(Riley Bunch at Madison Middle School’s 8th-grade promotion event)
Before the end of the school year gets too far in the rear-view mirror, we have one more story to share: Madison Middle School‘s Jeanne Merritt shares a photo and the story of Madison’s 8th-grade promotion earlier this week:

Madison Middle School eighth graders were promoted Monday night in a well-attended ceremony at West Seattle High.

Four student speakers reminisced about their social and educational experiences at Madison.

The inspirational speaker was Jesse Hagopian, former Madison teacher. He spoke about his experience being in the Haiti earthquake. Also, when the graduating eighth grade students were in seventh grade, Mr. Hagopian became a father. At that time he assigned the students to write letters of advice to a father. At the promotion ceremony Mr. Hagopian then turned that good advice back to the students.

The story continues with more on the students who were honored – and some adults, too!Read More

West Seattle High School just sent out an urgent request to anyone who can help: Mr. Jinan Jia arrives July 30th to be the WSHS Chinese teacher next year – enabling them to offer instruction up to Chinese III – but he needs a home while he’s here – and fast, to support his visa request. “This is an exciting opportunity for the host family to learn of the Chinese culture and Mandarin Chinese language,” notes WSHS principal Bruce Bivins. They prefer a home in West Seattle, since the teacher will use Metro to get to work. Here’s the application form; but first, please call (206) 252-8800 or e-mail brbivins@seattleschools.org if you are interested in being the host!

In a letter to the West Seattle High School community, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson announced an interim principal for WSHS, whose current principal and assistant principals are all leaving: Ruth Medsker, a former principal at Beacon Hill’s Mercer Middle School, will take over on July 1st, after five years in district administration as an education director, supervising middle schools and K-8s. Here’s the letter from the superintendent.

Speaking of the last day of school … it’s not just a momentous occasion for formal “graduates” moving from high school to college, or from college to the next chapter of their lives, but also for 8th graders moving into high school. Denny International Middle School principal Jeff Clark sent photos this morning, reporting, “Last night … we had a terrific promotion ceremony as we celebrated the accomplishments of our eighth-graders. They are an amazing group of kids who are now ready for high school – the next stop on the road to their college graduation.”

(Any other schools’ 8th-grade ceremony photos, we’d be happy to share those too – send ’em along!) Congratulations to ALL of West Seattle’s students – and educators! – for their 2009-2010 accomplishments!

Thanks to Laurie for the tip on this week’s big win for Denny International Middle School students – and sharing the report that fellow Denny parent Lisa sent to a mailing list (republished here with permission):

On a wet and rainy Wednesday, Denny International Middle School took first place overall in the Seattle School District’s Middle School Math Olympiad. This was their second title in a row. They competed against a dozen other schools en route to their title defense. The team was led by 8th graders Bradley Marquez, Katy Carter, Lucille Bermes, and Eileen Lee. The 8th graders finished first overall, with the highest total score of all teams competing. The 7th grade finished 2nd in the 7th Grade division. The six members of the 6th grade team sacrificed their class field trip to the beach in order to participate in the event; however, the victory made the sacrifice worthwhile. The current 6th and 7th graders are looking forward to an unprecedented 3rd title in row next year. Congratulations to all who competed!

P.S. The new Denny continues taking shape nearby; while Chief Sealth International High School moves back to its renovated permanent buildings this fall (stand by for the next update), the adjacent new Denny isn’t scheduled for occupancy till 2011. Here’s a new aerial from the project team – top of the photo is north:

Story and photo by Evan Miglorie
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

More than 200 people gathered in the West Seattle High School theater last night to watch – and talk about – “Race to Nowhere,” a documentary that sets out to examine what it warns is “the dark side of America’s achievement culture.”

The night began with an introduction delivered in person by the film’s director, Vicki Abeles. Her film interviews five several students on their experience with the intense pressures of our education system. Teachers were also interviewed, contending that modern educational systems place too much emphasis on memorization for tests, rather than actual learning. Another main concern voiced by parents, teachers, and psychologists was the unyielding pressure to perform. The impacts of this come at a high cost, they warn – drugs, cheating and even suicide can result from too much pressure put on young students.

