With the hot topic of “capacity management” – how to relieve school overcrowding – heading toward a decision for short-term action, West Seattle’s new representative on the Seattle Public Schools board, Marty McLaren, has just scheduled three community meetings to talk with anyone interested in this or other district matters:

*Tomorrow, Saturday, January 7th, Southwest Library, 10 am-noon
*Monday, January 9th, at West Seattle Library, 10 am-noon
*Saturday, January 14th, Delridge Library, 11 am-1 pm

As we reported here Wednesday night, McLaren says she will propose an amendment to the district’s short-term capacity-management proposal that would cancel the plan to open the former Louisa May Boren Junior High School on Delridge as an “option” elementary school focused on STEM (science/technology/engineering/math). District officials speaking at the Wednesday board meeting said they did not expect the new school to initially pull enough students to avoid plans for adding portables to the most-crowded elementaries.

At Seattle Public Schools HQ downtown: The district proposal to reopen Boren as an “option” elementary school drew fire from 3 board members, including West Seattle’s newly elected rep Marty McLaren. She says she will propose an amendment to remove that from the plan. Two other board members said they had been ‘flooded’ with mail from West Seattleites saying they want a new neighborhood school instead.

This came after district managers admitted a new option school next year likely wouldn’t draw enough from any single school to avoid having to plan for adding portables, saying they thought they would still need the same projected amount of homerooms at the existing elementaries, so they are proceeding with planning for portables and then waiting to check numbers after “open enrollment.” They said they hadn’t proposed a new neighborhood school in the short run because they want to hold off on boundary redrawing as much as possible until the BEX IV levy – to raise more than half a billion dollars to build new schools, among other things – is mapped out.

Board president Michael DeBell warned the other members that trying to appease any one group of constituents creates issues for others. “More to come on this,” as DeBell put it. A vote is scheduled in two weeks – amended or not. We’ll be following up before then. (Our previous report on a staff briefing about the originally proposed Boren-plus-portables-elsewhere is here.)

ADDED: The issue of overcrowding at Chief Sealth International High School came up too; while not part of the “Short-Term Capacity Management Plan,” it surfaced as Sealth staffers spoke during the public-comment period at the start of the meeting, discussing their petition asking the district for more portables (previously reported here). We recorded their remarks on video:

With the remodel a few years back, they lost nine portables and gained five classrooms, but with the student population rising by 400 in the past few years, that wasn’t enough, they said. (As we reported earlier in the day, district administrators say they are considering one portable for Sealth for next year, but won’t make a decision till later this winter.)

ALSO OF NOTE FROM THE MEETING: A lot of hot topics, which is why it didn’t adjourn till 10:45 pm. Transportation guidelines for next school year were approved in the late going; the presentation included a chart of “civil twilight,” so the district can figure out how to make sure its youngest students aren’t walking to or from bus stops in the dark. The only West Seattle mention was the fact that Denny and Sealth are legally required to stagger their start times, so any forthcoming bell-time adjustments would have to work around that fact. … Then there was the issue of rules for schools to get waivers if they want to use instructional material that is not standard-issue, with notable examples including Schmitz Park Elementary‘s use of “Singapore math” (and the resulting achievements). … The board authorized a superintendent search, though some members told interim Supt. Dr. Susan Enfield they are hoping she reconsiders her decision not to seek the permanent job. And one more item:

SURVEY ON ‘SCHOOL DISTRICT LEADERSHIP AND PRIORITIES’: We attended a briefing on this right after the capacity-management-plan briefing this morning. The PowerPoint with toplines is here. Among the research findings – Dr. Enfield had a 65 percent favorable rating from staff, 56 percent from teachers. In other groups, views were more “neutral” – they didn’t know her well enough – than unfavorable. The survey showed an almost-universally positive level of “satisfaction with quality of education” – 73 percent among families, 66 percent among the general public. In terms of “essential qualities of the superintendent” – now that the district is launching a search – “local knowledge” rated the lowest. The highest, after “leadership to staff,” was “education background” – notable since the district has had two superintendents in the not-too-distant past whose backgrounds were elsewhere.

As noted in this morning’s preview, Seattle Public Schools‘ proposal for relieving overcrowding next year – just *next* year; proposals for other years are yet to come – officially goes before the School Board tonight. We’re just back of a media briefing at district HQ, offered as a chance for media reps to ask questions about the plan (see it here), crafted as the district deals with 1,500 more students this year than last, and another 1,000+ jump next year. (Added – video of the briefing, unedited, including the media Q/A:)

For West Seattle, the key component of the plan is spending $3 million to fix up and reopen the former Boren Junior High School (5915 Delridge Way SW) as temporary home of a new “option” elementary school – meaning you have to apply to attend, there is no automatic assignment zone – focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). We asked what happened to the possible Montessori component mentioned at the second community meeting on the topic in West Seattle (late November; here’s our story). While that remains a possibility for West Seattle at some point after next school year, district officials said, they decided they couldn’t ramp up for it in 2012-2013 – particularly because some Montessori teachers elsewhere in the district who at one point were going to have to be moved, no longer need to be.

Boren has been empty for two school years, since serving as the interim home of Chief Sealth International High School during its two-year renovation project (completed in 2010). We asked how many students the district hopes it will serve in its first year; they didn’t have that number handy but promise to get it to us shortly.

