May 11 , 2007

District News

Community shows its appreciation during Raj Manhas Day

More than 300 community members applauded and celebrated the legacy and accomplishments of Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas at a special Rotary Club of Seattle meeting on May 9 at McCaw Hall.

Manhas announced he was leaving the School District at the end of the school year. Rotary Club of Seattle declared May 9 “Raj Manhas Day” in his honor.

Manhas joined Seattle Public Schools on October 10, 2001, as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed Interim Superintendent on June 4, 2003. Recognizing his ability to provide much-needed stability at a critical time, the School Board permanently appointed Manhas as Superintendent in October 2004. He has been instrumental in restoring the fiscal integrity to the District and is widely credited for instilling a sense of hope and healing among staff in the wake of a financial crisis.

Dr. Goodloe-Johnson starts school superintendent job July 9

Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, incoming Seattle Public Schools superintendent, will say hello to staff, families, and community members during a public reception, 6:30-8:30 p.m., May 17 at the Stanford Center Auditorium. All are welcome to attend.

Following a rigorous national search process, on April 12 the Seattle School Board selected Goodloe-Johnson as the next superintendent. Her first official day on the job is Monday, July 9.

Goodloe-Johnson has been working as the superintendent of the Charleston County School District since 2003, and is responsible for the administration and supervision of a school system with 43,000 students, 5,500 employees and a $308 million budget.
Before joining Charleston, Goodloe-Johnson was assistant superintendent of Corpus Christi Independent School District in Texas and director of secondary instruction at St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado. She began her career as a high school special education teacher in Colorado and is a former high school principal and assistant principal.
Goodloe-Johnson has a Bachelor of Science in Special Education, a Master of Arts in Educationally Handicapped K-12 and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration, Supervision, Curriculum and Instruction. She has been recognized and honored for her numerous works in education.  For details on the search process and Goodloe-Johnson’s biography, visit the News and Calendar Web site.

Community meetings scheduled on Student Assignment Plan

Seattle Public Schools is hosting two community workshops and a series of drop-in meetings from May 16-30 so that parents and community members can offer their ideas and learn more about the Board's review of the Student Assignment Plan – a policy that determines where students attend school.

The review process was initiated at a public School Board work session in September 2006 and has been discussed at several School Board committee meetings. The current Student Assignment Plan hasn't received a comprehensive review for a number of years and, therefore, has not been updated to reflect the population and density changes in Seattle.

The Board's goal is to adopt a simplified plan for 2008-2009 that supports academics, is easier for families to understand and manage, and results in cost savings. There will be no changes in the plan for the 2007-2008 school year.

Community workshops, including a formal presentation and drop-in meetings in an open-house format, have been scheduled so the public can offer their opinions on the development of a framework based on SPS values of predictability, continuity and choice. The Board will use this initial set of ideas to create a final plan, scheduled to occur this fall.

Summer School programs focus on helping students meet goals

This summer, more than 2,500 students will be offered the opportunity for additional instruction in literacy, math, study and organizational skills. Teachers and counselors will identify eligible students who have the most academic need – and based on these recommendations, will invite parents/guardians to enroll their students in the programs. Information on summer school sessions is provided in the chart below.

Summer School/Summer Semester Opportunities 2007

For more information, parents and guardians should contact their child’s teacher, counselor or principal, or call (252-0815. For the first time this year, summer school/summer semester enrollment is being handled through “The Source,” a Web-based system that provides students, teachers and families access to a wide array of information about student attendance, test results, homework and grades.

Attention Class of 2007 – Share Your Story! – Extended to May 18

The teachers and staff of Seattle Public Schools are proud of the accomplishments of our class of 2007, and we want our community to know more about our graduates. Graduating seniors are encouraged to share their stories.

We are asking our students to share their proudest accomplishment, hopes for the future, the name of the teacher who made the biggest difference in their life, and the reason that teacher was so influential.  To share this information, complete and return the online form at http://www.seattleschools.org/area/m_news/GraduateStoryForm.pdf. We'll take it from there! We will share these profiles in a variety of ways, including via the media. Let's show Seattle – and the nation – what's great about our students and our teachers.

Student Celebrations

Students at the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center sell original art cards, right, at the Fremont Market. Sales benefit the SBOC scholarship fund.

