Center School to have School Walkout Tuesday
From Soup for Teachers:
The Center School, an arts-based public choice school is under threat of losing fine arts classes due to budget constraints. (Editor's note; if this happened, it fundamentally changes what this school was created to be. Website description of the school: The Center School (TCS or Center) is a small public high school with a focus on the arts and community engagement.)
Tuesday, May 3rd at 9am students will be walking out of school (this will be an unexcused absence), over to Westlake, then taking the light rail to SPS in SODO. They will then protest and chant outside until someone comes to meet with them. Their goal is to let SPS know how upset they are with the budget and to demand action from the district to get all the fine arts classes back.
Parents are welcome and encouraged to join for any or all part of the walkout. Please share about it on social media and spread the word! Any press would be great.
Wednesday, May 4th students and parents from Center will be at the School Board meeting. Some will be giving public testimony. Again, it would be great to have support at the meeting. Thank you!
Comments
I know it doesn't take much of a drop in enrollment to start slashing staff - and small schools are particularly vulnerable. Would be interesting to know what the 2016/17 enrollment numbers look like.
The thinking is things will get better in future years, but that's not a good answer for the upper classes attending next year. Some of these students (who were also at the meeting I went to) said they chose Center because of the arts-based focus.
Each yr seems to have a good portion of the kids disappear, I hope the district is doing follow up, cause I want to know where they are going.
It supposedly has lots of resources given the lication so why is it getting smaller every year?
Also, the District created the Center School, in part, to address the absence of a high school for Queen Anne and Magnolia. Since the new student assignment plan, students have a guaranteed assignment to Ballard and there is reduced demand for a local option for students who couldn't get into their neighborhood school.
Also, you have to wonder how the political struggles at The Center School - teacher and principal conflicts, teacher transfers, etc. - have harmed the school's reputation and reduced family interest.
The Center School has always had a decrease in enrollment over the course of the year. The real problem is that they are now under-enrolled at the beginning of the year.
As mentioned earlier, TCS used to draw kids from Magnolia and Queen Anne who couldn't get a seat at Ballard High School. It also used to draw kids who wanted a small school environment with a college prep curriculum. Students have always been relatively wealthy and white. (Demographics are more in line with the city as a whole than most schools.)
Option schools (and particularly the small ones) are attractive to students who don't find their place in larger schools. TCS's enrollment appears to be weighted more heavily toward these students than it was in the past. Over the last five years (from fall 2009 to fall 2014), the special education and 504 plan rates at the school have increased significantly (from 12% to 19% for special education and from 2% to 7% for 504 plans). In comparison, Ballard's numbers are 10% and 8%. The staff is focusing their professional development this year on helping students deal with anxiety. That's not something I've seen at other schools which indicates it's a larger issue at TCS. A year or so ago, there were a couple of security incidents related to student behavior that caused lockdowns.
I think the school is transforming from a defacto neighborhood school for Magnolia and Queen Anne to a school that serves students who need a smaller, calmer environment than a comprehensive high school offers. This is not a problem. We need to provide every child with a school that works for them. This transition will probably affect the school's curricular focus. Maybe they should offer PE now. A yoga class would be really helpful for anxious kids. That would require hiring a part-time PE instructor and would mean some other class could not be offered. Maybe the current student population would be better served with more advanced math classes in place of some of the arts. A school should adjust to the needs of it's students.
On the other hand, if TCS wants to maintain all of its arts classes, they need to attract more students.
I hope more families check out this school. The District has never promoted it and it is a nice alternative for students wanting a more personalized experience in high school.
S parent
It seems that allowing transfers after 10th grade could mitigate the underenrollment.
IME, students become much more interested in where they are attending school after they turn 15/16, and I don't understand why they wouldnt allow transfers.
I'm sure my opinion will be in the minority relative to others posting here. It is a fact that when you look at the school phone book, the freshman and sophomore classes are somewhat large but it drops off noticeably for the junior and senior year - a sure sign of students going elsewhere. Why they're leaving...you'll have to ask them.
At that time I think the paradigm shift occurred and the drama happened in the school versus on the stage. It has struggled to find its voice and address the diversity that a true art school should have.
There are many aspects to an arts school and Center House has little of it. And they could easily incorporate PE as the Armory offers Yoga two days a week. So it is only a matter of scheduling.
There is some odd undercurrent there that could be related to the staff turmoil but hard to know.
It was a cool school but no it is not equipped for SPED but then neither is NOVA which is also a school focused on the arts so maybe we have to choose which program lives.
- Curious Native
The Center School was very point blank about not offering extra support, and even twelve yrs ago seemed to consider themselves a private school alternative with a STEM focus, which they used to explain why they would not be a good fit for students needing help in math( mainly due to previous gaps in instruction)