The Tacoma school district Web site is normally home to school announcements, board policies and upbeat news releases about remarkable kids.

These days, the site has also become the gathering spot for one of the hottest topics in town: closing elementary schools.

Since the district put up the forum Jan. 29, there’ve been more than 650 “posts” or comments from parents, community members and staff on the school closure topic. Through Feb. 15, there were 6,898 “hits” or times that people clicked on the forum.

Parents plead the case for why their school shouldn’t be closed – or why other schools should be closed. Some writers wonder why the district doesn’t cut administrative positions or reduce salaries.

Some just want information – What’s the enrollment capacity of Jefferson Elementary School? How much is rent for the Tacoma School of the Arts’ facilities?

And some comments resurrect the rivalries among the North End, seen by some as “advantaged,” and the South End or the East Side.

It’s the first time the Tacoma school district has hosted a Web forum and likely marks one of the first attempts by any school district in the state.

While community members have long been able to call or e-mail district officials or speak at School Board meetings, the Web forum allows participants to communicate among themselves and district officials – and others can read what they’re saying.

It’s grown into an important communication tool as a 47-member committee of citizens and staff works to recommend elementary schools for closure because of declining enrollment and rising costs.

The district originally planned to close two elementary schools by next fall. But after the district’s operating levy failed Feb. 7, the district said it would respond to community calls to slow down the process, and hold off closing schools for one year.

In announcing the delay last week, Superintendent Jim Shoemake cited the Web forum as one of the avenues where the district was hearing from citizens.

The forum also allowed people who previously didn’t know each other to organize a meeting Saturday to learn more about the closure process from district officials and discuss alternatives to closure. The group plans to continue meeting.

“I think it’s excellent they set it up,” meeting organizer Felicity Devlin said of the Web forum. “This has been the launching for a whole lot of comments, suggestions, ideas, concerns.”

District officials created the forum as a way to receive community input, since the public isn’t allowed to comment during meetings of the school consolidation committee, said district spokeswoman Patti Holmgren.

Besides encouraging people to comment through phone calls and e-mail, Holmgren said, “We wanted several ways to reach out.”

The district doesn’t screen the forum comments – most are made anonymously – but the district Webmaster reserves the right to remove posts that make personal attacks or use bad language.

On a separate Web page, the district posts the enrollment and other building data the committee is considering, along with the group’s meeting minutes and the working documents it generates. So far, that’s amounted to three dozen documents, the first time the district has posted so much information on the Web from one committee.

Yet the Web isn’t pervasive enough to reach everyone, said Tanya Hendrix, a parent at Lyon Elementary School.

“People who do not have the Internet or read the newspaper have a disadvantage,” Hendrix said.

She said several Lyon parents have received no response after calling the superintendent’s hotline or e-mailing the district asking questions.

So the Lyon PTA has distributed fliers to school parents keeping them abreast of the closure process and listing district phone numbers, mailing addresses and meeting dates. “We just want people to be informed,” she said.

But J.Marie Riche, president of the Washington School Public Relations Association, praised Tacoma’s forum as an innovative approach to reach families.

Though many district Web sites have a link allowing people to e-mail the district, she said it’s the first time she’s seen a district host a Web forum.

School districts are increasingly trying new ways to reach families through Cyberspace, said Riche, whose group represents community relations staff for public school districts in the state.

The Clover Park School District’s Web-based “ConnectEd” system automatically alerts parents through e-mail or telephone of weather closures, emergencies or their child’s absence from school.

To inform taxpayers about its bond measure, the North Thurston Public Schools’ Web site included a “Flash” video-like presentation showing photos of crowded schools and cracked walls as a narrator described how the bond would fund improvements.

“What’s great about the technology,” Riche said, “is that as it continues to evolve, some options become less expensive and easier to manage, be it blogs, message boards or other ways to connect families with similar interests.”

What: An advisory committee is meeting to recommend several elementary schools for eventual closure in the Tacoma school district. Officials recently announced they won’t close elementary schools in the 2006-07 school year as originally planned, though they might reconsider closures if the district’s operations levy fails again April 25.

When/where: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Central Administration Building, fourth floor auditorium, 601 S. Eighth St., Tacoma

Contact: To participate in the Web forum, go to www.tacoma schools.org/consolidation_feedback.asp or for more information, call district community relations at 253-571-1015. To participate in the citizen-organized effort to find alternatives to closure or learn more about the closure process, e-mail felicitydevlin @yahoo.com.

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

debby.abe@thenewstribune.com