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June 9,
2009
Photography
© Susie Fitzhugh
Excellence for All: Strengthen
Learning and Teaching in Science
Family science activities
posted for some summer learning ideas
Strengthening
the teaching of science is a key strategy of
Excellence for All, Seattle Public Schools' Strategic Plan.
Adopting common instructional materials and supportive documents
will strengthen the District's teaching of science, provide
continuity of instruction across schools, and increase our ability
to support strong professional development for our teachers. By the
end of June, the science team will complete development of
instructional guides, classroom-based assessments, pacing guides,
and family activities. Suggested
family activities for each unit, such as Building
Structures, Weather, Liquids, Balancing and Weighing and other
examples are posted on the Science
Web site. More will be added soon. This summer, teachers will
enhance their skills through institutes in teaching physics,
biology and chemistry. For additional information, please visit the
Science Web site, or view a
presentation provided to the School Board on June 3 and
accompanying summary
.
District News
Public
hearing for new student assignment plan scheduled
for June 10; School Board to vote on plan at June 17
meeting
Seattle
Public Schools staff heard from families that they want an
equitable, understandable, predictable Student Assignment Plan that
will encourage greater family participation, bring needed services
closer to students, foster diversity, and be feasible and cost
effective to implement and sustain. In response, a proposed new
Student Assignment Plan has been created that Seattle Public
Schools believes will create a truly outstanding school district
where everyone is accountable for excellence at every school. At
the June 3 School Board meeting, a
proposed new Student Assignment Plan was introduced.
Information about this plan, including Frequently
Asked Questions and ways to provide input, is available on the
Student
Assignment Plan Web site. Informal Q&A sessions are
scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday,
June 13, from 9 a.m. to noon, both at the John Stanford Center. The
School Board is scheduled to take
public testimony on the proposed plan on June 10 and to vote on
the plan at its June 17 meeting. Following the June 17 vote,
assignment area maps will be created. These maps will be shared
with the community and then voted on by the Board this fall. Once
the maps are approved by the Board, staff will work to create a
transition plan to begin implementation of the Student Assignment
Plan.
Updates
on closing the District's unprecedented budget
gap
At the June 3 School Board
meeting, Chief Financial and Operating Officer Don Kennedy provided
an
analysis of key elements of the District budget. Topics
highlighted include the current budget by function; an overview of
funding for this year and next; trends and uses for District
reserves; information on staff displacements and Reduction in
Force; and a look ahead at funding for the next two years.
Unprecedented cuts in state funding meant that Seattle Public
Schools had to make many painful decisions to close a $34 million
shortfall for the coming school year, including:
- Making tough
choices on school closures that will result in nearly $50 million
in savings over the next five years;
- Freezing
cost-of-living adjustments for District staff;
- Reducing
jobs at the District headquarters;
- Maintaining
a hiring freeze;
- Drawing on a
portion of our reserves, our savings account, to fund operations;
and
- Increasing
efficiencies in transportation and nutrition services.
Yet
even all of these steps could not prevent a number of
teacher, other certificated staff and classified staff layoffs.
Because, retaining and attracting the best talent is key to
ensuring that every student receives excellent instruction, it was
agreed in the last contract negotiation to bring teachers' salaries
in line with the top five regional districts. The District
fulfilled that obligation by giving teachers a raise last year that
averaged 14 percent. It is hard to lose wonderful teachers and
other staff. However, Seattle Public Schools simply cannot afford
to retain all the certificated staff currently employed by the
District. Although the District hopes to recall as many teachers as
possible over the summer, the rate of retirements is less than
usual this year.
School
Board approves new 2009-10 bus arrival and departure
times
The
Seattle School Board on June 3 approved
new bus arrival and departure times for the 2009-10 school year
that will change the start and end times of all schools. The
changes will provide more consistency, maximize operational
efficiency, reduce bus ride times for many students, and reduce
transportation costs by $2.2 million.
Read more.
School
Board Update - June 3, 2009
Several Career and Technical
Education students and staff were recognized for their
award-winning work this year. The Superintendent included
updates on
science, this year’s
open enrollment period,
state performance audits, and
budget.
