By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

During tonight’s Seattle Public Schools Board meeting, president Liza Rankin was hoping to brief her colleagues on where education-funding issues of interest stand in the ongoing Washington State Legislature session.

If that briefing happens before the meeting ends, dozens of West Seattleites will be able to listen with newfound knowledge after “School Funding 101,” at which Rankin was a guest speaker, this past Monday night at Genesee Hill Elementary.

PTA/PTSA/PTOs from all around West Seattle partnered to present the educational event, hosted by the Genesee Hill PTA, whose Advocacy Committee coordinated it, citing a troubling drop in public interest regarding school funding. The night’s other guest speaker was Vivian van Gelder, vice president of the Seattle Council PTSA.

Rankin – an SPS parent herself – took to the microphone first, starting with a quick explanation of the school board’s role, a topic she said could take up an entire night all its own. “Very basically …the role of the school board is to govern as a body, be representatives of the entire Seattle community … provide direction to the superintendent about what the community expects of the local school district. A key accountability of the board is “to hire and evaluate the superintendent,” one thing the board has “100 percent control over.” In setting policy, they are authorized to direct the superintendent based on majority vote of the board. And germane to the night’s topic, state law requires them to approve a balanced budget.: “Approving a balanced budget.”

Current board focuses, Rankin said, include focusing on legislation, supporting newly elected board directors (West Seattle/South Park’s Gina Topp is one of two and was present at the event), coalescing as a board and getting clear on our governance structure, as well as partnering with families and PTA/PTSA/PTOs. Personally, Rankin said, she has a goal of getting clear on what superintendent and district should do for engagement, and what the board and directors are expected to do.

After that, van Gelder stepped up with the toplines on where funding comes from. Federal sources include Title 1, IDEA, and about-to-expire pandemic-related funding.

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From bake sales to galas to levies to basic property taxes – how does public-school funding work, and how can parents, teachers, and others advocate for what their local school(s) need? Monday night (February 5) everyone’s invited to learn and talk at “Public School Funding 101,” presented by more than half a dozen local PTAs/PTSAs/PTOs, including the PTA at Genesee Hill Elementary, which is hosting the meeting (5013 SW Dakota). Scheduled guests for the discussion are Seattle Public Schools Board president Liza Rankin and Seattle Council PTSA advocacy/policy manager Vivian van Gelder. It starts at 6 pm and on-site child care will be available.

Join a conversation
with Seattle School Board
President Liza Rankin and
Vivian van Gelder,
Advocacy and Policy Manager,
Seattle Council PTSA

On-site child care available

Light refreshments will be served

legislativechair@geneseehillpta.org for more info

Another local seat without an incumbent is being decided in this election – Leslie Harris is leaving the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors after two terms. She represents District 6 (West Seattle and most of South Park); in the general election, all board seats are decided by a citywide vote, so that means we’re tracking four seats tonight. Here’s tonight’s first and only round of results:

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6
Gina Topp – 88,366 – 86.84%
Maryanne Wood – 12,946 – 12.72%

(updated) Here are the first results in the other three districts (asterisk marks an incumbent):

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 1
Liza Rankin* – 61,290 – 60.77 %
Debbie Carlsen – 38,919 – 38.59 %

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 2
Lisa Rivera Smith* – 68,870 – 68.00 %
Christina Posten – 31,995 – 31.59 %

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 3
Evan Briggs – 51,788 – 51.08%
Ben Gitenstein – 49,122 – 48.45%

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Four weeks before Seattle Public Schools superintendent Dr. Brent Jones is due to present a plan for closing a $105 million budget gap next school year, some of the possibilities were previewed at a school board “work session” this week.

The session (see the agenda and documents here) also was intended to be a recap of the challenges – inefficient state funding, according to district administrators, singing out situations such as state funding provided for nine nurses in the district, which has 65 without even averaging one per school. And the measures that closed a budget gap for the current school year also were recapped, including changes to the “central office” budget, which is $441 million. The board was reminded that “central office” includes districtwide services such as meals, far more than just middle and upper management at district HQ. This year the district reduced “central office” expenses by $32 million and is looking at $18 million.

