West Seattle, Washington
13 Saturday
Photos and summary by Lawrence Kane
Special to West Seattle Blog
West Seattle High School fans arrived in style to cheer on their Wildcats, but unfortunately the Cleveland High School Eagles proved the better team, winning 26-0 tonight at Memorial Stadium downtown.
The Wildcats played tough defense, holding the Eagles to two scores in the first half while blocking both extra-point attempts, but the offense was unable to generate any points.
In the second half, Cleveland scored twice and made a two-point conversion.
Nevertheless, there were some highlights, including an interception by Bailey Wyatt (#50) of a ball jarred loose by Carter Golgart (#12) and fumble recovery by Eric West (#55).
On the offensive there were tough runs by Raphael “Do-E” Jackson (#24), Fynniecko Glover (#22), and Tre Steward (#21).
Next Friday night (October 4th, 7 pm), WSHS visits Rainier Beach at Southeast Athletic Complex.
Thanks to Karin Beck for the photo and update on another win Thursday for the West Seattle High School girls-varsity soccer team: The Wildcats shut out Franklin, 6-0. Karin says: “Goals were scored by the following players: Tess Beck, Madison Brodahl, Charli Elliott, Katherine Gregor, Lindsey Hage, and Kate Veenhuizen. Shutout goalkeepers were Samantha Hemmert and Katherine Gregor.” West Seattle’s next match is 4:30 pm Thursday (October 3rd) vs. Rainier Beach at Southeast Athletic Complex.
What a field trip for Pathfinder K-8‘s Turtle Clan kindergarteners and teacher Jennifer Niemann! We mentioned last night that they were headed downtown to perform on KEXP with West Seattle’s own kid-music superstar Caspar Babypants – and tipster Steve has kindly shared photos and a report:
What a day! The kids had a blast and I think the parents may have had an even better time. John was awesome with the kids and of course Caspar was amazing. We got a tour including a visit from Moby, who was next up on the morning show. The whole staff at the station was just great. And all before 9:45 in the morning.
We found their performance in the KEXP online archives – go here and if you choose to launch the player at 9:15 am, it’ll be right in the middle of a song – or, launch at 9:00 am and listen until they come up.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
‘This is not a done deal – this is a jumping-off point,” said Seattle Public Schools‘ new assistant superintendent Flip Herndon, leading off last night’s “Growth Boundaries” info/comments event last night at West Seattle High School.
An important point stressed at the beginning – “The assignment rules are not changing … this is specifically about boundaries and programming,” as first unveiled last week. What they do expect will change: Some of the recommendations, with changes expected between this version and the one that’ll be presented in late October after this round of community comments, and then likely some final changes before a proposal for the School Board to vote on just before Thanksgiving.
Wondering about the post-decisionmaking timeframe for carrying out all the plans, once they’re finalized? Between now and 2022 or so, “when all BEX IV construction is complete and all changes have been implemented.” (We confirmed with enrollment/planning manager Tracy Libros post-meeting that many schools’ boundary changes can’t take effect next year or even the year after that, because they are contingent on school construction/reopenings that roll out over the next few years.)
The boundaries (see what the district calls “improved maps” here) were the big topic of discussion when the microphone was turned over to attendees – with one point emerging repeatedly: West Seattle’s hilly topography complicates what might look like a walkable distance on a map.
Ahead, how the meeting unfolded:
Thanks to Steve for the tip: When Caspar Babypants (himself a West Seattleite, as you probably know) performs live on KEXP radio tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 9 am, he’ll have special guests – Turtle Clan kindergarteners from Pathfinder K-8 in Pigeon Point will be singing with him sometime before 9:30 am (maybe as early as 8:45, we’re told). We haven’t found the whole story behind this yet, but we hear it has to do with a contest; Steve sends props to their teacher, Jennifer Niemann. KEXP is at 90.3 FM and live online at kexp.org.
