West Seattle, Washington
19 Monday
In our ongoing quest to publish as much information and as many perspectives as possible on the Denny/Sealth project, as a final decision gets closer, we had wondered here why supporters didn’t seem to be speaking out publicly. Tonight, in comments on this post below, a Denny teacher supporting the co-located campus has spoken out – the school’s music director – and especially considering not everyone reads the comment sections, we wanted to highlight it here:
Over the past year that I have had the opportunity to work on the BEX committee, I have had numerous talks with Mr. Clark, the Denny principal regarding this project and the ongoing debate surrounding it. I know for a fact that Mr. Clark supports option 2, the “adjoined†campus, because he sincerely believes option 2 is what is best for kids. (I posted his letter on this subject in my previous comment and I have the attachment if anyone would like it forwarded to them).
Having listened to everything for the past year and having consistently participated on the BEX committee, I tend to agree that an adjoined campus is in the best interest of our students. I say adjoined and not combined because I believe that “adjoined†is a more accurate description of what has actually been proposed and I have spoken to a lot of kids (and some adults) who have misconceived notions about what was actually proposed. The only “combined†part of the campus, where the students would be regularly encountering one another, is our music department, which is largely combined already with students from Denny going to Sealth for orchestra and choir, and Sealth students coming up to Denny for steel drums.
In a recent survey of the Denny staff (January 30, 2008) 63% of the Denny staff supported or somewhat supported what is being referred to as Option 2, the adjoined campus. 22% were supportive or somewhat supportive of separate campuses, with the remaining 15% checking a box marked neutral. The Denny homeroom representatives, in their most recent meeting saw the district’s budget comparison of Options 2 and 3, including the list of upgrades to be performed to Sealth under the two plans, and saw the drawings that have been done so far of the adjoined campus. They listened to the input of their student represenative to the BEX committee, and discussed the pros and cons of having the middle school next door to the high school. After much back and forth, the Denny homeroom representatives issued a unanimous statement in favor of the adjoined campus. They are working with the administration on plans for grade level assemblies to occur next week, to present the information to the Denny students as a whole and to do a survey to invite their input. I think this is particularly relevant because, although the vast majority of the high school students will never have to attend school in the adjoined campus, the middle school students are the ones who will ultimately have to live with whatever is decided. Although I am personally of the opinion that adults, not students, should be making decisions about what is best for kids, if we are going to consider student opinion, the middle school students support for the adjoined campus should be given special consideration and weight.
As for me personally, I support the adjoined campus because I believe it affords us with an opportunity to build a 6-12th grade “nest†around these students, to create the framework for collaboration and sequential instruction, to foster mentoring and tutoring programs between the two schools, to support the development of specialized programs for both middle and high school students, to support the maintenance of students’ relationships with positive adult figures from their middle school experience, and to work together as a community to address the real challenges faced by many of our students. While there are undoubtedly going to be challenges that come along with any change, it is clear that we need to do something to help the many kids who are falling through the gaps, for example students dropping out of school. To the extent that we can create continuity and a sense of community for these kids, it is a good thing.
One of the primary concerns I have heard expressed with this project has been a reported danger of mixing the student populations. Personally, I think the risks are being overblown. In all the pleas for evidence to support the academic benefits, has anyone presented any real evidence that bringing a middle school and a high school in close proximity will bring about the doomsday I hear so many predicting? I student taught at Chinook M.S. and Tyee H.S. in the Highline district (two schools separated by a parking lot), and I was never aware of any issues there. Is there any data to suggest that this has worked out disastrously in the many other places where this has been tried? Or, are we just assuming the worst of our students?
Personally, I would argue that adjoining these two campuses has the opportunity to actually improve the security situation as it will enable the teachers and administrators to make concrete plans for how to move students around safely, and will put directly in our face the mixing, that is already occurring, and that our two block distance has previously allowed us to ignore. Furthermore, my understanding is that as with any new project being completed now, we will have security cameras and access points with ID card readers.
Students live up or down to the expectations of the adults in their lives. If we believe in them, educate them, and demand that they live up to high behavioral standards, they will. If we are convinced they can’t, they won’t. Up until last year, Denny and Sealth students rode the same school busses to school every day with next to no incidents (and this was under the supervision of a bus driver who was watching the road). Today, the students still manage to commingle safely on the streets coming to and from school and in the after school hours at the community center and the Westwood Shopping Center.
The students at this adjoined campus will not be mixed. They will have separate schools and separate facilities, including a completely divided lunchroom facility. It is not a “combined†school, but two schools adjoined.