But some of the ways they closed a gap this year are no longer available. And that’s why they’re looking at school closure/consolidation, for example, to create what administrators call “a system of well-resourced schools” – theoretically, larger schools that would have a full set of nurses, librarians, counselors, family support workers. No specific schools have been mentioned so far. But one slide from Tuesday’s meeting mentioned what closures would be expected to save – up to $2 million per closed school:

Another possible way to save money, with existing schools: Going to three bell schedules, for more efficient use of school buses. That could save $5 million, according to district staff. (The most-recent suggestion to do that was shelved amid a firestorm of opposition.)

Maybe higher fees, such as charging for athletic participation, or having families cover the fees the district pays for payments through the SchoolPay system:

Other possibilities could include selling property:

The meeting ran short on time (though it lasted about half an hour longer than planned) before much brainstorming happened, but board director Vivian Song mentioned one thing she saw missing: Raising revenue by growing enrollment (since each added student means more state funding), or at least – given the recent declines – actively working to stabilize it.

Before the meeting got to the discussion of potential money-saving measures, some general philosophical points about the process were discussed. Board director Leslie Harris of West Seattle wondered if any parts of the budget could be put off-limits – “we never really agreed on baselines.” And she also again chided district staff for not yet at least previewing potential closures and consolidations, or at least hinting at what values they’re using to review specific schools: Would those values include keeping K-8 schools? Keeping STEM-focused schools? Keeping small schools that are focused on specialized programs? Some discussion ensued about “focusing on student outcomes.” Board director Chandra Hampson, who has been previously reported as a critic of “option schools” (in West Seattle, that includes Pathfinder and Boren STEM K-8s), declared that those schools “don’t have better outcomes.” In a general observation regarding school consolidations, board director Liza Rankin said, “I don’t want anybody’s school to close, but we’re talking about schools meant for 400, 500 stdents, with under 200” and therefore short on resources now.

WHAT’S NEXT: The superintendent is scheduled to present his plan on Wednesday, November 15th. Feedback from the district’s recent series of community meetings is supposed to factor into it, but that feedback is still being parsed by district staff, chief of staff Bev Redmond said toward the start of this week’s work session.

LOCAL MEETING: Local school-board director Leslie Harris has her next community-conversation meeting set for this Saturday (October 21), 2-5 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library, 2306 42nd SW – bring your questions/concerns/suggestions.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

In less than a month, Seattle Public Schools starts the 2020-2021 year.

Two weeks ago, the district announced the new year will start the same way the last one ended – no in-person classes.

But many details of how that’ll work have yet to be rolled out, and – especially given the deficiencies of the final three months of last year – that’s a source of frustration for many families.

Some of them were in a video/phone meeting Friday night in which they hoped for answers, but were disappointed there too.

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The City Council races got almost all the attention, but they weren’t the only ones on the ballot. Also of note (full results here):

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8 (includes West Seattle, White Center, Vashon/Maury Islands)
Joe McDermott* – 27,404 – 82.13 %
Michael Robert Neher – 5,787 – 17.34 %

(Leslie Harris, photographed at Lisa Herbold’s election-night party)

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6 (includes West Seattle and most of South Park)
Leslie Harris* – 66,441 – 65.70 %
Molly Mitchell – 34,110 33.73 %

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 1
Liza Rankin – 52,494 – 51.14 %
Eric Blumhagen – 49,639 – 48.36 %

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 5
Chandra Hampson – 66,563 – 65.53 %
Rebeca Muñiz – 34,436 33.90 %

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 3
Sam Cho – 151,037 – 56.76 %
Grant Degginger – 113,559 – 42.68 %

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 5
Fred Felleman* – 180,337 – 69.16 %
Garth Jacobson – 79,377 – 30.44 %

10:03 PM: Updated above with full numbers/percentages from tonight’s results; next update will be in the King County Elections count around 4 pm Wednesday.