So what do local students think? Some spoke out right after the film.Read More

Tuesday is the final day of classes for Seattle Public Schools, and you can probably remember what it was like to try to get through those final few days till summer break – never mind the fact that, so far as we can remember, summer break used to arrive a lot earlier than it does now (at least where we grew up, elsewhere in the West). It’s a tradition for many schools to celebrate the year’s successes with special activities – and we received a few from two of the schools doing so yesterday – Top photo and next one are from Alki Elementary School‘s Razzle-Dazzle Day, courtesy of Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby (which is sponsoring Guys’ Night Out 5 pm @ White Center Eagles tonight, don’t forget – sign up here!). Though we don’t have a photo, she says the principal even got dunked!

And at Lafayette Elementary School in the Admiral District, Friday was Field Day – Luckie shared the next two photos, explaining that the activities included hands-on sustainability adventures, like working with a worm bin:

Plus the more traditional goofy fun – water polo with spray bottles and a wading pool:

Here’s the calendar for next school year – note the early start date for West Seattle Elementary.

So you’ve just received your high-school diploma. College is likely a few months away. What are you doing up at 6 am, and back at your alma mater? Actually – the West Seattle High School Class of 2010 grads who streamed somewhat sleepily off buses in the dawn’s early light today were finishing up another successful Grad Night. All year long (here’s our story from the kickoff last July), there were car washes, bake sales, book sales, all manner of fundraisers, and tons of volunteer work put in to make it happen. Here’s organizer Carol Viger, who explains some of what the grads were up to – and the special significance of this year:

All that fun, by the way, happened at locations kept secret ahead of time – to add to the excitement. But Grad Night’s overarching goal is to provide a good time without grads getting into life-risking trouble while celebrating on their own – and so far, Carol says, it’s achieved that goal for about 1,000 teens!

The official vote isn’t until July 7th, but after their meeting tonight, the Seattle School Board has before it a recommendation to extend Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson‘s contract to 2013, after a mostly positive performance review. That’s according to reports from tonight’s board meeting – here’s what our partners at the Seattle Times wrote, and here’s a more detailed (and opinionated) take from saveseattleschools.blogspot.com. Read the full performance evaluation here, and the extension recommendation here. The board is recommending, however, no raise and no bonus.

For the second consecutive day, hundreds of local teenagers are at Memorial Stadium downtown to celebrate the completion of their high-school education – and the start of the next phase. Tonight, it’s West Seattle High School Class of 2010. ADDED 7:49 PM: The ~275 grads are off to the long-planned-for-and-fundraised-for Grad Night – and we’re adding more photos and video. First, decorated caps:

Here’s principal Bruce Bivins, who is headed for a new job in California – he and other faculty members wore yellow roses:

(added 9:46 pm – clip from his speech)

In the crowd – signs to cheer the grads on:

But overall, a night for big smiles.

And after the turning of the tassels:

Student graduation speakers included student-body president Lisa Broadstone, co-class president Mariah Doll, and A.J. Franklin. The Class of 2010 motto: “Believe in the promise of tomorrow, but live this day to the fullest.”

ORIGINAL 5:18 PM REPORT: We’re at Memorial Stadium downtown for the second of West Seattle’s three major high-school graduations this month – Chief Sealth International High School. Bright sunshine over the stadium, grads decked out in their light-blue and white gowns. They’ve just been congratulated by Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson. A few more notes to come as the ceremony proceeds (West Seattle High School graduates at the same time, same place, tomorrow). 5:31 PM: Staff speaker Peter Junkerman just told the grads that the move to temporary quarters at Boren two years ago proved “a school is more than a building.” (Sealth moves into its renovated permanent campus this fall.) He also has noted that the class earned $2.2 million in scholarships, between the nearly 200 grads. However – “The truth today is that, we celebrate you, and we worry about you. … Tomorrow is a new beginning. It’s the first day of the rest of your life. … (Today) is an ending, and a beginning.”