Secondary BOC students create, run art-card business

Students at the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center are learning how to speak and write English while running their own successful business. The students, using a program designed by Junior Achievement, make and sell beautiful art cards designed by fellow students.  All proceeds go to the school’s scholarship fund to help needy SBOC graduates start their own small businesses.

The students are selling the cards 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sundays May 20 and June 3 at the Fremont Market. Cards are also for sale between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the school, located at 411 Boston St. Additionally, cards will be sold at the school’s Chess Fest on June 16.

The colorful cards are of many subjects, and all were created in the SBOC art class.  Future plans are to sell handicrafts from the students’ homelands. 

Seattle School Scholarship Fund to award 22 scholarships

The Scholarship Committee for the Seattle School Scholarship Fund will award 22 graduating seniors $2,000 each at a ceremony Wednesday, May 23 at the John Stanford Center auditorium. The fund provides financial assistance to deserving graduates from Seattle Public Schools for first year college-related expenses.

The students are:
■ Elaine Green and Damon Arrao, Ballard
■ Debbie Huynh and Henry Liu, Cleveland
■ Chanell Robinson and Jordan Veasley, Franklin
■ Wanda Ward and Dmitri Groce, Garfield
■ Rashunda Johnson and Andrew Lyon, Nathan Hale
■ Cindy Torres and Shannon Braswell, Ingraham
■ Talia Jordan and James Stone, Rainier Beach
■ Jia Fu and Bereket Ayele, Roosevelt
■ Ariadna Gutierrez and Diego Cortez, Chief Sealth
■ Lan Pham and Chad Tripp, West Seattle
■ Amber Healy, Marshall
■ BreAnna Cal, Summit K-12
The District Web site, http://www.seattleschools.org/area/scholarshipfund/index.dxml, features information about the Seattle Schools Scholarship Fund and includes pictures of last year’s ceremony and recipients.  Updates will be posted following the May 23 awards ceremony. 

Seattle Schools Scholarships/Awards Ceremony
7 p.m., Wednesday, May 23
John Stanford Center Auditorium
2445 Third Ave. S.

Northwest High School Film Festival honors Ballard producers

Students from the Ballard High School Video Production Program won 15 awards and honors at the 9th annual Northwest High ScShool Film Festival on May 5.  For the third year in a row, Ballard High students walked away with more awards than students from any other school: seven top prizes (Awards of Excellence) and eight Honorable Mentions.  A list of Ballard winners:

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
■ Anti-Ad
“Anti-Steroids,” Taylor Halbett, Steven Nansel, Tommy Nast
“Anti-Tag,” Lars Kaldestad, Doyle McCarthy, Marissa Neroutsos
■ Commercial
“Crash Landing Pizza,” Justin Amorratanasuchad, Sami Kubo, Cedar Scarlett-Lyon
■ Dramatic Narrative
“Bittersweet,” Coburn Erskine, Becca Rice, Devon Sizemore, George Westberg
 “Nice Touch,” Alec Maclurg, Ben Steiner, Kevin Vitz-Wong
■ Documentary
“Belize: The Potential of a Nation in Need,” Riley Heckel, Cedar Scarlett-Lyon
■ Music Video
“Hey, You!” Michael Gore, Sami Kubo, Kyle Seago, Jordan Stead

HONORABLE MENTIONS
■ Commercial
“Don’t Waste Your Life at the Bus Stop,” Michael Gore, Mike Hipp, Evangeline Spracklin
■ Comedic Narrative
“Chasing Game,” Matt Hess, Graham Milgate, Jordan Stead
“A Good Knight’s Sleep,” Marina Bambans, Elizabeth McCallum, Marissa Neroutsos
■ Dramatic Narrative
“Blindside,” Dylan Pharoah-Whitney, Kyle Seago, Jordan Stead 
“Like Father, Like Son,” Justin Amorratanasuchad, Mike Hipp, Cedar Scarlett-Lyon
■ Music Video
“Frontier Psychiatrist,” Riley Heckel, Audra McCafferty, Ben Steiner
■ News Feature
 “The Gymnast,” Audra McCafferty, Scott Miller
“Sean Daley: Male Cheerleader,” Hannah Kreimer, Lena Takamori, Paul Wilson

Many of the awarded productions can be seen Friday, June 8 at The Showing, a screening of work by students in the BHS Video Production Program.  The event begins at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium with a suggested donation of $5.