The Board approved motions to
adjust
transportation service standards,
name the African American Academy building lecture hall after
its architect, Mel Streeter; purchase
Everyday Math consumables for 2009-10; accept completed
renovation projects at
Catherine Blaine,
McGilvra and John Hay,
Sacajawea and Olympic Hills, and replace a waterline at
Montlake.
Items introduced were the
proposed Student Assignment Plan, the
Head Start grant approval for 2009-10, changes to the
Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, a resolution
acknowledging
completion of the skills center study, and a grant-funded
contract to support
high school curricula alignment work.
Student Celebrations
Washington Middle School music
students win 'Best in Festival'
| Washington Middle School
Orchestra and Jazz Band win 'Best in Festival' award at California
Heritage Festival. |
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The
Washington Middle School Senior Band, Orchestra, and Jazz Band
traveled to Anaheim, Calif. from May 14-17 for the Heritage
Festival where all of the ensembles performed well and won
first place in their divisions. The full Orchestra and Jazz Band
won the Adjudicator's Award for "Best in Festival." Students Ariel
Loud, Jack Swiggett, and Caroline Sheffield were honored as
outstanding jazz soloists.
The Senior ensembles, primarily made
up of 8th-graders, were also able to enjoy a day at Disneyland as a
culminating celebration of their musical growth. Music directors
are Kelly Barr Clingan and Elizabeth Fortune. |
Nathan
Hale's radio station C89.5 receives top excellence
award
Nathan
Hale's radio station, C89.5, was awarded first place for General
Excellence at the 2009 Washington
State High School Radio Awards held May 14 in Gig Harbor. C89.5
won in a total of 10 categories, including five first-place awards,
to capture the overall Excellence Award. This is the second year in
a row that the radio station has won this distinction. The awards
were created to recognize excellence in high school broadcasting.
Student winners included: Chase Gonty, Madeline Keyser, Emma
LaValley, Danielle Lien, Keano Martinez, Luke Neilson, Mas
Podgorny, Madleine Presland, Simon Thwaits, and Arthur Ung.
Read more on the radio awards.
C89.5 was also featured in an ABC News
broadcast highlighting the radio station's reputation as the
best high school station in the nation.
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Recipients of
the Seattle Schools Scholarships are: Betzabe Bruno Aguilar,
Interagency Academy, Andrew Agustin, Interagency Academy; Aklilu
Biniam, Center School; Silvia Ordonez Chirino, Chief Sealth;
Gabrielle Clark, Ingraham; Jeremy Daffon, Chief Sealth; Hangatu
Dawud, Cleveland; Benyam Derseh, Ingraham; Mary Dunlap, Garfield;
Ricardo Gonzalez, Ballard; Ashley Hamman, West Seattle; Randi
Huard, Roosevelt; Earl Johnson, Nathan Hale; Emily Johnstone,
American Indian Heritage Middle College High School; Bryant
Pittman, Garfield; Ronnietra Redmond, Nathan Hale; Delfina Salinas,
Ballard; Kenny Setiao, Cleveland; Jixi Teng, Roosevelt; Dawn
Tuason, Franklin; Marcellus Walker, Franklin; Marcusallen Wells,
Rainier Beach; Travonna Wiley, Rainier Beach; Isaiah Wales, West
Seattle.
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24
students each receive $2,000 Seattle Schools
Scholarships
The Seattle Schools
Scholarship Committee of Trustees announce that 24 Seattle Public
Schools high school students were each awarded $2,000 at the
Seattle Schools Scholarship Fund annual awards ceremony on May 14
at the John Stanford Center.
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Left photo:
Some of the 'Biomedical Breakthroughs' essay contest winners, along
with teacher Stella Bass from Washington Middle School are: Alice
Mar-Abe, Guadalupe Vincente Dominquez, Henry Flanagan, Yadira
Perez, and Stephanie Spinkerman. Right photo: Yadira Perez and
Guadalupe Vicente Dominguez learn about research conducted by
Ihunnaya Frederick, Ph.D,, from Swedish Medical Center.
