During tonight’s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha finale, at the south edge of the row of sponsor/community group tables bordering the lawn, Sean Reynolds was there on a mission: To talk with anyone interested in Phase 3 of the Lafayette Elementary Playground Improvement Project, for which volunteers – who in previous rounds have engaged in various forms of fundraising – are seeking a city grant. This time, it’s the area between the school building’s west side and the playground – with three concepts in play right now. Sean shared the PDFs you can open to take a closer look at each concept:

Concept A
Concept B
Concept C

Each weaves aspects of environmental learning with improvements to reduce the impermeable area of the schoolyard. If you haven’t already commented on them, there’s one more chance next week:

Master Plan presentation meeting – Thursday, September 6th, 7:00 PM Lafayette Elementary
This meeting will be a presentation to the community of the updated Lafayette Elementary School Phase III Master Plan to be submitted to the city in an attempt to win funding through the City of Seattle Parks & Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund. This will be the final round of feedback to incorporate into the materials to be submitted with the application on September 17th.

It’s been almost exactly a year, by the way, since Phase 2 was dedicated just before the start of school last year.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand; click this image for larger view)
Roxhill Elementary‘s teachers, staff, City Year (red shirts) reps, and new principal Sahnica Washington are on campus today getting ready for next Wednesday’s start of the new school year – and they have extra reason to smile because of what you see in the foreground of this photo:

That’s part of the $1,000 worth of school supplies presented today by the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, which has “adopted” Roxhill this year, after helping other schools in the past.

(From left, SPOG’s Deb Nicholson and Randy Robinson, Roxhill principal Sahnica Washington, SPOG’s Ed Harris, Rich O’Neill, Kevin Stuckey)
Sgt. Rich O’Neill, guild president, says it’s important for police to build relationships with youth long before they have the chance to get in trouble – to let kids know they want to be a friend, not “the person who’s out to get you.” (Although he joked that he hoped the staff didn’t recognize two of the officers who helped with the presentation, since they do Traffic Enforcement out on Roxbury, among other places!) The guild is the union for more than 1,200 SPD officers and sergeants. (Update: Video of today’s presentation:)

P.S. Roxhill is having its back-to-school barbecue 4:30-6:30 today.

Just got word from Seattle Public Schools about the rounds that new Superintendent José Banda plans for the first day of school on Wednesday; the district says he will start the day at West Seattle’s brand-new K-5 STEM at Boren, 9 am-10 am, before heading out to schools elsewhere in the city. (June photo by Ilona Berzups Photography)

The 300-plus ninth graders entering Chief Sealth International High School will have the campus all to themselves for the first half of the first day of school a week from tomorrow – well, except for their 70 or so mentors. Those students are who you see in our photos – all juniors or seniors, who will be back on campus today for their second day of training for the mentoring program known as Link Crew, which Sealth is using this year for the first time.

Last year, we covered Link Crew’s West Seattle High School debut; this year, it’s debuting at Sealth with the help of a grant the school obtained. That included covering the costs of training for the faculty who are in turn training the Link Crew mentors, who activities coordinator Sam Reed explains were chosen from about 120 applicants. This week, they’re spending two days practicing the sort of team-building exercises they’ll go through next week with the incoming Class of 2016:

As Reed put it, these students have been leading by example – and now, they will be leading by coaching. We talked with the Sealth senior who is serving as the group’s president, Frank Wenn (right). He told WSB that he applied to “help out” and to be “more involved” with what’s going on at school (not that he was exactly disengaged previously, as a football player [right tackle], baseball-team member, and International Baccalaureate program student). What message will he have for the freshmen next week? we asked. Frank said he’ll tell them not to panic about suddenly being in high school: “You’re not going to feel isolated. Everyone here is so friendly – it’s easy to make friends.” Frank and his dozens of fellow Link Crew mentors are working with five faculty members – along with Reed, they are Dean of Students Charlene Grisim, social worker Carrie Syvertsen, and teachers Kim Dinh and Luke Azinger. And even after that all-important first day of school on September 5th, the mentors will be touchstones for the freshmen throughout the year; maybe, a few years later, some of them will even sign up to be Link Crew leaders themselves.