Broadview-Thompson fifth-graders are published poets

Several fifth-grade students from Broadview-Thompson Elementary School will have their poems published in the National Anthology of Poetry.  Students whose poetry were honored include:  Taylor Sherman, Ryan Smith, Zachary Geer, Duncan Greeley, Connie Si, Shannon Horst, Alejandro Ramirez-Velasquez, Daniel Rhee, Katrina Kuo, Jacob Etelamaki, Anna Von Ravensberg, Emma Fillingham, Nathanial Solum, and Ross Allan from Ms. Solberg’s class. 

Adobe Youth Voices first-year sites named in Seattle

Adobe Youth Voices – a nonprofit organization that helps youth comment on their world – is providing students access to multimedia programs, digital tools and training at several Seattle Public Schools, including Aki Kurose Middle School, Hamilton International Middle School, James A. Garfield High School, McClure Middle School, and Nathan Hale High School. The program empowers students to use video, audio, digital photography, animation, and web design to explore, comment and take an active role in their communities.

John Rogers classroom wins ‘Junk is Good’ contest

John Rogers Elementary School students in the first-grade classroom of Lair Showalter won the classroom division of the "Junk is Good" contest sponsored by All for Kids Bookstore. Students brought in junk from home, then brainstormed and collaborated to build a land/water vehicle, using an old baby seat, foam packing blocks, corks and wheels. The first-place prize is a classroom visit in June by children's author, Janet Wong, whose new book, "The Dumpster Diver," inspired the contest.

Essentially Ellington top prize goes to Roosevelt High jazz band

For the second time in five years, the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band has won first place and a $1,000 prize at the prestigious Essentially Ellington jazz competition in New York.

Other outstanding soloist acknowledgements from Seattle Public School students:
■ Carl Majeau (Garfield), clarinet;
■ John Cheadle (Garfield) and Logan Strosahl (Roosevelt), alto saxophone;
■ Joel Gombiner and Devin Mooers (both of Garfield), tenor saxophone;
■ Benjamin Hamaji (Garfield) and Scotty Bemis (Roosevelt), piano; and
■ Reed Ferris (Roosevelt), banjo.

Roosevelt also picked up four "outstanding" acknowledgments for its reed, trombone, trumpet and rhythm sections. Roosevelt student Alex Dugdale won this year's Essentially Ellington writing contest, in which students were asked to submit a 500-word essay describing an experience that led to their love of jazz.

Stevens Elementary students produce Spanish-English music CD

As part of Stevens Elementary’s centennial celebration this year, teacher Justin Maggart led a musical CD project called, "La Escuela Stevens canta asi! A Celebration of Songs in Spanish and
English." The CD release party will be held at the Stevens Centennial Celebration and Birdhouse Auction on Saturday, May 12.

The CD features original and traditional music from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, and the United States. Local professional musicians recorded the instrumental tracks and all of Stevens’ K-5 students sang on the CD's 12 songs. This project primarily was made possible through the donation of studio time from Holy Names Academy, a neighboring school.

For more information about this special all-school, language and culture project, contact Justin Maggart at jtmaggart@seattleschools.org.

Roosevelt High student awarded $500 scholarship

Loung Dang, a Roosevelt High School student, was awarded a $500 scholarship from the Seattle Association of Educational Office Professionals to use for future education. The organization’s end-of-the-year dinner will be held 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 15 at Salty’s on Alki Beach in West Seattle, 1936 Harbor Ave. S.W. 

John Stanford, Hamilton students celebrate International Arts

Students from John Stanford and Hamilton International Schools helped celebrate International Arts May 19 with activities and performances that included Japanese fan dancing, Cuban song-writing, Taiko drumming, West African dancing, Chinese ribbon dancing and Afro-Caribbean drumming. Guests also had an opportunity to see a gallery walk showcasing International Visual Arts projects from the year. The event was held at the Lincoln High School Auditorium, the current site for Garfield High School.

Staff Celebrations

Roosevelt High theater director to receive achievement award

Theatre Puget Sound will honor Roosevelt High School Theatre Director Ruben Van Kempen with the 2007 Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award in a ceremony June 4 at the Seattle Center. The award honors those who have devoted time, energy and talent to Seattle’s theater community, and whose careers have had an influence on theater locally and beyond. Van Kempen will share the award with Karen Gjelsteen, a professor and scenic design area head, who has taught at Cornish College of the Arts since 1981.