(WSB photo added: SFD Ladder 11 & Engine 11 outside Denny)
12:31 PM: A fire-alarm call at the Sealth/Denny campus is about an hour old, but several parents have e-mailed/texted us to say their kids at Denny reported to them there was some kind of actual fire. We’re checking on it but one crew member who passed by says the early dismissal ***appears to be proceeding as normal*** and there is NO external sign of anything wrong – we’re having trouble getting fire/school officials on the phone. (One person at the Denny office refused to comment.) More info as we get it.
12:44 PM: We have just spoken to firefighters at the school. They say someone started a fire in a bathroom trash can. No injuries or damage, but smoky.
12:54 PM: We also have heard back from SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore, who adds an extra detail: The fire alarm “failed to reset and continued to go back into alarm.” (That explains a detail we heard in texts from Denny and Sealth students, that it “just kept going off.”) Moore also confirms, no one hurt. SFD remains on scene, as we noted on our return trip (photo above, but note, hoses aren’t in use, another sign it was small).
2:20 PM: From Denny principal Jeff Clark via e-mail:
This afternoon at 11:30 we had a small fire in a garbage can in a 2nd floor bathroom. The resulting smoke caused the evacuation alarm to sound. As we were clearing the smoke, the evacuation alarm sounded several more times. Today is an early-release day for Seattle Public Schools — all students were released as planned at 12:10.
All students and staff are fine — there is no resulting damage to the building. Tomorrow will be a regular school day. All of our students did an outstanding job during our evacuation procedures.
Score’s in from this afternoon’s big girls-soccer crosstown-rivalry match at Southwest Athletic Complex – West Seattle High School 1, Chief Sealth International High School 0.
WSHS’s powerhouse twins had a big role in the win. Katie DuLong scored the goal with an assist from Annie Murphy; Sarah DuLong shut down the Seahawks as the Wildcats’ goalie. Next up, according to the Metro League calendar, WSHS is on the road against Franklin, 3:30 pm Thursday at Genesee Park/Playfield; one day later, on Friday, same time, same place, same team for Sealth.
#1 – EARLY DISMISSAL DAY: Tomorrow (Wednesday, September 25) is the first Seattle Public Schools district-wide early-dismissal day of the year – two hours early.
#2 – ONLY WEST SEATTLE MEETING ON ‘GROWTH BOUNDARIES’ PROPOSALS: One week ago, we covered the district’s release of proposals for boundary changes, program locations, and in some cases certain school buildings’ futures. Here’s our comprehensive report on all that. Your one chance for in-person feedback in West Seattle is TOMORROW night, 6:30 pm, West Seattle High School Commons (3000 California SW).
One hour a day, one day a week – can you spare that to tutor a student? Invest in Youth needs tutors for Roxhill Elementary in West Seattle (and four others listed below if you work off the peninsula) –
Here’s your opportunity to give back. For one hour, just once a week on your way home from work, you can go into a nearby Seattle grade school and tutor a child who needs a little extra help with his or her studies. Invest in Youth is looking for additional tutors for the 2013 – 2014 school year.
Participating in Invest in Youth requires a tutoring commitment of one hour per week (with several holidays) for the duration of the school year. Upon joining the program, you will be paired with an elementary school student in 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade and work with that same student for the entire year, getting to know their strengths and weaknesses while tracking their progress from week to week. It is an extremely rewarding experience for both students and their tutors!
Got word today that the Class of 1963 from Fauntleroy Elementary School – that’s the historic schoolhouse that is now a community center – is planning a 50-year class reunion. Organizers want to hear from interested alums; if that’s you, contact claudinelytle@yahoo.com or linda@seanet.com.
Photos and summary by Lawrence Kane
Special to West Seattle Blog
At Memorial Stadium downtown, the West Seattle High School Wildcats defeated the Franklin Quakers 26-12 Friday night to begin league play on a high note.
The grueling, three-hours-and-20-minutes game was marred by eight injury timeouts and countless penalties, yet the team persevered to earn their first win of the season.
9:51 PM: Final score’s just in from Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood – Chief Sealth International High School 30, Rainier Beach HS 20.