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WMS
students win “Biomedical Breakthroughs” essay
contest
Washington
Middle School students and their teacher, Stella Bass, were honored
on May 15 for winning the 2009 "Biomedical
Breakthroughs and My Life" essay contest. The “Biomedical
Breakthroughs and My Life” middle school essay contest,
sponsored annually by the Northwest
Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR), introduces
students to biomedical research and the process of developing
medical treatments and cures. The 2009 winning essays, selected
from more than 480 entries from 7th- and 8th-grade students
throughout Washington and Oregon, were written on topics such as
cystic fibrosis, asthma and treatments for myopia. To read the 2009
winning essays, visit: www.nwabr.org/education/contest.html.
Overall Contest
Winners:
1st - Stephanie Spinkerman
2nd - Jack Swiggett
3rd - Henry Flanagan
Western Washington
Winners:
2nd - Alice Mar-Abe
Honorable Mention - Dana
Keyes-Gibbons
Honorable Mention - Daniel King
Honorable Mention - Bryan
Kellen
ESL Washington
Winners:
Honorable Mention - Guadalupe
Vicente Dominguez
Honorable Mention - Yadira
Perez
Washington Middle School tops
in National Geography Challenge
A team of Washington Middle
School students put together a combined score of 437 points out of
500 points to win first place in the National
Geography Challenge, held in April and May. Team members were:
Caitlin Chambers, Chris Dailey, Derek Gasaway, Bailey Layzer, Gill
Biesold-McGee, Eli McClintock-Shapiro, Edward Strong, Seth
Vanderwilt, Dylan Wollett, and Eric Zeng. This is the second year
in a row that Washington Middle School students have won the
national title and it is the school's fourth national title since
2002. Click on the links for sample geography challenge questions
for Grades
2,
3-4,
5-6,
7-9,
10-12.
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Communities In Schools of
Seattle sends students to camp
Five
students from Madrona K-8 were recently awarded scholarships to the
summer camp of their choice through a unique partnership between Communities In Schools of
Seattle, BECU and the Seahawks. The students attended a program
that encourages them to set financial goals and think about how
they will achieve them. This year’s essay and scholarship
winners are: Jaurdyn Burrough, Sophia Ortiz-Williams, Rayneesha
Charles, Akoiya Harris, and My Dung Thi Bui. Read
more and for more information about this program, contact info@cisseattle.org.
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| Madrona K-8 students show their
summer camp scholarships. |
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Chief
Sealth students receive outstanding youth heritage
awards
Chief
Sealth High School students Ally Stariha, Nicole Stariha, Sara
Schendel, Samantha Westler and DJ Ross were co-recipients of the Association of King County Historical
Organizations Youth Award. The award is presented to a King
County student, or students, (K-12) who made an outstanding
contribution to the heritage community through a project that has
benefited the community at large. All five students were recognized
for the mentoring work they did with students from Cooper
Elementary on a local environmental and historical project
associated with Project
Earth Care.
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Ballard Marching Band wins
award at Wenatchee festival, plays at Disneyland
The Ballard
Marching Band, under the direction of Michael James, won second
place at the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival Grand Parade
held in Wenatchee on May 2. The award marks the fifth year in a row
that the Ballard Band has won an award at this parade. The band
also traveled to Disneyland May 15-18 to march down Main Street and
perform on stage.
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Ballard Orchestra wins
Sweepstakes Award at Music in the Parks
Festival
On May 9, The Ballard Orchestra traveled to Couer d'Alene, Idaho
to perform at the Music in the Parks Festival. The performance
earned the group three trophies: First Place in their division,
Best Overall Orchestra, and the Sweepstakes Award for the Best
Performance of the Festival. The orchestra, under the direction of
Michael James, is planning to travel to New York City in spring
2010. |
Garfield students receive
college-sponsored Merit scholarships
Four
Garfield High students received college-sponsored National Merit
scholarships. The scholarships are financed by colleges and
universities where the students will be attending. Winners and
their scholarship awards are:
• Lucas A. Chapel (National
Merit Western Washington University Scholarship)
• Christina A. Cook (National
Merit University of Southern California Scholarship)
• Thomas P. Huston (National
Merit New York University Scholarship)
• Jane M. Zanzig (National
Merit University of Washington Scholarship)
The awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four
years of undergraduate study.