Having been on the design committee, I had the opportunity to travel with the group that went to New York and Boston. My observation from the visits at the schools in New York and Boston was that the kids we saw in those schools were excelling, despite the fact that those buildings were not designed with the 6-12 environment in mind. In those schools, middle and high school students shared a single building, sometimes with just a sign and a door separating high school classes from middle school ones. In at least two of the three schools we visited, over 90% of the graduating classes were accepted into colleges and universities, and none of the students I spoke to expressed any issues about having middle schoolers and high schoolers near each other. While I have heard my colleagues make the case that those are different kids and a different situation, I am convinced that our kids are every bit as good and as capable as the kids in New York, Boston and anywhere else. If kids in other schools can excel in the difficult environment of multiple ages in a single building, I know our kids can excel in a well-planned environment where they will not be sharing one building, but a large campus with separate facilities for middle and high school programs.
Thanks for taking the time to hear me out. I am convinced that as a community we can not only make this work, but we can ultimately realize all the potential benefits of better curriculum alignment, increased collaboration, improved programming, and greater continuity from middle school to high school. For these reasons, I strongly support Option 2.
Marcus J. Pimpleton
Music Director, Denny Middle School
Director, Seattle Schools All-City Band
Denny/Sealth Alumnus
Again, this originally appeared in the comment thread below this post, where the same author earlier posted a previously circulated letter from Denny’s principal Jeff Clark (a letter from Sealth principal John Boyd was circulated last week). WSB archives of Denny/Sealth coverage are here, including reminders about tomorrow night’s meeting @ CSHS.
Two days after we reported the story of “Mo” the Katrina-survivor dog getting seriously ill from suspected poison at Westcrest Park‘s off-leash area, at least two citywide media sources are picking up the story tonight, and Pasado’s Safe Haven — which rescued “Mo” from New Orleans and brought him here, where his “mom” Cammie Owen adopted him — is reported to be offering a reward, as some WSB readers hoped would happen. We are checking directly with PSH to be sure we have the facts straight, since at least one of the citywide reports so far seems to be confusing the Westcrest case with the Fauntleroy Park poison alert also circulated on Friday. But according to the e-mail forwarded to us, PSH will be posting artwork on its site for flyers to print out and post. Not there yet, but we’re keeping watch. Stand by for more. 11:40 PM UPDATE: Pasado’s Safe Haven tells us it’s working on the website update. Citywide coverage from tonight is here and here.
One day to go till what will be the school district’s last public meeting in West Seattle about the Denny/Sealth proposals before the school board vote later this month … though it’s not THE final public meeting — the Westwood Neighborhood Council is presenting a panel discussion on Feb. 12 (announcement here). If you missed it yesterday, here’s our post about the meeting (including the official district flyer), with a side note about the dearth of online information about the proposal. Meantime, there’s another perspective of note: We received via e-mail and postal mail copies of the January student newspaper from Chief Sealth, with a front-page article about opposition to the original proposal (known in the current discussion as “Option 1”). You can read it here; the headline and photo from “above the fold” over the article can be seen here. (In fairness, we should note that we don’t have copies of prior months’ papers so if there was a pro-project article, we can’t currently point you to that, but would be happy to upload it if we received one.) Back to tomorrow’s meeting: 6:30 pm, drawings & one-on-one conversation opportunities; 7 pm, public meeting begins, Chief Sealth High School Library. WEDNESDAY MORNING 2/6/08 ADDENDUM: School district legal counsel has asked WSB to remove the links to the images of the student newspaper article because of “factual inaccuracies” in the article, until a correction for those inaccuracies can be written up. We are declining the request, since the newspaper was published and circulated and that fact alone is newsworthy, but did want to note here for the record that the school district has made this request; as our lawyer told theirs, we will be more than happy to publish the correction text (and/or any other clarifying information) as soon as possible after they provide it to us.
If you’re watching the Super Bowl this afternoon/evening, we would wager you already know where you will be. 
(West Seattle has two official “sports bars” – Redline and Rocksport – and of course, many other establishments with TVs, including WSB sponsor Garlic Jim’s with tableside TVs, plus some organized Super Bowl parties such as the one the West Seattle Eagles are having.) But if you’re looking for something else to do (or if the game and the commercials get so boring you just have to move on) — our West Seattle Weekend Lineup holds a few options: A “Souper Bowl” lunch/games event is under way right now at Tibbetts Church; plus, C and P Coffee offers live music 3-5 pm (and some WSBers are planning a meetup there @ 4 pm); WSB sponsor SoundYoga has a free yoga class @ 4 pm; or how about a midwinter swim? Family swim at Southwest Pool is 2-3 pm; public swim 4-5 pm (full schedule here). Any other SB alternative events we’re missing? Leave a comment.
