Our city failed at equity with defund the police, and now has done it again with the school closure plan. Will leaders learn from these repeated mistakes?

The belated decision by Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones to scrap the school closures plan came much to the relief of parents, a stark contrast to the emotions they felt the previous two months of fighting the plan.

The school board vote came a day after Superintendent Brent Jones announced that he would pull his proposal to close elementary schools amid ongoing parent and student protests.

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones is officially withdrawing his proposed plan to close elementary schools and is exploring increased levies to fill a lingering budget gap. Jones wrote a letter to parents on Monday announcing that he was withdrawing his plan after determining there was “no longer a pathway for this approach for the 2025-26 school year.

In a letter to families, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones says there "is no longer a pathway” for schools to close next year.