11:54 PM: Adding photos and toplines from WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, who covered the game @ SWAC:
We visited Holy Rosary School‘s WestFest shortly after it got under way tonight – right before a little fall weather swept through the fall festival. Full-Life Crisis (above) was first band up; down in the food court, Dave and Tim were grilling:
So then the rain came in for a while, and we checked out the inside fun – games in the gym:
Food’s on sale indoors too – like pizza and corn on the cob. And elsewhere on campus, the bingo hall was getting ready for action:
WestFest continues until 10 pm tonight, then a big day is ahead tomorrow, 10 am-10 pm. Bouncy rides are set up on the playground, too – info about rides and food, as well as the entertainment schedule, can all be found in our festival preview.
Thanks to Karin Beck for the photo and update on the West Seattle High School girls-varsity soccer team, with a big win on Thursday: “Coming from behind 0-2, the Wildcats scored three goals in the second half to beat Nathan Hale 3-2! Exciting game, with goals scored by [corrected] Katie DuLong (1) and Olivia Williams (2).” The Wildcats are now 2-0 in conference play. Next up for WSHS, a crosstown-rivalry match against Chief Sealth International High School, 4 pm Tuesday (September 24th) at Southwest Athletic Complex (2801 SW Thistle).
P.S. Sports updates appreciated for any and all teams – even just the score! – editor@westseattleblog.com, or text 206-293-6302 – thank you!
South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) might be one of the few schools in the country that can toast its own successes and milestones with its own wine. SSCC’s award-winning Northwest Wine Academy was the setting for Thursday afternoon’s “Salute to South” community reception, looking ahead to the start of the new school year on Monday. As usual, president Gary Oertli was there to oversee the party, at right in our photo below with professor Mike Hickey:
Oertli spoke about the renovation of the building that’s now home to the wine academy:
He mentioned many school and community leaders in attendance; among those we saw was Southwest Seattle Historical Society executive director Clay Eals, at center below:
He was there circulating news of the “Words, Wine, and West Seattle” author-readings series that will bring local writers to SSCC every month for the year ahead, 4-6 pm on first Fridays, starting with Stephanie Guerra on October 4th – you guessed it, at the Wine Academy HQ on the north side of campus.
As of this week, West Seattle has a brand-new school. A ribbon-cutting launched the new Village Cooperative School, explained by Rachel Faunce, who also shared the photo:
A year in the making, the Village Cooperative School is a Kindergarten through 2nd grade multi-age school based on a cooperative-school model where students, parents and teachers, learn, explore, work, and grow together.
Affiliated with the South Seattle Community College Cooperative Preschool Program, the school is housed on the SSCC campus. Class is held Monday-Thursday from 11:30 am-3:30 pm. Tuesday classes are led by the Vashon Wilderness Program and will rotate throughout parks in Seattle.
In addition to a small, intimate classroom setting and a parent education component, the Village Cooperative School offers:
· Project and play based learning that is emergent, experiential, student led and teacher supported.
· The integration of art, music, language arts, science, math and social studies through applies learning.
· Individual and group learning with an emphasis on community building, cooperation, mutual respect, problem-solving and conflict resolution.
A few spaces remain in this year’s class; questions are welcome at info@vcoop.org.
Thanks to Tracy Burrows from the West Seattle High School PTSA for sharing this invitation to their first meeting of the year, tomorrow night:
Meet key members of the West Seattle High School team at the first PTSA meeting of the 2013-14 school year on September 19th! Meet the new Vice Principal, Michelle Peterson and the new Athletic Director, Trevor Leopold. Hear what the goals are for this year’s school year from Principal Ruth Medsker and Vice-Principal Michael Kelly, and learn about the vision of our fabulous music director, Ethan Thomas. The meeting is Thursday, September 19th from 7-8:30 pm in the West Seattle High School library. All are welcome. To access the library, enter the building through the side door in front of the visitor parking stalls.
WSHS is at 3000 California SW.
