How to honor the late Dr. Sharples
Editor, The Times:
Your Jan. 9 editorial speaks well of Caspar Sharples, [“Honoring Dr. Sharples,” Opinion], the late and eminent Seattle physician whose career as a School Board member and one of the chief architects of the Childrens hospital was foundational to the humanitarian and educational character of the community.
There are two points you may have overlooked in the recent efforts to relocate the Sharples school dedication. The Sharples family is guided by a resolution enacted by the School Board in 2000 that prescribes that a new dedication to Sharples be equivalent to the old one in architectural, educational and civic importance. The family deemed that the old John Hay site did not meet those criteria. A reason for this — and not the least important —was that John Hay’s architecture and landscape are controlled by the Landmarks Board. A new dedication there would be compromised by the apparently irradicable signage that announces the place as the John Hay School.
With the concurrence of the president of the School Board, the Sharples family presented a “memorandum of understanding” in December whereby the family would accept the Hay site providing the school district agreed to make good faith and positive efforts over time toward reconciling these and other issues. However, the district dismissed the proposed memorandum out of hand and without discussion. At this juncture the family realized that the district’s rigidity was not conducive to an accord.
You also recommended “patience” on the part of the Sharples family and friends. We have demonstrated patience beyond measure these past 10 years. The thing that drove the family to reject the Hay site was the district’s intractable deadline of Jan. 6 to either accept or decline it. A little patience on that score would have been welcome. Meanwhile, the Sharples family stands by its earlier memorandum that bespeaks goodwill and patience toward resolving whatever issues impede conferring the dedication on a qualified school.
— Joseph C. Baillargeon, for the Sharples family and friends, Seattle