Read more.
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Alexandria
Conchie, left photo, Ingraham High School senior, received a $500
scholarship from the Seattle Association of Education Office
Professionals. Right photo: SAEOP members Karen Putnam, Nancy
Milgate, Emily Marley, Donna Hansen, Vivian Belcher, Chris Helsel,
Mary Smith, Jenny Evans, Barb Slatt, Rodney Higuchi, and Rosa
Tavai. Seated, from left are: Sue Daley, Antoinette Felder, and
Debbie Passi, President.
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Ingraham
High senior receives $500 SAEOP scholarship award;
Newest certificated Office Professionals members
recognized
The Seattle
Association of Educational Office Professionals (SAEOP) on May 27
awarded its annual $500 scholarship to Alexandria Conchie, a
graduating senior from Ingraham High School. Alex has lead a very
active life at Ingraham with an interest and involvement in social
justice and human rights. She has been accepted to attend the
University of Toronto in the fall.
The association also recognized 14
Office Professionals for earning a National Association of
Educational Office Professions Professional Standards
Certificate. Each recipient participated in more than 60 hours
of professional development to earn the certificate. SAEOP officers
for 2009-10 were also installed at the evening
event. |
Garfield student named Top
Speaker at national debate invitational
Garfield
High School student Austin Cole, a member of the Seattle/Northwest Debate
Foundation, received the Top National Speaker Award and a
$1,000 scholarship at the JPMorgan
Chase Urban Debate National Championship held April 23-26 in
Chicago. Also attending the event were Karen Dean and Brenden
Petersen from West Seattle High School and Pittman Bryant from
Garfield.
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Ballard video production
students honored at two events
On May 19,
students from the Ballard High School Video Production Program, top
photo, won 13 awards and honors at the 11th annual Northwest High
School Film Festival at Shoreline Community College. On May 30,
Ballard students were selected for seven honors or awards at the
National Student Television Awards in the Northwest region.
Read more |
Staff Celebrations
Capital
Projects manager
elected to head educational facility planners
council
Don
Gillmore, Program Manager for Capital Projects, Seattle Public
Schools Building Excellence (BEX), has been elected
as president of the Council of
Educational Facilities Planners International (CEFPI). He will
assume his position in October 2010.
Gillmore has been responsible for
the management of design and construction of major Seattle Public
Schools building projects since 1996 and a number of the projects
have won industry awards.
The Council of Educational Facility
Planners International is the only professional organization whose
principal purpose is improving the places where children
learn.
Read
more. |
| Don Gillmore outside the John
Stanford Center hallway where various posters and displays hang on
walls describing ongoing construction projects. |
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Sealth
teacher wins award for innovative history
curriculum
Chief
Sealth High School teacher Gary Thomsen has won the prestigious Heritage Education Award from the
Association of King County Historical Organizations. The
Heritage Award is presented to a King County teacher or an
organization who has promoted King County heritage by the
innovative incorporation of local history into the curriculum
and/or through a project that involves students with the heritage
community. Thomsen created Project
Earth Care, a pioneering and collaborative effort –
involving K-12 students, the Seattle Parks Department and community
members – that fosters a community-based understanding of
environmental issues and solutions. The project
also engaged high school students to mentor other students and
become actively involved in the growing number of environmental
issues.
Seattle
Special Education PTSA selects Cooper teacher
for Outstanding Teacher of the Year award
Rebecca
Cressell, an autism teacher at Cooper Elementary School, received
the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Seattle Special Ed
PTSA. Cressell received the award at the May 26 general meeting
at the John Stanford Center.
Around the
Schools
High
school graduation commencements scheduled for June
9-18
Seattle Public Schools
celebrates the academic achievements of its high school graduates
with commencements occurring throughout the city, Tuesday, June 9
through Thursday, June 18. Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson,
Ph.D., will be speaking at four high school commencements this
year: Ingraham High School, Rainier Beach High School, Roosevelt
High School and South Lake High School. Click on the link for a
complete list of high schools' commencement dates at Seattle
Public Schools.
