BOTHELL, Wash. — Official recommendations to reshape the Northshore School District (NSD) were presented to the school board in a study session Monday night.
The Enrollment and Demographics Advisory Committee (EDAC) proposed several scenarios, including potentially closing Sunrise Elementary School, Moorland Elementary School, Cottage Lake Elementary School, and Hollywood Hill Elementary School, and changing multiple school boundaries.
The Northshore School District says it has lost nearly 1,400 students since 2020, and these changes center on declining enrollment, especially in elementary schools, and an imbalance of students across its 22 schools.
Following Monday night’s study session, families voiced their concerns during public comment at the board’s regular meeting.
“To split half of our school is heartbreaking, not the news I was hoping to hear,” said Liz Edmondson, a mother of two students who attend Moorlands.
Rachel Van Derhoek says she’s also concerned her daughter could be pushed from Moorlands to another school.
“I went through a school closure as a child and it’s devastating and it has a lifelong impact,” said Van Derhoek. “I don’t think they’ve really justified at all the closing of Moorlands or really any school.”
Rachel Meier says seeing Sunrise Elementary School on the list of recommended closures is personal for her.
“I went to Sunrise from kindergarten to 6th grade, as well as my older sister and my younger sister and it was an integral part of our childhood,” said Meier.
Meier’s father, Tony Meier, also attended the board meeting and says Sunrise Elementary School has a deed restriction from 1982.
“If it does not retain as a school, it goes back to the homeowner’s association,” said Tony Meier. “So the question would be, if they drop it as a school, is the neighborhood going to be left with a bunch of dilapidated buildings?”
School board members admitted in its study session that it was grieving the potential changes, but the Northshore School District declined KIRO 7’s request for further comment.
The Northshore District is expected to meet with affected school communities from November through February before making a final decision in March 2028.