Voting starts in two days, as King County Elections opens its vote centers Wednesday, the same day it mails ballots. Tonight we continue previews with a look at who else is on your ballot besides the City Council District 1 candidates (yes, we covered tonight’s forum; story and video tomorrow). Here are the contested races, with each link going to a page with info about the candidate (incumbents are marked by asterisks):

KING COUNTY ELECTIONS DIRECTOR – Julie Wise*, Mark Greene

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8 – Joe McDermott*, Michael Robert Neher

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 2 – Sam Cho, Grant Degginger

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 5 – Fred Felleman*, Garth Jacobson

Though Seattle School Board members represent geographic districts, they are elected by a citywide vote in the general election, so these three are on your ballot (District 6 is West Seattle and most of South Park):

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6 – Leslie Harris*, Molly Mitchell

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 1 – Liza Rankin, Eric Blumhagen

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 3 – Chandra Hampson, Rebeca Muniz

NOT REGISTERED YET? Our state now allows you to do it all the way through Election Day (November 5th) – but the deadline to do it online is two weeks away, and that’s the simplest way, so go here.

Congratulations to nine local students for their success so far in a national arts competition! Thanks to Lindsay Yost for sharing the news tonight, on the eve of districtwide recognition for them:

Students from three schools in West Seattle have qualified to advance to the state level of the National PTA Reflections arts program! These students will be competing against students from all over Washington State. The Seattle Council PTSA is hosting a recognition ceremony, with special guest, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland, tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 8th) at the Seattle Armory from 2-3pm. The schools are:

Alki Elementary
Literature – Collin Temme, Where I’m From

Denny International Middle School

Visual Art – Kai Jackson, Girl in the Galaxy (above)

Visual Art – Daniel Crawford, My Weirdness (above)

Literature – Richard Garcia, The Meadow of Death
Literature – Kendall Sementelli, The one with scars

Photography – Veronica Dempster, Headshot (above)

Dance – Ruby Martin, Ruby’s Dance Choreography

Chief Sealth International High School
Literature – Audriana Slye, Four
Literature – Olivia Palmer, ON WRITING

Yost is Reflections chair at Alki Elementary and co-chair of the districtwide event (with Liza Rankin); Manuela Slye is Reflections chair for Denny and Sealth. Good luck to the young artists at the next level of competition! (You can see all their work on the Seattle website for Reflections – browse school-by-school.)

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Where? North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting

When? Thursday, April 7, 2022, at 7 pm

Join Zoom Meeting:

us02web.zoom.us/j/85898466765?pwd=ays3cm4xQ2xJYTdZa0JjNEdJNUVGZz09

Meeting ID: 858 9846 6765

Passcode: NHUAC2022 (Case Sensitive)

Unable to join via Zoom? Please call: 253-215-8782

Meeting ID: 858 9846 6765

Passcode: 887033793

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.” – Rabbi Joachim Prinz

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human-beings.” -Nelson Mandela

Have you any idea how many kids it takes to turn off one light in the kitchen? Three. It takes one to say, “What light?” and two more to say, “I didn’t turn it on.” – Erma Bombeck

Some thoughts to ponder before NHUAC’s April 7th meeting where we’ll learn more about the county’s vision for our community, a/ka the North Highline Subarea Plan. We’ll be joined once again by Jacqueline Reid, of King County’s Department of Local Services (DLS). She will share the recommendations of Executive Dow Constantine. His proposal went to the King County Council last week for discussion. deliberation, finalization, and ultimately a vote. Councilman Joe McDermott, Fire Chief Mike Marrs and Deputy Bill Kennamer will also join the discussion.

According to a 2011 Opportunity Mapping Analysis, White Center is a “low opportunity neighborhood” with “some of the worst health outcomes in King County… ranking number one for diabetes-related deaths, infant mortality, and heart disease….” The report also cites “academic achievement and poverty challenges.” “School poverty has serious implications not just for students, but for districts, communities and the region.”

