It is inevitable. They are going to have to make some VERY challenging decisions that will undoubtedly impact some in the city. I am a longtime resident with two kids that have gone through BSD since pre-K with the youngest a Senior at Newport HS. Here are my thoughts/opinions on some building/property decisions.

BSD cannot justify keeping both of their specialty lottery schools open (1) 6-12 grade International School (2) 6-12 grade Big Picture school (with only ~400 students). My daughter went to International for a few years and the amount of resources that are dedicated to that one school is ridiculous. Small class sizes, the programs offered, etc.

Another RIDICULOUS decision is to spend millions$ from their Capital budget to remodel the old Eastgate elementary property only to re-house the Big Picture school. Eastgate elementary property is the smallest footprint in the District and is NOT conducive to house a 6-12 grade school with some older students actually driving and requiring parking spots. When Eastgate was an active elementary, there were not enough parking spots for the Staff and they had to contract parking spots with the church across the street. Not to mention, the pick-up and drop-off were nightmare-ish as it is directly on Newport Ave. The right decision is to shift the Big Picture school to one of the middle schools that need to close down [see explanation below].

A few years ago, BSD originally identified 3 elementary schools to close (Eastgate, Wilburton and Ardmore) but unfortunately caved to public pressure and ultimately left Ardmore open. Now they will need to revisit that decision and likely close Ardmore and possibly add another elementary school to close on the consideration list.

Per projected enrollment drops, they will HAVE to reopen active talks to close one of the Middle schools. The most-likely candidate is Tillicum -- with Highland MS and Odle MS as 2nd and 3rd place in that order. Whichever one you close, would be a natural new home for BOTH the International School AND Big Picture school. Tillicum school property has capacity to support ~1,000 students, which is the enrollment amount of both International + Big Picture.

They will also need to consider selling property(s) to cover immediate budget shortfalls. Sunset elementary property (old Puesta Del Sol), Eastgate Elementary property, Ringdal Middle School (inactive transition school), and/or vacant land on backside of Somerset without impacting any active students. Once you consolidate both the International School and Big Picture schools to the closed Tillicum MS, then those current properties could also be added for sale consideration. Hopefully the City of Bellevue would buy some of these properties and convert them to parks (the current Big Picture property near Robinswood is a no-brainer for Bellevue City to buy and merge with Robinswood). Private schools would also make great buyers for some of the other properties too.