(UPDATED WEDNESDAY EVENING with SPD Blotter info)
1:03 PM: Thanks to multiple Holy Rosary School parents who have forwarded this alert sent in the past hour:
There was another report of an inappropriate exposure during lunch time recess today. This was a different man and he was outside the school property. The police and neighboring schools were notified immediately. Staff will be outside at the end of school.
That’s the entirety of the alert, with no descriptive information, but we’ll be checking with police ASAP and adding anything we learn from them. The previous report was on September 9th, and police went public with additional details the next day. (The school is at 41st/42nd/Genesee on the north end of The Junction.)
ADDED 1:08 PM: Just talked with Seattle Police spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson. He says this is all that’s in their system right now, since an officer’s apparently still out at the scene and hoping to talk with whomever directly witnessed this: The call came in at 11:42 am, that “a male was exposing himself”; the person was described only as white, with dark hair, and possible facial hair. He was said to have left in a vehicle and was reported to have been last seen headed westbound on Dakota.
ADDED 7:38 PM: A story about this has just appeared on SPD Blotter, but there’s no additional descriptive information:
Read More
Thanks to Karin for the photo and report from West Seattle High School‘s first soccer win of the season today:
WSHS girls’ varsity soccer team beat Ingraham 3-0 today in their first league game of the season. Annie Murphy, Olivia Williams, and Lindsey Hage each scored goals for the Wildcats. Next game is a big one against Nathan Hale on Sept. 19: Varsity at 3:30 p.m. at Walt Hundley Playfield, and JV at 3:30 p.m. at Addams Playfield. Go, Wildcats!
Here are the game stats from our partners at The Seattle Times.
4:30 PM: Seattle Public Schools is out with its “Growth Boundaries” proposal, and there’s one big headline for West Seattle (along with multiple others): The plan includes the community-driven suggestion that West Seattle’s STEM school, in its second year, stay at Boren and become K-8 STEM at Boren “in the future.”
STEM parent representatives are here (in scarves, in our photo) – they just heard, and they’re smiling. Boren was intended to be the school’s temporary home, and you might recall that the district had proposed in May that the current Schmitz Park Elementary campus become STEM’s permanent home when it’s vacated after the completion of the new school at Genesee Hill. The STEM PTA counterproposed last month that either they move into Fairmount Park Elementary when it’s reopened, or that they stay at Boren and expand to a K-8. They got key community support too, from groups including the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. And now – that’s the draft proposal.
Fairmount Park, meantime, is still proposed as a neighborhood school once it reopens next fall – its expansion and upgrade work is under way right now:
And here are the newly proposed West Seattle attendance maps – first, for the Madison service area, which would include Fairmount Park:
FP is also proposed as part of an “optional” West Seattle pathway for students in the top-level-gifted APP program:
And here’s the other attendance-area map, showing what feeds into Denny:
(ADDED: Even more detailed maps are posted now on the district website – one for each individual school – see those here)
(back to original report) The plan also proposes:
*The current Schmitz Park Elementary campus would become an “early learning center”
*The former EC Hughes – which Westside School (WSB sponsor) will vacate after finishing their new campus – will become the “emergency/interim” campus that Boren had been
Meantime, we are at the School Board work session that is about to start, with lots more information about what is being proposed here, and we will be reporting here “live” as it happens – stand by!
4:37 PM: The board briefing is under way. They’ve been told that the citywide changes proposed today would unfold between now and 2020-2021 – “not all at once.” We’ll add more document links as soon as we can. First group of topics is special services, including “academically gifted” (APP), and the new proposal for an “optional pathway” at Fairmount Park and Madison is explained as taking some pressure, potentially, off the existing south pathway (Thurgood Marshall to Washington); the north region is proposed for two full pathways but the south APP numbers are described as too big for one, not big enough for two.
