By Joel Magalnick, Special to JTNews
The Seattle Hebrew Academy has announced Seattle’s oldest Jewish day school will remain at its Capitol Hill facility, built in 1909 and heavily damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.
The school has been operating out of portable trailers and a synagogue in Seward Park while volunteer leadership and staff have debated the merits of moving to a new site or repairing the Capitol Hill facility.
“We’re really excited about staying there,” said Rebecca Almo, president of the school board.
The middle school, grades six through eight, has remained on campus, on the soccer field. The students have not been allowed into the main part of the building, which was declared off-limits due to the structural damage from the quake. Kindergarten through fifth-grades were moved to the parking lot of Bikur Cholim-Machzikay Hadath in Seward Park.
Almo remarked that bringing the students back together will reduce a lot of problems. “It’s harder to function as two separate units. It’s much more expensive and taxing on our staff,” she said.
The main building was built in 1906 with an addition constructed in the 1950s that contains the gymnasium and childcare center. The newer section was built to earthquake code and did not sustain any earthquake damage. It has remained open.
It will be a few years before the halls of the main building will ring with the students’ voices again, however. School officials expect to remain at their temporary sites until at least 2005. In that time, the interior of the school will be fully renovated. Updates will include earthquake retrofits and modernization of the heating and ventilation systems as well as the electricity. No major structural work has been done on the school since it was built.
The academy’s officials and board had mulled over several options for the school’s future. Some ideas included moving away from the site entirely, and then rebuilding on either Mercer Island or possibly Seward Park. Ultimately, they decided to stay, partly because of the central location, partly because of the financial considerations, but mostly because of the large size of the site. The grounds contain sports fields and a large open area. “It’s not easy to get grounds like that. It’s a real private school type of atmosphere,” said Rabbi Shmuel Kay, the school’s headmaster.
Kay also talked about the history the grounds have for the academy. “One of our former students is now going to be counseling for us,” he said. “She so much wanted to see all the memories that came back.”
Full restoration costs will run around $8.5 million, according to Almo. SHA has said they will begin a capital campaign for restoring their facilities in early 2003. Nearly $2 million has already been pledged, and they hope to raise the rest by the time construction begins.
William Justen of The Samis Foundation will be volunteer chair of the construction committee. The foundation’s two buildings, located in Pioneer Square, were retrofitted before the earthquake and suffered no damage. Samis will also assist with some rebuilding costs.
The school’s neighbors have expressed their support for SHA’s decision, and some have even pledged their own money to help with the rebuilding effort. One man, while walking his dog by the school, even pledged a donation on the spot. “It was neat. It felt like it was a stamp of approval on what we’re trying to do” said academy spokesperson Lucia Rosling Britts.
Because the money from the campaign and the school’s normal operating budget will be kept separate, no changes in the quality or content of education are expected, Almo said.
The academy has been through rough times over the past couple years, and they hope that with this rebuilding of their home comes the beginning of a positive era in the school’s history.