(September 2012 WSB photo)
Middle College High School will be based at Neighborhood House‘s High Point Centerfor at least another year, reports teacher Alonzo Ybarra. This is the small high-school program focused on social justice and community engagement that lost its longtime home at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) and finally found space at the center for this school year; we last checked in with MCHS in September. Ybarra shared the news via a new blog-format website with updates about the school, which links to a letter with the district announcement. The website also notes that MCHS helped with the West Seattle Bee Garden, launched yesterday with a parade and festival (WSB coverage here), and that its 2013 graduation ceremony is set for June 11th.

The West Seattle Bee Garden is officially launched! As you’ll see in our video, Seattle Police motorcycle officers, the Sounders’ Sound Wave musicians, City Council President Sally Clark were part of the parade bringing the bees to the garden from West Seattle Elementary at midday today – along with lots of kids, from Roxhill Elementary as well as WSES:

(Photos by WSB’s Katie Meyer)
It was all part of a festival celebrating the start of the garden at High Point Commons Park, with a demonstration-beehive enclosure, a pollination garden, and more.

As with all of today’s big events, we have more photos of this one to add here later when this busy day calms down – check back!

ADDED 8:38 PM: As promised, more photos – starting with this one:

Viewing ensued after the beehives arrived in the back of the pickup truck seen at the end of our parade video, above. And then – on to their new home!

If you missed it in earlier stories, here’s the wide view of aforementioned new home:

Its exterior is full of information as well as places to view the bees:

And today proved there was no shortage of curiosity:

In addition to volunteer power, student effort has gone into the Bee Garden, too – including its mosaic welcome:

Still adding more!

ADDED MONDAY NIGHT: More views with the hives!

Yet more bee-honoring costumes:

Here’s Lauren with Krista Connor, West Seattle beekeeper:

More major bee fans:

(Saturday photo courtesy West Seattle Bee Garden)
One year in the making, and one week remaining until the celebration of the new West Seattle Bee Garden, at next Sunday’s WS Bee Festival (May 19th). This weekend, writes Lauren Englund - whose dream, reported here in May 2012, started it all – the beehive enclosure is being finished, and you are welcome at a Sunday work party (starting at 10 am). And after that, it’s festival preparations. From Lauren:

For those who may not know, the High Point Neighborhood Association is hosting the West Seattle Bee Festival next Sunday, May 19th, to celebrate the opening of this space. It will include a picnic and parade! Here are some of the details:

Picnic Time: 11 am to 3 pm
Picnic Location: Commons Park at 31st Ave SW and SW Graham St
Parade Start: 11:30 am
Parade Start Location: West Seattle Elementary – 6760 34th Ave SW
Parade Route: North on 31st Ave SW from the WSE parking lot, across Morgan St, past the Bee Garden and into Commons Park. The total route is 0.5 miles.

Want to join the parade? Fantastic! Everyone is welcome. Set-up will ‘open’ at the West Seattle Elementary parking lot at 10:30 am. There will be face painting and an opportunity to make a flower for the parade. Look for a friendly face carrying a helium ballon for answers to questions. The Sound Wave marching band will be leading the way. Fun!

The picnic! Holy smokes some amazing people want to come hang out!

From kite makers, to bee art, to seeds from Vincent van Gogh’s grave … it will be there. The Tallboys will be serenading the festivities, and I’m stoked about sampling food from the awesome vendors who have agreed to come join. Loads of people are excited about celebrating community and education – amazing!

Want to help out? We would love to have you!
Set-up will begin at 9 am, and clean-up will begin at 3 pm. It’s a community effort :-)

We also have some special volunteer slots for anyone who would like to help us communicate the morning of the event – by wearing a sandwich board sign! Our neighbor Deb is spearheading this project. Here are the details; please feel free to contact Deb if interested:

Volunteer opportunity to support the Bee Garden on the day of the parade:
*Wear a “sandwich board”
*Stand on a street corner near the parade
*Wear a simple bee costume (optional)
*Wave and look happy
*Be prepared to answer simple questions like, “where is the parking?”
*Arrive at 9:30 am at Neighborhood House (6400 Sylvan Way) to get your sign and costume.
*Return costume to parade ground (West Seattle Elementary) at 11:00 so you can watch the parade
*Send an email to dvandermar@gmail.com if you have questions or if you want to be a bee with a sign!!

Title of the e-mail: “sandwich board volunteer.”

Find out more about the project at westseattlebeegarden.com – and see more photos on the Bee Garden’s Facebook page.

