Serving up Sealth sports support: 3 teams team up
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen)
Right in the middle of homecoming/spirit week, a big nighttime event at Chief Sealth International High School – with three sports teams teaming up to raise money for the athletics program. In our top photo, that’s Sealth athletic director Sam Reed with members of the volleyball team, one of the three – also front and center in the effort, boys’ basketball:
Football players, here with volleyball-team friends, too:
But the teams couldn’t do it alone. Friends and families joined them at Wednesday night’s spaghetti dinner:
From a platform above the crowd, Principal John Boyd opened up the bidding for a silent auction:
Items listed included a Mariner-autographed baseball and a “Two-Hour Work-Crew Party” donated by six Sealth basketball players and their coach. Another unique fundraising element, the dessert dash, won by (making the highest donation) table 19:
For their $300 total, they got first pick at the dessert table — choosing a pumpkin pie. P.S. You can find Sealth teams’ schedules here.
Sanislo teacher Randy Harkness honored as ‘Hero in the Classroom’
(Photo courtesy Symetra Financial)
That’s Randy Harkness, who’s taught first grade at West Seattle’s Sanislo Elementary School for more than 20 years. His new jersey is part of what he was given during a special surprise presentation today – Symetra Financial and the Seahawks honored him as a “Hero in the Classroom.” He was nominated by principal Ernie Seevers, who is quoted in Symetra’s announcement as saying, “He made a choice to contribute to our community’s future by working with our youngest scholars, and he has delivered the gift of literacy to two generations of children.” This season, the Heroes in the Classroom program will honor two dozen K-12 teachers around Western Washington, and Harkness is the 8th, as well as the 1st one from West Seattle. Besides the jersey, he got a certificate and tickets to a Seahawks home game as well as acknowledgment on the field – he’ll get his shoutout when the Seahawks host the Arizona Cardinals on October 24th. The award also makes Sanislo eligible for a $10,000 MVP Award – three of the schools with teacher honorees this season will get those awards at the end of the football season. (P.S. Another West Seattle teacher was honored this time last year – Christopher Robert from Roxhill.)
Sporting spaghetti: Chief Sealth Int’l High School dinner benefit
Got plans for dinner this Wednesday? Here’s a chance to dine at the newly renovated Chief Sealth International High School while helping its athletics program:
This Wednesday, October 13th, the Football, Boys’ Basketball, and Volleyball programs at Sealth will host a dinner benefit to support these programs. It will be a spaghetti dinner event with short presentations from each sport. The dinner will begin at 7:00 pm; tickets are $12, with the proceeds going toward the Football, Boys Basketball and Volleyball programs, and Sealth Athletics. Purchasing a dinner ticket will also give you free admission to the first Sealth home basketball game in the new gym when the Boys’ Basketball team takes on Brisbane, Australia, on November 30th, 2010 at 7:00pm. You can purchase dinner tickets at the door this Wednesday night starting at 6:30 pm. The event will be held in the brand new Galleria at Chief Sealth.
If you haven’t been there yet (or lately) – 2600 SW Thistle (map). P.S. It’s homecoming week at Chief Sealth (the football game is this Friday night across the street at Southwest Athletic Complex, 7 pm, vs. Nathan Hale).
Election countdown: Seattle Public Schools Proposition 1
We’re committed to at least one election-related update per day/night between now and Election Day on November 2nd; you’ll be able to vote within days, since King County says it’s mailing ballots this Wednesday. 
Seattle Public Schools Proposition 1, a supplemental operations levy with a property-tax increase seeking to raise $48 million over the next three years. The basic language you’ll see on the ballot, plus the pro-con statements/rebuttals from the official voters’ guide, can be seen here. The district itself has an explanatory page here, including this line: “This levy is intended to fund textbooks, materials and teacher salaries per the new SEA contract.” The fine print – the actual detailed resolution approved by the School Board to place this on the ballot – can be read here. It doesn’t stipulate exactly what will be spent for whom and where. For an even-closer look at what supporters and opponents are saying, this site is set up by people advocating a “no” vote; this one is from the group that says “vote yes.” P.S. If you’re interested in discussing the levy (or any other SPS issue) with West Seattle’s School Board rep, Steve Sundquist has a community chat 11 am-12:30 pm today at High Point Library.
High-school sports: Congratulations, cross-country athletes!
(Photos added 11:58 am – thanks to Lynn for sharing them! Top, CSIHS girls & boys; bottom, all participants, boys & girls, WSHS in yellow, Franklin in Green, Ingraham in blue, Cleveland in red)
Just received results of Thursday’s multi-school Lincoln Park high-school cross-country meet from Jason Glover, cross-country coach at Chief Sealth International High School:
Here are the results from the metro 3A cross country meet held @ Lincoln Park 10/7.
