No official statement from the district so far but we have just been forwarded this letter from West Seattle High School principal Bruce Bivins, announcing he’s leaving:

It is with bittersweet emotions that I am writing to let you know that I have accepted a small school principal position Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles collaborating in a joint venture with the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

When I came to West Seattle in 2007, I quickly realized that there was an amazing community of support for our school. West Seattle High School is and will continue to be the school of choice for the West Seattle community. My family and I have enjoyed being a part of this community, and I have enjoyed serving this school. I am proud of the work we have done together, and absent of this truly personal and extraordinary opportunity, I would have been happy as principal continuing for many years to come.

To all of West Seattle High School families, I offer a special word of thanks and appreciation. It has been my honor to serve you and I am proud of what we have accomplished and persevered through together over these past three years. Our school is a special place because of all of you and I cannot thank you enough for your dedication to achievement, and your determination to do what is best for our students.

It is never a good time to leave one great job for another but I relish the challenges at the Partnership and I will always love my time spent here in Seattle. Over these remaining 6 weeks, let’s work together in defining the strengths and assets you will need in your next leader.

Respectfully,

Bruce Bivins
Principal
West Seattle High School

More info as we get it. The WSHS parent who provided us with this letter says the district phone system called families with the message as well.

1:19 PM: We’re at South Seattle Community College, where chancellor Dr. Jill Wakefield has just announced that the interim president of Seattle Central Community College, Gary Oertli, will be the new SSCC president – succeeding her. According to the news release we were just handed (we’ll have it in digital format to add here shortly), he’ll officially take over by the fall quarter. 1:38 PM: We interviewed Dr. Wakefield immediately after she announced the appointment to SSCC staffers (added 4:43 pm, we asked her on camera what she told them):

As for how they reacted, she smiled, “I’m not sure I’ve ever made a decision that’s been received so positively!”
(back to original report) Meantime, click ahead for the full news release:Read More

The school year has a month and a half left to go, and we are getting a look at how the new Seattle Public Schools assignment plan, moving away from “choice” and toward “neighborhood schools,” is likely to affect West Seattle. First, thanks to Oliver for the tip (in this comment) that – for those who are still waiting, recent district arrivals, or those applied for something besides their “neighborhood school” – the district website says the district expects to send assignment letters this Friday. Next, the district has made enrollment projections for next fall. We’ve broken out the West Seattle numbers – here’s how to read them: The first number after each school is what the district says the school had enrolled as of last October; the second two numbers start with “number assigned” followed by “how many expected to be enrolled on October 1st.” Note that three elementaries are expecting higher enrollment: Gatewood, Lafayette, Schmitz Park.

HIGH SCHOOLS
Chief Sealth International – 996 last Oct; 1109 assigned for next year, expect 959 enrolled Oct. 1st
West Seattle – 1138 last Oct.; 1099 assigned for next year, expect 1006

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Denny International – 704 last Oct; 764 assigned next year, 663 expected
Madison – 906 last Oct; 905 assigned next year, 842 expected

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Alki – 363 (362, 349)
Arbor Heights – 343 (373, 339)
Gatewood – 418 (469, 431)
Highland Park – 415 (437, 407)
West Seattle – 332 (361, 329)
Lafayette – 522 (556, 525)
Roxhill – 312 (325, 302)
Schmitz Park – 355 (409, 394)
Sanislo – 325 (315, 295)

K-8 SCHOOL
Pathfinder 464 (490, 452)

If you applied for a school different than your “neighborhood” assignment, you can check the charts here to see if there’s a waitlist, as pointed out by Charlie Mas at at saveseattleschools.blogspot.com (an always-excellent source for discussion of district-related issues).

First: Thanks to Chris for sharing this link: Three of the four teachers honored recently with the Alliance for Education‘s Swain Excellence in Teaching Award are from West Seattle schools – Denny’s Marcus Pimpleton and Madison’s Stephanie Poole and Alisha Taylor. More info, plus a photo from the recent ceremony, can be found here.

Second: Jeanne Merritt from Madison Middle School shares news of a memorable visitor:

Madison Middle School eighth graders had a special treat recently when a former teacher came for a visit.

