A little more than midway through the school year, Chris Kinsey is no longer interim principal of Chief Sealth International High School – he is its permanent principal, according to a letter sent to students’ families today:

Dear Chief Sealth International High School community,

Today I am excited to officially appoint Chris Kinsey as your permanent principal.

Mr. Kinsey stepped into the role in August – building on the momentum created over the past several years, while finding new ways to create student and staff success.

This school year, Chief Sealth won a Washington Achievement Award for improvement, honored one of its teachers with a Golden Apple Award, and increased the number of students taking International Baccalaureate classes. Under his leadership, the school expanded math and science offerings, kept more seniors than ever on track to graduate, developed more international education curriculum and is meeting the challenges of a growing student population.

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The second informational meeting for families interested in West Seattle’s new public school, K-5 STEM at Boren, was very different from the first one 2 weeks ago (WSB coverage here).

For one, tonight’s meeting was led by Seattle Public Schools assistant superintendent for teaching and learning Dr. Cathy Thompson (at left in top photo). The crowd at the first meeting was told that Dr. Thompson had been leading the school-creation project, but was unable to be there that night because a School Board meeting was scheduled concurrently. Tonight, no board meeting, so the West Seattle-residing district official was there, bubbling over with enthusiasm, as well as a message: Yes, it will obviously be a “leap of faith” for families to enroll their elementary schoolers in this new program, and they understand if someone decides against it.

Also different, but not surprising: While more than 300 people jammed the Schmitz Park Elementary cafetorium for the first meeting, our informal count noted maybe 100 in the more-spacious Denny International Middle School galleria tonight. Here’s our video of the meeting, unedited, in its entirety:

We’ll add the key toplines soon. One important point: If you are interested in being on the school’s Design Team, which Dr. Thompson says will include six district staffers, six parents, and three community representatives, tomorrow’s the deadline for applying. Those chosen, she said, will be notified March 9th, and the team’s first meeting – which will be open to the public – will be March 14th. Meantime, the March 13th meet-and-greet with principal Dr. Shannon McKinney (about whom we learned more tonight, too) is still on, 6:30 pm at Madison Middle School. And if you missed the link in a comment thread here this afternoon – the first FAQ about the new school is now on the district website.

ADDED 7:51 AM FRIDAY: More new info from the meeting:Read More

The scene at left was likely replicated in many family histories … a journey at sea to a new home far away. Some come by sea, some by land, some by air, and the stories are told in “Becoming Us – Through Immigrant Eyes,” produced by students from two West Seattle high schools, Chief Sealth International High School and St. Christopher’s Academy (which is on the Seattle Lutheran campus). Gary Thomsen (who shared the photo) sent news of the exhibit’s opening this Saturday, 2-3 pm, at History House of Greater Seattle, 790 North 34th (map) in Fremont; no admission charge. It’ll be on display for about a month; the announcement says the project “documents how Immigration has helped make Seattle the city that it is today. … from the unique perspective of those who have immigrated into Seattle and details the challenges immigrants face when moving into a new country.” It includes a documentary clip, a historical timeline dating to 1850, a photo display, and an exhibit of photos and arts by students.

(WSB photo from February 15th meeting)
Eight days after a standing-room-only crowd attended the first informational meeting about West Seattle’s new public elementary opening this fall, K-5 STEM at Boren (WSB coverage here), the district has kept its promise to set a second meeting. Just in:

Families interested in the new K-5 STEM at Boren in West Seattle have a second opportunity to learn about this new school at an informational meeting 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 at Denny International Middle School, 2601 SW. Kenyon St. Interpreters will be available.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These subjects are an increasingly popular focus for elementary students.

Seattle Public Schools will be opening the new elementary program for fall 2012 in response to strong enrollment growth in West Seattle. The STEM program will be housed in the Boren building (5950 Delridge Way SW.). It will be a K-5 option program and open in September 2012 offering all six grade levels.

After a strong turnout at the first Family Information & Input night on Feb. 15, Seattle Public Schools is holding this second information meeting. It will be identical to the previous meeting, featuring a short presentation and a question-and-answer session.

Because STEM at Boren is an option program, it is open to any student in Seattle entering kindergarten and Grades 1-5 in September 2012. Bus transportation will be provided for students who live within West Seattle. Families who wish to apply to K-5 STEM at Boren can do so during the District’s Open Enrollment process from Feb. 27 through March 9, 2012. Families can also apply after Open Enrollment through Sept. 30. School Choice forms will be available at www.seattleschools.org beginning Feb. 27.

To learn more about K-5 STEM at Boren, visit http://bit.ly/K5STEM or send an email to K5STEM@seattleschool.org. Want to help shape the future of STEM? Applications for the Design Team are available at http://bit.ly/K5STEMdesignteam and due by Friday, March 2.

We are checking to find out (a) where at Denny and (b) which languages they’ll offer interpretation for.

ADDED 11:20 AM: From district spokesperson Lesley Rogers – (a) TBD, (b) Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese, and an additional question we asked on behalf of commenter “String Cheese” – seeking the status of the promised answers to questions posed by attendees last week: “We hope to have an online FAQ by February 29th.” (Open enrollment starts Feb. 27th.)

Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Leapin’ Lizards — it’s the winning team from Sanislo!

This morning at Sanislo Elementary, 4th and 5th graders filed into the library and took their small chairs, grouped into teams of six. The instructions were given: A question about a book they read will be asked aloud; they’ll have 30 seconds to put their heads together and quietly discuss the answer. When they have an answer, they are to write it down and bring it to the front of the room for judging.

Of the seven teams, one emerged victorious.

This is the “Global Reading Challenge” — a partnership between Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Public Library to encourage reading among Seattle students.

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That’s only about 2/3 of the overflow crowd that filled the Schmitz Park Elementary cafetorium – and the hallway outside, and even the stage and its stairs – for tonight’s first meeting about K-5 STEM at Boren, the new “option” elementary that Seattle Public Schools plans to open in West Seattle this fall. The district officials who led the meeting, executive director of West Seattle schools Aurora Lora and head of planning and enrollment Dr. Tracy Libros, repeatedly expressed surprise at the turnout. Many questions were asked, many suggestions offered, and additional details emerged. We are heading to HQ, where we will write the full story and also upload video of the entire hour-and-a-half meeting. Lora promised that there will be another meeting soon, “someplace bigger.”

ADDED 11:31 PM: Here’s our video of the entire hour and a half meeting, which began with a short PowerPoint, followed by Q/A:

ADDED 2:57 AM: Now, the key points:

First, one more mention of the crowd. Every seat was full, and more chairs were brought in. People stood against the walls, sat on the stairs to the cafetorium stage, even sat on the floor. From the reactions of Lora and Libros, you might have thought they expected to see about 50; instead, our rough estimate would surpass 300.

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The newly announced principal of K-5 STEM at Boren, the new “option” elementary that Seattle Public Schools intends to open in Delridge this fall, won’t be at tonight’s informational meeting.

But we learned more about Dr. Shannon McKinney‘s background, hopes, and plans, by interviewing her hours after the district announced she had been hired.

While she hasn’t led a STEM-focused school, she feels this is the culmination of much of the work she has done in her career, including a decade as a teacher of mathematics – “Not a math teacher,” she corrects. “I taught students mathematics.”

More from our conversation, ahead:Read More

Just shared with us by a Lafayette Elementary parent – a letter today to the school community from first-year principal Jo Lute-Ervin, saying she will not return for a second year next year. Text after this:Read More

On the day before an informational meeting for West Seattle’s new public school, opening this fall, Seattle Public Schools interim superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield has announced a principal has been chosen for K-5 STEM at Boren. She’s moving here from Tucson. Here’s the announcement:

I am delighted to announce that I have appointed Dr. Shannon McKinney as principal for the new K-5 STEM at Boren, which will be opening in September 2012 in West Seattle

Dr. McKinney comes to Seattle Public Schools from Tucson, Arizona, where she spent the last three years as Turnaround Principal for Hohokam Middle School, an ethnically diverse middle school in the Tucson Unified School District.

She will oversee our new school focused on STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Starting in September 2012, the Louisa Boren Building in West Seattle will be reopened as a STEM Option School for grades K-5. Any interested student in Seattle who will be in kindergarten through 5th grade in September 2012 can apply to attend. School bus transportation will be available for students who live in West Seattle. Open enrollment is from Feb. 27-March 9.

With more than 22 years of educational experience, Dr. McKinney has a decade of classroom teaching, service as an Assistant Principal and Principal in two Tucson-area school districts, and impeccable credentials, including a doctorate in education from the University of Arizona. She is also deeply knowledgeable about STEM subjects, as she served as her district’s Mathematics Coordinator, and was responsible for facilitating the vertical articulation and subsequent curriculum development of K-12 Mathematics for the district.

I selected Dr. McKinney not only for her STEM expertise and her demonstrated record of improved student achievement at the schools where she has been a leader, but also for her enthusiasm for our new STEM school. She describes the opportunity to work collaboratively with families and staff to build a new school from the ground up as “a dream come true.”

Dr. McKinney will be starting at Seattle Public Schools on April 2. She will spend the spring and summer working with families and colleagues to develop a mission and vision for K-5 STEM at Boren, hiring staff, and coordinating the planning and logistics needed to ensure a smooth start to the 2012-2013 school year.

Dr. McKinney stood out as an excellent candidate for this position. I am thrilled she has agreed to accept it, and I am looking forward to introducing her to you once she moves to Seattle.

A reminder: Interested families are invited to attend a K-5 STEM at Boren Family Information and Input Night, 7-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Schmitz Park Elementary (5000 S.W. Spokane St).

If you have any questions about our new K-5 STEM school, please visit http://bit.ly/K5STEM

ADDED 10:45 AM: We asked district spokesperson Lesley Rogers whether Dr. McKinney would be flying in for tomorrow night’s meeting. Her reply: “She is not able to attend tomorrow, but Aurora Lora [executive director of SPS’s West Seattle schools] will run the meeting and communicate with Dr. McKinney on what transpired at the meeting and next steps.”