Theatre Puget Sound selected Van Kempen for his work as an outstanding theater director and educator. Van Kempen has garnered many theater and education awards throughout his career, including the Christa McAuliffe Washington Award for Excellence in Education Award and the Seattle Excellence in Education Award. He has directed numerous plays and has seen former students perform on Broadway. 

2006 Gregory A. Falls Achievement Award Reception
5:30-7 p.m., June 4
Seattle Center, Alki NW Room
305 Harrison St.
Admission: $30
Reservations required; call Theatre Puget Sound at 770-0370

Technology team member awarded most outstanding dissertation

Juli Swinnerton, a part-time member of the Instructional Technology team at the Department of Technology Services, is the winner of the 2006-07 Gordon C.  Lee Dissertation Award, given annually for the most outstanding dissertation in the UW College of Education.

Her dissertation, titled, “Learning to Lead What You Don't (Yet) Know: District Leaders Engaged in Instructional Reform,” was unanimously chosen for this honor.

Coming Up

600 Seattle students take off in MESA Day science competition

Can you design a balsa wood glider to soar for 100 feet?  Can you engineer a way to keep an egg from breaking when you drop it from a height of 8 feet?  Are you ready to work with a team to solve challenging mathematics problem?  More than 600 students from 25 Seattle elementary, middle, and high schools will be answering those questions and more with hands-on math and science at the 7th annual Seattle MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement) Day competition on May 12.

Seattle MESA Day
8:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., Saturday, May 12
Rainier Beach High School,
8815 Seward Park Ave. S.

TOPS presents annual showcase of artwork on May 18

Staff and family at TOPS invites the community on May 18 to view the wonderful art presented by the school’s 2006-07 student body. This annual showcase of artwork has always been an anticipated event in the TOPS community. Food and beverages will be served accompanied by light music. Later in the evening, students will also present this year's elementary play, titled "The Jungle Book," directed by Julie Jamieson.

TOPS at Seward School Library
5 p.m.-9 p.m., Friday, May 18
2500 Franklin Ave. E.

Seattle Reading Awards recognize reading improvements

The Seattle Reading Awards event is scheduled for June 2 at Mercer Middle School to recognize fifth-grade students who have shown exceptional improvement in reading this school year. The awards were initiated several years ago by former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and his wife, Constance Rice. Winners will receive an autographed copy of “Dear Ichiro” by Jeannie Okimoto. For more information, contact Dan Coles, K-12 Literacy Program Manager, at 252-0231 or e-mail at djcoles@seattleschools.org.

Seattle Reading Awards
10:30 a.m. - noon, Saturday, June 2
Mercer Middle School
1600 S. Columbian Way

Brighton Elementary to hold Multicultural Celebration June 7

Brighton Elementary School will hold its annual Multicultural Celebration June 7 at the school. The theme this year is "We Are Family."  A free dinner featuring the foods of many cultures will be followed by a program of music.  Brighton students and community guests will be presenting songs and dances from many of the world's nations.

Multicultural Celebration
5:30-8 p.m., Thursday, June 7
Brighton Elementary
6725 45th Ave. S.

African American Academy planning Imani Fest June 9

Planning is under way at the African American Academy for the Imani Fest June 9. Save this date on your calendars and plan on attending. There will be food, fun, information booths, and activities for all ages. For more information, contact Mrs. Andrea Drake at 252-6650.

Imani Fest
Noon-3:30 p.m., Saturday, June 9
African American Academy
8311 Beacon Ave. S.

Rainier View Elementary plans for ?A Celebration of Learning?
Alumni, staff, volunteers invited to send in favorite memories

Families and staff at Rainier View Elementary School are planning a June 20 community event to celebrate the education of students and successes at the school over its 46-year history. Event organizers invite anyone who ever attended Rainier View ­? or taught or volunteered at the school ­? to send their favorite memory. Rainier View will close this summer as part of the School Board?s July 2006 decision to close seven district buildings. The Rainier View program is merging with Emerson Elementary. Staff, students and families from both schools have been working together to ensure a smooth and positive transition.

E-mail responses to Teresa Stout at tstout@seattleschools.org, or mail to Rainier View Elementary, 11650 Beacon Ave. S., Mailstop SO-264, Seattle, WA  98178.  Please send responses by Friday, June 1.  For questions or information, contact Teresa Stout, administrative secretary, at 252-7420.

A Celebration of Learning
5:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 20
Rainier View Elementary
11650 Beacon Ave. S.

In the News

For a sampling of this week?s local newspaper stories on Seattle Public Schools, please click here.