If you haven’t already seen local schools’ “bell times” for next school year, check this link for the district-wide list shared by West Seattle High School principal Ruth Medsker in the new edition of the school’s online newsletter, Westside Weekly. It’s part of a message from the principal to WSHS families, published in the newsletter put together each week during the school year by editor Beverly Corey. WSHS will start at 8 am next year, same as this year, and the principal goes on to address this bigger issue:

We have heard that some members of the larger Seattle Public Schools community would like the District to consider later high school start times and earlier elementary start times. This has major ramifications for high school students, including after-school jobs and athletics, as well as before- and after-school child care for elementary school families. It also means that elementary school students would be waiting for buses in the dark during much of the year.

The District is committed to thoroughly studying these ideas, but we ask for your patience as it will require time and public involvement. The District is working with families, staff on these long-term issues. Our plan is to develop a District-wide survey in the fall and to make recommendations to the School Board in time for the 2014-15 school year.

You can read the principal’s entire bell-time message (and the rest of the newest Westside Weekly) by going here.

4:13 PM: As reported here last night, Seattle Public Schools staff is making a presentation to the School Board this afternoon with its draft proposals for a wide variety of potential changes – including boundaries, the way programs including Special Education and Advanced Learning are handled, and, of West Seattle-specific note, a permanent home for K-5 STEM and a plan for the reopening-in-2014 Fairmount Park Elementary. We’re at the meeting and will add some “live” notes as we go. (Note: Melissa Westbrook from the Seattle Schools Community Forum website is writing “live,” too, so check out that site for a districtwide perspective.)

The slide deck being used for this presentation can be seen here. (Note that this is a committee meeting, and no public testimony is being taken – see pages 4 and 5 of the slide deck for the timeline of future discussion, votes, etc.)

4:25 PM: Board member Michael DeBell asks if it’s dangerous to be discussing some of this when the funding for potential changes is not clear. Superintendent José Banda says he doesn’t think so. They’re also talking about “equitable access” – and how it means, instead of the “this school has a great X program/that school has a great Y program” district past, each school has to offer a certain level of programs (the arts, etc.). Now they are embarking on a discussion of “services,” focused on English Language Learners, Special Education, Highly Capable (gifted) programs (starting on page 12 of the slide deck). For Special Education, they are developing “new service models,” as listed on pages 13 and 14. For Highly Capable, they hope to “increase (the) number of elementary and middle-school pathways …” as opposed to the current model, which has focused the top-level program (APP – as commenter clarifies, the only legally mandated one) at just a few schools. Board member Sharon Peaslee has asked point-blank, “Does that mean splitting APP?” and district staff has asked that they be allowed to present their “data” before answering.

4:41 PM: Staff is reminding everyone that the maps in the slide deck are NOT proposed boundaries – the maps being viewed now (for the Highly Capable programs) just are serving the purpose of showing where they project in the future they’ll see concentrations of students using these programs. Peaslee asks the chicken-or-egg question – are there fewer students using the programs in some areas because the services are offered at an inconvenient distance? DeBell acknowledges, “This is going to be a contentious issue, we know that” and suggests that staff emphasize the “instructional strategy.” Board member Harium Martin-Morris wonders if spreading the program(s) to more locations means that “self-contained” classes will still be possible. Discussion also has touched on concerns that expanding APP locations will dilute and downgrade program, and it’s veered off to questions about the type of testing used to see if students qualify, as well as whether parents choose not to even have their kids tested if the program’s not available nearby.

5:03 PM: Now they’re moving to “Programs” – not mandated by law (which the three “Services” are) – starting with the second-level gifted program, Spectrum. The issue of its “mixed quality,” as board member Carr describes it, compared to “high quality” for APP, comes back up. It might be “redefined,” was also discussed.

Next: Option Schools (which currently include Pathfinder K-8 and K-5 STEM in West Seattle) – page 22 of the slide deck. One other local note here – these initial staff recommendations suggest keeping Concord in South Park as an “attendance-area international school” rather than making it a full-fledged option school.