Jane
Addams K-8 to hold family informational night on June
17
Jane
Addams K-8 welcomes new families and the community to join
Principal Deborah Nelsen and staff for a "Meet the Staff" and
informational night on June 17. The Jane Addams K-8 team will share
some of its preliminary plans for the new school, including the
middle school schedule; the three-year environmental science
implementation plan; how students with special needs and advanced
learners will be served; and an update on the planning process for
the remainder of the summer. Attendees will be able to meet the
staff, walk around the building, and begin to form the school's
Parent-Teacher Association. "This is an exhilarating time and we?re
especially proud of the staff we?ve been able to hire," Nelsen
said. "They are instructionally strong and committed to building a
great program. Please join us to learn more about the program and
how you can become involved!"
Jane Addams K-8 –
Information Night
Wednesday, June 17
6:30-8 p.m.
Jane Addams building
11051 34th Ave. N.E.
Lawton
students learn engineering, programming skills
through FIRST Lego League robotics challenge
Lawton
Elementary second- and fourth-graders will learn basic engineering
and programming skills and participate next school year at their FIRST
Lego League team competition. Guided by a team coach and helped
by mentors, the students will build autonomous robots based on a
challenge theme and compete against other elementary students from
across the country. The students will present their research and
solutions for a real-world problem; this fall's challenge is called
Smart
Move: Transforming Transportation.
Read more.
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Lafayette students learn about
history, lives of Titanic passengers
Students
at Lafayette Elementary learned about the Titanic and its history
by researching the lives of its passengers, then writing
biographies and producing dolls – complete with a facial
photo of the actual passengers. |
West
Seattle receives honorable mention for theater music
direction
West
Seattle High School received an Honorable Mention nomination for
Outstanding Music Direction from the
2009 5th Avenue High School Musical Theatre Awards. The award
was for West Seattle's musical adaption of Merrily We Roll
Along, directed by music teacher Cathy A. Rutherford. The play
was presented in May.
| Volunteers plant native shrubs
and groundcovers on May 4 during the installation of a rain garden
at Montlake Elementary School. |
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Rain
garden teaches Montlake students how to keep waters
cleaner
About 70 volunteers, many of
them school children, helped install a rain garden at Montlake
Elementary School on May 4. The idea of rain gardens is to divert
rain water into the ground - not storm drains - through the use of
water-filtering soil and native plants. The rain garden will serve
as an educational tool for present and future students of Montlake
Elementary. Volunteers from the Sierra Club and
the Community
Day School Association helped with the project.
Aki
Kurose, Salmon Bay students share insights at film
festival
Thirty
students from Salmon Bay School in Ballard traveled a few miles
south to Aki Kurose Middle School in Columbia City last month to
join with 30 of their counterparts for a film festival. The
students shared the digital stories they created in a Bridges
to Understanding curriculum-based program. Topics included
homelessness, environmental sustainability, a day in the life of a
student and the power of sports in students' lives. The stories
created by the students will be posted on Bridges' interactive Web
site to be shared with youth at other Seattle schools and around
the world.
Read more.
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| Washington Middle School Junior
and Senior Orchestras, Meany Middle School Orchestras and the TT
Minor Strings Students perform with the internationally acclaimed
Marian
Anderson String Quartet May 21 at Benaroya Hall’s
Nordstrom Recital Hall. |
Meany,
T.T. Minor, Washington students perform with
internationally acclaimed Marian Anderson String
Quartet
Students
from the Meany and Washington middle schools orchestras, and TT
Minor Elementary violinists culminated a two-week residency with
the internationally acclaimed Marian
Anderson String Quartet May 21 at Benaroya Hall’s
Nordstrom Recital Hall in an event called “A Night of
Strings.” During the two-week residency, the students
rehearsed with the quartet and learned about chamber music
techniques. The program consisted of performances of student
soloists from both Meany and Washington middle schools, as well as
a performance of Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme
by Thomas Tallis” for Double Orchestra and String
Quartet.
Sixth-, seventh-graders invited to attend free tech,
science camp
Current sixth- and
seventh-graders will have an opportunity this summer to learn how
to design and program video games, build and race a car that runs
entirely on solar energy, or learn how to make objects float.
