West Seattle Blog…

Followup: First-graders teach shoppers about healthy food

(Saturday photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
The bonnets worn by Arbor Heights Elementary first-graders Lynn and Lucy on Saturday afternoon might look familiar – two days earlier, they and their classmates wore old-time farmers’ gear to greet a distinguished visitor to their school, newly hired Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda:

(Thursday photo courtesy of AH parent volunteer)
We had reported before on their tomato-growing adventure in teacher Marcia Ingerslev‘s class, and the plan to give away tomato plants at Roxbury Safeway on Saturday; by the time we checked in toward the end of their four-hour stint outside the store, hundreds of plants had new homes, they told us, and as you can see in their table decoration, they had a healthy-food message to go along with it.

Video: Arbor Heights hosts superintendent-to-be José Banda

That’s one of the most personal moments we caught on video this morning as Arbor Heights Elementary School played host to José Banda – who starts work as Seattle Public Schools’ next superintendent July 1st, after the School Board voted unanimously last night to finalize his hiring. It might be a little hard to hear (with multiple camera shutters mixed in), but he’s speaking with a student about world geography, and mentioning that his son is currently working half a world away – as a teacher. Banda looked in on classrooms all over the school, as well as orchestra practice in the cafetorium, and gave short interviews to the panoply of media crews that showed up (this was his only official photo op as his Seattle visit continued today). But before the designated 10 am start time for the school tour, he was greeted by AH students:

Thanks to an AH parent for sharing that photo of Marcia Ingerslev‘s first-graders, who were dressed as farmers, since they presented the new superintendent with a plant – you saw their story here last week, as they are selling and giving away tomato plants, and will be at Roxbury Safeway this Saturday. (Watching the students, from left, are district communications director Lesley Rogers, executive director of West Seattle schools Aurora Lora; superintendent-to-be Banda; and AH principal Christy Collins; WS school-board director Marty McLaren was there for the visit too). We also took many photos, and more video, and are going through it all right now, to add more to this story later.

(And yes, the new superintendent said, the students did make sure he knows about the poor condition their building is in – rated worst in the district – the BEX IV levy currently proposes a new building for AH, but not to be completed until 2018, and the community is campaigning to have that timetable moved up before the levy plan is finalized this fall; its problems were amply explained during a BEX-related meeting at AH that we covered in April.)

ADDED 4:50 PM: More photos, ahead: Click to read the rest of Video: Arbor Heights hosts superintendent-to-be José Banda…

School Board confirms new superintendent José Banda, who visits West Seattle tomorrow

Tomorrow morning, Arbor Heights Elementary staff and students will be among the first community members to be able to congratulate José Banda on his new job as Seattle Public Schools Superintendent. The School Board voted 7-0 tonight to confirm him, and – as reported here Tuesday – his visit continues tomorrow with a 10 am stop at AH. Here’s the district’s announcement of tonight’s vote: Click to read the rest of School Board confirms new superintendent José Banda, who visits West Seattle tomorrow…

Arbor Heights Elementary to get visit from next superintendent

Just announced by Seattle Public Schools in a media advisory, José Banda – scheduled to be confirmed as the district’s next superintendent on Wednesday night – will visit Arbor Heights Elementary on Thursday. Banda has been leading a school district in Anaheim, California, but is coming back to Seattle for the board vote Wednesday night, and the AH visit has been announced as one of his two media availabilities for the visit (a photo op rather than a public event, in case you’re wondering) – the other will include interviews after the board vote.

West Seattle schools: Arbor Heights students grow, sell, give tomato plants to learn, help

At Arbor Heights Elementary, a first-grade class isn’t just talking and learning about healthy food – they’re growing it, too, and ready to share their plants with you. Parent Krista Withers shares the news of a plant sale continuing through the end of the week, and a giveaway planned for weekend after next!

All year long our teacher, Marcia Ingerslev, has been focusing on building healthy habits for lifelong nutrition and good health. In addition to cooking in the classroom each Friday, the children from room 16 have been planting, potting, repotting, watering, and caring for many tomato plants.

These plants will be for sale (by donation) after school at the Arbor Heights Playground this week.

Mrs.Ingerslev explains how this will benefit the class, the school and our community here:

“In the cold days of February, the students of room 16 at Arbor Heights planted two flats of tomatoes. With 400 or more sprouts I figured we would get a couple hundred plants.