6:46 PM: Thanks to those who asked about a significant police presence in High Point – turns out a Seattle Police car is one of two vehicles involved in a crash at Sylvan and Lanham. WSB’s Katie Meyer reports that the scene is clearing; no serious injuries reported – the officer is being checked out after reporting getting bumped around a bit.

7:47 PM UPDATE: Added Katie’s photos from the scene. As you can see, both cars ended up off the road – and, Katie adds, while both had significant damage, both were driven back onto the road. A tow driver helped clear debris:

Officers at the scene say the crash circumstances remain under investigation.

In the rare instant when West Seattle Elementary counselor Laura Bermes paused amid her frenetic activity this morning making the first of two big assemblies happen, we photographed the sticker on her back so you could see it: Promising to “Stand Up to Bullying” was a big part of what today was about at WSE. A pink flag flew outside, and many staff and many students wore pink:

Bermes explained it’s part of this movement -and told us, “The idea is exciting. We have an anti-bullying policy, ways to report bullying, and really a very nice school; but we’d be naive to think that bullying doesn’t happen in schools. We need to be vigilant in how we address it, and this is one clear way for students to send a message to one another and to the community – WSE is a school where students and adults treat one another with respect. We hope that message spreads into our larger community.”

We were there for the morning assembly, for which the youngest students – kindergarteners through second graders – gathered not just for that rally, but also for awards and rewards. New shoes donated by Brooks were part of the latter:

Two classes won them as part of a Healthy Husky Challenge that Bermes and school nurse Terri Helm-Reymund led – “a 2 week long healthy challenge where students logged the number of minutes they exercised, or participated in some physical activity, every evening. Parents had to sign off on the log.” Bermes said the school was slated to get 35 pairs to give away, but two classes won and she requested, and received 44. One more special prize was announced at the assembly – Bermes got a Seattle Education Foundation grant to help with programs to boost attendance, and with part of the money, she bought a bicycle and gear, prizes for a drawing into which students with low absenteeism and tardiness were entered. Here’s the big announcement:

2nd grader Santiago is the first bicycle winner in the new incentive program:

Drawing entries are given to students with two or fewer absences per trimester and less than five tardies; perfect attendance gets a student five entries. Other prizes included basketballs and hula hoops.

One person just getting home e-mailed to ask what all the police in the 6000 block of Lanham were there for. Our crew has just come back, and here’s what they learned: The call went out about half an hour ago as an “assault with weapons” – there was a report of a possible stabbing, we’re told. Emergency responders at the scene deduced there had not been a stabbing and they didn’t think anyone had been hurt, but there was a suspected domestic-violence situation, and scanner traffic indicated a knife had been found. One fire unit was kept on scene for a while just in case, but the rest were dismissed. Police are continuing to investigate.

ORIGINAL REPORT, 3:20 PM: Police and fire are rushing right now to 32nd and Raymond in High Point. The scanner says an 8-year-old on a bicycle was hit by a car; he is reported to be conscious. More when we get there.

3:29 PM UPDATE: Co-publisher Patrick Sand is there and says he can see that the child is conscious and sitting up. Looks like he will be taken to the hospital to be checked out. They are trying to find his parent. The driver is visibly distraught and talking with police.

3:42 PM UPDATE: According to radio traffic, the child may have a broken bone. The medic unit is taking him to the hospital right now.

4:07 PM UPDATE: SCL spokesperson Scott Thomsen tells WSB the problem isn’t with their system, but rather “the customer’s panel.” So now we’re checking with the school district.

ADDED: Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Teresa Wippel explains:

(The) power outage was from 2:50-3:47 pm, caused by a boiler malfunction that blew the circuit breakers. Students left school about 10 minutes early to wait for the bus since there was no power. They were able to bring the power back on and City Light came out to inspect and ensure there were no safety issues. So school is on as usual for (Friday) but I’m told it may be a little cool at the school in the morning since the boiler still needs repairs — the building also has a heat pump, which will be used as a backup until the boiler is fixed. (They need to get some parts to do that.)

