LYNNWOOD -- The Edmonds School Board is scheduled to decide tonight whether to close Evergreen Elementary School in Mountlake Terrace.
School leaders have been considering closing the school for nearly a year to save money in a tight economy.
"Does anyone like doing this? No," Edmonds School District spokeswoman DJ Jakala said. "It's a painful thing, but everyone is adapting and accepting that it's a harsh reality of the budget climate we're in."
In December, the school board voted to close Woodway Elementary School, the district's smallest school. The board was also scheduled to decide whether to close Evergreen Elementary, the district's second smallest school, but postponed the decision because public notice about the possible closure wasn't published on time. Enrollment has declined at both schools in recent years.
Mindy Woods doesn't live within Evergreen Elementary School's boundaries. But drawn by the school's location on a dead-end road and the small student body, she decided to send her son there. He's now in sixth grade.
"A lot of the teachers who work at Evergreen went to Evergreen years ago," she said. "You're really taking away a big part of the neighborhood. Many of us are really, really sad to see that school close, but we understand why ... It's just a tragedy of the times."
Closing Woodway and Evergreen elementary schools is expected to save the district around $1.4 million a year. While teachers will follow students to new schools, the district saves money on administrators, custodians, heating and other school-specific costs, Jakala said.
Evergreen Elementary School is about 40 years old and has 276 students. If the school closes, most Evergreen students will attend either Mountlake Terrace Elementary or Terrace Park school starting this fall. Both schools are within two miles of Evergreen.
The district has slightly more than 20,000 students and 24 elementary schools.
No one voiced opinions on the possible closure at two public hearings in January, Jakala said.
Rumors that Evergreen may close have circulated among parents for years, and most sadly accept that the school will close, Woods said.
"We've not heard officially, but we don't see any other light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "I think most people have just accepted it's going to have to happen -- unless at the 11th hour something magically happens where we can keep this school."
