West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
(Photo courtesy Heidi Van Brost)
Salmon eggs have arrived at eleven local schools that will each raise 200 fish for Fauntleroy Creek, according to creek steward Judy Pickens. She and Phil Sweetland made the deliveries after getting the eggs from the state’s Soos Creek Hatchery. She says they reassured teachers that the “Salmon in the Classroom” program will continue, though it was cut from the state budget last month, because planning is under way to keep it going through “local resources.” In the photo above, first- and fifth-grade students, with teacher Christine Marshall (left), are shown putting eggs into the aquarium at Pathfinder K-8. The salmon-raising process takes four months, during which, Judy says, “The students will monitor water temperature and chemistry, feed their fish, and keep the tank clean as they learn about salmon habitat and the role of this iconic fish in regional culture, commerce, and environment.”
Following up on last night’s board meeting, with introduction of next year’s transition plan for the ongoing New Student Assignment Plan, Seattle Public Schools offered news media a chance to talk today with one of the district’s top managers, Dr. Tracy Libros. We participated by phone and asked, for starters, a followup question (here) posed in WSB comments on our school-board-preview story from last night (here).
Answer, according to Dr. Libros: No further West Seattle attendance-boundary changes are proposed at this point for next year. But tomorrow is the deadline for school board members to propose amendments – so if there’s anything coming in at the 11th hour, we’ll know by the start of next week; they would be considered when the plan comes up for a final vote on January 19th.
Among the other points of interest was a little more discussion of the fact that one West Seattle elementary school will be designated as an “international” school, to complete the “pathway” that currently goes from Concord International Elementary (in South Park but considered part of the West Seattle service area) to Denny International Middle School to Chief Sealth International High School. Which West Seattle elementary will it be? Dr. Libros says it hasn’t been designated yet. After the jump: What about the crowding at West Seattle’s northern elementaries? Read More
Not only is next Thursday night — one week from tonight — the monthly West Seattle Art Walk, it’s also a chance to celebrate student art at West Seattle High School.
Fine arts teacher Martha Tonkin says the WSHS Winter Art Expo is set for 4-8 pm next Thursday in the school library:
We will have 200 Drawing & Painting/Ceramics students exhibiting their artwork and ceramic pieces in a large show, judged by 10 professional artists/art instructors. Music, food, a beautiful setting, and a feeling of “celebrating the arts” makes this a fun event to drop in on, as the teen artists are available to speak about their work, similar to an art opening in a gallery setting.
Meantime, another set of student artists showed their work last month. 10 professional photographers judged the work of 60 high-school students at the WSHS Photo Expo in December. Among them, Highland Park’s Dina Lydia Johnson, who also put together a Flickr gallery with more than 60 photos of participants and their work. Here’s one of the winners:
That’s Zaya Wylde-Page, whose work was honored as “most professional.” Next on the winner list shared by the school, Francisco Morseletto, for “most ethereal”:
The rest of the winner list, and the judges and coordinators, after the jump:Read More
The draft transition plan for the second year of Seattle Public Schools‘ new Student Assignment Plan comes before the School Board tonight. (If you’re not attending, you can watch it live right now on cable channel 26.) Reviewing the draft plan today, we noticed it does not include a possible change previously discussed to address West Seattle’s challenges – possible “dual feeder” schools to balance out the two major public high schools’ populations. We checked with West Seattle’s school board rep Steve Sundquist, who confirmed that’s not currently under consideration. We asked him about his view of key points of interest for West Seattle families – read on:Read More
Seattle Public Schools is in the midst of cleaning up a particularly prolific outbreak of tagging on the boarded-up ex-Boren Junior High School building (5950 Delridge Way), vacant after two years of serving as interim home to Chief Sealth International High School. Some had worried the building would become especially attractive to spray-paint vandals once boards went up over the Boren windows three months ago (WSB coverage here). Delridge-area advocate Pete Spalding noticed the many tags on the building over the holiday weekend and called it to the district’s attention. We took a partial “before” photo of just one of the many tagged areas (tags mostly blurred, as per our editorial policy) before it was covered up on Monday:
One issue that arose before the cleanup: If you see something like this — or any other maintenance problem/damage at a vacant school building, where neighbors will likely be the first to notice – how do you report it? ? Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Tom Redman provides this phone number: 206-252-0550. (He also says that the initial covering-over of the tagging vandalism was just the first phase; the boards will be painted over, too.)
