At least once a year, a local school puts out the call for musical instruments, in case you have one in the closet or the trunk or someplace it just isn’t getting used. From Diane Stuart:

What do you do with that old violin, flute, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, (anything!) — that your now 35-year-old kid used to play in Jr. High Band?

West Seattle Elementary needs donated instruments for our instrumental instruction program. Don’t worry if that old instrument needs a tune-up, or even an overhaul. SPS has a technician who can make repairs.

Please bring donated instruments to the main office of West Seattle Elementary (formerly High Point). 6760 34th Ave SW.

(ADDED, 11:02 PM – clip of new interim superintendent’s full speech, plus the entire :15 of cheering that followed the Goodloe-Johnson-firing vote, and board president Steve Sundquist’s remarks before the vote)

(WSB iPhone photo showing half of the standing-room-only crowd)
6:07 PM: We’re at Seattle Public Schools HQ in SODO along with a full complement of regional media and a full house of spectators as the semimonthly meeting of the Seattle School Board – led by West Seattle-residing board president Steve Sundquist – begins. As noted this morning, the board will vote tonight on whether to fire Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson after almost four years, amid a money-mismanagement scandal. The meetings always begin with about an hour of public comment, and it is likely to cover other topics; we’ll publish live updates as the meeting (which is likely to last at least three hours) continues.

(READ THE REST OF THE WSB AS-IT-HAPPENED COVERAGE, AND SEE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS, AFTER THE JUMP)Read More

Several of West Seattle’s many preschools have joined forces to start the first-ever West Seattle Preschool Association, and they’re getting out the word in hopes other preschools will join in. That’s one invitation; the second – as part of the WSPA’s launch, they’re presenting the next West Seattle Preschool Fair in April.

Renee Metty of The Cove School, president of the new association, says its mission is to “bring together preschool children, their parents and their educators in order to celebrate and promote quality preschool programs, parent education and school collaboration.” They’ve sent a letter this week to as many preschools in the area whose e-mail contact information they could find; it explains that the association was inspired by a group of preschool owners/directors who started meeting in the area last summer. The group meets monthly, third Mondays at 7 pm, and there are no membership fees during the first year (unless a school wants to be a “founding member,” in which case a $25 fee is due by June 1st, and they’re planning $35 annual fees after that).

Metty says that any West Seattle preschool educators who didn’t get the WSPA’s introductory letter are invited to contact them to be added to the list – e-mail Stephanie at office@neighborhoodpreschool.com. Meantime, the West Seattle Preschool Fair is planned for 5:30 pm-7:30 pm April 4th at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, 3050 California SW. They’re still signing up schools interested in participating – first-come, first-serve; deadline is March 31st, with a discount before 3/15; call 206-923-COVE or e-mail hello@thecoveschool.com. For families visiting the fair, admission will be free. (In future years, they plan to have the fair in January, recognizing that most school decisionmaking happens early in the year.)

Not in West Seattle, but affecting every Seattle Public Schools family (and taxpayer) – tonight’s Seattle School Board meeting will include a vote on whether to fire Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. The items added to the board agenda (screengrab above) tell the story, as do our partners at the Seattle Times, who have been extensively covering the newest revelations about district financial mismanagement. The Times says a closed-door board session last night was followed by a statement from board president Steve Sundquist of West Seattle, promising “swift and decisive action.” You can read his statement on the district website (PDF); the Times coverage includes links to other documents of note. For even more details and background, the district-watchdog website saveseattleschools.blogspot.com has been covering the situation closely. (Here’s what their writers and commenters hope the next superintendent will do, and be.) Though money-mismanagement reports seem to be the proverbial last straw, discontent has been simmering a while – you might recall the no-confidence votes by teachers at schools (including at least two in West Seattle) toward the end of last year. It’s been almost four years since Goodloe-Johnson was hired. Tonight’s board meeting, by the way, is open to the public, 6 pm at district HQ in SODO. (Or you can watch live on cable channel 26.)