5:47 PM: School Board member Steve Sundquist is quoting Stephen Colbert, urging the grads to reject cynicism (as Colbert did in a speech), and President Obama. And he has just officially accepted the class of 2010. 6:04 PM: Diplomas are under way! Looks like this will end on time, by 6:30. Video and more photos later. ADDED 8:14 PM: After the alma mater, the grads did a “flash mob”-style dance to a medley – here’s two minutes of it:

LATE-NIGHT ADDITIONS: A quick look at the cheering crowd as grads get their diplomas:

Student speakers included student body president Mohamed Mohamed and senator Alexis Sullivan, along with Chantel Hunt and, with a style that drew cheers, Roxie Torres:

One week from today, it’s the last day of school for thousands of local kids. But for those concerned about education and where it’s going, the school year’s ending with a bang, not a whimper. Two things to mention. First, the clip above is from a documentary called “Race to Nowhere,” which will be screened at West Seattle High School at 6 pm this Friday night, with the director Vicki Abeles on hand for a discussion at 7:30. The gist, as you’ll hear in the trailer: “Our kids are pressured to perform – but not to learn.” More details here. (The screening is co-sponsored by the Washington Education Association.)

Second – the final Seattle School Board meeting of the school year is tomorrow night, 6 pm at district HQ in SODO. Here’s the agenda; one of the items is introduction of the report regarding evaluating Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, extending her contract and reviewing her pay. That’s why a group calling itself the “Seattle Shadow School Board” is organizing a protest outside district HQ before the meeting; it’s also been distributing information about the “no-confidence votes” that some local public-school employees (including groups at Schmitz Park and Sanislo elementaries) have taken in recent weeks (WSB reports here and here), and circulating an online petition.

Third – if you have anything you want to bring up with West Seattle’s school board rep, Steve Sundquist‘s final community chat of the school year is 11 am this Saturday, at the High Point library branch.

West Seattle’s hottest ticket tonight wasn’t for a play or concert … instead, the gym-jamming capacity crowd of nearly 700 was there to cheer the stars of a once-in-a-lifetime show: The 49 members of the Seattle Lutheran High School Class of 2010:

Outside, awaiting the school’s 30th annual graduation ceremony, some seniors were exuberant … others, perhaps a bit nervous … but once inside, with parents, grandparents, other family, friends, etc., it was serious business:

According to the program, the class address was given by valedictorian Elyssa Watford and salutatorian Kelsey Shaw; student-body president Mindon Win delivered the welcome and invocation, while senior-class president Gabrielle Little gave the closing prayer. Also from the program, the class’s scripture (II Timothy 4:7): “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School graduations are next week – CSIHS Tuesday, WSHS Wednesday, both at 5 pm at Seattle Center‘s Memorial Stadium.

Exactly one month after we first reported the resignation of West Seattle High School principal Bruce Bivins, who’s taking a job in California, we have just confirmed multiple reports that both WSHS assistant principals are leaving as well. Jenni Maughan-MacDonald wrote about her plans on her What’s Happening at Westside website – she says she’s taking a “small school principal position” in Seattle’s neighbor district to the south, Highline Public Schools. And district spokesperson Teresa Wippel confirms that the other assistant principal, Anitra Pinchback-Jones, has resigned. So what now, we asked? She replied, “We have a pool of applicants for all positions and will be updating the community next week on our process.”

Today is the last day of classes at Chief Sealth International High School for seniors, whose graduation ceremony is coming up next week. And for one of them, Sabas Rousseau, this is a truly memorable day – as he got a big surprise: Cirque de Soleil performers and reps from Sun Life Financial showed up to give him a Rising Star $5,000 scholarship – which he didn’t know about in advance! Flanking Sabas in the photo are Sealth principal John Boyd and Sun Life’s Mark O’Connor. The surprise award was elaborately orchestrated – Sabas and a small group of his fellow seniors were invited to come see a special show in honor of their last day of classes – here’s a card-trick skit, in which Sealth senior Daniel Davis played the sidekick:

Sabas, by the way, is one of three area students receiving a Rising Star scholarship today – the only one from West Seattle. In addition to his academic achievement, Sabas is an active volunteer, and is involved with Treehouse‘s College and Career Planning program, which helps foster-care youth with college and career readiness; as part of this award, Treehouse receives a $50,000 grant for financial education.

The mentioned-earlier Community School of West Seattle auction isn’t the only school fundraiser coming up this weekend – first previewed here in mid-May, the Chief Sealth International High School Jazz Band-benefiting Evening of Jazz and Wine Tasting is coming up this Friday night – 7-9 pm at EB Foote Winery in Burien – here’s the (updated!) flyer, with information on how to get tickets.