Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update:  here's the updated story from Queen Anne/Magnolia News .  Some interesting history but also some expensive trouble for the district. The building had various uses after it closed like being the home to the African-American Academy and a temporary fire station. The "uh oh" is that it has landmark status thru the City in a large way.  This means much higher costs than if they could just renovate it without that status.  This has been a problem at many schools like Roosevelt, Cleveland, and Garfield.  I'm trying to recall the last elementary that had a major update that had this status but I know Coe, Stevens and maybe T.T. Minor. end of update Opened in 1927, Magnolia Elementary School served the neighborhood’s children for nearly six decades, before it closed in 1984 due to declining enrollment. From then on, it served as a temporary site for several schools, including Adams (from 1987 to ‘89) and John Muir Elementary (1989 to ‘90). ...

The District issued a statement today about the growing capacity needs in SPS and how the Seattle Legislative delegation worked to secure funding to help meet those needs. I'll post the entire statement but one caveat - for some reason they changed Rep. Reuven Carlyle's statement but I'll post the first one in red and the updated one in black.  I do not know why this change occurred. One thing I learned is that state money went to accelerating the timeline for Arbor Heights.  

The Board is having a multi-topic Work Session today with an update on the Families and Education levy, more Board policies and a  presentation to the Board on the 2025-2016 Budget.  I don't know if it's because I don't read many budgets but I am finding this presentation documentation hard to understand.  It appears - on page 10 - that the district is trying to pay for "strategic initiatives/grant backfill " to about $5M.  Seems like a lot given that's money that is NOT going to the classroom.  What is also troubling on that same page - if I am reading it correctly - is that the district says the "materials, supplies, operating costs" are at $20.3M .  And yet, they will get $16.5M from the Operations levy.  Obviously the two numbers are not equal but the problem for me is that the district gets money from the state for operations.  If there is state money plus local levy money, how are they not able to corral the $20M? They ...

Here's the latest on this story: From My Northwest : So far, the only response from the school district came in an email saying they'll let Northwest Center know the next step after enrollment numbers are in on March 7 . By that time, Northwest Center will have just three months left to figure out a plan.  From The Stranger Slog , now we have a Seattle legislator involved: The Northwest Center understands that they may have to move, but is asking for more time to find a suitable location for their developmentally and physically disabled students, many of whom require a facility that will accommodate their specific needs. SPS spokesperson Teresa Wippel told me that the old Van Asselt school has been offered to the Northwest Center, but Northwest Center President and CEO Tom Everill says, "There is no offer of Van Asselt on the table—no planning or site analysis has been done, and there are no applications for construction permits or licensing."  I...

Here's an item of interest from the Magnolia Voice blog about the closed Magnolia School. On Saturday evening SPD officers were called in to search the building for squatters. There were also SPS security personnel involved. They found 3 squatters. From the blog; Officers on the scene said that squatters hide in the building as well as the overgrown bushes and it’s a drain on resources for SPD to keep up with the abandoned property. Brad (a Magnolia reader)says: “My concern, like many residents living around the school is Seattle Public schools doesn’t have any money to adequately keep up the property and deter crime, let alone do anything major with it. It’s time for them to sell and let someone develop it or turn it into parks. The view would bring a substantial price. Most important, this place needs to go. The safety factor alone for nearby families is an issue in our community.” The school has been vacant for years. Last June we reported that several people...

It's Labor Day weekend and I decided to labor by reorganizing my upstairs files. Naturally, most of it is SPS information. It's a little overwhelming trying to look through and then decide what to keep. However, at the end, less paper and more organization. And you know what? You never know what you might find. I've found information that, at the time, was not so important and now, after the Auditor's report, might be quite useful. But all that requires more work before disclosure. However, I thought I would pass along some info that I've come across to put on your radar as we move towards planning BEX IV . Having done nearly all the high schools (sorry, RBHS, Sealth and Ingraham; although Sealth just got quite a nice upgrade) and a couple of middle schools, it seems like BEX IV will be heavy on elementary schools . (I do believe the district is likely to do either Eckstein or Whitman or Washington under BEX IV but given the huge amounts we need to spend now ...

From the QA and Magnolia News online, a story about QA Elementary. Lots of interesting quotes from the principal, David Elliott including: We are trying to encourage families that are hemming and hawing about this decision to make it," Johnson said. "It puts everyone at the school at a disadvantage if families wait until the end of the summer to enroll." Elliott, who was principal at Coe Elementary for more than 10 years before making the move to Queen Anne, agrees that making the decision soon is better for the school. "I would love people to make up their minds soon. The best thing that I can do is to hire great teachers, and I've done that," he said. Johnson said the design team had a "very causal initial conversation" with the district asking them to stop enrollment, but haven't heard any response. By stopping enrollment, the design team could create a waitlist, and then open another classroom if the waitlist grew long enough ...

So I received this joint press release from SPS and SSIA (Successful Schools in Action, a local non-profit created to support public schools in the QA/Magnolia area) about what sounds like a wonderful event. From the press release: Successful Schools in Action (SSIA), which runs Seattle’s only elementary school debate program, announced the date for their spring debate tournament. It will take place Saturday, May 22, at Catharine Blaine K-8 from 9 a.m.-noon. Close to 40 fourth- and fifth-grade students from four Seattle public schools – Coe, John Hay, Lawton, and Catharine Blaine, currently participate in this highly successful program. The debate topic is: Seattle Public Schools should change to a year-round schedule. The SSIA debate program is unique in Seattle, and remains one of the only elementary programs in the country. Now in its fifth year, it continues to receive extraordinary accolades. Coe principal David Elliott said, “I have seen the profound and transformative impact ...

About the Sharples renaming. Linda Shaw of the Times did a piece about this and there were a few Board comments. Apparently, the district and the family could not reach agreement on several issues (not all of them named). From the story; "But several of Sharples' grandchildren, although happy the school district was finally attempting to uphold its commitment, felt it had set an unreasonable deadline. Gloria Sharples, a granddaughter who lives in Oakland, Calif., said she and her siblings only learned about the proposal in October and that she hasn't had a chance to visit the Old Hay site. The family, she said, is willing to consider an elementary school to honor her grandfather, but had a number of conditions. One was that Sharples' name would not be overshadowed by any program at the school. Another was that the name Hay be removed from the two buildings on the site, which the district couldn't guarantee." Holly Ferguson, a district staff person, s...

Well, we squeezed in like sardines in the Ballard library last night. (Apparently the cheerleaders had the Commons area so we had the library. Hard to believe.) I guesstimated the crowd at over 200. Directors Carr, Maier and DeBell were there (I think Sherry and Michael may be trying to attend all these meetings). Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was not in attendance. There was quite a different focus at this meeting than the Eckstein one I attended. And that focus was the high school boundaries. So first, did you know that the Ballard area goes north almost to N 125th? I didn't but several Blue Ridge, Crown Hill and other far northwest parents assured me it did. (I should have asked, "When people ask you where you live, you really say Ballard?") I don't mean this in a snarky way, honestly, but it's just not what I always thought. Many people did not like the format for the meeting (big surprise) although somehow, this meeting had a much longer Q&A at the end th...