A big game at a big venue is ahead for the Chief Sealth International High School boys’ varsity basketball team: They’re playing at the University of Washington‘s Hec Ed Pavilion on the second day of the King Holiday Hoopfest, Monday, January 17th. Sealth is just starting to get the word out; that day is the officially observed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday, and schools are closed. The Sealth boys will play Bellevue High School at 11 am. You can buy tickets – with proceeds going to two nonprofits – by going here, where you’ll also find the full schedule of 11 Hoopfest games over two days.
With less than one month left to reach its latest fundraising goal – required for a city matching grant – the playground-improvement project at West Seattle’s most populous elementary school is in a new phase: Lafayette Elementary has made it into the latest monthly Pepsi Refresh grant competition. In order to have a chance at one of this month’s $50,000 grants, they need a lot of votes between now and January 31st, and you can vote daily. There are two ways to vote: Online, by going here (which requires registration), or texting, which doesn’t: Text 105273 to Pepsi (73774).
For background on the project – here’s our story from November about the push to match the $100,000 city grant by the end of this month, or lose it. We checked in this morning with Deborah Hazlegrove, one of the project co-chairs, who says the fundraising total is getting close to the goal, but it’s still coming down to the January 31st wire. The project’s “Play It Forward” website has more information about other ways they’re raising money, including a current anonymous offer to match all cash up to $5,000 donated between now and January 15th.
1:47 PM: As first reported here this morning, a winter-break water break left West Seattle’s Sanislo Elementary School with a big problem to deal with today – so big, they wound up canceling school for the day. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli has just been to Sanislo for a look at the problem and the cleanup – and principal Ernie Seevers told him about the heroes – the teachers who are spending this day managing an unexpected cleanup:
That’s Marilyn Tsuboi, one of two teachers, along with Saadia Ayoubi, in a big classroom used by 1st and 2nd graders. She told Christopher she’s heartbroken that books she had collected over the years were water-logged. But crews have been working to pack up everything that got wet:
Christopher says student desks are being moved to a large arts space that will serve as a temporary classroom for students while the damaged room is repaired.
One concern is that the damaged room’s wallboard seems to have wicked up some water. That means carpeting will have to be pulled out and everything will have to be dry before new flooring can be put down so students can move back into the room; no word yet how long that will take.
Principal Seevers said the school custodian – usually the first person who arrives to warm up the school before students and staff show up – discovered the damage. The district is hoping to reopen Sanislo tomorrow, but we’re still awaiting official word. 2:07 PM UPDATE: Just got that official word – district spokesperson Tom Redman says the school will reopen tomorrow, normal schedule, but the two classes displaced by water damage will meet temporarily in the aforementioned arts room.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:19 AM: Thanks to Lori for the tip via Facebook: Sanislo Elementary is running three hours late today because of a pipe problem. Lori said she arrived at the school and saw a note that they’re not opening till 12:20 pm; we called the office and they confirm the three-hour delay.
8:45 AM UPDATE: Sanislo has now closed for the day, according to multiple sources, because of the mechanical problem.
9:36 AM UPDATE: Just talked to Tom Redman with Seattle Public Schools. He says a few rooms at Sanislo have water trouble from the broken pipe; it’s being cleaned up now and they will make the decision this afternoon whether they’re able to reopen tomorrow.
Though school’s out till the New Year, you can still send e-mail or leave a message to help with this – WSB’ers have answered the call before:
The marketing teacher at West Seattle High School could use your help.
In January, 30 marketing students from West Seattle High School will go to the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue to compete in marketing competitions. We need judges to judge the marketing presentations for students from all around the Puget Sound Area at the Meydenbauer Center on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011, from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. If you have any business experience or enjoy helping out students we could use judges to watch and score the student marketing presentations.
Please contact Michelle Sloan, Marketing Teacher, West Seattle High School, masloan@seattleschools.org, 206-252-8861.
Two nights after West Seattle High School‘s basketball teams faced Chief Sealth International High School, they played the peninsula’s other major high school tonight, Seattle Lutheran High School. WSHS won both varsity games – 30-25 was the girls’ score, 61-30 was the boys’ score. We’ll add toplines later.
