Seattle Schools Community Forum

As you may have heard, the district has, quite quickly and quietly, decided to close the West Seattle campus of the Middle College High School program at High Point.  The district says that the enrollment is down.  Seniors will finish there but the other students will have to find someplace else to go. Programs like Middle College are the ones that catch the drop-outs, the at-risk kids and the kids who need something different to stay in school.  In short, programs like Middle College save lives.  Our friends at the West Seattle blog have a great wrap-up of the story.  Apparently, the staff is not prepared to go down without defending their campus.   As the West Seattle blog reminds us, this program was kicked off of the South Seattle Community College campus in spring of 2012.  It then got moved to Neighborhood House's High Point Center.  The district doesn't have anything up at the website nor has there been any news release.  ...

From the West Seattle Blog: Police are investigating three incidents reported in this letter going home to families of students at Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School . From SPD: We have had 3 incidents involving middle school to high school age victims today ; from the descriptions t hese are not related to the earlier robberies, the last of which occurred a week ago today. We are going to continue the early-morning emphasis patrol where we are bringing additional officers that are assigned to this problem, and CPT officers will be the lead on working on the stairwell at 26th and Trenton SW, where one of today’s incidents occurred. I will update you as things progress, this is a different series with a different suspect or suspect(s). In this series young female students are the victims , so whenever possible please have them walk together with friends so that they are less vulnerable, and if they have a cell phone have the...

West Seattle Blog editor, Tracy Record, has discovered that it appears Green Dot is trying to remodel a church building in the Roxbury area of West Seattle.  Reviewing city permit application files today, we discovered a just-filed early-stage proposal to remodel and add to what is currently the Jesus Center/Freedom Church building at 35th/Roxbury, in the name of Los Angeles-based Pacific Charter School Development .  The one document publicly visible in the Department of Planning and Development system so far, dated December 31st, is a roughed-out site plan , showing the addition primarily along the Roxbury side of the 2 1/3-acre site. I note that the Pacific Charter School Development is a capital building/renovation group funded by the Gates Foundation, the NewSchools Venture Fund, Broad Foundation, Walton Foundation - in short, ALL the usual suspects.  It's based on this:    Venture Philanthropy These organizations support PCSD’s adherence to ...

From the West Seattle Blog : "12:51 PM: We just checked out a report that Chief Sealth International High School students were asked to “shelter in place” – and here’s what Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson tells us: There was a report of “somebody with a weapon at Roxhill Park area – someone on the walking path that ends at the bus stop on SW Barton, and 10 males in a group, allegedly somebody had a shotgun. The group was looking at the gun, not brandishing it or anything, somebody called it in,” and police responded. They reportedly have found who they were looking for. No shots were reported fired, no one hurt; police say Roxhill Elementary also was in “shelter in place” mode. It appears this incident is wrapping up but that’s all the information we have for now – we’ll be checking back later about possible arrest(s). 1:14 PM: Our crew circled back around to Sealth a few minutes ago and confirmed the “shelter in place” has been lifted. Sam...

From the West Seattle Blog: "1:58 PM: Seattle Police are searching for a man reported to have jumped out of the bushes near the east side of West Seattle High School , in the Walnut/Stevens vicinity. Police say the man was reported to have grabbed the arm of a passing female, who hit him and ran into the school. Police were not able to tell us if she is a student. She was not hurt. The man was described as white, 30s-40s, medium build, about 5-11, in a blue zipup jacket and black pants. 2:06 PM UPDATE: Right after we talked with SPD media-relations Det. Jeff Kappel about this incident, which we had heard on the scanner, SPD mentioned it on Twitter and described the victim as a student. ( Added: The SPD Blotter version pulls back on that but says she’s 16.) 2:43 PM UPDATE: Here’s principal Ruth Medsker ‘s note just sent to WSHS families, forwarded to us by a parent: Today, one of our students was off campus during lunch when she was grabbed by a male strange...

If you live in West Seattle and have thoughts on Advanced Learning in that area of the district, weigh in here .

Word has come that Shannon Conner, assistant principal at Hamilton International Middle School , is leaving to become principal at McClure Middle School.  She has a child who will be attending there this fall. This year, like others past, certainly has been a principal version of musical chairs.  West Seattle seems to have been hit the hardest. Ex. Director Carmela Dellino is leaving (after a year in that post) to work for the City for the Families&Education levy. The next Chief Sealth International High School principal is Aida Fraser-Hammer; she's new from Kentwood High. Chandra Oatis is leaving Alki Elementary for Van Asselt Elementary Rhonda Claytor has been appointed principal of Leschi Elementary, leaving Gatewood. Henterson Carlisle is leaving as principal at Madison with Robert Gary, Jr. coming in as interim. Bruce Rhodes moves to Sanislo as principal from JSIS as ass't principal. Robert Gallagher is the next principal of Lafayette Elem...

Here's a brilliant story from the West Seattle Blog about Director McLaren's community meeting in West Seattle.

