Original Research by School Decision on Open Doors
Open Doors is an alternative high school serving grades nine through twelve in downtown Spokane, operating as part of the Spokane School District. With a small enrollment concentrated almost entirely in the upper grades, the school serves a student body that is predominantly eleventh and twelfth graders. The vast majority of students at Open Doors qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student population is majority white, with a notable share identifying as two or more races and a smaller but present Hispanic representation. The school sits in the heart of Spokane, the economic and cultural center of the Inland Northwest, a city that runs along the Spokane River and features a historic downtown core, Riverfront Park, and a mix of institutional anchors including two universities and the city’s largest employers in healthcare, government, and logistics.
Because Open Doors is an alternative school, standard academic performance metrics take a different shape. State testing data is not available for this school. That is typical for many alternative settings, where the population and instructional model often sit outside the conventional assessment framework. The school also has no reported graduation rate in the data we examined. That absence does not indicate failure; it reflects the fact that alternative schools are frequently measured differently, if at all, by state accountability systems. A parent considering Open Doors would want to ask the school directly about student outcomes, completion rates, and post-graduation plans, since the usual public benchmarks are not present here.
The Spokane School District itself has undergone a significant facility transformation in recent years, opening new middle schools funded by a large construction bond. That district-level change, while not directly affecting a small downtown alternative high school, points to broader investment in the district’s physical infrastructure. Open Doors operates in a building on North Bernard Street in downtown Spokane, placing students near the city’s civic and commercial core, with access to the Spokane River, the Centennial Trail, and the downtown transit network.
Housing in the Spokane area remains relatively affordable compared to western Washington, though prices have seen a slight softening recently. Rents have also edged down modestly. For families relocating to the district, the recent middle school bond projects have reshaped feeder patterns and capacity, meaning that the neighborhood a family chooses could determine which of the district’s new or existing middle schools their child would attend before potentially transitioning to a high school setting like Open Doors.
Open Doors is a small, specialized program. Its enrollment pattern, with almost all students in the last two years of high school, suggests it serves students who arrive mid-stream, possibly to recover credits, complete a diploma on a flexible timeline, or access supports not available in a comprehensive high school. The high share of students from lower-income households points to a population that may benefit from wraparound services, though the data we reviewed did not detail specific programs, staffing ratios, or support structures. A parent looking into Open Doors should contact the school to understand the specific academic pathways, the types of credentials offered, and how the school helps students transition to college, training, or employment after graduation. The absence of publicly reported performance data means that direct inquiry is essential for making an informed decision.
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