West Seattle’s newest public school is one of the first to have its “back-to-school bash” – thanks to Robin and Kathleen for the info on today’s event for families assigned to the brand-new K-5 STEM at Boren:

Sunday, August 26th from 5 pm – 9 pm

WHERE: Lincoln Park Shelter 1 & picnic tables 1-22 are reserved
South parking lot by the zip line playground

WHAT: Food, friends and fun including a water balloon toss, red rover, and feel free to bring things to play with (footballs, soccer balls, bubbles)

Please bring a potluck food to share and drinks, plates and utensils for just your family! If you can donate – PLEASE bring a uniform item (shirt / pants / shorts / skirt) to the back-to-school-bash. We will have a donation box there – and would love to have inventory for families before school starts!

1st day of school for Seattle Public Schools is one week from Wednesday, September 5th.

More preparation today for the new school year that starts on September 5th, less than two weeks away: Chief Sealth International High School‘s new portable classrooms are being moved into place on the west edge of the campus. On Wednesday afternoon, we photographed the two that had just arrived (above); today, the other two are moving in.

As reported here in June, they will house 9th-grade language-arts and history classes, according to Sealth principal Chris Kinsey. He announced in June that 2012-2013 enrollment was projected to be more than 1,300, about 100 beyond last year, which was already above capacity (and according to a Seattle Public Schools report published this week, 115 students are on its waiting list [total for all grades/programs]).

Seattle Public Schools‘ 2012-2013 school year begins exactly two weeks from today. As the year gets going, new Superintendent José Banda plans “regional meetings” to meet families and commnity members – and he is offering in-person meetings one day a month, too. Details on both, ahead:Read More

West Seattle’s smallest public high school has a new home. You may recall that Middle College High School lost its longtime home at South Seattle Community College (here’s our 6/13 report), which says it needs the space; then Seattle Public Schools planned to co-house it at Boren with K-5 STEM (reported 6/15), but neither school community welcomed that, and a new solution was sought (with confirmation 8/6 that MCHS would definitely not be at Boren). Just received from SPS:

Dear South Seattle Middle College and K-5 STEM at Boren families:

As you know, our South Seattle Middle College program lost its classroom space at South Seattle Community College for the 2012-13 school year and we were planning to co-locate the program on the K-5 STEM at Boren campus.

I’m pleased to announce that we have secured classrooms for South Seattle Middle College at the High Point Center Building located at 6400 Sylvan Way SW in West Seattle. As a result, the Middle College and K-5 Stem programs will remain on separate campuses.

The space at the High Point Center is well-suited for our small Middle College Program and is conveniently located with easy bus line access for our high school students.

We appreciate the feedback from our families, and we worked very closely with the Middle College Principal, Cindy Nash, as we developed a solution we believe will benefit both our Middle College and K-STEM families.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the start of the 2012-13 school year.

Sincerely,

Carmela Dellino
Executive Director of Schools, Southwest Region
Seattle Public Schools

Roxhill Elementary‘s new principal has been announced, just three weeks after word that Carmela Dellino would move up to become Seattle Public Schools‘ new executive director of West Seattle schools. Here’s the letter from Superintendent José Banda:

Dear Roxhill Elementary community,

I am excited today to announce the appointment of Sahnica Washington as your new principal.

Ms. Washington has been with Seattle Public Schools since 1998, and she comes to Roxhill after serving as a STAR mentor for the past four years. She is deeply committed to helping all students excel by encouraging them to work to their highest potential. She will be a great fit for Roxhill Elementary community.

Sahnica Washington is familiar to many Roxhill families from her time as principal intern in the 2010-2011 school year. She is excited to return as principal and looks forward to continuing to work with the students, families and staff at Roxhill.