Courtesy of the West Seattle High School PTSA mailing list, a chance to offer feedback before the district decides whether to make WSHS’s interim principal permanent:

Parents and community members are invited to meet with Aurora Lora, Executive Director of West Seattle Schools, to provide feedback on how the school year is going under the leadership of interim principal, Ruth Medsker. Ms. Lora will use feedback from a variety of sources to make a recommendation to the superintendent about whether to make Ms. Medsker’s role as principal at West Seattle High School permanent.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 2nd, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the West Seattle High School Library. If you are unable to attend this meeting, you may provide your feedback directly to Aurora Lora at aalora@seattleschools.org. Ms. Lora will be making her recommendation to the superintendent on Friday, March 4th.

As we reported when her appointment was announced last June, Medsker’s previous experience in Seattle Public Schools included working in central administration as middle-school director after serving as principal of Mercer Middle School. WSHS’s previous principal Bruce Bivins left after last school year for a job in California; the school’s two assistant principals departed as well, so WSHS has been running this year with all-new leadership at the top.

The final tally’s in for the West Seattle High School Foundation-sponsored dinner/auction fundraiser nine days ago (WSB coverage here), and foundation president Christy Rowe says it was a success, with new sound equipment in the works for the school as a result:

The Second Annual WSHS Auction held on February 17th at The Hall at Fauntleroy looks to have net $17,000 from our event! Considering we had less people attend than last year, we feel very happy with these results. The WSHS gym and Commons areas will be getting new and upgraded sound systems for the benefit of students for assemblies and sporting events and this equipment will also benefit the Alumni Association when they hold their annual All-School Reunion. These improvements will also benefit the community at-large when these spaces are used for other events. Thank you to parents, staff, local businesses and community members for your continued support at WSHS!

Just days after the raise-the-roof “Soul Jambalaya” musical celebration/benefit (WSB video coverage here) for Denny International Middle School, across the street at Chief Sealth International High School, both schools are represented at a big event out of state, the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. Leading them is Marcus Pimpleton, music director for Denny and band director for Sealth, and last night he sent word that the Denny jazz musicians had been honored “as an outstanding young ensemble … This is our first time winning on this level. Very exciting.” (You can see the Denny Jazz Band in action here.) The Sealth musicians compete tomorrow. Congratulations to all – and thanks also to the half-dozen-plus WSB’ers who forwarded the news to be sure we’d seen it!

More heavy equipment in the Admiral District today, not far from the ongoing work at the Safeway redevelopment site. Thanks to the WSB’ers who sent tips on this: West Seattle’s most populous elementary school — 500+ students — is getting its new double portable today, before midwinter-break week ends. A crane is helping move the portable into position at Lafayette Elementary, as you can see in our photo. We first reported almost two months ago that Lafayette, Gatewood, and Schmitz Park Elementary Schools would each get a new portable sometime before the next school year, to help handle growing enrollment.

ADDED: As WSB’ers pointed out, the Gatewood and Schmitz Park portables have arrived too. Here’s our photo from Saturday showing the one on the Gatewood playground:

(Hope Lutheran’s first-place drama team; photo from Facebook, used with permission)
Another West Seattle school with something to celebrate: Hope Lutheran School is back from its annual trip to the regional Lutheran Elementary Schools Tournament (LEST) in Portland, a three-day competition in sports, arts, and more, with some big honors. For one, Hope won the Service Award for its recent food drive (here’s the recap published here) – 7,100 pounds of food collected for local food banks, more than a third of the entire total of all participating schools! Hope also won the Drama Award, first place for “The Audition.” Individual achievements included Alex Okabayashi, 2nd place in spelling among fifth-graders, chess players Isaiah Dowding Albrecht (4th place for sixth-graders) and Ryan Okabayashi (5th place for seventh-graders), and more:

Music Blue Ribbon performances
– Hope Vocal Ensemble (video here)
– Aaron Abeyta – clarinet
– Cooper Honeyman – piano
– Kassandra Krohn – piano
– Samantha Hood – vocal

Swimming
– Taylor Phelps Young – 4th place 25-yard freestyle, 4th place 25 yard backstroke
– Haley Beebe – 4th place 50 yard breaststroke, 5th place 50 yard freestyle
– Lanee Hagen – 2nd place 50 yard freestyle, 5th place 50 yard backstroke

Art Award
– Gratia Doerr
– Sean Glavin
– Tyler Ayala-Turner
– Abby Fitzpatrick

Thanks to Mike Jensen for sharing the Hope LEST recap; 19 schools from five states participated this year.