When Banda Vagos took the stage at Denny International Middle School last night toward the end of Denny’s first-ever Posada Navideña holiday celebration, teacher Roxana Amaral had extra reasons to be proud. Not only did she help organize the Posada, with lots and lots of volunteers also part of hte effort, she explained regarding the band: “That’s my family.” Doubtless there were some among the estimated 150 attendees who hadn’t heard the rollicking banda style of Mexican music before – and that would be part of the event’s success, according to Denny principal Jeff Clark, seen here with some of the many volunteers and organizers:
Clark stressed, talking with us during the three-hour celebration, that it was more of what an “international” school is about – celebrating a culture’s rich traditions, with participants of many cultures. One big hit, literally, was the piñata-whacking right after the potluck dinner:
To avoid too much of a crazy scramble once the piñata was finally open, candy was handed out in a somewhat-more-orderly fashion. Raffle prizes were announced from the stage, by Amaral and young helpers:
(Amaral leads Proyecto Saber (explained here) at Denny.) In addition to the prizes, food, labor, and entertainment for the night also were donated, all to make it a more successful fundraiser for the Denny PTSA. That entertainment, incidentally, included mariachi music from Mariachi Seattle Azteca as well as the aforementioned banda group:
While we didn’t get there early enough for a look at the many traditional Mexican dishes brought for the potluck, the desserts remained in abundance:
Organizers hope the Posada will become an annual tradition for Denny – and if they do indeed have it again next year, they’ll be in the school’s brand-new building, getting close to completion on the Chief Sealth International High School campus across the street – with move-in scheduled immediately after this school year ends, so that, according to principal Clark, summer programs can be held in the new building and many members of the Denny community will be quite well acclimated to it by the time next school year starts in September 2011.
Story and photos by Ellen Cedergreen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
West Seattle High School head girls-basketball coach Sonya Elliott says the team needed a lot of work when she took over this year: The locker rooms were a mess, morale was way down, team enrollment was at a minimum, and the team had won only 3 games last year. In addition, there was a budget of just $4 to work with. This year, the players had to purchase their uniform shirts themselves.
Coach Elliott is working on a new approach: the girls have study hall three times a week (because discipline in the classroom is just as important as on the court), and the team is working hard on the core fundamentals of the game with a very disciplined approach. Coach says: “When they do a drill and go down and touch the line, they have to actually touch that line.”
Though this is her first year at WSHS, Coach Elliott is no rookie. She’s been in West Seattle for 16 years and has spent a good portion of that time coaching and playing at community centers and in recreational leagues. As a result, she understands the game from every perspective.
When she heard that Seattle Storm coach Brian Agler – the WNBA’s “Head Coach of the Year” – would be willing to give her team a pep talk, she jumped at the chance. And so did the team. During this afternoon’s visit, Coach Agler had the girls sit according to class, with the seniors to the front of the line.
Coach Agler enlisted the seniors to lead the other girls. and to help implement the steps in a three=point plan he laid out for success: Work ethic, attitude, and togetherness. One of the main tenets of the plan is “no drama,” because according to Coach Agler, “drama will kill a girls-basketball team.”
Elaborating on how to accomplish the plan, Coach Agler repeatedly referred to Storm veterans Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird and to their high levels of dedication and discipline. He said that their talent only got them so far and credited their high level of dedication and focused training to improving their games. Focus was a central theme in Coach Agler’s talk. “These are, believe it or not, some of the best years of your life. Don’t waste a day,” he told the team. “Whatever your position, you ought to be as good as you can and accomplish as much as you can.” He sad that winning was great but that doing their absolute best was the bottom line.
(Agler’s in the back row, 3rd from right, with Elliott next to him)
After the talk, Coach Adler handed out FIT T-shirts for the girls and told them he’d be tracking them. He also informed the team, to heavy cheering, that they would be getting tickets to a Storm game in the coming season. By the time he left, the excitement in the air was palpable.
The team has already made some major improvements this year, with a 2-1 record so far this season. Their next game is Saturday night at WSHS at 5:15 against Seattle Lutheran. Their game schedule is here:
Looking for another way to support the WSHS girls? Coach Elliott is donating 50% of all proceeds of sales from her inspirational product line “peacelovebasketball” to the team.
We mentioned earlier that local students are out early today. In at least one case, one school in West Seattle had no classes at all – Seattle Lutheran High School, whose students are out volunteering. The photos are courtesy Bil Hood, who explains:
The Saints are hitting the streets today for the culmination of the Seattle Lutheran Month of Giving.
The month started with a week-long food drive for the West Seattle Food Bank. That was followed by a week of change-giving to buy gifts for kids who would otherwise not get any. This week, toys and clothes were collected for the Salvation Army. At tonight’s 3-on-3 Charity Basketball game, the students at Seattle Lutheran should reach $5,000 and 1000 hours in giving this month.
