White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(Photo by Nick Adams for White Center Now)
Be careful out there! It’s the first day of school for Highline Public Schools. In our photo, that’s new Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield at a bus stop this morning, headed for White Center Heights Elementary; she’s also scheduled to visit Mount View Elementary and Shorewood Elementary. More later.

Before this week is out, thousands of Highline Public Schools students will be back in class. Thursday is the first day of school. Last day: June 13, 2013.

Just last night, Highline Public Schools announced that it had offered its superintendent job to Dr. Susan Enfield, who’s been interim superintendent for Seattle Public Schools. This morning, Enfield announced she’s accepted. Details from our partners at the Seattle Times; we’ll add Highline’s formal announcement when it arrives.

After public forums last week, the Highline Public Schools board has already made up its mind which of three superintendent candidates it would like to hire. It’s offered the job to Dr. Susan Enfield, interim Seattle Public Schools superintendent. Here’s the news release sent to media outlets this evening:

The Highline School Board has offered the superintendent position to Dr. Susan Enfield, pending successful contract negotiations and a background check. The board is expected to vote at its meeting Wednesday evening to formally approve Enfield for the job. She would start in Highline on July 1.

Dr. Enfield and School Board President Angelica Alvarez will be available to the news media at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow at Highline Public Schools central office. Please contact Catherine Carbone Rogers to make arrangements.

Dr. Enfield is currently the Interim Superintendent for Seattle Public Schools. She came to Seattle as Chief Academic Officer from Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, WA where she served as the Deputy Superintendent from 2006 to 2009.

Before moving to Washington, she was the Director of Teaching and Learning for Portland Public Schools where she oversaw curriculum, instruction, federal programs and professional development district-wide.

Prior to coming to Portland, Dr. Enfield served as the Bureau Director for Teaching and Learning Support for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In this role she worked with legislators, state department and district leaders to develop education policy and implement standards-based curriculum and professional development for over 500 school districts.

She began her career in education as a high school English, ESL and journalism teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. After seven years in the classroom she joined the UC Berkeley Teaching and Learning Alliance as a high school support provider coaching principals and assisting middle and high school teachers engaged in whole-school, standards-based reform aimed at closing the achievement gap.

Dr. Enfield is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and earned master’s degrees in education from Stanford University and Harvard University. She also earned a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University with a concentration in the Urban Superintendents Program.

“The school board feels that Dr. Enfield’s skill, passion, and educational leadership will match the expectations we and our communities hold for the children of Highline Public Schools,” says School Board President Angelica Alvarez. “We made our decision after much consideration, and an extensive process involving staff, community members, business leaders and especially parents.”

In making its selection, the school board weighed input from teachers, staff, parents, and community members. Starting last fall, staff and community helped identify the characteristics the new superintendent should possess. ­­The resulting candidate profile was used to recruit and screen applicants. When the candidates were narrowed to three, staff and community had the opportunity to meet and provide feedback on all three finalists. Each candidate answered questions at a staff/community forum, which was televised and streamed on the internet to provide people with multiple opportunities to participate in the process.

Here’s the HPS link to the video of the forum event with Dr. Enfield.

The interim superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, who has said she doesn’t want the permanent job there, is one of three finalists to become Highline’s next superintendent, according to an announcement from the district late today:

The school board has named three finalists in its search for Highline’s next superintendent. They are:

Dr. Susan Enfield
Dr. David Engle
Dr. Joshua Garcia

Biographical information is posted at www.highlineschools.org.

As part of the interview process, each candidate will spend a full day in Highline, meeting staff, parents, and community members. Each day will culminate in a public forum, where the candidate will answer questions from the audience.

Public forums will be held at the Burien City Council Chambers at 400 SW 152nd Street on February 22, 23, and 24, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.

People who can’t be present at the forums can watch it live on channel 21 in Burien or on the internet. Viewers will be able to send in questions via email or Twitter. Video of the forums will also be posted online, so people can watch it later.

Each candidate’s day-long visit in Highline will include a breakfast with community leaders; a school visit; meetings with principals, senior leaders, and an advisory committee made up of staff, parents, and community members; and a final interview with the school board. The board will review feedback generated in the public forums and by the other groups who have met the candidate before making a final decision.

The board expects to announce the new superintendent by March 1.

Dr. Enfield’s biographical information is here; the information for Dr. Engle, most recently a superintendent in Nebraska, is here; and for Dr. Garcia, currently assistant superintendent in Federal Way, it’s here. Enfield also is in the running to lead Bellevue’s district, according to our partners at the Seattle Times.