We are currently at 400 tomato plants, which confirms what I have always known, anything planted and nurtured by a child grows better than when planted by an adult. Some of the plants have been transplanted several times, others are still waiting for a larger home. We will be selling plants until none remain. On May 19th some of my students are going to be at Safeway on Roxbury to share what they have learned about nutrition. They will have a hundred tomato plants to give away. We want families to be able to eat healthy food. This is our small contribution to that end.

If you can’t wait until then or are interested in purchasing (for a donation) more tomato plants, please contact me at mmingerslev@seattleschools.org. 100% of the proceeds go to fund a native-plant garden and our school and to run Room 16′s nutrition program. All of the seeds, pots, and soil were donated. Manpower was provided by first-grade students.”

After-school sales this week are running from about 3:10-4:05 pm. On Saturday, May 19th, Krista tells us, the students’ visit to Roxbury Safeway (Roxbury/26th) will be from 9:30 am-1:30 pm.

Arbor Heights’ Earth Day Groceries Project bags have arrived!

(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
Arbor Heights Elementary School teacher Mark Ahlness started the Earth Day Groceries Project in 1994, and it’s still going strong – with Ahlness and his students bringing this year’s delivery of specially decorated bags to Roxbury Safeway manager Sai Cho (upper left of our photo) this afternoon. The 350-plus bags – bearing art and messages about Earth Day – will be distributed to Safeway shoppers. (Though April 22nd is still more than a week away, but this is the last day of school before a week of spring break, and that’s why this was delivery day.)

West Seattle schools: Seahawk surprise at Arbor Heights

With the pro-football preseason is four-plus months away, there’s plenty of time for players to set their sights on a different playing field – local schools. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Josh Portis made a surprise appearance today at Arbor Heights Elementary School (whose students are the “Junior Seahawks”). His message: Stay in school. Not that dropping out is a big problem at the elementary level, but it’s never too soon to start making sure the message sinks in – encouraging better attendance has been a big districtwide campaign this school year. (Thanks to the Arbor Heights parent volunteer who shared the photo of the quarterback and Ms. Wilson, the first-grade teacher who led today’s assembly.)

Merge Arbor Heights/Roxhill? Principals say it surprised them too

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The principals of Arbor Heights and Roxhill Elementary Schools say the emergence of a proposal to merge the two into a rebuilt AH was as much a “big surprise” to them as it was to their schools’ communities.

That’s part of what they told a gathering of more than 50 people last night at a quickly organized community meeting, less than a week after the merger proposal debuted in the package of possibilities that district staff is circulating (as reported here) as the first round of community meetings begins about what should be in next February’s 4th edition of the every-six-years BEX (“Building Excellence”) levy.

The meeting, led by AH principal Christy Collins, with Roxhill principal Carmela Dellino speaking from the audience, unfolded while the first of those meetings played out across the city at Eckstein Middle School (West Seattle’s school-board director Marty McLaren had sent her regrets to AH and Roxhill, saying she had to be at that meeting instead of theirs). West Seattle’s version of the levy-input meeting is set for 6:30 pm Thursday at Denny International Middle School, and the meeting materials are now on the district website, if you’d like a preview – PowerPoint overview here and “the 3 options” here (which includes the merger proposal).

In addition to answering questions, the two principals sought to explain their side of how this idea might have sprung up, and Collins explained in a show-and-tell why it’s imperative that a new building replacing the 64-year-old AH becomes part of the levy, some way, some how.

Click to read the rest of Merge Arbor Heights/Roxhill? Principals say it surprised them too…

Merge Arbor Heights and Roxhill? Community meeting Tuesday

Out of the WSB inbox, from Rosslyn:

Arbor Heights Community Meeting on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 7:00 pm at Arbor Heights Elementary School Cafeteria.

Purpose: To talk about the district’s proposal to combine Arbor Heights Elementary and Roxhill.

As reported here yesterday, that proposal is part of what’s being circulated for possible inclusion in the Seattle Public Schools Building Excellence (BEX) IV levy next year – but had not been brought up for community discussion prior to turning up in a district PowerPoint at a School Board work session this past Wednesday.

ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: We had sent School Board director Marty McLaren a request for comment on this and other possible BEX IV proposals for this area, and she replied regarding this one that district-headquarters staff “is supportive because it solves the problem of two deteriorated buildings at once and results in a school with significantly reduced operating costs than two schools.” She also has the caveat regarding everything proposed so far, “none of this is set in stone.”

Police in the living room: ‘Conversation’ in Arbor Heights

(Sgt. Joe Bauer shows neighbors a map of burglaries reported in the past month)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

JoDean Edelheit‘s neighbors might have wondered why police cars were in her Arbor Heights driveway Monday night – if not for the fact the neighbors were all in her living room with the uniformed visitors.

The Seattle Police Department has been offering the opportunity for these “living-room conversations” for a while – explaining them as opportunities to explore community concerns in informal settings. Monday afternoon, in fact, the SPD Blotter blog-format website published a short story about two recent ones. And that was not long after we got the call from JoDean, inviting us to the one scheduled to happen at her house hours later.

She hosted a dozen neighbors and four SPD reps. The questions weren’t surprising, but some of the answers were.

Click to read the rest of Police in the living room: ‘Conversation’ in Arbor Heights…

West Seattle weather: Arbor Heights/Seola outage; downpour

(Scroll down for updates on the outage and other weather woes)

8:09 AM: Looks like another round of wild weather moving through. And while we’re not sure yet if it’s weather-related, Martha in Arbor Heights reports a power outage. She’s at the end of 35th near Seola Park and says it went out about an hour ago. The outage is not on the City Light map and we haven’t reached them for confirmation yet, but she says that when she called it in, they told her 106 homes were affected. Meantime, the National Weather Service has a “short-term” forecast alert for heavy rain, up to half an inch an hour, this morning.

8:35 AM UPDATE: Not far from Martha’s location at the end-of-35th bend, a tree on SW Seola Lane (map) is apparently to blame for the outage, according to Tbone‘s note in comments and a 6 am “wires down” listing on the 911 log.

9:41 AM UPDATE: Added a photo of the tree trouble at Seola Lane/Seola Beach Drive. City Light’s Scott Thomsen, meantime, confirmed the outage and said it should be fixed by early afternoon. He also says the SCL outage map is fixed now.

10:05 AM UPDATE: Massive downpour for the past few minutes, in line with the Weather Service’s warning (above), though a little past their timeframe.

10:55 AM UPDATE: Sage K sends word that the Delridge onramp to the West Seattle Bridge is flooded again and should be avoided. We’re going to check that out.

11:56 AM UPDATE: Seattle Public Utilities crew was on scene at the Delridge ramp puddle, clearing the drain, when we arrived. (Besides the crew members in our photo, they had a vacuum truck there, too.) Meantime, we have an update from City Light on the Seola outage:

Crew is on site. They’ve isolated the damage to restore most customers. 23 are still out. Two spans of wire are down. Estimate for restoration of service for the remaining customers is about 2:30 pm.

Get a new family portrait: All invited to Arbor Heights fundraiser

As we continue publishing school-fundraiser announcements, here’s an unusual one for next weekend: Arbor Heights Elementary PTA is presenting a “Family Photo Event,” open to all, not just AH families. 9 am-6 pm next Saturday and Sunday (3/10-3/11) they are scheduling professionally photographed family-portrait sessions for $35, “including one complimentary 8 x 10 print and one low-resolution file.” You can even bring the family pet. Fundraising Committee chair Amanda Nokes says, “We will photograph multiple poses and families will choose their favorites themselves.They are of course welcome to purchase any additional pictures they’d like.” But you need to contact her to book a session – 206-902-6324 or maxnokes@comcast.net. (Get more details via this flyer.)

Neighborhood crimefighting: Arbor Heights talks Block Watch

Thanks to Kevin McClintic for sharing a photo and toplines from last night’s Arbor Heights crime-prevention/Block Watch-formation meeting, which he says about two dozen people attended. Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon (next to the pulpit in Kevin’s photo) was the guest speaker for the meeting coordinated by AH residents Sherry Fullerton and Kathy Ward. Mark stressed what you have heard from police over and over – if you see something suspicious happening, call 911. If you see someone who looks unfamiliar – say hi, “let them know they’ve been seen,” as Kevin summarized the message. Interested in getting involved with Arbor Heights Block Watch efforts, but couldn’t get to the meeting? You can e-mail arborheightsblockwatch@gmail.com and/or join the new Facebook group Arbor Heights Block Watch.