5:27 PM: Board member Betty Patu asks for clarification on that, saying she thought any “international school” was an option school that anyone could apply to; district staff says anyone can apply to any school in the district, but admission depends on whether there’s room.

5:43 PM: Now to the STEM discussion – and the recommendation of Schmitz Park’s current building as K-5 STEM’s permanent home in 2016.

Board member Kay Smith-Blum expresses concern about the capacity of Schmitz Park, minus portables. “Because it’s an option school, we can control enrollment,” says enrollment manager Tracy Libros, who says “we would still need to have portables here …” since the SP building is low capacity without them. “In order to have a 3-up, we would need … 8 portables, but that’s like half as many as SP is going to have next year.” Smith-Blum then wonders if it’s an opportunity for “eco-portables.”

Fairmount Park’s proximity to more than 700 students, more than 440 potentially in its walk zone, is mentioned next by Libros. West Seattle school-board member Marty McLaren then asks what’s next for the FP decision. “There’s a followup meeting at the end of June,” says Libros, to be followed by decisions on “short-term and intermediate capacity management.”

And that’s it for discussion – for now, anyway – on the topic of both campuses, Schmitz Park (whose current program is slated to move into the to-be-built new Genesee Hill school in 2016) and Fairmount Park.

But wait – McLaren brings the issue back, saying it will be important, for example, for a Fairmount Park principal to be hired as soon as possible. And then, for K-5 STEM, she notes, “is there any clarity at what size we would cap (it) – would it be a year by year thing, or ?” Libros says, “That’s a question for others – but certainly, any program could grow if there’s someplace to put the students.” In other words – too soon to say.

What’s next? Along with more meetings, you can watch the new “Growth Boundaries” section on the district website, which Libros promises will have much more material added to it as time goes by.

ADDED 6:43 PM: Talking with McLaren afterward, we asked her opinion on the Schmitz Park location for K-5 STEM. “I’m fine with it,” she replied. She wasn’t sure, though, why there was no mention of plans for EC Hughes – the elementary that could reopen after Westside School (WSB sponsor) moves to its planned new location in a few years – but doesn’t know of any particular proposal for its future, so far.

Seattle Public Schools has finally proposed a permanent home for K-5 STEM at Boren – the current Schmitz Park Elementary building, once it’s replaced by a new building in 2016. A K-5 STEM parent shared this e-mail received tonight from the district:

To meet the needs of our growing enrollment, Seattle Public Schools is considering boundary changes for the 2014-15 school year. We will not change any boundaries or assignments for the upcoming 2013-14 school year.

In anticipation of these changes, we are having conversations about our current schools and programs with our stakeholders. On Wednesday, district staff will present several options to the School Board for early consideration, including moving K-5 STEM at Boren to the current Schmitz Park building in 2016-17 after Schmitz Park Elementary moves to its new building at Genesee Hill. Fairmount Park would become an attendance area elementary school opening in 2014-15, and K-5 STEM at Boren would continue as an option program.

Again, these are all preliminary conversations. We will host five community meetings this fall to consider boundary changes and get feedback from families, staff and community members. There will be plenty of time for review and community reaction. You can view the district’s initial presentation to the board here. This initial review of program placement will be presented from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29 at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. This will be a committee discussion. There is no public testimony at this meeting and no votes will be taken.

Our goal at Seattle Public Schools is to ensure equity, access and opportunities for all students. We are planning for the future of our district, and any changes moving forward starting in the 2014-15 school year will help meet this goal. We also want to maximize walkability and minimize disruptions by aligning new boundaries with current attendance area boundaries, when feasible. The School Board will ultimately vote on the school assignment boundary changes on November 20, 2013.

If you would like to give feedback on these early recommendations, please send an email to growthboundaries@seattleschools.org

We look forward to working with each of our school communities to make sure any changes are rolled out smoothly and to ensure we have a thoughtful, strategic and equitable plan for schools, programs and services.

This again was a message tailored for K-5 STEM families – we’re looking now for any additional information on West Seattle schools, and will add what we find.