In the boys’ race, CSIHS had 4 runners in the top 10, led by senior Daniel Perrine in second place with a personal best of 17:49. WSHS had 3 boys in the top 10, led by M. Wicklam with a time of 19:39.
Out of five teams, CSIHS won with a score of 39 points, while WSHS was second with a score of 47 points.
In the girls’ race, CS freshman Kenaia Neumann won with time of 22:57, followed closely by WSHS’s N. Broten @ 23:16.
Chief Sealth won the girls’ team race with a score of 27 points.
Chief Sealth, West Seattle, Ingraham, Cleveland, and Franklin were the teams involved.
Got time today (and/or this weekend) to help build a playground?
A nearby project needs your help today, and/or tomorrow, and/or Sunday:
This coming Friday / Saturday / Sunday (Oct 8,9,10th) from 10 am to 4 pm, Concord International Elementary School is looking for volunteers to help assemble their new Play Structure. … We have a new play structure for the school body and local community that we will be assembling this weekend under the supervision of the structure manufacturer. All tools will be provided. Volunteers are much appreciated. Please e-mail concordplay@live.com if you think you can help us out.
While Concord is in SP, the district considers it part of the West Seattle “region,” and Concord feeds into this area’s other two international schools — Denny and Chief Sealth.
School notes: West Seattle High School newsletter, Pathfinder music request, Lafayette Walk-A-Thon sponsor deadline
Three West Seattle school notes tonight:
WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL’S 1ST NEWSLETTER OF THE YEAR: Denise Lathrop from the WSHS PTSA shares the link to their first newsletter of the year, inviting the community – not only those directly involved with the school – to see what’s up. According to Denise, highlights include an introduction for WSHS’s all-new administrative team, principal Ruth Medsker and vice principals Mike Kelly and Jennifer Kniseley, opportunities to volunteer and/or to serve on the PTSA board, dates for ACT and SAT testing/registration, and what’s up in student life/activities (even the dates for the fall play!). Here’s the direct link to the newsletter (PDF download from the school website).
PATHFINDER K-8 MUSIC PROGRAM NEEDS INSTRUMENTS: Sent by Lashanna Williams from the Pathfinder K-8 PTSA:
This year at Pathfinder K-8 the participation in instrumental music has SKYROCKETED!! We are looking for instruments so that all our kiddos can play!! DO you have an instrument that you would be willing to loan? Clarinets and violins are in high demand- but anything is appreciated! To donate or loan an instrument, e-mail Alisha scrapinmomx2@hotmail.com or call Lashanna @ 715-5265
LAFAYETTE WALK-A-THON DEADLINE: Lafayette Elementary is the biggest public elementary in West Seattle, and every year its Walk-A-Thon raises money for needed items that aren’t provided for in the district budget. Besides walker pledges, they also look for business sponsors every year (WSB signed on again this year) and tomorrow is the deadline for signing up. Sponsors get their logos on the official Walk-A-Thon T-shirt plus published in a directory and the school yearbook. Businesses interested in sponsorship can contact Mark Johnson at 206-932-0501 or markj0501@yahoo.com.
Got a school fundraiser, too? We’d love to publicize your event/campaign/etc. too. E-mail info to editor@westseattleblog.com. That’s also the address for any kind of West Seattle school news (and other ways of contacting us are listed here). Thanks!
Seattle Public Schools promise to parents: ‘Gains this year’
The speeches were short, the community-mingle-and-chat time long, during the fifth and final Seattle Public Schools regional “Welcome Back” meeting last night at Chief Sealth International High School. Above, Sealth principal John Boyd (left) is with Gatewood Elementary principal Rhonda Claytor, Mohamed Roble from the district’s Family and Community Engagement team, and head teacher Chris from Roxhill Elementary. Boyd and Claytor were two of 11 principals announced as in attendance from West Seattle schools; those who weren’t, had events under way at their schools.
Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson was there, sharing a story she said she’d told at the previous meetings – about her kindergartener daughter wanting to choose her teacher, and hearing from Superintendent Mom that she couldn’t, but whomever she got would be “excellent.” She touched very briefly on several hot topics – saying that districtwide “curriculum alignment” was not the same as standardization, that the district has invested in its teachers through the recently approved contract, and that testing is vital – “it’s how we give formative data back to teachers about students.”