Read More

West Seattle’s smallest public high school, Middle College HS, will not be sharing the Boren Building campus in Delridge with the new K-5 STEM elementary school after all – another location for MCHS has been found instead. That’s according to an announcement by West Seattle’s school-board rep Marty McLaren, confirmed by Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Teresa Wippel, though both say the new location cannot be publicly disclosed yet.

Read More

Two big headlines in the news shared by Community School of West Seattle founder/director Sarah Airhart: Starting in fall of next year – not this fall – her school will focus on what it considers its sweet spot. And two of its teachers, Terry Garrido and Michelle Taylor (shown above with Sarah at center) are venturing out to form a new independent school. Here’s how Sarah tells the story:

The Community School of West Seattle (CSWS) has been working on creating its Strategic Plan for the next 3 years.

CSWS currently has 3 preschool classrooms for 3 to 5 year olds and 1 classroom for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade.

The preschool program has grown over the years and most recently participated in the WA State pilot study of the new Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). CSWS was instrumental in getting the language of an emergent and project approach curriculum imbedded as an ‘approved’ curriculum model.

And during the pilot process we received some of the highest ratings in the country on the CLASS assessment. The CLASS looks at what we believe is one of the most critical components of any program – teacher/child interaction. The WA State Department of Early Learning (DEL) recently received $60 million to implement the QRIS (now called Early Achievers) across the State and CSWS is among the first programs to participate. You can read all about Early Achievers and the Race to the Top grant here.

(We) have also been recognized by DEL as an Early Achievers Peer Mentor. This opportunity is offered to only 14 programs in King County who served in the pilot study. The Peer Mentor’s role is to provide advice and support to other Early learning programs who choose to go through the rating process.

Part of the Strategic Planning process was to really look at our strengths and passions.

Read More

(WSB photo from July 5th)
Three weeks ago, on the day after the 4th of July, we followed up a tip about that slide on the Sanislo Elementary playground, rendered unusable because someone had blown up something right in the middle of it. We’ve been checking with Seattle Public Schools and the Sanislo PTA since then, to find out what would be done about it. First, we learned that the district had removed the blown-up slide, for safety’s sake; whether it would be replaced wasn’t clear – but now, Lynette Jeung from the PTA tells us they have good news:

(Thursday) afternoon, the PTA received an email from our principal, Ernie Seevers, who shared with us that the “district metal shop will fabricate a new slide for us at no cost to the school.” Needless to say, we were thrilled to hear this news! We don’t know yet when the slide would be completed. Of course, we’d love for it to be completed in time for the start of the new school year. That is the next bit of info to find out, but certainly this news was very welcome.

Lynette says they appreciate the community’s support – for a while there, it looked like they might have to consider fundraising to replace the slide, but now it looks like that won’t be necessary.

They have paint, brushes, shovels, wheelbarrows, even a DJ at this morning’s Roxhill Elementary makeover work party featuring hundreds of volunteers from T-Mobile. And Roxhill’s outgoing principal, the district’s new Executive Director of Schools for this region, Carmela Dellino, is there too:

Back in May, Dellino led a meeting at which the school community talked about the campus’s physical challenges – poorly maintained, dilapidated buildings, portables with safety and noise problems – and while this won’t solve them all, it’ll certainly help:

The play-equipment area and nearby garden are getting some TLC too:

Work is going on indoors as well as outdoors:

T-Mobile’s “Huddle Up” community-outreach/employee-volunteerism program is behind all this, and a news release says this is one of 10 “extreme makeovers” the program’s tackling this year, in addition to more than 60 already complete around the country. In addition to painting, cleanup, and playground/garden work (among other things happening there right now), the volunteers’ efforts also will result in “a customized afterschool space stocked with furniture, school supplies, books, and games” to be dubbed the T-Mobile Huddle Up Zone.

Today we welcome WSB’s newest sponsor, The Cove School. Here’s what they want you to know:

Living an interesting, fun-filled, opportunity-stuffed life. Friendly + flexible. Curious + engaged. Following a path that makes them thrilled-to-the-tips-of-their-toes happy. Don’t we all want that life for our kids?

