Just out of the WSB inbox, from West Seattle/South Park school-board director Gina Topp: “Regrettably, I must cancel Saturday’s community meeting due to unforeseen illness. We will promptly reschedule. Apologies for the short notice; unforeseen circumstances necessitate this change.”

Two months left in the school year, but some major issues remain unsettled – such as, will Seattle Public Schools superintendent Dr. Brent Jones propose school closures/consolidations to help balance the budget? If you have an SPS-related question, concern, and/or comment – about the budget or any other issue – tomorrow (Saturday, April 13) is your chance to bring it to our area’s school-board director Gina Topp. In case you haven’t already seen it in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, her next community conversation is set for 10:30-11:30 am Saturday at Delridge Library (5423 Delridge Way SW). No formal agenda – just drop in any time during the hour.

EARLY SATURDAY: Got a late-night note that this is canceled.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the student-led Sexual Violence Resource Group at West Seattle High School asked us to publish this message so the community beyond campus can find out about their work too:

Sexual Assault Awareness Month, observed in April, is an opportunity to educate ourselves about sexual violence; including its prevalence in our community, and how we can prevent it. A student-led group at West Seattle High School, the Sexual Violence Resource Group(SVRG), has made it a goal to take on this effort. So far, they’ve organized educator trainings at their school and collaborated with local organizations such as the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center. One of their main objectives is to raise awareness about available resources, leading them to compile a comprehensive support service list for those in the Greater Seattle area. This list can be found at wshssvrg.carrd.co/#support.

Sexual violence in our community is rampant, and it’s vital to act against it in any way possible. Education and self-awareness are some of the best ways to prevent sexual violence. For example, it is estimated that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men will experience sexual violence in their lifetimes, a statistic that has grown in recent years (WHO and 1in6.org). In a survey done by the SVRG, 11.3% of students at their school reported they had been sexually assaulted during their time enrolled at West Seattle High School. These numbers represent an urgent need for sexual violence prevention efforts and support for survivors. Together, we can create a safer West Seattle where sexual violence is not tolerated.

Learn more about the SVRG and follow their efforts – @wshs_svrg on Instagram.

Helpful Support Services:

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text: 988
Chatline: 988lifeline.org/chat

National Sexual Assault Hotline*
Call: 800.656.4673
Chatline: online.rainn.org

King County Sexual Assault Resource Center Hotline*
Call: 888.998.6423

*24/7 hotline accessible to anyone – from survivors to educators and friends.

If you know someone who might benefit from this information, you can use the SHARE THIS link below (as with any WSB post, calendar listing, etc.) to forward it to them in a variety of ways.

According to a message sent to families, starting tomorrow Madison Middle School will pilot a new surveillance feature that’s scheduled to be used district-wide starting this fall. Among other things, it notifies teachers if a student is doing something with their district-issued laptop during class other than the assigned classwork. First, from the district’s February announcement of the new software, called GoGuardian:

For the 2024-25 school year, Seattle Public Schools will be launching a tool to help teachers guide students in their lessons and keep them focused on the task at hand during class time. This system allows teachers to manage student devices and share content quickly and easily.

The new tool will be installed on SPS Devices and will enable our educators build positive learning environment during their classes.

The new tools will enable educators to do the following:

-View of student screens while in-person during class time.
-Help refocus students on classroom instruction, rather than digital distractions.
-Block or allow websites for each class session.
-Digitally interact with students through teacher-to-student messaging.

Important note regarding student privacy: This new tool supports student privacy by automatically deactivating features outside school hours and off school premises, respecting the balance between educational oversight and personal space.

This page on the GoGuardian website has a video showing how it works. The district website has details on the plan to use the software, GoGuardian, for 3rd through 12th graders, and a different Apple tool for younger students. Here’s how Madison MS principal Dr. Robert Gary told families in a message sent Friday about the pilot starting tomorrow:

Beginning next week and the week after vacation, Madison teachers will help Seattle Public Schools pilot a new technology tool called GoGuardian. The tool has already been installed on our students’ laptops, though it is not yet “live.” Teachers will be trained on how to use this tool efficiently and effectively. We will also be troubleshooting any problems that arise prior to SPS rolling this out to the entire district. We are excited to have a tool that will help us maximize student learning while helping students develop self-regulation.

Students have had many questions about this new tool. We’ve been reminding them that their laptop is the property of SPS and that they signed a “network use agreement” in the Fall, agreeing to only use their SPS laptop for academic purposes. SPS has always had the ability to track their usage. As GoGuardian is being installed, students may notice lagging and “oops” screens. Signing out and restarting the computer (sometimes multiple times) will likely help these issues.

We’ll be asking the district tomorrow if any other schools are involved in the early pilot.

