One more reason Arbor Heights Elementary can’t vacate its crumbling building a minute too soon – this weekend, a classroom flooded in bone-dry weather. We went over for photos after parents forwarded a note from principal Christy Collins talking about the damage suffered by Room 9 when a water filter burst over the weekend. The principal wrote in part:

It appears the water ran all weekend with several inches of water soaking all material on the floor. The water and warmth of the room appear to have caused significant condensation on the windows, thereby increasing the possibility of more damage to materials in the room. … a crew from Seattle Public Schools’ maintenance department have worked diligently to move furniture and absorb the standing water with machinery and fans. Unfortunately, it appears the flooring in room 9 is beginning to buckle, so the room most likely will not be habitable for a while. … Teacher and student materials were removed from desks and wooden shelves due to the risk of additional water damage from the accumulated moisture on materials within the room. Students’ personal supplies were transferred to room 19 by morning recess. We were able to salvage most all of the items in the students’ desks that were not made of paper. The classroom computers were turned off and appear to be working.

Here’s the scene in a hallway:

Arbor Heights’ aged facilities are a major reason why it was written into the Building Excellence levy in February for a rebuild – and why after community clamor, the rebuild has been moved up three years from the end of the levy list, to be complete in 2016. As reported here last week, the school is taking applications to be part of its Design Advisory Team – tomorrow’s the deadline.

With the Seattle School Board approving the architect contract for the new Arbor Heights Elementary earlier this month, and opening set for fall 2016, it’s time for a community Design Advisory Team to be formed – and the call for applications has just gone out on the school website. The open letter from principal Christy Collins says in part:

The Design Advisory Team will be composed of current Arbor Heights staff and families as well as neighborhood residents. Our goal is to form a working team of 10-12 individuals who can commit to six formal meetings over the course of April and May and two additional future meetings.

The meeting schedule is part of her letter; the application is here, and needs to be in by April 2nd.

Since its new school is being built on the same site as the deteriorating old one, Arbor Heights is expected to move to the Boren building on Delridge starting in fall 2014, SPS spokesperson Tom Redman tells WSB, remaining there for the two school years prior to the opening of the new building. The new K-5 STEM school is there now, with no timeline for a decision on its permanent home, but the Boren campus has room for hundreds more students, and improvements are planned this summer. The school board’s Executive Committee was briefed on those improvements last week; Redman says they would include:

1) seismic strengthening in the form of shear walls and roof-to-wall braces;
2) completion of the upgrades to finishes in the north wing;
3) selective demolition and “tenant improvements” for two child care rooms and Arbor Heights;
4) replacement of all exterior doors and hardware

P.S. If you’d like to know more about how a school Design Team is supposed to work – its part of the in-depth district manual.

Arbor Heights Cooperative Preschool is officially looking for a new home, and parent educator Judy Hall hopes you have a suggestion:

Arbor Heights Cooperative Preschool, one of five West Seattle cooperative preschools sponsored by South Seattle Community College, is currently seeking a new location. After sixteen years of operating out of Hillcrest Presbyterian Church, Arbor Heights Cooperative is actively looking for a new site in the area.

The site search committee is seeking a new location, ideally sited on the grounds of a church or other nonprofit organization, that would provide the school with approximately 1500 to 3000 square feet. The current location at Hillcrest Church offers two classrooms, a storage area, and access to an outdoor area, and the reasonable rent offered by the church has enabled the co-op to keep tuition affordable for local families, and provide scholarship assistance to those who need it. Arbor Heights Cooperative preschool serves children between the ages of two and five, and operates preschool classes in the mornings and afternoons Monday-Thursday from 9:00–3:00, and Friday mornings from 9:15–11:30.

Affiliated with community and technical colleges, which provide a crucial parent education component, the cooperative preschools offer both parents and children a rich and stimulating developmentally appropriate environment in which to learn together during the early learning years.

If you have a lead on a new site that would fit the Arbor Heights Cooperative Preschool’s needs, please contact Judy Hall at 206-938-2278 or Jkatalki@aol.com

As first reported here last November, the church where the preschool has been housed is selling its campus to Westside School (WSB sponsor), which plans extensive renovations. At recent community meetings about the campus’s future, Hillcrest Presbyterian’s pastor explained that its congregation just doesn’t need that much space any more and is moving to a new, smaller location.

When we first reported in November that Westside School (WSB sponsor) is seeking to buy the Hillcrest Presbyterian Church site as its permanent home, Westside leadership promised to schedule a meeting with its prospective new neighbors in Arbor Heights. They now have plans for two. From a flyer that’s just been circulated in AH:

Westside School is planning to move to the Hillcrest Church facility in the Arbor Heights neighborhood, and we would like to share our vision and plans and hear your feedback.

Open House #1: Saturday, March 9th, 10 AM-11 AM, Hillcrest Church, 10404 34th Avenue SW [map]
Open House #2: Tuesday, March 12th, 7 PM-8 PM, Hillcrest Church, 10404 34th Avenue SW

You can see the flyer in its entirety here. Westside is in its third year of leasing the former EC Hughes Elementary campus in Sunrise Heights; Seattle Public Schools has not yet decided how to use that school after Westside vacates. Westside, meantime, has said it plans to renovate the church’s structures rather than demolish them.