That teacher was Jesse Hagopian. He, his wife and their one-year-old son arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti two days before the big earthquake hit. Mr. Hagopian had taken a one year leave of absence from Seattle Public Schools to care for his baby. He accompanied his wife, an HIV educator who was working with health professionals there.

The family escaped safely from the earthquake, although half of the hotel was in ruins. Mr. Hagopian and a guest doctor treated wounded people who arrived throughout the night, and his wife translated for the doctor. At Madison he shared photos of the devastation, a brief history of Haiti, and ideas of how students could continue to help rebuilding efforts.

Students were visibly moved by his personal account.

After a week in Haiti Mr. Hagopian and his family caught an evacuation flight home.

Our regional-news partners at the Seattle Times told the Hagopians’ Haiti story here.

Off the peninsula, today’s biggest event was the culmination of the Seattle Maritime Festival – not just the tugboat races, but also a wide variety of maritime-related displays and contests at Pier 66. Among them, the “Quick and Dirty Boatbuilding” competition, with Chief Sealth International High School physics students in the fray. West Seattle resident Joe Follansbee shared the photo after covering the Maritime Festival for Fyddeye (of which he’s editor). Their task was previewed in the CSIHS Daily Bulletin: “Hannah Hodges, Stephanie Patterson and John Paul Altamirano will be participating in the ‘Quick and Dirty Boat Building Contest’ at the Seattle Maritime Festival. These students have $100 and three hours to build a boat that floats and race it through a course on Elliott Bay.” (We’ll be checking to see how they did!)

Perfect day to dance, shout, jump for joy outside – just ask the students of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School, who kicked off their annual Jog-A-Thon fundraiser with a choreographed routine to the Black-Eyed Peas‘ song “I Gotta Feeling.” (That’s Jill Pagano of the Nia Divas, leading the dance.) Afterward, K-3 students took the first hour-plus, 4th-8th graders followed; the official Jog-A-Thon page on the OLG website explained not only the event but featured video links to the routine, so everyone could learn it! (P.S. Q13 FOX TV news carried it live during their morning newscast.)

As first reported here March 28, independent Westside School is moving into the old EC Hughes building in Sunrise Heights this fall – and the move is REALLY official now that the Seattle School Board has given its final approval to the lease, with a vote at last night’s board meeting. According to school district documents (read them here), it’s a 10-year lease, starting at $45,000 a year for the first three years – with Westside responsible for operation and maintenance costs (aside from major systems); the district expects to save about $50,000 a year for Hughes and each of two other buildings elsewhere in the city that it’s now going to lease out. The district also had requested proposals for two of its other “closed” facilities in West Seattle, Genesee Hill and Fairmount Park elementaries, but nobody submitted a proposal; Westside, which has been housed in a former Highline Public Schools facility, was the only entity to seek a lease for Hughes. They’re planning to open in their new home this fall.

Thanks to tech instructor Roni Ayalla from the Seattle YMCA for sharing the link to that video, along with the news that the West Seattle High School senior who’s featured, Rey Martinez, created the design that won the “Be the Change” T-shirt contest put on by PugetSoundOff.org and One Soul Revolution. OSR will print and sell Rey’s design; he also won an iPod.

We stopped by West Seattle Montessori School (WSB sponsor) to check out the plant sale, continuing till 2 pm, and wound up with a photo of the bake sale! (Added later – a peek inside their greenhouse:)

Also just picked up another event we didn’t know about till it turned up on Twitter – today is Free Comic Book Day nationwide, and Arcane Comics in West Seattle is among the participants.