How will the Subarea Plan improve life in our neighborhood? In November of 2020, NHUAC was joined by David Goodman who shared some data the county had compiled from and about our community. David is gone, but his presentation is worth reviewing. whitecenternow.com/2020/11/10/newest-plan-for-subarea-plan-north-highline-unincorporated-area-councils-novem

Knowledge is power.

Learn, share, and help make North Highline a healthier community.

April 7, 2022 at 7 pm – Invite Your Neighbors!

(WSB photo from February)

From Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s newest e-mail update, word that the City Council is considering “supplemental budget” funding for landslide mitigation including three problem sites in West Seattle. One (above) is at the site of last February’s Highland Park Way-closing slide: $60,000 “to install a rock buttress between West Marginal Way SW and SW Holden Street.” Herbold’s update says this will “minimize longterm erosion and sloughing.” This was also discussed during the Highland Park Find It Fix It Walk back in May, which followed Herbold “rais(ing) questions about the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) practices for managing landslide risks and whether SDOT should be doing more proactive work to minimize the risk of slides rather than responding with repair work after slides occur.” She continues:

What I found is that 17 years ago, in 2000, SDOT performed a risk assessment for slope hazards for landslides on arterial streets in the City. This evaluation was based on a set scoring matrix, and SDOT uses that ranking to prioritize our proactive landslide mitigation program.

The assessment used eight design factors to determine the priority of 73 known potential landslide locations along arterial streets. The criteria were:

Hazard condition of slope
Traffic volume
Street, pavement, and adjacent retaining facility condition
Street or sidewalk access impacts, including Metro, primary emergency routes, and ability to implement detours
Adjacent to community centers, schools, city utilities
Slope modification history that may decrease slope stability
Partnership opportunities with other planned projects to decrease costs
Adjacent to private facilities
Of the 73 locations, 24 were rated a high priority. Since 2000, SDOT has budgeted approximately $500K per year for landslide mitigation. With those funds we have been slowly moving through mitigation efforts for those locations. In 17 years, only seven of twenty-four high priority location have had proactive mitigation work done, because the majority of the allocated funds each year end up being needed for responding to slides after they have occurred in other lower priority locations.

The City Budget Office agreed with me that this a significant problem. I worked with SDOT and the City Budget Office to identify 2017 funds as well as a spending plan over the six-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to complete the work. Longer-term funding will be addressed during the 2018 budget process beginning in September.

In the short term, the 2nd quarter supplemental budget proposed by the City Budget Office, and discussed by the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods, and Finance Committee this week, increases funding for addressing landslides by $1.37 million.

The aforementioned Highland Park site is one of three West Seattle sites; another is at Cambridge and California, $540,000 for a retaining wall at the site of a slide we covered back in January.

(WSB photo from January)

Herbold quotes SDOT:

This slide impacts access for thirteen homes along California Ave SW, north of SW Cambridge St. The slide also damaged two homes below. There is no alternative access point for the properties. SPU completed the initial stabilization and cleanup efforts, since there was also a water main break. We are currently monitoring the slide, and have limited the access to one lane only. If there is additional movement, we may need to eliminate vehicle access to the homes, and limit access to pedestrian only. The responsibility of the initial response and restoration is likely split between SPU and SDOT, since there was both a slide and water main break, and it is impossible to tell which caused which.

The current proposal for repair is to install a wall and pedestrian connection between Cambridge and California. There was an informal trail / path that existing prior to the slide.

And the third site is the 10200 block of 47th SW, where $350,000 would be spent to stabilize a slope hit by a slide. Herbold’s update quotes SDOT:

There continues to be soil movement undermining the roadway at this location. The current solution would be a 50′ long 8′ high permanent soldier pile wall consistent with the adjacent wall. If not completed we will likely need to close the roadway for safety and prevent access to approximately 20 residences. There is no alternative access point for the properties. The closure would affect 20 homes including those on Maplewood Place SW, with potential impact to the apartments block at 10203 47th Ave SW.

Outside West Seattle, the supplemental-budget item also proposes $400,000 for a slope along Rainier Avenue S. and $20,000 for a “rock buttress” along Perkins Lane W.