By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
After years of community advocacy and decades of concerns about aging facilities and underinvestment, Rainier Beach High School celebrated the completion of its new $275 million campus last week, marking a dramatic turnaround for a school that once faced the possibility of closure.
Students, families, alumni, educators and community leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the new campus and the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center, the culmination of a yearslong effort by Southeast Seattle residents who fought for improvements to a school that has served the community since 1960.
For longtime Rainier Beach boys basketball coach Mike Bethea, who has led the Vikings for more than three decades, the new campus stands in stark contrast to conditions students and staff once endured.
“Just going back and thinking about where we came from, I mean, you’re talking about a school where before we could practice on the football field, we had to pick up all the glass off the field. The gym floor was like a skating rink. We didn’t have regular whiteboards in the classrooms,” Bethea said. “It just went to show how resilient we are. I give a lot of credit to our children, our community, and the staff here for defying the odds and just working hard. I remember when it came to a point where they were gonna close Rainier Beach and merge us, and to just see us evolve into what we are right now it’s a dream come true.”
The new school represents a significant reversal from one of the most uncertain periods in Rainier Beach’s history. By 2010, enrollment had fallen to around 200 students in a building designed to accommodate substantially more, and the school faced the possibility of closure and consolidation with nearby Cleveland High School.
The aging building, which had not undergone a major overhaul since the 1960s, also struggled with deteriorating facilities and inadequate resources.
Students, parents, alumni and community leaders responded by organizing not only to keep Rainier Beach open but to demand greater investment in the school. The effort eventually coalesced around the “Build the Beach” campaign, which pushed for a full replacement of the aging campus. Funding for the project was secured through the voter-approved Building Excellence V capital levy.
Even as the school struggled with aging facilities and declining enrollment, Rainier Beach built a statewide and national reputation through its boys basketball program. Under Bethea, the Vikings have won 11 Class 3A state championships and produced prominent basketball players, including Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson and Doug Christie. According to the school, the program has also helped nearly 200 student-athletes secure full college scholarships.
Rainier Beach also expanded its academic offerings, adopting the International Baccalaureate program in 2013. In the years since, the school’s four-year graduation rate has risen from below 50% to nearly 90%.
The new 297,000-square-foot campus incorporates reminders of that history. Its athletic complex is named for Bethea, the basketball court honors Crawford, and the library is named for former Seattle School Board member Betty Patu, a longtime advocate for Southeast Seattle students.
Rainier Beach Principal Annie Patu described the new school as a reflection of what generations of students, families and community advocates fought to achieve.
“I refer to this building as the Beacon of Hope for this community,” Patu said. “The significance is just the long history of Rainier Beach and what the community has had to do to fight for our kids and what they deserve. This is a promise that was kept.”
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said the new campus provides Rainier Beach students with facilities that match the school’s academic, athletic and artistic ambitions.
“It is just a wonderful, glorious day,” Shuldiner said. “Rainier Beach is opening up their performing arts center. This is such a great high school, and I’m so proud of the work that they’ve done both academically and with sports. Now that we’re going to open up this performing arts center, we know that their arts and music is going to be terrific… Our kids deserve the best buildings, the best environment, and the best of everything.”
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who attended the ceremony, said the project represented progress for a Southeast Seattle community she said had experienced years of disinvestment.
“Rainier Beach was so important as a community that’s been disinvested in and ignored for far too long, so it is really great to be able to celebrate some progress here with folks in the high school,” Wilson said. “The completion of the school replacement project reflects years of dedication, teamwork, and the belief that young people deserve to grow in spaces that foster safety, belonging, and opportunity.”
The construction project also extended some of the investment into employment opportunities. Through a Community Workforce Agreement, more than 44% of the construction workforce consisted of local workers and workers of color, according to information provided about the project, creating jobs and apprenticeship opportunities during construction.
For Patu, the new campus represents not only the completion of a major construction project but the result of decades of advocacy by a community that continued pushing for investment in Rainier Beach through periods of uncertainty.
“We walked through adversity and challenges, but we always seem to make a comeback,” Patu said. “And this is our comeback.”