ADDED 10:58 PM: Here’s the full PowerPoint that will be presented at tomorrow’s School Board committee meeting (thanks to the Seattle Schools Community Forum website for a link that works!) – it includes lots of information that will be of interest to families in programs including Advanced Learning, Special Education, and English Language Learning, but the only West Seattle specifics of note are mentioned in the e-mail above – the recommendations for K-5 STEM to move into Schmitz Park, and for Fairmount Park to open as a neighborhood school.

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Debbie Taylor:

Friends of Sealth will be hosting an all-school reunion Saturday, July 13, 2013, from 2 pm – 5 pm at Chief Sealth International High School. All alumni and alumni staff are invited to attend. Our event begins in the Commons (near the main office) and our schedule will include a short program, walking tours of the campus, and an opportunity to connect with classmates. Please visit our website friendsofsealth.org or “like” Friends of Sealth on Facebook.

(In case you missed the earlier announcement, WSHS has an all-school reunion ahead too – June 7th.)

With just weeks to go until they move on from Denny International Middle School, headed for high school, dozens of young poets have just put on quite a show. Denny principal Jeff Clark shares photos from last night’s Eighth-Grade Poetry Slam – and this report:

The third annual Eighth-Grade Poetry Slam was a huge success at Denny International Middle School! The event was skillfully emceed by 8th grader Isiah Davis, who introduced nearly 50 Denny Poets. Their words were beautiful, thoughtful, and provoking. Congratulations to our outstanding scholars and their amazing teachers — the power of poetry is alive at Denny International!

One of those teachers, Colin Slingsby, shares his view too, including an observation about a tragedy that touched the 2012-2013 eighth-grade class:

The quality of the thought, writing, and emotion that students invested into their work came through last night as they presented. Many attendees mentioned how moved, touched, and inspired they were by the poetry shared by our 8th grade students.

This year’s 8th grade class was particularly challenged this year by the hardship of losing a classmate and friend Lucie Hernandez, and there were some particularly poignant tributes to Lucie written for this year’s Denny Poetry Slam. The Denny staff and 8th grade Literacy teachers are extremely proud of our students for their bravery and courage in sharing their stories and emotions so powerfully at yesterday’s poetry slam.

You might recall that Lucie was one of two teenagers killed in a deadly in South Park last November; this WSB report from last fall included a tribute her schoolmates created.

After one year without it, it appears the one-week “mid-winter break” is returning to Seattle Public Schools next year. This year, what had been the “mid-winter break” week was bookended by three-day weekends. But a full week is back in the district’s announcement today of key dates for next year’s calendar – read on for the announcement published on the district website:

Read More

Every graduating senior at West Seattle High School has to make a 10-minute oral presentation about the research for their senior project. And those presentations all need judges – with 58 spots remaining as of this afternoon. You can even sign up for two days, over the course of May 28, 29, 30, 31, and June 3 and 4, with presentations between 3 and 5 pm each day. “The latest trend in judging has been to listen with a friend or two and then go out for a nice supper afterwards. Think about it!” says teacher Rebecka McKinney – e-mail her if you might be able to help, ramckinney@seattleschools.org.

(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
The alert we received on Monday warned us not to tip off Sanislo Elementary librarian Craig Seasholes (right) that CenturyLink rep Sue Anderson (left) would be visiting the school with a surprise for him – a big $5,000 check as part of the CL/Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Teachers & Technology grant program. He’s one of 22 teachers to get one of the grants this year, and we’re told it’ll go toward iPads with educational apps and e-books. (Big spring for Mr. Seasholes and the Sanislo Library – you’ll recall they hosted Caroline Kennedy last month.)

(May 8th WSB photo)
Big followup from West Seattle High School teacher Danielle Henry, two weeks after the “Cutting Edge” cooking competition came to campus – the WSHS winner is a national finalist!

Sarah Rosenthal is gearing up to take a trip to compete for the ultimate title of Top Teen Chef! We just got off the phone with the National Restaurant Association, and found out that Sarah was selected as one of the top three students in the entire U.S. (out of 63 students and 21 schools) to compete for the title and the opportunity to cook for the President and Vice-President at the White House. They announced her big win at the National Restaurant Association Conference this past weekend. I am so proud of Sarah and can’t wait to see her compete in the next round!!