For the second time in three days, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson is visiting West Seattle to join in an event with high-profile visitors. The other day, it was the Confucius Institute Education Center opening ceremonies at Denny International Middle School (WSB coverage here), and today, she’s at Chief Sealth High School – pictured above with Sealth principal John Boyd – for a special assembly introducing the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz‘s “Peer-to-Peer” jazz education program. The jazz legend’s son, Thelonious Monk Jr., is here, along with a musical delegation including a team described in the official announcement as “six exceptionally gifted high school jazz students from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.” After the assembly, which is continuing till noon, the visitors will join in an afternoon of workshops for Sealth musicians. ADDED: Our video is from Monk’s stirring pep talk as the event began- talking about how jazz is quintessential Americana – representing so many important values, including teamwork:

(Our first report on the Confucius Institute celebration, with more video/photos, is here)

First-grader Delaney Blanford‘s English and Mandarin greeting embodied what the Confucius Institute Education Center opening ceremony at Denny International Middle School was all about: Giving more students in our state the chance to learn Mandarin. She was preceded by Beacon Hill International School classmate Nat Beaumon (that’s Confucius Institute HQ director Madame Xu Lin and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn in the background):

Their participation as student emcees fits right in with the mission of the Seattle Public Schools international schools – with Chief Sealth International High School the latest to win that designation, and prominently participating in today’s ceremony; the center and its language programs will be based for now on the Denny campus, but will move to the Sealth/Denny campus a few blocks east on SW Thistle this fall. That’s why a parade/procession traversed those blocks as today’s ceremony ended:

At the end of our video, that’s Denny principal Jeff Clark, resplendent in the bright-blue suit he often wears when his Denny Dolphins are in the spotlight. At the start of the video, the Lion Dancers (doubling as break dancers) were from Franklin High School, the marching musicians from Denny and Sealth (both directed by Marcus Pimpleton). Clark and Chief Sealth principal John Boyd both spoke at their future new campus – the Denny principal, exchanging gifts with the Confucius Institute’s leader Madame Xu Lin:

Boyd will be hosting the center starting this fall, since his students move into their renovated school this September, while the new Denny won’t be occupied till 2011.

He also walked in the parade/procession, with West Seattle’s school board rep Steve Sundquist (photo right) also accompanying Madame Xu Lin:

The distinguished visitor from China had a short time earlier unveiled a plaque, with Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson:

And she heard students sing the Chinese folk song “Mo Li Hua“:

The student emcees joined them:

But what this ultimately comes down to, is back in the classroom – where the visiting delegation began their short stay in West Seattle, watching students practice writing Chinese – in this case, the word for “harmony”:

Along with Madame Xu Lin, four other representatives from the headquarters of the Confucius Institute – a nonprofit affiliated with the Chinese government (explained further on this University of Washington website) – attended the ceremonies, as did representatives from the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco. They got a whirlwind hard-hat tour of the Denny/Sealth site before they left (here’s our report on the one we took with Sealth students a few weeks ago).

Denny International Middle School in Westwood is abuzz with excitement right now – in two languages – Mandarin and English. Dignitaries from China are part of a high-powered delegation visiting the school right now to celebrate the launch of the Confucius Institute language program – to be based here at Denny until the new Denny/Sealth campus is open a few blocks east. The visit began with a classroom tour (photo above) and is now moving on to a big assembly, with students from Denny, Chief Sealth International High School, and Beacon Hill International Elementary, as well as dignitaries galore (including state schools Superintendent Randy Dorn). This will conclude with processions, including a lion dance, from Denny to the new Denny-Sealth campus in a little more than an hour, and as we mentioned earlier today, that means SW Thistle will be briefly closed in the area. “A very historic day for the state, city, and Seattle Public Schools,” as Karen Kodama, SPS international education administrator, has just proclaimed this to be. More to come! ADDED 3:16 PM: We’ve got lots of photos and video to put in a second report, but while we work on that, here are the Denny and Sealth musicians playing short version of both the China and USA national anthems at the new Sealth/Denny campus as the event ended:

ADDED 4:54 PM: And here are two of Christopher Boffoli‘s photos: First, from the start of the procession down SW Thistle from Denny to the new Sealth/Denny campus – lion dancer/break dancers from Franklin HS, followed by Denny/Sealth musicians – video of the parade will be in our second report:

From the auditorium event, Madame Xu Lin, who leads the Confucius Institute from its headquarters in China, with Superintendent Dorn:

She told the Denny audience this is the first middle-school-based Confucius Institute she has visited on the occasion of its grand opening.