4:47 PM: The full West Seattle-area International School pathway is now proposed too: Concord or Highland Park (both remaining primarily “attendance area” schools as well) to Denny to Sealth. Next: Elaboration on STEM, and the proposal for K-5 STEM at Boren to become permanent as eventually K-8 STEM at Boren – the timeline for expansion, district managers explain, would be tied to the need for Arbor Heights to co-locate at Boren over the next two school years while its school is rebuilt. Asked to specify a year, district managers say 6th grade would (under this plan – which isn’t final yet) start in (updated, per document) 2015-16, with 7th added 2016-17, 8th added 2017-18. They point out, a few minutes later – as had been noted in the proposal from the STEM PTA – that this plan means there will be an option school in each of West Seattle’s two service areas, Madison (Pathfinder K-8) and Denny (now, K-8 STEM).
5:17 PM: No updates re: West Seattle because the board had just spent a lot of time extensively discussing one proposal for another part of town (re: Pinehurst K-8). But now it’s time for some general discussion on the program proposals districtwide – and board member Michael DeBell said he’s particularly pleased about the K-8 STEM recommendation. Meantime, we should note that West Seattle’s board member Marty McLaren is not here because she is ill.
5:34 PM: Now they’re on to the boundaries – see the maps higher up in this story. One line on the overview: “Strong emphasis on continuity of current elementary attendance area boundaries” – of course, in West Seattle, there will be some change with Fairmount Park becoming an attendance-area elementary when it reopens next fall.
6:07 PM: The boundaries were not discussed in detail – so we don’t have any extra enlightenment to share beyond the maps shown above (click here to see larger sizes – it’s the “map packet” sent out to media earlier). One West Seattle datapoint here – district managers are suggesting “implement(ing the) optional APP pathway in West Seattle to mitigate Washington MS APP enrollment growth until Meany BEX IV project is completed.” One more reminder – these are all proposals, and not final until the board’s votes following a round of public meetings that’s about to start.
Now a few more Southwest-area details – district managers correct their earlier verbal mention of the start date for middle school at Boren; as the documentation says, they’re proposing fall 2015 for 6th grade to start there. The Arbor Heights co-location over the next two school years (fall 2014 to summer 2016) would be the last “interim” usage of Boren, and EC Hughes (once Westside leaves) would become the interim/emergency space in this area. (It was used that way before Westside leased and renovated it.)
6:28 PM: Tracy Libros from district staff warns “this isn’t going to fix everything – it’s going to get worse before it gets better” regarding handling growth. Meantime, as meeting wraps up, a reminder that the LONE community meeting planned in West Seattle to go over all this is one week from tomorrow, Wednesday 9/25, 6:30 pm, in the commons at West Seattle High School (3000 California SW). If you have questions or comments, e-mail growthboundaries@seattleschools.org. The meeting’s a wrap.
**NOTE NEW DATE**
Never too soon to start thinking about next year’s education opportunities for your child(ren) – and that’s the thought behind the West Seattle education fair set for 6:30 pm-8:30 pm Tuesday, October 1st, in the gym at Seattle Lutheran High School in The Junction, sponsored by WSB. Free to families who want to attend; nominal fee for schools who want to participate, open to any and all from pre-K through middle school. Registration’s open NOW – schools can sign up online by going here!
SEPTEMBER 29 UPDATE: As noted in comments, Seattle Lutheran has postponed the education fair to October 28th. Watch for an updated story tomorrow (9/30).
After a first-week win, Seattle Lutheran High School‘s football team is now 1-1 following their second game of the season, a 40-0 loss to Lake Roosevelt on Saturday afternoon at West Seattle Stadium. The Saints have another non-conference game next Saturday, hosting Oroville, from Central Washington, at 2:30 pm September 21st.
Thanks to Denny International Middle School principal Jeff Clark for sharing the photo from South Park’s big event today. He reports: “The Denny International Middle School scholars did an outstanding job today marching in the Fiestas Patrias parade! I am so proud of our scholars, staff, and families for representing our school in such a dynamic way in this important community event. Go, Dolphins!”
The parade and accompanying community fiestas that followed comprise a combined celebration of independence for multiple Latin American countries; the South Park fiesta is on until 6 pm, the one at Seattle Center until 11 pm and again tomorrow – details here.
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