Seattle Schools Community Forum

South Shore PreK-8 came up as a topic during a discussion over conversion charters .  I, like many, believe it would be a target (a willing one) for a conversion takeover.  I suspect you could get the parents or teachers to agree and I'm sure LEV, who now directs the foundation money that South Shore gets, would also be agreeable.  That leaves the community and the district that may not like the idea of losing a $73M building to a charter entity. One thing to keep in mind - ALL charters are their own districts .  If they take over a district building, they can decide the parameters - within the law - of public use just as SPS does.  If you use a school building for your local community meetings or Boy Scouts, you might have to find someplace else to go.  I also don't know what it would mean for the joint-use agreement that SPS has with Parks for SPS playfields.  I would assume if a charter group takes over the building and its grounds and is its ...

Started sunny, ending rainy - another Seattle week gone by. Five Seattle schools named "Schools of Distinction" for academic improvements in math and reading that put them in the top five percent of improving schools in the state.  Drum roll - - Alki Elementary - Hamilton Int'l Middle - Madison Middle - Mercer Middle - Orca K-8 Madison has won for the last four years - good for them.  Likewise Mercer and Orca have won for three straight years.  Hamilton, no slouch, this is their second year in a row to win this honor. There were 99 schools statewide earning this honor.  The selection is through a group of educational entities; Center for Educational Effectiveness,  Association of Educational Service Districts, Assn. of WA State Principals, Phi Delta Kappa-Washington Chapter, WA Assn. of School Administrators, WA State ASCA and WA State School Directors' Assn. More honors - two of our elementary PE teachers were honored last week and they are Chuck ...

Good news from The Road Map Project.  One of their efforts is to make sure that as many eligible students as possible sign up for the College Bound Scholarships .  Looks like it paid off as a record 91% of eligible students signed up (as compared with 74% lat year).  Thank you to everyone who reminded a kid or their PTA. The scholarship will cover students who pledge to graduate from high school, demonstrate good citizenship and seek admission to a college. The area covered includes South Seattle, Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Renton, and Tukwila.  Tukwila signs up 100% of all eligible students while Auburn climbed from 38% to 67%.  Over 3900 student signed-up.  The Seattle schools covered are Secondary BOC, Merce, Aki Kurose, Orca, South Shore, Washington and Denny.  Secondary BOC, Mercer, and Aki Kurose enrolled 100% of their eligible students.  South Seattle schools overall went from 91% to 95%.

Thursday, May 12th The " Friends of Cleveland " group is holding their annual Red & White auction.  This year, the auction will be held on Thursday, May 12th, at the Museum of Flight, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.  They are raising funds towards next year’s First Robotics fees for the School of Engineering and Design, and toward the purchase of video equipment for student projects in the School of Life Sciences.  Those who wish to support could do so by purchasing a ticket to attend, then bidding on items.  It is also possible to donate without attending. The last day to reserve a seat is Monday, May 9.  Contact Catherine Brown cmbrown@seattleschools.org or Dick Lee rjlee@seattleschools.org , 252-0476 at Cleveland for more info. Saturday, May 14th The Franklin High School Arts Festival is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., May 14 at the school, 3013 S. Mt. Baker Blvd., and will feature student art, ceramics, woodcrafts, lion dancers, fa...

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 ...

Good news from around our district: Rainier Beach High School took 1st place in the M.E.S.A. Math Olympiad this last Saturday. to Garfield High school for their jazz band winning, for the 4th time, first place at the NYC Essentially Ellington jazz competition. Roosevelt High also did well with an honorable mention. to Orca K-8' s team of readers who share the Global Reading Challenge title with a BC school. to Franklin High school whose robotics team won the state title for the FIRST Robotics Microsoft Seattle Regional Competition in March. Franklin also won the Engineering Inspiration Award at this competition. Additionally, Franklin's mock trial team took second place in the 2010 YMCA Mock Trial Competition. Franklin has long had a strong mock trial team. 13 former MLK, Jr. Elementary students were awarded scholarships from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Foundation. Eckstein 's Orchestras took top places (in beginning, junior, intermediate and senior) at the...