Global Reading Challenge @ Arbor Heights goes to a tiebreaker!

By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Moving toward the citywide semifinals in two weeks, Global Reading Challenge events continue at participating Seattle Public Schools, and today, it was Arbor Heights Elementary School‘s turn to gather its teams to compete, share their reading knowledge, and decide who’s moving to the next level.

This time, it took what was described as an “unprecedented” tiebreaker!

Click to read the rest of Global Reading Challenge @ Arbor Heights goes to a tiebreaker!…

West Seattle crime prevention: Arbor Heights meeting tomorrow

Got confirmation today that the rescheduled Arbor Heights crime-prevention/Block Watch-organizing meeting is happening tomorrow – Thursday, March 1, 6:30 pm, at Arbor Heights Community Church (41st/102nd). The announcement invites Arbor Heights residents to:

Meet with your neighbors to:

¨ Get information on the recent area crimes
¨ Strategize on actions to reduce area crime
¨ Get printed material on improving home security, enhancing personal safety, and reducing car-related crimes
¨ Learn what WE can do, working together, to reduce neighborhood crime

Come prepared to share your experiences about recent crime and public safety concerns in the neighborhood.

Come ready to become an active participant in reducing area crime and improving neighborhood quality of life.

Door-to-door alert: School says it’s NOT soliciting

Got a call today from an Arbor Heights resident – near 44th SW and SW 102nd – who wanted to get the word out about someone who came to her door around 5 pm Monday. She told us he claimed to be raising money for Chief Sealth International High School – but she checked with the school today, and it does NOT have anyone doing door-to-door selling. She also called the police, explaining that after she told the solicitor she wasn’t interested, she watched him for a while, and when he noticed her watching, he started running, catching up with a car that was driving up and down the block. (Sorry, no descriptive info, she mainly wanted everyone to know that any such Sealth soliciting claim was bogus.)

West Seattle schools: Author Paul Owen Lewis @ Arbor Heights

(Photos courtesy Mark Ahlness – more on the AH Elementary Facebook page)
February is a most literary month at many West Seattle schools, with writing/reading events dotting many a calendar. Tonight, for the second consecutive night, we bring you a story about an author visiting a local school – this time, Northwest author Paul Owen Lewis at Arbor Heights Elementary. It’s the third time he’s visited AH, according to longtime teacher Mark Ahlness, who says Lewis’s first visit was in 1998 – that would have been before EVERY student currently enrolled at AH was born! He spoke to assemblies as well as to classes:

Mark says, “As always, he was dynamic, entertaining, and inspirational. A great day that the kids will remember!”

Arbor Heights water-main improvements to start soon

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The city’s work to replace undersized water mains in Arbor Heights – a problem spotlighted by water-supply trouble during a house fire last August – is expected to start this month.

That’s part of what Seattle Public Utilities told more than 60 residents who gathered for a community briefing/Q-A session last week at Arbor Heights Community Church, barely a block from the home that burned August 27th.

The first work will be on a relatively small stretch along Roxbury:

But the rest of it – see the full map here – won’t happen until this fall. Why the gap? That’s part of what was explained.

Click to read the rest of Arbor Heights water-main improvements to start soon…

Arbor Heights water-main upgrades: Community meeting Thursday

This hasn’t been announced to the media yet, so big thanks to Kevin McClintic for scanning and sharing the postcard he received this weekend: The community meeting promised by Seattle Public Utilities regarding upcoming water-main upgrades is set for this Thursday (January 26), 7-9 pm at Arbor Heights Community Church (4119 SW 102nd). As first reported here last month, water mains totaling two-thirds of a mile will be upgraded this year, as part of a process that began when last August’s big house fire called attention to problems in the system. (That day, firefighters had to run hose almost half a mile to access an adequate firefighting supply.) That process also has included hydrant upgrades; here’s our report on that, from November. (August 27 photo by Katie Meyer for WSB)

Update: Vacant home burns in Arbor Heights; no injuries

(Photo added 12:42 am, sent by neighbor ‘Bunnyfer’)
11:54 PM: Fire reported on 35th SW near Roxbury. More to come.

(Photo by Tony Bradley)
12:10 AM: The fire is reported to be under control.