Here's is the exceptional coverage from the West Seattle Blog of Superintendent Banda's visit to that region last night.

Great story (with photos) from the West Seattle Blog on the progress of the new K-5 STEM school at Boren.  Looks good. Lots of window for natural light.  Because it had been used by older students, it has lockers (and cubbies from preschool days), computer lab  and science labs.  They also have a climbing wall in the gym.  Very nice.  And, somehow, they found money for a Smartboard for every classroom.  Hmmm.  On her horizon – the renovation of Fairmount Park Elementary, expected to reopen in West Seattle within the next few years, shuttered for five years, and getting a new roof right now, because, she says, the old one couldn’t wait any longer to be replaced. Number of students at our new STEM school? We asked SPS how many students are enrolled; no final count yet, the district says, but the building is being made ready to hold up to 250. From one commenter: The 250 limit has already been met per info we have received from th...

  Update: a simple and beautiful tribute by Town Hall to Gloria Leonidas (the woman killed there last week during the rampage).  Ms. Leonidas' profession was lighting design.  I thought it worthy of posting.  Thank you to the Stranger Slog for their posting of it. The story of the killer's saga in West Seattle just goes on.  The West Seattle Blog is reporting that the blueberry plant he picked up at the West Seattle Nursery went to a former teacher he had at Summit K-12 more than 25 years ago.  Unbelievable.   He did not leave a note so she had no idea who had left it until she read about it.  She does not know why he reached out to her and turned everything over to the police. One comment says: The reason that I find this new update extremely alarming is that it confirms that this killer was in the neighborhood of Schmitz Park, Lafayette, Madison and West Seattle High, possibly even as the security precautions were lifted around 2...

Update, Monday night:   This from Director Smith-Blum:  I am forwarding Dr. Enfield's letter addressing the safety concerns with our schools and our coordination with the Seattle Police – both last week and how we will address going forward. I will say that our operations staff indicated to me they felt at least in West Seattle – things were not handled through a central voice and that led to confusion.  I appreciate all your questions and ideas and would ask that if you feel Dr. Enfield's letter does not address your specific concerns or would like more detail, that you send those inquiries to her directly, as it is not the Board's purview to direct staff to change their protocals.  That said, we will be addressing several policies in our areas of safety and student responsibilities this month. I will use your questions and concerns to hopefully create a thought process that will drive a stronger set of policies and procedures for the future.  Best,...

From our friends at the West Seattle Blog, a great round-up of news about who is on the new K-5 STEM at Boren design team and the discussion at their first meeting held last night.  Some interesting comments: - -What do you want to build? “The sky’s the limit,” declared Thompson, within reason. I think that's a lovely sentiment but highly unlikely.  This district is cash-poor and, just like STEM at Cleveland, this school is being opened very quickly without building partnerships that could enrich the program.  That said, several of the parents seem to have community connections that may help that process.  It is a lot of work to build a technology-based school. -They’ll talk about the community partners who have expressed interest – Boeing et al. And Thompson said they don’t just mean those that have come forward; they might actively recruit some.   - instructional materials?  They are just one piece of what happens in a classroom,” warned T...

I was sitting down to write a thread about different good news in our district that came to me from various sources including the district's SchoolBeat newsletter.  I'm still going to write that one. But then I saw this via Kellie LaR. from the West Seattle blog about next year's  "plan" for capacity management. Three School Board members –  Steve Sundquist, Sherry Carr , and  Peter Maier  – were at the meeting, introduced toward the start; Sundquist said he wanted to be “in touch with the community’s reactions” to the proposal.  Their vote on the first year of “capacity management” is scheduled for next month; a timetable shown during the meeting included plan tweaking from October 20th-November 1st, and then a plan to be introduced to the board on November 2nd, with a vote two weeks later. Then in December, design work would begin for anything necessary to reopen schools that the board signs off on reopening. So here's the timetable: 3 commu...

From the West Seattle Blog, West Seattle schools: Fairmount Park Elementary reopening as soon as fall 2012? At his community meeting today, Steve Sundquist said that the district is likely to re-open a closed elementary in West Seattle and that Fairmount Park is the likely choice.

The West Seattle blog reports the installation of a new double portable at Lafayette Elementary. I didn't know that besides Lafayette, both Gatewood and Schmitz Park will also be getting portables. I think the district believes this overcrowding will ease up in the next 3-4 years but I can see where parents caught in the thick of it are probably not happy. Also, this from the West Seattle blog in one of their forums about the current crisis: Gulp! It's getting harder and harder to defend our School Board and District administrators. Apparently the "Save Seattle Schools" crew have been right about the District's lax accounting and oversight, though I must say I don't care for the way they've presented some of their arguments. I wish I could talk to this person. Tell me the better way. Honestly, I think I have tried every way I know how to relay this information or make an argument. When Charlie and I get testy or blunt, please keep in mind this has...

A reporter from the West Seattle Blog - one of the few remaining outposts of original journalism - is following up on the supplemental school levy. You can follow his adventures here .