Today, staff and students have fanned out across the community to use their last day before Christmas break to give. Saints can be seen this Giving Day cleaning at Alki and traffic circles in the neighborhood.
Students are knitting scarves and hats for donations. Groups are making cards and hand-crafted gifts for shut-ins. They are also helping at other local schools and community centers who have needs. It is our way to say thank you for your many years of support, and have a blessed Christmas, West Seattle.
This last photo shows the blessing of handmade scarves headed for a women’s shelter:
We have giving opportunities listed on the West Seattle Holidays page, if you’re still looking for someplace or someone to help.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
As the 2010 portion of the 2010-2011 school year closes out on this day before winter break, it is time for many to reflect on how the year’s gone so far.
Among those whose roles in local schools doubtless will send them into the break with much to think about: Kristen Okabayashi, the new principal at West Seattle’s Hope Lutheran School, the first school she is leading as principal.
Though she is new to that job, and role, she is not new to West Seattle – she is a 10-year resident. She had been working at Concordia Lutheran in North Seattle while studying for her masters’ degree – and the Hope job opened up just as she had completed those studies. Now she is the school’s principal, as well as one of its parents, with four sons attending hope – a seventh-grader, fifth-grader, and twin second-graders.
That gives her extra insight into one focus this fall has been to help build relationships between the school and its students’ families. And she has been closely reviewing the Hope Lutheran curriculum: ” … making sure we meet all the state standards, reviewing whether we have the right curriculum, do we need to switch something we offer?”
Language arts, for example, is one area that will be changed schoolwide.
Here’s some music for your morning: Video/photojournalist Cliff DesPeaux produced 16 minutes of highlights from several of the student groups — vocal and instrumental — who rocked the Chief Sealth International High School auditorium during the music program‘s Winter Concert last night.
Big night for high-school basketball on the peninsula: West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School teams are playing at WSHS.
The girls’ varsity game was close – the home team beat Sealth, 41-39. (added) West Seattle spent the fourth quarter erasing Sealth’s lead, tying the game with a minute to go and taking the 41-39 win after the Wildcats’ Hailey Hage made the winning basket with only 10 seconds to go. Sealth played a more physical game which had put them out in front by as much as nine points early in the third quarter, but their more-aggressive style put them in foul trouble in the fourth quarter, which allowed West Seattle to pull close and finally win the game. Hage was West Seattle’s leading scorer with 15 points. Sealth’s Justine Decker had 17 points and broke up what had been a tie game for most of the first half by drawing back-to-back shooting fouls and following that up with a basket a minute later.
9:55 PM UPDATE: Boys’ varsity final – Sealth 70, WSHS 42. While the West Seattle boys’ varsity started strong, they were unable to keep up with Sealth. The game’s leading scorer was Sealth’s Keon Lewis with 22 points. His six-point run at the start of the third quarter pushed Sealth into a double digit lead, which they held until the end of the game.
The West Seattle teams play Seattle Lutheran High School on Saturday.
Thanks to Westside School (WSB sponsor) for sharing photos of a big event today – for the fourth consecutive year, Westside kindergarteners hosted the holiday toy drive for Toys for Tots, and their toys/books/bikes/pillows collection was bigger than ever! Above, the proud kindergarteners; the picture below was taken a few hours later as firefighters from the new, nearby Station 37 received the donated toys:
If you can give toys – a number of drives continue – at Twilight Artist Collective in The Junction, they’re collecting for foster kids via Treehouse; at every West Seattle community center (“like” them all together on Facebook!) they’ve got a drive under way; and of course, there are your local firehouses. More giving opportunities on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page.
Not only was it the perfect holiday field trip – it was the first field trip ever, we’re told, for the Holy Rosary preschool class taught by Tauna Evans and Sara Velling. As you’ll notice in the background, the kids were headed for Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) for hot chocolate after caroling; Hotwire is just one short block from HR. Thanks to Shannon for sharing the photo.
HOLIDAY REMINDER: Don’t miss this weekend’s highlights on the West Seattle Holidays page – including Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s tree-lighting coming up at 7 tonight (35th/Myrtle) – and the Christmas Ship comes to West Seattle for three stops tomorrow (Saturday) night plus a fourth on Monday night.
Story, photos, and video by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
27 groups and 85 students, including some Sealth alumni and a few students from other schools, were represented last night at Chief Sealth International High School‘s 4th annual Multicultural Night. The newly renovated school’s Galleria and Commons had throngs of students, families and neighbors milling through tables to learn more about the school’s clubs and programs, as well as classes offered at Chief Sealth.
