Tag Archives: schools

Seattle Schools closure recommendations announced; African-American Academy and others on the list

November 25, 2008 Wendi Dunlap 5 Comments

Seattle Public Schools have released their preliminary recommendations for building closure and program adjustment for the 2009 school year, and they are far from uncontroversial. Some of the changes will affect Beacon Hill and the rest of Southeast Seattle, particularly the programs at the African-American Academy, which are slated for cancellation.

Six buildings are recommended for closure: Genesee Hill, Lowell, Mann, T. T. Minor, Pinehurst, and Van Asselt. (Old Hay will close, but this may be temporary.)

Nine programs will relocate: the Lowell APP program to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall; NOVA to Meany; Pathfinder K-8 to Arbor Heights; SBOC to Meany; Summit K-12 to Rainier Beach; Thornton Creek to Summit’s current building, the old Jane Addams Junior High; T. T. Minor K-3 Montessori to Leschi; Thurgood Marshall’s EBOC to Bailey Gatzert; and Van Asselt to the African American Academy building on Beacon Hill.

The African American Academy, AS #1, Arbor Heights, Meany, and T. T. Minor programs that already exist would be discontinued.

Details are on this Seattle Public Schools FAQ PDF.

Final recommendations will be released on January 6, 2009. With the holidays, there’s not a lot of time to get your opinions heard, so if you want to give SPS a piece of your mind, you should email SPS soon at capacity@seattleschools.org, call them at 206 252 0040, or mail your comments to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA, 98124-1165.

There will also be a series of public meetings. Dates and times may be found on the SPS Capacity Management website.

Readers, are any of you affected by these changes? Please tell us what you think.

Thanks to the West Seattle Blog for liveblogging the SPS meeting tonight. You rock!

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Gentrification, school closures, and mice

November 18, 2008 Wendi Dunlap 1 Comment

Recycle your old computers and benefit Union Gospel Mission at the same time, this Friday and Saturday at 660 South Othello Street . Photo by Leif K-Brooks. — Recycle your old computers and benefit Union Gospel Mission at the same time, this Friday and Saturday. Photo by Leif K-Brooks.

The Central District is changing and gentrifying, and it seems quite similar to what has been happening over the last decade or so on Beacon Hill — Seattle Times
Seattle Public Schools will be announcing recommendations for school closures next week, and the Save Seattle Schools blog thinks SE Seattle schools Rainier Beach, Aki Kurose, and the African-American Academy will be on the chopping block — Rainier Valley Post
The Rainier Avenue (Mount Baker) Safeway apparently has a rodent problem — Rainier Valley Post
More appetizingly, Gabriel Claycamp of Beacon Hill’s Culinary Communion shows you how to carve a turkey — The Seattle P-I Big Blog
Bring in your old tvs, monitors and computers for a recycling event in Georgetown benefitting Seattleâ€™s Union Gospel Mission on Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22 — Rainier Valley Post

Education, Local Events

African-American student achievement topic of meeting tonight at Cleveland HS

November 13, 2008 Wendi Dunlap

A town hall meeting about African-American student achievement will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm this evening at the Cleveland High School auditorium, 5511 15th Avenue South.

The Seattle Times reports that “a task force formed to study the African-American achievement gap wants to hear from parents, students, educators and other community members about their experiences and hopes for the education of African-American students.”

This is a state-wide task force, which will also hold town hall meetings in Spokane and Tacoma later this month, before making recommendations to the Legislature in December. For information, call Janet Hayakawa at 360-725-6503.