Families from Sunrise Elementary gathered for a Halloween parade in Redmond's First Hill neighborhood this week, but the mood carried an undercurrent of anxiety: their school is one of four that Northshore School District is considering closing as soon as fall 2028. District leaders say the move is driven by years of declining enrollment, but parents argue they're being asked to sacrifice one of the region's best-performing elementary schools.
Northshore's Enrollment and Demographics Advisory Committee presented three possible closure scenarios to the School Board on Oct. 26, and only one is expected to be adopted, according to Northshore School District. Each scenario would shutter either two or three elementary schools, and all three include Moorlands Elementary in Kenmore, according to The Daily Herald. Sunrise, Cottage Lake and Hollywood Hill round out the list of schools that could be affected, per the district's materials.
District leaders have confirmed that Moorlands Elementary needs a rebuild, a factor in why it appears in every version of the plan. For Sunrise, the calculus is different: the Redmond school has just over 200 students, according to the seed reporting, but families say it is the highest-performing elementary school in the district and ranks third academically in Washington state.
A Tiny School With Big Test Scores
Emma Schmidgal, a Sunrise parent, said her family moved their children from private school to Sunrise, only to be shocked soon after her son Leo started there to learn the school might close. She described a school as more than a building, saying it serves as an anchor for its broader neighborhood and city.
Sunrise parents said they felt blindsided by the district's proposals and want greater involvement in restructuring talks going forward. Vijay Paruchuru, the parent of a Sunrise fifth grader, said community members want information and understanding of the background and numbers behind the district's proposals.
Declining Enrollment
Northshore is considering school closures amid declining enrollment, as The Daily Herald reported.
No Final Vote Yet
No final decision has been made.
Sunrise families are urging district leaders to weigh community input carefully before finalizing any closures.
Not Just A Northshore Problem
Enrollment-driven closures are rippling across the region. Seattle Public Schools has identified 21 schools for potential mergers, including some that were considered for closure in 2024, according to KOMO News. That earlier Seattle proposal shrank from 21 schools to four before the school board halted the plans entirely, the station reported. Further south, the Tigard-Tualatin School District plans to close an elementary school at the start of the 2028-29 school year, citing declining enrollment primarily caused by low birth rates, though it has not yet identified which school, according to KPTV.
For now, no final decision has been made in Northshore, and the scenarios remain proposals subject to board review and community input. Sunrise families say they plan to keep showing up to meetings and parades alike, pressing the district to factor their voices into whatever comes next.