The Chief Sealth PTSA held a raffle throughout the evening, with winners announced at the evenings stage performances. Community-donated prizes including certificates for Proletariat Pizza and Snap Fitness, as well as an iPod shuffle, back packs and the enormous food basket shown atop this story, filled with delectables:
Nan Johnson, woodshop-class instructor , explained that woodshop students sell their craftwork from their classes and even honor requests for customized engraving on items including, puzzles, pens and ornaments:
The pens shown above are made by the students on lathes, using imported woods such as zebra wood as well as colorful acrylics. The pens sell for $15/$20 each and, like other woodshop products, can be purchased through Ms. Johnson (ncjohnson@seattleschools.gov). Johnson says that her courses also use donated leftover construction materials which are then used to teach students construction and carpentry skills rather than going to the landfill. Inquiries for donations or pricing can be made to Ms. Johnson.
Also showcased last night: Global Visionaries, with students currently raising money for a two-week spring trip; the film festival we covered last week also was related to the program. Twelve Sealth students will be traveling in April and June with Sealth teacher Noah Zeichner to Guatemala,
In Guatemala, they will spend time on a coffee plantation among other experiences, learning about global environmental-justice issues. Meantime, a cheering crowd watched stage performances last night, including the Ukulele Club, Poetry Club, Filipino Club, Latino Dance Club, Hip Hop Club, and in this next clip, the Vietnamese/Cambo Club:
And dancing was very well-represented by talented students in the Polynesian Club and the Break Dance Club:
P.S. It’s school-tour season, and Sealth’s tours are listed on the school homepage.
Thanks to Curtis for the tip from last night’s West Seattle High School 2010 football banquet: Head football coach Davis Lura announced he’s leaving after four seasons. Having listened to what he described as an emotional speech, Curtis said, “Despite what was a very difficult season, it is very clear that Coach Lura cares about the young men on his team very much.” We checked today with WSHS athletic director George Foster, who confirmed Coach Lura’s departure, saying he is pursuing coaching opportunities in Ballard, where he teaches. No replacement for the Wildcats yet – the interview process may take a while.
Gatewood Elementary students have just gathered a quarter-ton of pennies — but that’s only half their charitable work. Teacher Darren Radu, who also shared the photo, explains:
Over the past 4 weeks, kids from all classrooms worked together to bring in close to 500 pounds of pennies (and other coins) as part of the 2010 Penny Harvest. The bags of coins were shipped off to the local Penny Harvest offices last Thursday.
The next steps for the kids (in the New Year) will be to convene a Philanthropy Roundtable, where students from each grade will come together to research organizations working for justice in the community, country, and world, and determine which organizations are in most need of support. The Philanthropy Roundtable will then allocate grant funds from the pennies raised to these organizations. One of the Roundtable’s most important criteria is ‘leverage per dollar’ – the Philanthropists use their research to allocate funds in a way that works most effectively to make a positive difference in the world. Last year, Gatewood students awarded Penny Harvest grants to PAWS, Haiti Relief, the Mockingbird Society, and Child Haven. They had some guidance from teachers, but did most of the research and made the final decisions on where to send the money themselves.
The attached photo shows some of our many ‘harvesters’ with a few of the 30-pound bags they filled.
Big gratitude to the Gatewood community, families, and friends, for supporting this worthwhile work!
Darren Radu
4th/5th Teacher at Gatewood Elementary
ADDED 7:12 PM: Via Facebook, Stacey tells us Madison Middle School collected for Penny Harvest too – about 300 pounds.
(Photos courtesy Hope Lutheran School)
That’s Tracy Dart, West Seattle breast-cancer survivor and activist, high-fiving a Hope Lutheran student at the end of the fifth-grade class’s special journey. Hope’s Bil Hood explains:
Last fall the Fifth Grade Class at Hope Lutheran School decided to do what they could to help out Team Tracy as they participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for breast cancer research. It started with writing encouraging letters that the members of Team Tracy could read while they were participating in the walk and grew from there.
The students wanted to walk as well. They decided that they would not be able to do 60 miles, like the members of the 3-Day did, but they could walk around the block. And for the last several weeks, they hit the street in all kinds of weather aiming to walk 60 laps.
Last Friday they were joined by Tracy herself and other members of Team Tracy as they completed their 60th lap around the block.
By the way – tonight’s the night that Team Tracy is the beneficiary of the first-ever fundraising Monday Night Scrabble tournament at Skylark Café and Club (WSB sponsor) – starting at 7:15 pm
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