Well, we here at The Cove School sure want that for our kids – both now and when they’re adults. Can a preschool do all that? Ignite a life of mindfulness, creativity, and self-determined passion? We think so. Here’s why – and how – we do it:

We believe every child has a unique contribution to make to the world – and finding that contribution leads to a joyful + successful + complete life. We fill your kids with the desire to do something and the belief that they can. So we set about creating a place that would help our little ones do just that.

To do that, The Cove School combines a variety of philosophies and educational approaches. We focus on social + emotional learning and the mindfulness at our core. Of course (of course!) our students learn numbers, letters, reading, and math. But more importantly, they learn that positive thought and mindfulness is a way of being – not a solution to a problem.

Our preschool ranges from ages 2-6; preschool, pre-K, and junior kindergarten. We show our students the importance of purpose and intent, innovation and creativity. Together, we build a foundation of flexible thinking and understanding different perspectives.

We work with you and your child to instill a love of learning and a knowledge that life is what you make it. In fact, we discourage use of the word can’t at our school. Instead, we say “How can I?” That opens a world of possibilities.

Help your child live a totally fulfilled life. Pop in for a visit or drop us a line to arrange a tour – contact information is at www.thecoveschool.com. We can’t wait to meet you!

We thank The Cove School for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

FIRST REPORT, 11:56 AM: Just forwarded to us:

Dear Roxhill Elementary School families:

It is with deeply mixed emotions that I am writing to let you know I have decided to accept the position of Executive Director of Schools for Seattle Public Schools’ Southwest Region. I will be replacing Aurora Lora, who has taken a job in Texas.

My years at Roxhill have been filled with incredible joy. Roxhill is a vibrant, positive school that celebrates our diverse community and is committed to every student’s success. The staff is truly the best group of educators with whom I have ever had the honor of working.  I am proud and grateful to have been the principal of Roxhill.  I look forward to watching the continued progress of our students and celebrating the many successes that I am confident lie ahead.

I am also very excited about this new opportunity to lead our principals and staff in service to families in the Southwest Region, which includes Roxhill. While I will miss the opportunity to interact with you on a daily basis, I will be in Roxhill on a regular basis with your new principal. As one of the six regional Executive Directors of Schools, I will support principals’ instructional leadership in order to increase student achievement and close opportunity gaps. This includes using data to monitor school progress, coordinating professional development, one-on-one coaching, principal evaluations and conducting frequent learning walks through school buildings.

Please be assured that my highest immediate priority in the next few weeks is to work with Roxhill staff and parents to select the next leader for our school. Please do not hesitate to contact me to share the qualities and characteristics you would like to see in your next principal. You can reach me at cddellino@seattleschools.org.

You will be able to meet your new principal at the Welcome Back BBQ on Thursday, Aug. 30 from 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. at Roxhill. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Sincerely,

Carmela Dellino, Principal
Roxhill Elementary School

ADDED 1:03 PM: The district has since sent a news release announcing Dellino’s appointment, as well as an executive director for another region of the district, in a letter from new Superintendent José Banda – read it ahead:Read More

(Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
South Seattle Community College‘s hangar at Boeing Field was the setting this afternoon for an education-and-jobs roundtable featuring visiting Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Aviation Maintenance Technology students work and learn at the hangar, making it the perfect setting for roundtable’s topic: “Community Colleges and Jobs” – one that’s close to Dr. Biden’s heart, since she is a community-college teacher and advocate (here’s her bio). Among the participants, Boeing employee and graduate Jason DeBuys (next to Dr. Biden, center right) was among those who took a turn with the mike:

While the discussion proceeded, Dr. Biden’s husband, Vice President Joe Biden, was a few miles north at the Westin Hotel downtown, helping raise campaign cash for U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, who herself visited SSCC’s West Seattle campus last October (with fellow U.S. Sen. Patty Murray) to announce a job-training program (WSB coverage here).

At right in that photo is Vatrone Vann from Vaupell, a commercial-aerospace supplier (also listed in the program as representing corporate training at North Seattle Community College). More from today’s event, ahead:Read More