(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
Likely just a coincidence, but on the same morning that the Seattle City Council invited citizens to come talk with them next month about the budget process, its president was reading a storybook about financial smarts to a group of local students. Council President Sally Clark visited West Seattle Elementary this morning as part of “MoneySmart Week” (explained here) and read from “Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock,” by former FDIC Chair Sheila Blair, about twins with very different savings habits.

And this gives us a chance to mention that West Seattle Elementary has just received some noteworthy praise from Olympia. The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction recently audited schools and visited WS Elementary, 2 years into its improvement plan, on April 12th. As a result of this visit, WSES received this “exit note”:

West Seattle Elementary has done a stellar job of transforming not only the school but the neighborhood as well. Not only has this staff and community dotted all the ‘i’s’ and crossed all the ‘t’s’ in terms of compliance, they have made a positive impact on student learning and the community at large. They have moved from compliance to commitment. Students are learning (the school moved from Level 1 to Level 3 in one year) and families are engaged in their students’ academics.

This visit was part of the Consolidated Program Review, explained here.