(Rendering by Mahlum Architects – north side of school)

After a pre-hearing conference today, the city Hearing Examiner’s Office has set the date for the hearing on the latest appeal of a zoning exception for the Alki Elementary rebuild: May 22. Today’s conference was presided over by the same deputy hearing examiner who ordered Seattle Public Schools last year to reconsider its “no on-site parking” plan, Susan Drummond, after different appellants challenged it. As we reported in December, SPS subsequently came up with a plan for 15 spaces; in February, the city Department of Construction and Inspections approved it (as they originally had done for the no-parking plan); then this month, a new group of appellants calling themselves Friends for a Safe Alki Community filed a challenge. Their lawyer was at today’s conference as were two lawyers for the school district as well as the SDCI land-use planner assigned to the project. The levy-funded rebuild and expansion of Alki Elementary is on hold until this is resolved, because the building permit can’t be granted until the zoning exception for parking is either finalized, or rendered unnecessary by a plan allowing for the 48 spaces the current zoning rules require. Meantime, all sides have a series of deadlines to prepare for the May 22 hearing (for which a second day is set aside May 23 if needed), per the order resulting from today’s conference.

ADDED APRIL 14: A routine check of the case file reveals the hearing date has changed to May 28.

West Seattle High School students are getting ready to open its spring production, “Mean Girls: The Musical” with three performances this week and three more next week. And community businesses are hosting fundraisers in the two nights before opening night. First, here’s the announcement about the production:

(Photo courtesy Westside Drama)

As Cady (Elena Smith) gets ready to take down the group’s apex predator Regina George (Olivia Walum), she’s faced with wild challenges from friends and foes. With the help of her outcast friends Janis (Lucy Warren) and Damian (Mason Nguyen), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating The Plastics (Ava Gem Anderson, Fiona Armstrong) and the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.

We invite you to join us for a wacky, irreverent (and at times inappropriate for very young audience members) journey into the modern American high-school social landscape. Like the movie, this musical is rated PG-13 for language, sexual references and general teenage romantic themes.

The Westside Drama program was created in 2003 with their first production, “Grease.” Since then the program has grown to include three shows per year: a fall drama play, a winter student-directed production, and a spring musical. Recent productions include “The Laramie Project,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and “Almost Maine.” To date, the WSHS Drama program has staged more than 50 shows and counting.

The program strives to produce high-quality, technically complex, artistically relevant shows, never forgetting the goals of educational theater: to give students opportunities to build self-confidence, develop their teamwork skills, learn responsibility and accountability, and, ultimately, explore the human condition – all while working towards a common goal with their classmates. On stage or backstage, important skills are learned every time a show is produced.

This particular production is full of notable talent on stage and off. It features a live band directed by Ethan Thomas, WSHS music director. “Mean Girls” is directed by Joe Lambright, a drama and social studies teacher at West Seattle High School.

“Mean Girls: The Musical” will be presented at 7 pm in the school theater (3000 California SW) Thursday-Saturday this week (March 28-30) and Wednesday-Friday next week (April 3-5). You can buy tickets online by going here. You can also support the production via one or both of these fundraisers this week: Dine out at Circa (2605 California SW) 9 am-10 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, March 26); order a special drink (21+ only) at Corner Pocket (California & Alaska) 6-8 pm Wednesday (April 27).

Ten years have passed since the Seattle Preschool Program was announced at an event in High Point. It’s a levy-funded program meant to ensure preschool is available to every family who needs it, with tuition on a sliding scale. Over the years, the program’s marked milestones in West Seattle, too – with a mayoral visit to Delridge six years ago and another visit by city leaders in 2022.

(City photo – Monday SPP expansion announcement at preschool in Central District)

This week, two West Seattle sites were part of the program’s latest expansion announcement (though the photo op was elsewhere this time); some classrooms at Community School of West Seattle and the YMCA’s Early Learning Center at Westwood Village will be part of the SPP next school year, when the program will be serving almost 2,500 children in 151 classrooms at 97 sites citywide. (15 of the current sites are in West Seattle, all over the peninsula, from Arbor Heights to Admiral.) The program is accepting ’24-’25 applications now, too.

(WSB photos)

Five years after voters passed the levy that funded it, Madison Middle School‘s upgraded playfield was dedicated this morning in a short ceremony featuring an all-school photo.

Madison principal Dr. Robert Gary, speaking to his assembled students via megaphone, recalled, “This used to be a mud field with mud problems. It wasn’t healthy and-or safe.”

Now the field has turf and lighting; as first reported here in 2019, the ~$3 million project included widening the field by more than six feet.

It’s getting rave reviews – among the people we talked to was 8th grader Oliver Miller, who played soccer on the upgraded field earlier this week, and declared it “really nice,” recalling its previous near-unusability because of the damage done by neighborhood use as a dog park. Sheree Porter, who retired as Madison’s longtime PE teacher two years ago but was back today as a substitute, declared it “amazing.”