Her second-in-command, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Susan Enfield, spoke briefly, promising parents, “We will see gains [in student achievement] this year.” She also discussed the reorganization of the “executive directors” reporting to her and in turn directly supervising principals. Instead of being each assigned to manage a type of school, like elementary or middle or high school, they are now assigned regionally for “more tailored engagement with the community”; Aurora Lora, who’s in charge of West Seattle, spoke briefly, mentioning a “professional development” session earlier in the week in which she and the region’s principals gathered at Denny International Middle School. And there were other district leaders, such as Family/Community Engagement manager Bernardo Ruiz:
He told us that SPS families will see information sent home soon about what’s available for support through his department – with one major event coming up soon: a Family Academy and Early Learners’ Resource Fair, 10 am-2 pm October 16th at South Shore School (4800 South Henderson), featuring free workshops. The superintendent, meantime, is scheduled to return to West Seattle for another community event, one of her “coffee chats,” 6-7 pm October 25th at West Seattle Elementary.
Boarding up Boren: District covering windows at shuttered school
Got the tip from a community advocate: The former Boren Middle School on Delridge – home to Chief Sealth International High School the past two years, but empty this year – is being boarded up, apparently without notice to the neighborhood. We went by to check it out, and indeed, crews like the one in our photo (taken on the north side of the Boren building) were covering the windows with sheets of wood. When we called Seattle Public Schools, our inquiry was referred to facilities communication director Tom Redman. He told us it’s a matter of security, since the school is not scheduled for use any time soon – though it remains on the roster as a possible emergency backup facility if some other SPS facility has to be suddenly taken out of service, and he said it might somehow figure into BEX 4 – BEX 3 was the ballot measure that included the Denny/Sealth rebuild/renovation/colocation project. We asked if the district had plans to watch for graffiti vandalism, since boarded windows might seem like more attractive targets than glass windows, and he said they certainly would respond to reports/complaints. He didn’t know, however, if boarding up unused schools was standard procedure (we’ll be looking at Genesee Hill and Fairmount Park, the two empty elementaries in West Seattle, both of which were offered for lease earlier this year along with the former EC Hughes, but while Hughes was snapped up by Westside School [WSB sponsor], Genesee and Fairmount had no takers).
THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Redman clarifies the district’s policy:
We are selective. We try to balance asset protection with the cost of boarding the buildings not in use. Although not every window on every building not in use is boarded, we assess each building on a case by case basis.
Explorer West Middle School goes all-out for earthquake drill
If you drove or walked past Explorer West Middle School this morning and saw those tents – you might have wondered if it was a round of outdoor on-campus camping. Nope. Explorer West had an earthquake drill that went beyond the usual “duck and cover” – with students playing roles including “injured” quake victims:
Other students handled first-aid role-playing. And then, they had some real-life emergency personnel on hand:
Since Explorer West – an independent middle school (grades 6-8) is just over the city-limits line, the firefighters were from the North Highline Fire Department:
Explorer West history teacher Ben Wheeler organized the drill, and told us they learn something new every time they do it. (While we’re talking emergency preparedness, don’t forget the awesome online resources at West Seattle Be Prepared – and stand by for news of a quake drill coming up soon!)
West Seattle schools: Chief Sealth student’s $10,000 surprise
The photo and report are shared by Kory Kumasaka from Chief Sealth International High School:
Chief Sealth International High School Senior Ebony Beauchamp was surprised in her third period class today when she was awarded the Nordstrom Diversity Scholarship worth $10, 000. Ebony’s family was also on hand to celebrate this great event. The good people at Nordstrom also brought cupcakes to share with her classmates.
West Seattle HS football returns to field tonight, post-forfeit
(WSB photo from WSHS practice on Thursday)
All three of West Seattle’s high-school football teams lost last week – but none as visibly as West Seattle High School, which forfeited to O’Dea High School while down 48-0 at halftime, in pounding rain at West Seattle Stadium. We talked on Thursday with Coach Davis Lura, who says the team’s challenges include the fact they are going into tonight’s game against Franklin High School (7 pm, SWAC) with about 20 players dealing with some sort of injury: “(The number is) up, it’s down, it changes every day,” he told us, saying that’s been the situation since the season began with a non-conference match against Eisenhower HS (from Yakima). The emotional health of the team is good, though, according to Coach Lura, who says practice has been going well – he says no clear leader has emerged but about half a dozen of the players are sharing leadership roles, with spirits remaining high. The coach says Franklin has its best team in 10 years; last week, they beat Nathan Hale. And his players are aware they’re going in with a very limited squad – but they’re looking ahead to more players being able to come back in the weeks ahead, from academic probation as well as injuries, looking to the big Chief Sealth and Rainier Beach games later this fall.
| 2 COMMENTS