Meet the 7 Pirate Pandas – from left, Max, Ethan, Jonathan, Marcel, Lucas, Max. They are the winning Global Reading Challenge team from Arbor Heights Elementary after competition on Friday afternoon. Ten teams of 4th and 5th graders started the afternoon, answered questions about the 10 books that had to be read by this year’s competitors — and the Pirate Pandas, all 4th graders in Ms. Boitano’s class (per a parent volunteer who shared info and the photo), emerged victorious. The GRC is a Seattle Public Library-led program, and seven West Seattle elementaries are among the contenders again this year. The semi-finals are at the downtown library the week of March 11th, and then the finalists face off there on March 26th.

FIRST REPORT, 10:04 AM: For the second time in two months, Arbor Heights Elementary has been burglarized. Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson tells WSB the break-in was discovered after an alarm went off around 5 am; officers found a door, hinge pins removed, propped open on the south side of the school, and started searching. Though the final report isn’t in yet, so far, it appears that one classroom was broken into and “a couple computers removed,” according to Det. Jamieson. That’s also what happened at the school two months ago, as reported here November 6th, though we don’t know yet if it was the same classroom. We have an inquiry in with Seattle Public Schools, seeking more details. (Thanks to the WSB’er who tipped us to this by reporting police were seen at the school early today.)

11:50 AM UPDATE: District spokesperson Teresa Wippel says this is not the same classroom as the November break-in mentioned above. So far, they know “at least two Apple computers” were taken this time. The alarm tripped at 4:52 am, and the call got to police within minutes, but the burglar(s) were gone.

4:29 PM UPDATE: More information from SPS’s Wippel: Four computers were stolen today, worth $1,800 each – $7,200 total – “And no budget to replace them. The four stolen last November weren’t replaced either. (Principal) Christy Collins said the kids ‘feel violated’.”

Thanks to an Arbor Heights Elementary parent for sharing the photo of fifth-graders Yadira, Anna, and Danica at the Bookfest event under way right now at Westwood Village Barnes and Noble, with guest readers, as mentioned in our morning preview. If you don’t make it down tonight, the special Bookfair code continues for the next week – find it here, then use it with a purchase at a B&N store or online, and AH gets part of the proceeds. (If YOUR school has a Bookfair coming up, please let us know so we can share the news!)

(UPDATED 9:32 PM with comment from preschool spokesperson)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Long before the Seattle School Board almost ordered them out of the public-school building they leased and fixed up just two years ago, Westside School (WSB sponsor) had been seeking a permanent site. Now, it appears Westside has found one.

School leadership has sent a letter to Westside families saying they are in the process of purchasing Hillcrest Presbyterian Church at 34th and 104th in Arbor Heights. The city Department of Planning Development website notes the early stages of a plan to renovate the main church building as part of Westside School’s campus.

We just spoke with Westside’s first-year head of school Kate Mulligan to get some answers to questions that are already ricocheting around the community along with copies of the letter.

Read More

(Parent volunteer working with student at end of AH’s long hallway connecting portables)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

In less than an hour, Arbor Heights Elementary supporters plan to rally outside School District headquarters in SODO – in advance of the School Board’s next meeting.

At that meeting (4:15 pm start for board business, 5 pm for public comment), the Board is scheduled to consider the formal introduction of the latest draft of the BEX IV levy, a project list totaling almost $700 million.

It includes a plan to use levy money to build a replacement for AH Elementary – more than 60 years old and falling apart – but not until 2018 (moved up one year from the previous draft, as reported here yesterday), while the district is using levy money to open other new schools as early as 2015.

This morning, School Board president Michael DeBell visited Arbor Heights to see its dilapidation firsthand and listen to the eleventh-hour plea from second-year principal Christy Collins and two members of the Arbor Heights parent community.

He agreed that Arbor Heights’ condition is a “critical situation,” but made no commitments to change where it stands on the BEX list. Ahead, see some of what he saw, in a tour that began at the stairs from SW 104th to Arbor Heights’ front entrance.

Read More

Tomorrow night, the final draft – not necessarily the final wording – of Seattle Public Schools‘ BEX IV levy is scheduled for formal introduction to the School Board. We’ve just checked the agenda, and it includes an “edited” list that has the Arbor Heights Elementary rebuild now scheduled for completion in 2018, one year earlier than the last draft. Fairmount Park Elementary is still scheduled for reopening in 2014, and a rebuilt Schmitz Park Elementary on the current (closed) Genesee Hill campus is still scheduled to open in 2015.

Meantime, we’re told this afternoon by Arbor Heights parents and other supporters – who say their dilapidated school needs to be rebuilt ASAP and should be the first project on the BEX list – that they plan a rally before the board meeting tomorrow, around 3:45 pm at district HQ in SODO. The school board meeting itself starts at 4:15 pm; the public-comment period starts at 5; the scheduled introduction (and potential discussion) of BEX IV is after that. They’re hopeful for as much community support as they can get, so if you would like to stand with them for a “soon as possible” rebuild, be there tomorrow.