12:36 AM: Christopher Boffoli‘s on the scene for WSB. (His photos are above and below this paragraph.) He says the house is single-family but is believed to be vacant (as mentioned in comments, below). Note that 35th is closed at Roxbury, if you have to drive at this hour. No word of any injuries.

12:41 AM: Christopher has spoken with Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore. He reports that Moore confirms the house was vacant, and Christopher adds this from Kyle’s briefing: “No occupants. No firefighter injuries. Engine 37 arrived to a fully involved fire in the basement area. Ladder 11 followed and ran water from an 8 inch main on 35th. They have the fire pretty much tapped now. But because the fire burned out and weakened the floor, it is too dangerous for them to go inside at this point. Kyle says they’ll probably sit on it all night just to be sure.”

1:41 AM: Added video from Christopher. Your editor here just went over to check the scene – 35th closed on the south side of Roxbury but you can turn onto Roxbury, either way. We’re adding more photos, too. The main that Kyle mentioned to Christopher – important note because of the water challenges brought to light by the August 27th fire a mile or so south – is about a block from the house that burned.

(Photo by Tony Bradley)
Here’s where the line ran from:

(Photo by Torin Record-Sand)
(The maps shown when the City Council was briefed on the August fire last month show this area is not slated for water-main upgrades since it’s close enough to one with sufficient “fire flow.” When we checked back, firefighters were still up on the roof with chainsaws, ventilating the house, and it’s still smoldering. No word on the cause, but that usually takes some hours to determine.

2:49 AM: Commenters had pointed out early on that the home was for sale. Most recently, one noted that a sale was listed as “pending.” We looked up the current ownership; the house is federally owned, following foreclosure. Meantime, we uploaded a short clip received from Benjamin, in the early moments of the fire:

ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Investigators still haven’t figured out how the fire started, according to this update on the SFD website.

West Seattle garage fire ‘tapped’ on 31st SW

If you’re in or near Arbor Heights and wondered about the sirens – Seattle Fire sent a big response to what was reported as a garage fire on 31st near 97th (map), but canceled most of the units within minutes, declaring the fire “tapped.”

West Seattle Crime Watch: Robbery investigations tonight

(Taken at 17th/Cambridge. We have blurred the face of one person who did not appear to be SPD.)
Two cases tonight: We don’t have official details on the one that’s still happening, but in South Delridge, police are out right now dealing with a report that was described on the scanner as an armed robbery, apparently at a business, possibly on 17th SW. We checked out the scene and saw what appeared to be a search, but it wasn’t clear exactly where the investigation was centered, so we’ll be checking back with SPD later.

There also was some scanner traffic about a strong-arm street robbery earlier – and we have received a note from the victim, a longtime WSB’er who says she was held up at knifepoint in Arbor Heights around 5:30 pm by someone who stole her iPhone 4S. She says police made an arrest but did not find the phone, so she is asking people in the area to be on the lookout for it. (We have a followup question out to ask where in AH this happened.) She says the data on it “has been wiped,” but she has its serial number from its original packaging.

ADDED 12:14 AM: The victim says it happened near 35th/106th, and that the suspect was found around the 9700-9900 block of 35th. The missing phone is a black iPhone 4S, 32GB, “in a black Marware flip case at the time.”

Reader reports: Triangle car theft; Arbor Heights suspicions

Two reader reports to share tonight – first, a stolen car resembling the one in the photo sent by Rob, who hopes his car will be found:

Stolen from my driveway near 37th and Alaska on Tuesday (12/27/2011) between 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM.

The car is a 1998 Subaru Legacy GT Sedan (not the ubiquitous wagon). It is a lovely dark-green color with some minor dents in the right-rear corner. It has Washington truck plates (so the license# begins with an “A” and ends with an “F”). It has a distinctive hood vent and a tasteful rear spoiler, as you can almost see in (the) photo. I have filed a report with the police.

Second, A shares the story of a car whose driver was taking an odd path early today:

Approximately 0530 Wednesday morning, my partner noticed a white Nissan with license plate number 200-Z(xx) pulling in and out of driveways along 35th avenue SW before the turn onto Marine View Drive SW. After being noticed, the car then drove back up 35th to 106th and made a right heading towards White Center. Police were notified, please be on the lookout and report further suspicious behavior.