White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just announced: The longtime principal of West Seattle’s Chief Sealth International High School, John Boyd, is coming to Highline Public Schools as executive director of the north region, which includes White Center. Here’s the story we just published on West Seattle Blog.

Your ballot has to be postmarked by tomorrow for it to count in the special election for Highline Public Schools‘ levy. As the district’s infopage points out, the levy will supply about a fourth of the district’s operating budget. If you still have questions about it, here’s the info on the district site;

(White Center Now photos by Evan Miglorie)
“This is the biggest night in our school’s history.”

That’s what New Start High School teacher Ann Magyar told White Center Now about tonight’s graduation ceremony for New Start and Highline CHOICE Academy, the alternative programs in Highline Public Schools. You can see it in the leaping exuberance of Dewane Sauni, who’s graduating a year early (two months ago, he was chosen White Center Kiwanis Student of the Month):

Our photojournalist covering the ceremony, Evan Miglorie, reports that Dewane gave an “emotional speech,” and that another excellent speech was given by CHOICE Academy grad Megan Johnson, honored this past spring as one of America’s top youth volunteers:

The graduation filled the Log Cabin at White Center’s Steve Cox Memorial Park with xx people. Between the two schools, the grads numbered about 40 – three-fourths of them from New Start.

But according to Ann, more than 400 people showed up to cheer on those 40 grads!

“These students have worked incredibly hard and overcome a great deal to walk across that stage,” she added. Our congrats to the grads; here’s the schedule for the other graduation ceremonies coming up in the Highline district.

The folks at Cascade Middle School e-mailed to ask if we’d share their invitation to parents of 6th graders in the White Center area, getting ready for 7th grade – You’re all invited to Cascade’s parent-night meeting May 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, where you’ll find out about the school’s transformation and get to meet the new principal. Here’s the official flyer.

With that ribbon-cutting ceremony a little more than an hour ago – check out the little boy jumping for joy! – the Educare Early Learning Center at Greenbridge is now open, a year and a half after the ceremonial groundbreaking. (Lots of background here on the facility designed to serve at least 134 children, birth-5.) Big crowd on hand:

Among the crowd of hundreds, all three 34th District state legislators – from left, Rep. Eileen Cody, Sen. Joe McDermott, Rep. Sharon Nelson:

Those attending also included Bill Gates Sr. and Mimi Gates. The event started with about 45 minutes of speeches – we’ll add video of highlights – and then, the gala ribboncutting, followed by tours.

ADDED: Two speech excerpts from the pre-ribboncutting event in adjacent White Center Heights Elementary School. The most memorable speaker was Beatrice Harper, a White Center mom whose son Angelo has attended precursor programs for the past two years:

And on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which made a major contribution to get the center built, Greg Shaw said he had a request for everyone present:

Through White Center Early Learning Initiative, WC is one of two “demonstration areas” in the state for early-learning initiatives; the other is East Yakima. Also, our regional-news partners at the Seattle Times take a closer look in this article that’s just gone online.

Click pic to play video

White Center Now was there a year and a half ago when ground was broken for the Educare Early Learning Center in Greenbridge – our video shows U.S. Sen. Patty Murray helping with the ceremonial shovel-turning – and we’ll be there this Saturday for the grand-opening celebration. It’ll start with speeches at 1 pm, followed by an open house with tours 2-4 pm. It’s adjacent to White Center Heights Elementary. Read on for the official announcement: Read the rest of this entry »

Highline Public Schools has released more information on its plans for Cascade and Chinook Middle Schools, both of which are eligible for potential federal grants because they’re on the state’s list of lowest-performing schools. Read on for the district’s news release: Read the rest of this entry »

From Sarah Airhart at the Community School of West Seattle, which as you may know is right on the WS-White Center boundary along Roxbury, word of the 3rd annual Early Learning Fair and Conference, coming up March 6 at White Center Heights Elementary, presented by the White Center Providers’ Group, “for anyone who takes care of young children or is interested in doing so.” You need to register by February 12 – so you have just a week to go. Here’s the official flyer with all the information you need.

News release received Wednesday night from Highline Public Schools:

Highline Public Schools has refinanced 2002 bonds, resulting in a savings to taxpayers of more than $8 million over the next five years.

The savings flow directly to taxpayers through reduced tax levies. The dollars cannot be used for District expenses. “This is a direct savings to our community members in the form of taxes they expected to pay, but will not have to pay,” says Superintendent John Welch.

The District was able to exceed its savings target because of recent low interest rates. Interest rates averaged 6.31% on the new bonds compared to 5.33% on the old debt.

After the refinance, Moody’s Investment Services reaffirmed the district’s Aa3 bond rating on the district’s outstanding debt. The rating reflects the district’s satisfactory financial operations and its manageable debt levels. The district has a AA- rating from Standard and Poor’s.