Thanks to Mike for sending this link from today’s Times. It’s about 8 girls, described as high-school freshmen from West Seattle, visiting a 96-year-old Lake Forest Park Alzheimer’s patient they’d read about after someone bilked her of her life savings. As the woman is quoted as having said after the girls’ visit, “That’s a good bunch of kids.”
That’s “Bruno” the recurring pothole (or should we call it a potpit?) at 35th/Alaska, as nicknamed (and photographed) by Casey Crowell, who e-mailed WSB with a complaint that sparked plenty of discussion after we featured it here two weeks ago. Casey’s contention: Sure, the city will come out and fix potholes, but they don’t fix them correctly, and the repeated repairs cause even more trouble, so why aren’t they fixed properly the first time? Now Casey has sent photos plus a response he just received from the city’s top transportation boss:Read More
RESTAURANTS FOR SALE: Three West Seattle listings on CL right now and one found elsewhere. For the CL listings, no names are mentioned although there’s really only one option for this one offering an Alki Mexican restaurant; also on Alki, here’s a restaurant/bar with “large outdoor patio”; and, with the same contact as that ad, a “bistro” somewhere in West Seattle. The fourth listing is Olarn Thai on California Ave between Alaska and Morgan Junctions (across from West Seattle Nursery).
FARMERS’ MARKET TOMORROW: The winter version of the West Seattle Farmers’ Market (44th/Alaska, behind KeyBank) continues through 2/24, 11 am-2 pm every Sunday; here’s what’s on the fresh list for tomorrow:Read More
You may recall, the city ended the furor over the Discovery Park coyote’s fate the other day by promising a meeting to educate people on co-existing with coyotes (and other urban wildlife). They moved quickly to set a date, time, and place, and even though it’s not in West Seattle, we thought you’d be interested (we plan to cover it, given how much wildlife we’re blessed with in WS, and the questions everyone seems to have so frequently about the appropriate way to deal with it):
Living with Wildlife: Open House – Thursday, Feb. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
In light of the recent developments at Discovery Park regarding coyote encounters with humans, several state and local agencies have joined together to bring you helpful information designed to reduce conflicts with urban wildlife.
Partners at the Open House include:
· Seattle Parks and Recreation
· Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
· Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
· Woodland Park Zoo
· Seattle Animal ShelterThese agencies will be able to:
v answer questions about coyotes, including addressing your concerns
v discuss how to peacefully co-exist with many types of urban wildlife
v instruct you on how to humanely provide care for feral cats
v show you how to make your back yard a wildlife friendly environment
v and much moreLight snacks will be provided. Please join us!
Catharine Blaine K-8, 2550 34th Ave. W
That’s in Magnolia; here’s a map.
In case you missed the first announcement Jan. 23 or the numerous mentions here since — if you have anything even resembling an opinion about, or a stake in, what is decided about rebuilding Denny Middle School and renovating Chief Sealth High School — the essential questions being whether or not they will share a campus, and how much of a renovation CSHS will get — Monday night is the first of two meetings whose importance cannot be overestimated. (Official flyer here.) In one sense, everyone in West Seattle has a stake in this — technically, if you look at where the $125-ish million is coming from, everyone in the city does (district documents describe this as “the most expensive project the District has attempted”). But if you can’t get motivated on that level: Is there a child of any age, high school or younger, in your family? Is there a chance you’ll become a parent someday? For the entire West Seattle peninsula, there are two public non-alternative middle schools and two public non-alternative high schools; what’s involved in this decisionmaking process comprises half of that. Think about it one more time before you conclude you don’t care much about how this turns out. The meeting is in the Chief Sealth Library on Monday night, starting with a “gallery walk” 6:30 pm where drawings can be viewed and one-on-one conversations can be had before the meeting starts at 7 (more here). After this meeting, the Westwood Neighborhood Council has its panel discussion on the project Feb. 12 (news release here) — also an important meeting — then on Feb. 13, the School Board will be presented with the recommended choice, prior to what is billed as the final vote Feb. 27. To get a sense of some of the discussion, check out the comments in just about everything posted here in the WSB Denny/Sealth archive (link here; find that link anytime from the WSB Categories list in the sidebar at right), but the comments that the district says will matter the most are the ones it gets at and after Monday’s presentation. (Board contact info here.)