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Just before winter break, Seattle Lutheran High School students and staff “hit the streets,” as SLHS’s Bil Hood put it, for their traditional community service “to say Thank You and Merry Christmas to this community which has blessed us through the years.” He shared these photos of their work, from food-bank/church/school volunteer projects to quilt-making and cookie-baking – plus yard work “for homeowners who cannot get out themselves.”

(P.S. Though it’s winter break, there’s still activity at the SLHS campus on the north end of The Junction today – basketball games this afternoon vs. the visiting team from Concrete.)

The date is set for the third annual Preschool Fair hosted by the West Seattle Preschool Association, 5:30-7:30 pm Monday, January 9th. Admission is free for families, and you’re welcome to bring children along. Schools interested in being part of it have to sign up by January 3rd (206-923-2683 or info@westseattlepreschoolassociation.com); here’s who’s signed up so far. It’ll be at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, 3050 California SW.

After Seattle Public Schools staff presented a revamped proposal for “capacity management” next year – basically, how to relieve overcrowding – we asked West Seattle’s newly elected school-board representative Marty McLaren for her reaction. She in turn asked if we would publish her call for YOUR thoughts. So here goes. (If you didn’t see our story earlier this week, it’s here, including a link to the presentation made to board members last Wednesday.) You can comment here or contact her directly; the board is scheduled to get a more-or-less-finalized proposal for introduction at its January 4th meeting, and a final vote two weeks later. Her message to you:

I’m very interested in hearing views from West Seattle people about the short term options that the community/school district committee (“FACMAC”) has recommended to alleviate overcrowding at elementary schools in the Denny and Madison Middle School areas.

Background: The short-term solutions offered are intended for the year 2012-13 only. By identifying these options as soon as possible, we pave the way for open enrollment to commence on time in March, 2012. Open enrollment will allow families wanting their children to attend programs outside of their normal assignment area to request those assignments.

These short-term solutions for the coming year are intended to allow time for the district (with community participation) to design mid- and long term plans for program placement and for opening more classroom space to meet our projected rise in number of students.

So far, after extensive brainstorming and soliciting opinions from many members of the community, the district is recommending:

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(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
Story and video by Randall G. Hauk
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Pep band? Check! Mascots? Check! Cheerleaders and dance squad? Check! Crowded bleachers? Check! Two varsity-level basketball contests between local rivals? Check!

What else could you ask for from your Friday night on the peninsula?

Did you say ‘overtime?’

Sure! Why not?!

Chief Sealth International High School played a gracious, but not too gracious host, to cross-neighborhood rival West Seattle High School, with the Sealth girls winning 55-41 before the Seahawk boys gave the packed gym an overtime thriller, coming away with a 63-59 victory.

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That’s the clip we showed you last month with news that Chief Sealth International High School‘s Marching Band was back in the KZOK “Battle of the Bands” competition – the only Seattle school in the running. Today, band director Marcus Pimpleton is thanking everyone for the support that helped Sealth come in second (here’s the news on the KZOK website) – which brings a $5,000 prize! The competition included both public voting and expert judging. So what will the money go toward? we asked. Here’s the reply:

Right now the funds will just be sitting in our music ASB account until we determine which of our many priorities needs attention first. We have a few things we are hoping to fund this year – additional band uniforms and mallet percussion instruments are currently at the top of the list, but our jazz band is auditioning for the prestigious Essentially Ellington competition in New York. Our acceptance is a long shot but the students are working very hard and if they are accepted it is a possibility that we may have to delay acquiring more band uniforms and use funds to support that.

(UPDATED 7:42 PM FRIDAY: Added comment from Marty McLaren, who now represents West Seattle on the School Board)
ORIGINAL 10:10 AM REPORT: Just received from Seattle Public Schools – Dr. Susan Enfield says she doesn’t want to be permanently appointed to the job she’s been doing temporarily:

In March, when I was appointed Interim Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, the District was in crisis. I was tasked with assembling the very best team of professionals to help lead this District, create transparency, improve communication and restore trust between families, the community and Seattle Public Schools.

I am incredibly proud of the work our students, teachers, principals and staff have accomplished over the past 10 months. Seattle is fortunate to have such a team of dedicated educational professionals. The progress we have made is significant:

Seattle Public Schools students outperformed the state average in every tested subject in grades 3-8
Our four-year graduation rate is up from 67 percent to 73 percent in the last year
Our overall school performance is increasing, with 27 schools increasing their overall performance level during 2010-2011
Enrollment is on the rise
Our city passed yet another Families and Education levy that will provide essential supports to our students

While I am proud of what we have accomplished together, today I am announcing my decision to neither seek nor accept the permanent position of superintendent after my contract ends in June. This was not an easy decision for me to make given my commitment to Seattle and to our students.

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As you can hear Madison Middle School principal Henterson Carlisle say in that clip, pep rallies happen all the time for athletics, so why not for academics? His students gathered in the Madison gym on Thursday afternoon to cheer two major awards the school has won this year. We’ve reported one of them, the fourth consecutive School of Distinction award, given for academic improvement. That award is statewide; the other one is national – as announced last month, Madison won the Career Awareness and Exploration Award from the National Consortium for State Guidance Leadership. First time in 15 years a school here has won that award, said Mike Hubert from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who high-fived the Madison staffers involved in providing those services, led by Lauren Divina:

(added) Here’s the official school photo of Hubert with, from left, Linda Mundinger, Lauren Divina, and Claudia Whitaker-Greenway:

As for the School of Distinction Award, Carlisle said it’s a reason for everybody involved with the school to stand tall:

Madison was one of two West Seattle schools to receive that award this year, along with Alki Elementary.