(White Center snow fun photo courtesy of Gill)
UPDATED THURSDAY MORNING:

Highline Public Schools have now announced they’ll be closed Thursday too.

ADDED 8:07 PM: Holy Family School and West Seattle Montessori are closed too.

ADDED THURSDAY 8:29 AM: White Center Food Bank closed.

Most trash pickups around the region are also canceled for today. And King County government is opening late, 10 am.

ADDED THURSDAY 10:29 AM: Via Facebook, we see the White Center CDA office is closed.

We also have received word that the White Center Kiwanis‘s Key Club dinner tonight is postponed – since the school’s closed! We’ll update the calendar listing with the new date (note – that’s 6:30 pm February 16th).

Any other closures/changes, please let us know – whitecenternow@gmail.com or you can call our 24-hour phone line (at West Seattle Blog HQ), 206-293-6302.

We’re watching the forecast warning of even more snowfall on the way, particularly Tuesday night into Wednesday. In the meantime, with some snow expected overnight tonight, school districts are starting to make their decisions. We haven’t heard from Highline Public Schools yet, but Seattle Public Schools has made its call – 2 hours late tomorrow. We’ll be watching HPS as well as other local schools; if you get word of a school change you don’t see here, please let us know – whitecenternow@gmail.com. Thanks!

Not sure exactly when the new look/location launched, but we looked at some Highline Public Schools webpages within the past few days and they didn’t have the new look or new domain. The district is finally at highlineschools.org and the website’s gotten an overhaul.

Thanks to Josh for the tip: ESPN.com takes an in-depth look at the tale of Tyrone Curry, whose election as Highline Public Schools board member is about to be certified – though of course, with his coaching achievement and post-lottery philanthropy, that’s only a sliver of his story. Read it here.

Here’s a unique way to experience today’s first day of school in Highline Public Schools – and 49 more days after that: Interim Superintendent Dr. Alan Spicciati is planning to visit “50 sites in 50 days,” and he’s writing about it here. He started with writing about his Tuesday Madrona Elementary in SeaTac, and it looks like he plans to write about visiting a few more schools on this actual first day of classes. (In case you’re wondering, on the other side of the line, Seattle Public Schools don’t start till next Wednesday.)

From Highline Public Schools:

Community members, parents, and Highline staff are invited to a program honoring Superintendent John Welch on Wednesday, August 24, 5:00-6:00 p.m. at the school district central office (ERAC) at 15675 Ambaum Blvd SW in Burien.

The event will be “open mic”, giving people an opportunity to make remarks thanking Welch for his work in Highline.

Welch has served as Highline’s superintendent since July 2005. On September 1, he will become the new superintendent of the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) in Renton. PSESD is a regional educational agency that serves all school districts in King and Pierce counties.

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.

After today’s vote-count update, Highline Public Schools sent this news about, and reaction to, the levy vote:

Highline Public Schools’ Educational Programs Levy appears to be passing, with the latest vote count showing yes votes at 60.7 percent. The measure needs a simple majority of 50% to pass.

“We are grateful to Highline voters for this show of support,” says Highline Superintendent John Welch. “This shows how much our community values the education of our children. Even in these tough times, people are willing to invest in education and support our local schools.”

The levy makes up about 25 percent of the funding for operating schools. Most of the levy dollars pay for teachers and staff positions. The levy also pays for basics such as bus transportation, building maintenance, and textbooks. These costs are not fully funded by the state.

The Election Night results are in, and the Highline Public Schools levy – which only needs a “simple majority” to pass – has 60 percent approval. Here are the latest results.

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;

In a special election on February 8th, voters in the Highline Public Schools district will decide the fate of a levy to raise more than $40 million a year, replacing a levy that’s expiring. (You can read about it here.) If you need to register to vote, or change your information, the deadline for doing so online – in order to make sure you get your ballot in the mail in time for that election – is this Monday. You can get it all done by going here.

Good luck to students and staff – be sure to check out the Highline district website for the newest information! You can also find the district now on Facebook and Twitter.

(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.

Two notes: First, it’s the start of the Highline Public Schools weeklong spring break; second, tonight’s Burien City Council meeting will be preceded by a reception for new North Burien residents (aka the former North Highline South annexation zone) at 6:30 pm – the full council agenda is here.

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 »