SIDE NOTE – WHERE’S THE OFFICIAL WEB INFO? The drawing atop this post is from the Westwood Neighborhood Council site, posted last summer. This is because background info is difficult if not impossible to find on the Seattle Public Schools website; Denny-Sealth is not even on the “current issues” list on this resource page (though the West Seattle HS schedule issue is); the only project page we can find on the SPS site offers a couple of bullet points here, pointing to a “project update” page here that says “Updates coming soon.” In October, the district promised a special website at buildingexcellence.org (see the flyer at the bottom of this post and see the district rep’s comment here) … it’s still not up. We have messages out to the district to ask if there’s somewhere else we should be looking. (Just discovered that School Board member Harium Martin-Morris posted Jan. 24 in this thread on his blog that he was “working with district staff” to get the drawings up on the district site. That was nine days ago. We can upload a Power Point presentation or pretty much any other doc to this website in a matter of minutes.) 6:50 PM UPDATE: We did get same-day responses to the notes we sent today to the district’s communications leadership and to West Seattle’s school board rep Steve Sundquist. He says he’s not aware of anywhere that the latest schematics/info can be found now on the district website but expects it will be updated in tandem with Monday’s meeting and is calling the project manager to check; district communications manager Patti Spencer says, “The schematics absolutely should be up on the Web but don’t know if they are. I apologize on behalf of SPS. The BEX Websites are created and maintained by the BEX staff. I don’t think there is anything I can do to make that happen over the weekend, but will talk with Fred Stephens to see if we can get something posted on Monday – latest Tuesday. I know that Fred is totally committed to providing easy-to-access and timely information.”
While the “Painted Lady of Beach Drive,” aka the Satterlee House, remains listed for sale after a year and a half, city hearings are now scheduled for a proposal to build three homes on its sprawling front lawn. According to the city Hearing Examiner’s Office website, proceedings are scheduled to start March 5 with what the site describes as “testimony from David Satterlee on the appeal of William Conner from a Denial by the Landmarks Preservation Board for a certificate of approval for construction of 3 homes on property known as 4866 Beach Dr. SW.” (David Satterlee sold the property to William Conner in 2000.) The HEO site says March 10 and March 13 also are set aside for proceedings in the appeal. The short plat for the land was granted in May of last year; last word we had of Landmarks Board involvement was in July of last year. The house is one of a handful of officially designated landmarks in West Seattle (full list here).
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Wii is not just for kids, and the Delridge Library will show you why at 10:30 this morning; other one-time-only West Seattle events today/tonight include the Seattle Majestics‘ karaoke contest — see the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for the full rundown on what’s up.
TRAFFIC REMINDERS: SDOT will be doing significant work today at two sites in West Seattle, as announced yesterday afternoon: California/Othello paving here, Admiral medians here.
LOOKING AHEAD TO VALENTINE’S DAY? The latest newsletter from Skylark offers this: “Skylark is hosting a Valentine’s Day ‘Cheap Date Night,’ filled with free music; homemade spaghetti & meatballs; garlic bread and a bottle of red or white wine all for just $32 per couple from 5 pm to 10 pm.” Read more here.
PICTURES WE’VE BEEN MEANING TO SHARE: During a busy week full of news, they wound up on the back burner, but if you’ve got a minute, take a look:Read More
Todd e-mailed to alert everyone that his car was broken into — “again” — tonight @ 21st/Roxbury. He asks, “When will these little brats learn that I keep NOTHING in that car?”
That’s Mo, a Chow mix who lives with Cammie Owen — after being rescued from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, plagued by mange but ready to thrive in a new home. You would think the hurricane would have been enough of an ordeal that this dog should have had smooth sailing ever since, but then came a sudden, life-threatening sickness:
That’s Mo just days ago, his belly shaved after an ultrasound, as vets tried frantically to figure out what was wrong with him. Cammie says they believe he ingested rat poison — and she suspects that happened at Westcrest Park, where she has put up warning flyers. And she says he’s not the only dog that runs there that’s gotten sick:Read More
Tonight we welcome the newest WSB sponsor: The West Seattle Rock Club, advertising here to let you know about their biggest event of the year — free to the public! — the West Seattle Rock and Gem Show, coming up February 16-17 at the Alki Masonic Temple in The Junction, featuring not only displays of rocks and gems, but also demonstrations and family activities. (Read more here.) The club’s been in West Seattle since 1965, and meets monthly, with other activities including rockhounding field trips. But you don’t have to be a hobbyist or any kind of expert to attend and enjoy the annual show; check out photos from last year’s Rock and Gem Show on this page of the WSRC’s website. We thank the WSRC for choosing to promote the Rock & Gem Show by advertising on WSB; if you’re interested in joining them and our other sponsors, please visit this page.
