West Seattle schools: Chief Sealth portables in place

More preparation today for the new school year that starts on September 5th, less than two weeks away: Chief Sealth International High School‘s new portable classrooms are being moved into place on the west edge of the campus. On Wednesday afternoon, we photographed the two that had just arrived (above); today, the other two are moving in.

As reported here in June, they will house 9th-grade language-arts and history classes, according to Sealth principal Chris Kinsey. He announced in June that 2012-2013 enrollment was projected to be more than 1,300, about 100 beyond last year, which was already above capacity (and according to a Seattle Public Schools report published this week, 115 students are on its waiting list [total for all grades/programs]).

17 Replies to "West Seattle schools: Chief Sealth portables in place"

  • cp August 23, 2012 (12:22 pm)

    I hope coming and going of students will be monitored. There is alot of loitering around on 27th SW both before and after school with litter strewn all over at lunch along with open drug dealing on 27th daily at Lunch. The neighbors have contacted the police and the school but the portables add a new element of coming and going…I know the neighborhood would like for the school to firmly commmit this year to daily walk around patrols by someone in a position of authority especially at lunch to monitor the student more. It is really a free for all up there. My concern is also the shared campus with younger kids at Denny being exposed to this.

  • Jacob August 23, 2012 (1:18 pm)

    sad such a new facility needs to use lower quality portable classrooms just one year later.

  • Christie August 23, 2012 (1:35 pm)

    i am so glad that my daughter is in 10th grade this year – that would suck if she was a 9th grader and told she has to have class in a portable classroom.

  • Xavier August 23, 2012 (1:40 pm)

    Agreed, that whole part of Delridge between Brandon and Juneau needs to be cleaned up, especially with DESC going up in the near future. Good luck kiddos.

  • Marty August 23, 2012 (1:57 pm)

    Having to use portables so soon after a major rebuild tells us a lot about Seattle School District administration. Charter schools are needed….

  • Lisa Y. August 23, 2012 (2:04 pm)

    Our daughter tells us that there is very little interaction between Denny studentss and Sealth, for Denny band students they go to Sealth becausse there is no formal band room for Denny. Between classes there is 1 adult monitor on each floor. At lunch counselors and administrator is in the lunchroom and outside a security person, administrator and counselor monitors the school grounds. We had gret concerns sending her to Dennny with the shared campus with sealth but found it to be a safe environment. Each school has separate walkways, entrys and parking lots, and in the lunchroom a wall separates the two schools.

    However I will say that I see many students wandering along Barton and near Roxhill when they should be in school.

  • Bonnie August 23, 2012 (3:58 pm)

    I think all schools have that problem with wandering kids. I see them all the time up by Hiawatha and the Safeway. When I was younger and went to Highline we wandered all over Burien. (not that it was right, but we did)

  • J August 23, 2012 (4:09 pm)

    Unbelievable! This eyesore of a school finally got a nice upgrade and a year later, they have to move ugly portables back in? The Seattle public schools are so poorly mismanaged, it’s shameful. I know some people who live in the condos across the street and there have consistently been drug use, littering, and vandalism problems across the street and in the neighborhood that the school’s administration and the district don’t even respond to, despite repeated letters of concern –“open campus,” after all. Sure it will be exacerbated by this crowding.

  • Lisa Y. August 23, 2012 (4:14 pm)

    The pat answer I get when I ask the kids hey shouldn’t you be i school is, oh we are homeschooled. Right and homeschooling starts at infront of Target or in Roxhill Park.

    I attended Highline schools too, but I was not one to wander away from school. Back in those days the vice principal would drive around the school neighborhood looking for truants and pick them up in his car ad take them back to school. we had a woods across the street that ws a known place for the smokers to gather.

