety, and the freedom that families have to seek enrollment for their children in a particular alternative school whose curriculum and structure are matched to their children, are the very essence of Seattle public alternative education.

There are many kinds of children in our city, with many different learning styles. Some of these children flourish in traditional programs, whose continued improvement we also seek. But many children thrive only, or thrive best, in the less traditional settings offered by particular alternative schools.

In order to serve our children -- all of our children -- we need to preserve and strengthen both traditional programs and alternative schools. All schools must be well-funded, and have reasonable class sizes. Alternative schools need something more: they must be supported so that they can evolve in their own way, attracting students from across the city who are well-matched to their particular alternative nature.

Further, to ensure equity and to provide access to every family in the city, we think it imperative that free transportation be available to alternative schools throughout the city. We are of course open to creative efforts to reduce the cost of this transportation as much as possible.

To summarize,

* We ask that the district recognize the unique character of each alternative school.

* We ask that each alternative school continue to be available to families throughout the city.

* We ask that every effort be made to maintain free multi-cluster transportation to alternative schools.

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