The Highline School Board approved the issuance of refunding bonds at its December 9 meeting. The original bonds funded the replacement of ten aging schools, which opened beginning in 2004.

Eliza e-mailed to say she’s organizing a music-instrument-donation drive for White Center Heights Elementary – her mom works there and, as Eliza puts it, the school “just got a really amazing music teacher” but has more students interested in taking the music class than they have instruments. Eliza explains, “The school doesn’t have the budget to buy new instruments and the parents can’t afford to rent them or buy them for the kids.” So, she says, “If you have any old/used/formerly loved instruments you could donate that would be so much appreciated!! I will pick them up, I will come to you, I would just like to get these kids a chance to learn a skill they might otherwise miss out on. Please feel free to email me at egjunkerman@yahoo.com or give me a call, 206.818.7376.”

5:30 to 7:30 pm Saturday (September 12), West Seattle Montessori School’s new White Center campus is inviting you to come visit. They’re promising hot dogs, other goodies, and free tours. They’re at 11215 15th SW (map).

First day of school. Some of what’s new for this school year is linked from the district home page.

Teachers from the Highline School District alternative programs get ready to shop.

Last week World Vision teamed up with the Westwood Village Target to help out some local teachers and families. Everyone was given a $100 gift card then let loose in the store; families bought school clothes and teachers stocked up on school supplies. Considering that teachers spend on average $500 of their own money on school supplies each year, this was a much appreciated big deal.

Highline Public Schools asked if we would help get this message out to its families before school starts – versions of this letter will be going out, with customized information for each school, but this is the basic message:

We want you to be aware of a change in our school schedule. This year, school will be dismissed 90 minutes early on most Fridays. This will replace the half-day Wednesday schedule and most of the non-student “waiver” days we have had in past years. Overall, the amount of time students will spend out of the classroom is comparable to past years.

After students are dismissed on Fridays, teachers will use the time for training, professional development, and collaboration. The 90-minute sessions, called Professional Collaboration Time (PCT), will include activities such as learning new and better ways to deliver instruction, analyzing student work together, and sharing ideas and plans that will improve student performance. While you might not expect that giving time off school could lead to increased student learning, research shows that time invested in teacher training and improvement of instruction does indeed result in improved student achievement.

Students must be dismissed early in order to provide time for teacher learning and collaboration within teachers’ state-funded work day.

We recognize that shortened school days impact families and parents’ work schedules. The school district surveyed parents and teachers, and the majority preferred a weekly early release of less than two hours, versus a less frequent but longer block of time as we have had in the past.

The most significant impact will be to families of half-day Kindergarteners. Morning and afternoon classes will alternate attending school every other Friday. On Fridays, Kindergarteners will be on the same schedule as students in grades 1-6.

For example, on September 18, morning Kindergarteners will attend school the same hours as grades 1-6; afternoon Kindergarteners will have no school. On the following Friday, afternoon Kindergartners will attend school with grades 1-6; morning Kindergarteners will have no school.

We hope the consistency of the weekly early release will be beneficial for students, families, and teachers.

You can find out more at the Highline website – hsd401.org. Wednesday, September 9, is the first day of the school year – three weeks from today.

Each of three “small schools” from the Evergreen High School campus has its own separate graduation ceremony tomorrow – all listed here, all at the Highline Performing Arts Center.

Highline Public Schools leadership has gone public with recommendations for how to balance the budget (see them here). Now, they want to hear from you, and will be accepting comment at this week’s School Board meeting. It’s at 6 pm Wednesday, 15675 Ambaum in Burien (map); see the agenda here.

Boogie Wonderland

Put on those dancing shoes
Come one, come all
to the
Community School of West Seattle auction

Bid on a no-host stay in an English house,
a flight to Friday Harbor,
a song written just for you by a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter,
mountain getaways, kids’ amusements, theater, yoga, dance, baby sitting, beach outings, adopt-a-wolf, art from local artists and students.

Disco attire is encouraged.
Free food.
Cold drinks.
English auctioneer.
Bring a nice bottle of wine for the “wine cellar” we will be auctioning off.

Love is in the air!

for complete catalog see: http://www.landkammer.net/csws_auction

Saturday, June 6 6:30 p.m.
Community School of West Seattle
9450 22nd Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106

If you’re in the Seattle district, tomorrow (Monday 1/26) there’s no school (“day between semesters”). In the Highline district, Friday 2/6 is the next no-classes day (“waiver day”). Today, by the way, is College Goal Sunday at all 4 high school campuses in the Highline district, 2-5 pm – read more about it here.

No school today for secondary students in Highline Public Schools; Monday, MLK Day, is a holiday for all students in HPS (and other districts).