  • westseattleparent August 23, 2012 (9:53 pm)

    Sealth is at 110% capacity, and West Seattle High is at 50% capacity. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE??? If West Seattle High could provide a curriculum that was even CLOSE to the rigor of the curriculum at Sealth, both schools would be at full capacity, and there would be no need for these portables at Sealth. This problem is COMPLETELY the fault of the district for allowing West Seattle High to continue to act like a vo-tech magnet school (just look at the class offerings listed on the WSHS site compared with that of Sealth) even when the entire north end of West Seattle is forced to go there now. Given the superior rigor of the curriculum at Sealth, many north-end families want their kids to go there, and those who can’t get in go to private schools. We DESPERATELY need to change this inequity in offerings in order to resolve the inequity in capacity.

  • teacher August 24, 2012 (12:20 am)

    Lisa Y-It’s good to hear you are happy with Denny, our oldest child is two years away from going there. As far as the kids you see on Barton near Roxhill, I would think it could be hard to call them ‘students’ or to tie them to Sealth. They could go anywhere or nowhere at all.
    I agree with comments about our district’s short-sighted planning. I taught at another Seattle high school just after it was rebuilt and within two years it was close to 500 students over the intended capacity. However, I don’t see how that relates to charter schools at all. Other than the fact that they will serve only a select few while leaving the majority of students in the same overcrowded school with fewer funds to educate them with.

  • halyn August 24, 2012 (9:33 am)

    Ok, seriously, when the Sealth/Denny rebuild was still on the drawing board, did NO ONE involved with this project think to go around to the grade schools and count how many kids there are? If there are 400 grade-schoolers in a community, odds are there’s gonna be 400 high-schoolers at some point, and maybe you should plan for that?
    Other than rolling my eyes at the idiocy displayed by the planners, I have no complaints about the Sealth/Denny campus. My daughter will be a 7th grader at Denny this school year, and other than orchestra/band kids, there is no mixing of middle and high schoolers.
    I also agree that it is unfair to pin the wandering truants on Sealth. A lot SPS students have a metro card that lets them ride the bus for free–they could be from anywhere in the city, and I’m not sure the blame for truant kids falls on the schools. Howsabout holding the parents accountable for the kid not being where they’re supposed to be? The school’s responsibility stops at taking attendance and notifying parents when the kid isn’t present.

  • marty August 24, 2012 (9:57 am)

    Teacher: I see you are busy “protecting” your job. I don’t blame you for being against charter schools, it might force you to perform!

  • miws August 24, 2012 (1:22 pm)

    Teacher: I see you are busy “protecting” your job. I don’t blame you for being against charter schools, it might force you to perform!

    .

    Wow, marty.
    Just. Wow.

    .

    That’s quite an assumption you make. That “teacher” doesn’t actually do his/her job….

    .

    Mike

  • clm August 27, 2012 (6:46 am)

    This has to be the poorest capacity planning ever! I don’t get it. I went to a school that had a smaller square footage and literally double the student body of Sealth yet were able to not only house all the students, but also had less students per class.

  • clm August 27, 2012 (8:33 am)

    In response to halyn’s comment. I live next door to Sealth and am home most days. You can see the kids streaming directly out of Sealth to the streets. The only ones I see coming from off-campus are some of the drug dealers and they drive (the rest of the drug dealers are up from Sealth).

  • Previous Denny Middle School Parent August 31, 2012 (5:42 pm)

    Poor planning exactly!!! Not to mention the fact that 33 kids on the waitlist were at Denny Middle School and were told they would have a so called “pathway” into Sealth. Many administrators from the district as well as the Denny principal sold the idea to the families! All lies. Now these kids who have siblings already at Sealth, or can walk to Sealth have to take 2 buses to get to school at West Seattle High all because there was a map change. Does this support the school district’s so called “community” plan…NO! Does it make sense…NO! Perhaps West Seattle needs it’s own district. Please think long and hard before you vote for the levy coming up in which the SPS will be requesting more money than ever. They do not uphold their promises and clearly can not manage the current system. More money to throw away…I think not!

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