Join Feet First Watershed Walks Ambassador Timothy Lowry, PE, LEED AP, transportation and watershed planner on an urban field tour of the High Point neighborhood. High Point is ten percent of the Longfellow Creek watershed; this tour follows up on Feet First Neighborhood Walking Ambassador Bryan Fiedorczyk’s Watershed Walk of Longfellow Creek. Experience High Point’s innovative community planning and sustainable design. We will walk the venerable and diverse Smart Growth neighborhood and see examples of green buildings, mobility connections to transit, parks, and Longfellow Creek. We will also see Low Impact Development/natural Green Stormwater Infrastructure installations. Approaching a decade in the ground, the Natural Drainage Systems, tree retention, landscape amenities and permeable pavements have matured into a very pleasing, walkable and desirable urban neighborhood.

It’s free (leaving from the High Point Library at 35th/Raymond), but FF does ask that you RSVP – which you can do by going here.

(2011 SFD photo)
We often feature the Seattle Public Library‘s story times on the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar – and once in a while, they feature special guests. Tomorrow “Firefighter Story Time” is scheduled at the High Point Library branch – and we’ve just learned that Fire Chief Gregory Dean will be the special guest, promoting fire safety and literacy. An SFD announcement says the chief “will read ‘No Dragons for Tea‘ to dozens of preschool children … Important safety messages include ‘Firefighters are your friend,’ ‘Crawl low under smoke’ and ‘Get out and stay out’.” You’re welcome to bring your preschooler – 1:30 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16th). The library is at 35th/Raymond.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Ask someone to name our area’s public high schools, and they are likely to stop after listing West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School.

They would be missing one.

The south campus of alternative Middle College High School has long been headquartered in West Seattle, for more than a decade at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor). This year, it’s in a new location, after SSCC said it needed the space back.

Teacher Alonzo Ybarra invited WSB to drop by the new High Point home of MCHS.

MCHS is settling into two rooms awash in light from big windows, as well as support space including an office and storage, at Neighborhood House‘s High Point Center.

The road there was a little bumpy; the district originally suggested moving MCHS to portables at Boren, which was being set up as the home of the new K-5 STEM, and concerns were raised about whether co-housing a high school and elementary school would be appropriate for either school.

So the district got to work finding another location, announced the High Point site in August, and Ybarra – who was incorporating poetry and music into a history lesson when we stopped by – says it’s fantastic.

In addition to the interior facilities (which even include two restrooms that are on the corridor between the two classroom spaces), they are adjacent to the back patio at High Point Center, where volunteers have built picnic tables that students are enjoying at lunch/break time.

And he says it’s just the beginning – they’re also going to set up their computers to be networked for online learning, to supplement what’s happening in the classroom. MCHS students, Ybarra explains, often arrive with their status assessed via the credits they have, not what grade level they are at. From there, they work to get what they need to graduate; he stresses that MCHS is not a GED program, it’s a diploma program.

Classes are scheduled in two blocks, as the MCHS-High Point webpage explains. As of our visit on Thursday, enrollment was just below three dozen. They were expecting to be up to 50 students within the next few weeks, and likely to have room for more.

The High Point facility has unique features, Ybarra points out, that can factor into coursework for MCHS students – environmental science, for example, since the three-year-old center was built green (take a closer look in this 2009 WSB in-depth report), with a rooftop solar-panel array that made history. And right outside, the High Point redevelopment itself incorporates sustainability features such as bioswales and permeable pavement.

But for starters, the Middle College at High Point team wants to make sure you know West Seattle’s smallest public high school is up and running in its new home, with teaching and learning well under way for the new school year.

Thanks to Wendy Hughes-Jelen for that photo of part of a brand-new installation in High Point – the Bataan Park Outdoor Fitness Zone at High Point Drive SW and Bataan Place SW. We got first word from Denise Sharify with Neighborhood House:

Be Active Together (Neighborhood House) and Open Space Association at High Point announces the opening of the Bataan Park Outdoor Fitness Zone

First of a kind in West Seattle, if not Seattle, The Zone offers FREE outdoor exercise equipment to the community 24/7. They are fun to use and accessible for almost everyone.

There are 8 pieces of equipment that make up a medium-sized gym center outdoors in a beautiful setting. A person who works his or her way through the entire circuit will get a high-quality aerobic and strength workout for the whole body.

*Located next to a children’s playground, it promotes family fitness and intergenerational play

*Offers communities a great way to promote wellness and fight obesity.

Join us at the grand opening on Sept. 5th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and work out with fitness expert Willie Austin. Live Jazz music and refreshments provided.

For more information or to receive training as a Fitness Zone ambassador, call Denise Sharify at 206.571.5070.

The new Fitness Zone was built with the help of a grant from KaBOOM! (previously known around here for the Delridge Playground) and Dr. Pepper/Snapple.