We have been working today on a story about a dog that got very sick after running in Westcrest Off-Leash Area, and its vet and owner suspect rat poison may have been to blame. While we are continuing to work on those details for a longer article you will see here in a little while, we have just received what looks like a followup on the Fauntleroy Park poison concern we posted here two weeks ago. This was forwarded from the Partners for Animal Welfare newsletter, quoting another organization’s bulletin:
This notice just came in via Pasado Safe Haven’s e-mail newsletter the week of January 28th . In looking into this a little more on the web, unfortunately people may be trying to poison the many coyotes that have been spotted in the area, but your dog might very easily pick up the food or treats being left out. Please watch your dogs while at any park in West Seattle!
NEWS ALERT JUST PHONED IN:
Reported Poison in Fauntleroy Park, West SeattleIf you walk your dog in Fauntleroy Park, in West Seattle, please be warned; multiple dogs have ingested poison in the park! Apparently the poison is in dog food, bones, and other dog treats. These enticing treats have been found under bushes and throughout the park. Please be careful and let anyone you know who goes to Fauntleroy, know also. Thank you!
Just as we were reading that e-mail, we got a call back from the Parks Department employee we’d called about Westcrest, Carol Baker. She tells WSB the department is NOT aware of any NEW incident of suspected poison having been found in Fauntleroy Park since this report on Jan. 14. More later on that and also the Westcrest report (we have spoken with the owner of the dog in that incident, which is recovering, but in the short run, if you take your dog to that park, sounds like it would be a good idea to keep very close watch to keep it from ingesting anything).
Just a couple hours after the announcement (see below) of SDOT work at California/Othello tomorrow, we just got another alert from the city — regarding work on the Admiral medians (December photo above) tomorrow, and beyond, including a request for input on the median trees when work crews return a week later:Read More
Just out of the WSB inbox, from the city Transportation Department:
SDOT crews will replace concrete panels in California Avenue Southwest, between SW Othello Street and SW Orchard Street, tomorrow (Saturday, February 2), if weather permits. Work will start at 8 a.m.
Northbound and southbound traffic will be allowed through this block of California Avenue, alternating between the two directions of traffic with the assistance of a traffic flagger. The sidewalk on the western side of the street will remain open for pedestrians; crews will repair the sidewalk on the eastern side. SDOT will reopen all of the lanes of traffic once the concrete has cured, depending on weather conditions, no later than Sunday night.
The work is needed in order to restore the pavement following work on underground utilities.
This is in Gatewood, acrosss from Seattle International Church, about a block south of Caffe Ladro (map)
(Photo by Emeline Chabanne, courtesy Gansango Music & Dance [2007])
The Gansango show tonight at SSCC is one of 31 West Seattle weekend possibilities you’ll find listed ahead (including free yoga as a Super Bowl alternative, a fundraising bake sale this afternoon, a free Wii class for grownups, a karaoke contest, and more):Read More
Quick update ahead of our police-report check at the Southwest Precinct later today — Lt. Steve Paulsen confirms the arrest of one juvenile in the Admiral rock-throwing incidents, as Meredith reported last night; he confirms they are still looking for the two other suspects but know who they are looking for.
Less than a week after West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor) broke ground for its multipurpose building, the latest Land Use Information Bulletin from the city (subscribe here) includes the permit application for Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s new Parish Administrative Center. This will be built at the site of the existing offices, north of the parking lot (which is at the northeast corner of 35th/Myrtle; the green rectangle at the top right of the art shown above from the church’s online brochure). According to the OLG website, it’s part of a two-phase project, first building the administrative center, then a parish Family Life Center. (We reported the capital-campaign kickoff last March.)
Another local kids’ sports league starts registration today: the West Seattle Soccer Club‘s spring season. It’s open to players ages 5-12, and it’s a fairly low-impact commitment – games on Sunday afternoons, no practices, various fields around West Seattle; the season starts April 6 and runs for six weeks (no games on Mother’s Day) — $40 per player. You can register any time from now till March 1 by going to the West Seattle Soccer Club website (click here), where you will also find lots of news about the league — which has a fall season too (with almost 1,300 players last year!).
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