She laughed, “I retired too soon. This is the real thing.” Another PE teacher, Courtney Schiro, marveled, “This is going to be a game-changer.” Then in the bright-but-breezy sunshine, members of Madison’s student government cut a ceremonial ribbon.

Dr. Gary says the field will be reserved for school use during the day but then there’s an agreement in place with Seattle Parks for community use, such as sports teams, during other hours. Other major West Seattle projects in 2019’s BEX V levy included the West Seattle Elementary addition that opened last fall and the on-hold-for-another-appeal Alki Elementary rebuild.)

(Birds, including a Bald Eagle, on cleared Alki Elementary site – photo by Don Brubeck)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Alki Elementary rebuild is being appealed again.

To recap: This all traces back to Seattle Public Schools proposing a new, larger school that, as announced in 2022, would require nine zoning exceptions, officially known as departures. City reviewers approved the departures last May. Nearby residents filed appeals shortly thereafter. All but one of the challenges were either dismissed or settled. The one that was not involved parking – under zoning rules, 48 offstreet spaces would be required, but the district wanted to build the school with none. A city hearing examiner told the district in August to go back to the drawing board on that. Instead of coming up with a counterproposal immediately, the district went to court. Its challenge was dismissed in October, not on its merits, but on the premise that the court only had jurisdiction on a final decision, and that’s not what the district was challenging. In December, the district came up with a new plan that would include 15 parking spaces. Last month, the city said OK. And now, that’s what’s being appealed.

The appellant is different this time – it’s a group calling itself Friends for a Safe Alki Community, led by local “semi-retired lawyer” Steve Cuddy, who says the group has more than 50 members. The appeal contends in part:

The Revised Decision has not ensured that the proposed facility is compatible with the character and use of its surrounding area and the Decision fails to consider and balance the impacts on traffic, noise, circulation, and parking in the area. For example, the Revised Decision erroneously concludes that the proposed departure request will result in no significant loss of vehicular parking on site and will establish an increase in parking for the record. That is simply false. The school of approximately 300 students and 30-40 staff had approximately 29 parking spaces and the adjacent Community Center had approximately 27 spaces and still experienced persistent parking, traffic, and safety issues. The Revised Decision grants the departure to almost double the number of students and staff while reducing the number of parking spaces down to 15. The Revised Decision also fails to consider impacts to emergency/first responder access in the area.

Among other contentions, the appeal says the information used for the city’s approval of the revised plan was still faulty – with another parking study done after the old Alki Elementary was demolished last year, with its student and staff now housed at the former Schmitz Park Elementary.

In addition to the parking issue, the new appeal includes safety concerns, as did the previous ones. The appeal documentation uploaded to the city Hearing Examiner‘s website includes Cuddy’s personal 22-page letter of opposition written one year ago, including background that he worked more than 15 years ago to get the traffic-calming speed humps installed on 59th Avenue SW alongside the school and adjacent playfield, and a decade ago to get stop signs at 59th/Stevens, near the campus’s north edge. It also includes a letter to the city from his wife Linda Cuddy, written this past January, and noting she worked years ago to get a sidewalk installed along the north side of Alki Playfield. She wrote, in part, summarizing some of the safety concerns that also were aired in the first round of appeals:

The Alki School, SPS’s smallest parcel of 1.4 acres, is located in an incredibly busy environment, in the midst of regional parks and Alki Beach attractions, all within a “Parking Overlay.” As the Hearing Examiner said, “The school site has limited street access, with just one right-of-way, on the east side of 59th Avenue SW, from SW Admiral Way looking south. 59th Ave SW is signed for on-street bus loading and unloading on the east parallel to the school and for parent drop-off north of SW Stevens Street also on the east side. Due to its limited and cramped street access, difficult vehicle circulation patterns and the narrow width of 59th Ave SW, during peak drop off and pick up times, passage on 59th Ave SW effectively becomes a one lane street creating unsafe and unmanageable traffic and parking issues.” Parents are forced to park in an unsafe and illegal manner in the parent drop off zone. Otherwise, traffic issues would be much worse and restrictive on 59th.

So what happens now? The city Hearing Examiner’s Office will schedule a hearing on the new appeal, which will be followed by a ruling, which may be appealable in court. The school construction remains on hold pending a building permit, which can’t be granted until all this is decided. The new school originally was projected to open in fall 2025 but even prior to this new appeal, the district had moved that to fall 2026. (Planning for the rebuild dates back to 2018, when the district was deciding what to send to voters in its 2019 BEX V levy, and it was described even then as a potential expansion of capacity to 500. Our archives show parking questions arose before the 2019 vote, too.)