West Seattle, Washington
18 Thursday
As the Times points out this morning, election season is about to begin. You’ve probably already noticed 
that one candidate has gotten a jump on things by blanketing West Seattle with yard signs (photo at right) even before officially filing to run. Steve Sundquist is the first declared candidate for the WS (District 6) school board seat that Irene Stewart is giving up. We don’t know much about him yet (here’s his site if you want to peruse for yourself), but we’ll miss Stewart, who we thought was doing a decent job in a difficult (to say the least) situation. As for when we’ll start voting – the primary is now earlier than ever – August 21.
Fired assistant coaches are suing parents who spoke to the Times, says the paper.
Parents from the nonprofit Community School of West Seattle, which offers preschool through 2nd grade, say their little school is in danger of losing its building at 22nd/Roxbury (photo below). CSWS has been renting there since 2004 and has been raising money to try to buy the building since, according to one parent, the owner indicated last year it could be theirs for a reasonable price. Now, suddenly, events have accelerated — a developer has reportedly made an offer, and parents say that’s pushed the owner to set a deadline for the school to come up with the $. They have till August 31st to raise $88,000 more. They’re planning an intensive slate of summer fundraising events, including an auction, but also are hoping community donations (which are tax-deductible) will help save the day.
Two big events of note for our neighborhood high schools:
-Tomorrow night is the annual West Seattle High School Foundation spring dinner/play event, starting with a 5:15 reception at the church next door, dinner in the WSHS Commons @ 6:30, and the WSHS performance of “Carousel” @ 8. Click here to RSVP, get more info, or find out how to donate to WSHSF even if you can’t go tomorrow.
-Further out, Chief Sealth HS is planning a party @ Camp Long Lodge, 7 pm June 5, to celebrate the school’s International Baccalaureate accreditation. All welcome for tunes & treats, organizers say.
Seattle Public Schools just announced principal appointments including a handful in WS.
–Tonight, Cafe Rozella continues its 2nd-anniversary celebration with Show Brazil performing @ 7 pm.
–Tomorrow night, the Junction Art Walk (second Thursday of each month) is back. And now it’s got its own blogsite, with a list of who and what you’ll see.
–Also tomorrow night, “Carousel” opens at West Seattle High School (7:30 Thurs-Fri-Sat this week and next; advance tickets are half-price @ Square One).
West Seattle HS is in the baseball playoffs — and won its first-round game today.
As mentioned in the city’s latest neighborhoods newsletter (page 4), the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association is hoping to eventually buy the former Boren Junior High — now used as interim home to schools under renovation, Cleveland HS at the moment. It’s doing an architectural study to look at the 14-acre site‘s potential, with the thought that it could hold more than 400 housing units and tens of thousands of square foot of commercial space. (The Boren building doesn’t seem to have much preservation value, unlike the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, but you can read about its history here.)
Crosscut says West Seattle’s rep on the Seattle School Board, Irene Stewart, has decided not to run for re-election. UPDATE: Since our original mention, we have been forwarded the press release she sent out. Click ahead if you would like to see it:
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Local public school athletic programs get 15% of whatever you spend at Tully’s today.
Times says police were looking for a possible armed student near Cleveland HS (which is housed at Boren on Delridge) earlier this afternoon.
Charleston, S.C., superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson will take the top spot here. It’s on all the newspaper sites but the most interesting coverage is liveblogging of the meeting, announcement, and ensuing questions on the unofficial SPS/Save Seattle Schools blog.
If you’re not a parent or school worker, it might not be on your radar, so a friendly reminder, Seattle public schools (and most if not all private schools in the city) are out all week for spring break.
Both finalists for the Seattle Public Schools superintendent job were in town this week, and both visited four schools including Chief Sealth HS here in WS. If you’re interested in more on the finalists and what district-watchers think of them, there’s excellent coverage on the unofficial Seattle Public Schools (formerly Save Seattle Schools) blog.
Getting a jump on our weekly “what’s happening this weekend,” which will be up tomorrow as usual — we wanted to give you 24 (or so) hours notice about two benefit events, both happening tomorrow (Friday) night. #1 — From 6 till 8 pm in the West Seattle High School commons, it’s the annual chowder cookoff, with chowders from local restaurants offered in what the school calls a “blind taste test.” More info a ways down the school’s home page. #2 — The West Seattle Big Band is playing @ Evergreen HS (between White Center and Burien) as part of an “Evening of Swing,” 6:30-9:30 pm, benefitting the school music program.
A WSB reader with kids @ Lafayette Elementary across from the store’s south lot forwarded us this e-mail bulletin from the school, complete with handy phone number if anyone wants to call the store’s manager to ask whassup with all this. Full e-mail text, plus a photo of something interesting we spotted in that same lot this morning, after the jump:Read More
It’s school $-raising season, and the parents at Madison Middle School asked us to share this request: Donate to their upcoming auction. They’re looking for new items, open to just about anything — art, gift baskets, sports souvenirs, you name it. If you don’t have schoolkids in your family, you may not realize how important these annual fundraisers are — a couple WS elementary schools, for example, are raising $ to fix deteriorating playgrounds. To offer an item (or find out about auction tickets), click here to e-mail the Madison auction chairperson, who also explains where the $ will go:
The auction benefits the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) programs and this year’s fund a wish item is a message board much like the one in front of West Seattle High School which will help to communicate to the parents/community the events at the school as well as important messages that somehow seem to get lost in a pre-teenager’s backpack!!!
… seems to be the message Seattle Public Schools can take away from the “special election.” Both props are passing in a big way.
Turnout at our precinct was pretty lousy by the time we voted at midday — only one other voter turning out for the school propositions. If you missed our thoughts on them a few days ago, just scroll down this page. Whether you vote no/yes, yes/yes, whatever, they do have “validation requirements,” which means TURNOUT. Only takes a minute. (Meantime, in a much less important but much more fun vote, thank you for helping us win our “bracket” in the Metroblogging Seattle blog-popularity contest — now we advance to the second round, so we’ll be begging you again Thursday to take a sec to vote, again, for WSB.)
Yard signs have finally popped up, but, especially if you don’t have a kid in Seattle Public Schools, you still might not be entirely aware there’s an election on Tuesday. Yes, there is — almost $900 million dollars worth. Here’s our 2 cents, if you haven’t already voted by mail, or haven’t really thought much about which way to go: Seattle School District Proposition 1 could be considered discretionary; it spends hundreds of millions on construction projects (including a new Denny Middle/Sealth HS campus here in WS) that some say don’t represent the most urgent needs for this kind of $. However, Seattle School District Proposition 2 is NOT discretionary. A “yes” vote on Prop 2 renews a levy (in other words, no change in tax rate) that provides a quarter of the district’s budget. If you vote no on Prop 2, students WILL be hurt. And unlike some of the people in this article, many local families don’t have the $ to just say “oh well, it’s off to private school then” (and trust us, even if they do, some private schools are startlingly overrated). No matter what you decide to do regarding school Prop 1, please vote yes Tuesday on school Prop 2.
Doesn’t appear to be on the Seattle Public Schools website yet, but the P-I says the dates are set for making up 4 of the 5 days SPS was closed because of bad weather (the district wants the state to waive the fifth): February 2, March 16, June 21-22.
Before we get to the 2-part (more like 4-option) viaduct vote in March, don’t forget the 2-part school vote next month, with a big West Seattle project on the ballot, as the Times reminds us again today. (Then if you’re still trying to sort out the viaduct conundrum, check out this excellent Slog breakdown, with reader comments that inspired us to suggest the slogan No/No, The Way to Go.)
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