Cleveland High School will be hosting an "Eagle Tech" Camp from
June 29 to July 16 for these and other technology and science
subjects. Camps will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday
through Thursday. The DegiPen class is full but other technology
classes still open include: Project Lead the Way, and
Pre-Engineering/Science. A selection of science classes include:
Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Click
here for the flier. For more information, contact Cleveland
Assistant Principal Marjorie Milligan at 252-7800 or mamilligan1@seattleschools.org.
Upcoming
Events
Van Asselt to hold centennial, closing
ceremony June 12
Van Asselt Elementary
School, which opened as a four-room schoolhouse in 1909, will
celebrate its 100th year as preparations also begin to close the
building. Events for Van
Asselt's June 12 ceremony include an open house, tours,
performances, a reception, and
displays of historical costumes and the school's history. Click on
this
link for more
information. The Van Asselt building will be closed next school
year and the program will be relocated to the African American
Academy building at the start of the new school year. For more information
about this event, contact Lissa Munger at 252-7500
Van Asselt's 100 Years
Celebration
The End of an Era, the Beginning of a
New Era
Friday, June 12
4:30-7:30 p.m.
Van Asselt Elementary
7201 Beacon Ave. S.
Pathfinder to hold closing celebration on
June 13
Pathfinder
K-8 will hold its closing celebration on June 13 for the Genesee
Hill building. Staff, students, alumni, current and former
families and members of the surrounding community are
invited. The school will celebrate 15 years in the Genesee
Hill building with events and activities to include: opening of a
time capsule, displays of past school years, a family picnic,
Native storytelling and a closing Friendship Circle song and dance.
The school will be holding its grand opening celebration in
its new facility on September 8 at 6 p.m. The Pathfinder K-8 program will
be relocated to the Cooper building next school year. The Genesee
Hill building which housed Pathfinder K-8 will close. For more information,
contact Linda Thomson at 252-9710 or lmthomson@seattleschools.org
Pathfinder
Closing Celebration
Saturday, June 13
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Genesee Hill building
5012 S.W. Genesee St.
African
American Academy to hold 'Juneteenth'
commemoration
'Celebrating the Life
of the Academy'
The
African American Academy K-8 (AAA) will hold a Juneteenth
celebration on June 19 focusing on the life, purpose, and
accomplishments of the Academy. Juneteenth is a day that
commemorates the ending of slavery in the United
States. Today, it is a time to acknowledge accomplishments
while focusing on the future. The AAA program has been discontinued
and the Van Asselt Elementary program will be housed in the AAA
building next school year. For more information, contact Danielle
Jackson, Sha Harmon, or Gloria Briggs at 252-6650 or e-mail dajackson1@seattleschools.org
Celebrating
the Life of the Academy
Friday, June 19
4-7 p.m.
African American Academy
8311 Beacon Ave. S.
Public
invited to join in Seattle LGBTQ Pride Parade on June
28
Seattle
Public Schools and the Safe Schools
Coalition invites the public to the Seattle LGBTQ Pride Parade
on June 28. People can march with Seattle Public Schools students,
staff and families alongside the Safe Schools Coalition. Click on
the
link to the flier for more details or contact Lisa at
252-0982.
LGBTQ Pride
Parade
Sunday, June 28
11 a.m.
Staging area: Fourth Avenue, near
Union and University
School and District Events
Calendar
If you would like to know about
current special school events, fund-raisers or other District
events, go online to the District
Events Calendar where you can see what's going on monthly at
Seattle Public Schools or search for specific events by date,
school and type.
We Need Your
Ideas
The Communications Office is always
looking for stories on interesting classroom projects,
inspirational people, or events in our schools to share with the
greater Seattle community. We often highlight stories submitted by
school staff for potential media coverage as well as District and
community publications. For examples of stories we have published
in the past, please visit this link.
We would like to hear from you. If you have a unique story to
share, please send your ideas directly to goodnews@seattleschools.org.
Deadline for submissions is June 15 for the June 19
issue.
In the News
For a sampling of this week's local
newspaper stories on Seattle Public Schools, please click here.
SCHOOL
BEAT is an electronic newsletter covering District
and school-based news and is published twice a month for the staff
and community of Seattle Public Schools. Community members
can subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-newsletter by clicking
here.
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