(Last slide from Arbor Heights deck showing building conditions – see entire deck here)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 1:34 PM: Despite a loud community clamor, Arbor Heights Elementary‘s rebuild is NOT being moved up on the next draft of the BEX IV levy, just announced this afternoon, with a School Board work session coming up tomorrow. Here’s the message Superintendent José Banda just sent out, with the highlights of the latest list – we’ll be checking district documents to look for further details as soon as they are available:

… Today we are writing to update you on our enrollment growth challenges. We have two levies up for renewal in February 2013 – our Operations Levy and our Building Excellence (BEX IV) IV Capital Levy.

Our BEX IV levy will include a list of recommended projects for 2014-2021, which we are presenting to the School Board at a work session on Oct. 10. A final vote by the Board is expected in November.
Below is a summary of currently proposed projects under consideration for BEX IV:

· Arbor Heights Elementary: Replace existing building with new/expanded facility by 2019. The school will be at an interim site starting in 2017. We understand the building is in need of replacement, but we will not have enough cash flow from levy funding to move this project up within BEX. However, we will analyze the pros and cons of other funding options to hopefully start this work sooner.

· Bagley Elementary: Modernize and build an addition by 2020.

· Fairmount Park building: Open this existing building with necessary upgrades, add classrooms and a lunchroom by 2014.

· Jane Addams K-8: Move to Pinehurst K-8 and open Jane Addams building as a middle school by 2015. We will work with the Pinehurst community on next steps for the school.

· Lincoln building: Modernize and open as a new high school by 2019.

· Loyal Heights Elementary: Modernize and build addition by 2018.

· Mann building: Modernize and build addition for NOVA by 2014

· Meany Middle School: Reconfigure for a comprehensive central region middle school by 2017.

· Northeast Seattle elementary school: To meet growing capacity, add K-5 school on Thornton Creek site by 2016.

· Olympic Hills: Replace existing building with a new/expanded facility by 2017.

· Queen Anne Elementary: Build classroom and gym addition to the building by 2019.

· Schmitz Park Elementary: Replace existing Genesee Hill building with a new/expanded facility on the Genesee Hill site; relocate Schmitz Park to the new facility by 2015.

· Wilson-Pacific: Replace building with a new elementary and a new middle school for additional capacity by 2017. We will work with the Cascade Parent Partnership Program and Middle College on determining new locations.

· Wing Luke Elementary: Replace existing building with a new/expanded facility by 2020.

· World School: We are continuing to work on finalizing a location.

These projects were chosen with four criteria in mind: 1) safety and security, 2) meeting capacity needs, 3) building condition and 4) maximizing flexibility for programs and services.

In addition, the BEX IV plan includes:

· Technology improvements: Wireless in every school and needed hardware upgrades.

· Seismic improvements: About 50 schools would receive seismic upgrades.

· Lunchroom and core facilities: New lunchrooms at Green Lake and McGilvra elementary schools.

· Science labs at Aki Kurose, Mercer, McClure and Eckstein middle schools.

· Major preventive maintenance and infrastructure improvements.

· Interim downtown school: Dependent upon external partnership funding.

· Capacity flexibility: Building larger core facilities to provide for expansion and including academic program placement and services close to where families live.
The latest BEX IV list of possible projects totals about $675 million. Additional information is online at http://bit.ly/SPSBEX

We invite families and community members to attend a public meeting to learn more about the BEX projects and to offer public testimony.

· Wednesday, Oct. 10, 4-6 p.m. – Board Work Session, John Stanford Center (information only, no public testimony).

· Wednesday, Oct. 17, 4:15 p.m. – Regular School Board meeting, expected introduction of BEX IV list. Public testimony taken (prior sign-up required).

· Wednesday, Oct. 24, 4-5 p.m. – BEX IV and Operations levies public comment session, John Stanford Center. Public testimony taken.

· Wednesday, Nov. 7, 4:15 p.m. – School Board meeting, expected vote on BEX IV project list.
In the meantime, we continue to collect, record and review all input. Please send comments to capacity@seattleschools.org.

Sincerely,

Jose´ Banda
Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

More to come.

2:38 PM UPDATE: Just a note to say that we are still trying to find the documentation that goes along with this – it has not been published to the SPS website yet so far as we can tell, but, likely before day’s end, there should be a slide deck at the very least. Will update once we have that link.

5:04 PM UPDATE: The presentation for tomorrow’s work session is now up. Here’s the link. Will add to this story if it contains anything of note NOT reported in the superintendent’s letter.

5:22 PM UPDATE: Of note, in light of the most recent community meetings and other West Seattle discussions – STEM is mentioned as “a program” on page 24, in district-wide context, not WS. However, the same language was in the September version of this slide deck (which you’ll find here). Page 30 of the new slide deck summarizes “most frequent comments” from the last round of community meetings and mentions two from West Seattle: “Arbor Heights Elementary: Build sooner” and “K-5 STEM at Boren: Find permanent home.” (Which the new lineup still doesn’t address.)