05/29/2026
These comments are from a concerned OSD Family and we at OSD4All couldn't have said it any better so are using with permission.
This article is exceedingly misleading and reckless. The utilization numbers presented in this article INCLUDE portables for all campuses that have them. For example, Centennial Elementary's permanent space capacity is 570, with a utilization rate of 71%. This article reports the utilization rate for the additional 125 seats that come exclusively from portables, which drives the utilization % down to 58%. Similarly, Boston Harbor Elementary only has 200 permanent seats, which means the actual school building utilization rate is 85% (not 56%) - north of the 80% threshold BERK used to define "efficient". This pattern holds true for every single school discussed in this piece. Our school buildings are not as under utilized as this article would make you think, because they all include non-permanent portables in the utilization calculations. McKenny, Garfield, Hansen, LP Brown, Madison, McLane, Jefferson, Marshall, Reeves, Washington, and Capital ALL have higher utilization %s than what is reported in this article. I encourage the author to issue a correction, or at least an honest comparison between the capacities of the actual school buildings, and not include portables, which can be moved and/or sold. Not doing so, in my opinion, is doing this community a disservice, and can very easily lead to opinions and major decisions made based on bad and/or incomplete information. Additionally, I encourage all Olympians to read the report for themselves, because this article is not giving you the whole story, and borderlines on misinformation. You can find the report here, and the differences in utilization %s in Exhibit 3:https://osd4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/OSD-Boundary-Study-Report-FINAL-2026_0522-Frank-Wilson.pdf
Report recommends consolidating Olympia schools. Will the district consider it?
