Bellingham Public Schools is closing two elementary schools this fall because it doesn't have enough students to fill them. At the same time, the Archdiocese of Seattle is asking the City to let it open a new regional Catholic high school one block from an elementary school already coping with the same enrollment slide. This piece lays out what the district's own numbers say, what the five-county region's numbers say, and what the Archdiocese's own market study says — and asks whether a new...

September 2, 2026 The NDCHS (Northern Deanery Catholic High School) has recently announced that the archbishop has now officially approved the establishment of a “temporary” high school in the Sacred Heart parish hall, beginning September 2027. Here is the official announcement on 8/28/2026: https://ndhighschool.org/2026/08/26/ndrchs-officially-approved-as-archdiocesan-high-school/ This decision was expected back in March, so there has clearly been some delay in the process. Still, it is...

We finally dug into the Archdiocese of Seattle's own market research — the June 2024 Northern Deanery survey data report, a survey of 645 people conducted to gauge support for a new Catholic high school. The results raise real questions about how the Archdiocese landed on Sacred Heart Parish and 14th Street as the site. The sample skews heavily toward church insiders. Respondents were overwhelmingly Catholic (84–98%) and regular churchgoers, and 84% of those without school-age children...