Here's what I can figure out thus far: Contractors are bidding on the updates at the end of the month. It also appears the Torah Day School's lease expires in June.

Below are some links to what I've been able to track down. Some of the documents discuss immediate plans to "modernize" the building…others are older and simply mention Columbia as an option to reopen or to consider. I think I am also finding info about reopening the site as an interim location for Meany Middle. A direct inquiry to the district might be the best way to get the actual details…the links below might get some folks interested in finding out more. If anyone knows anything official, be sure to chime in.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OR6IRBrE04bK6s0N1FRDk9IiaSGhmovep5UWwMcFtno/edit?usp=sharing

http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/capacity%20management/November%2021-2011%20Board%20Workshop%20Final.pdf

http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/school%20board/11-12%20agendas/050912agenda/20120509_Presentation_BEXIVWorkSession.pdf

Traditional Montessori curriculum
Farm playground, nature curriculum
Parenting support and education

Open House
Saturday, January 12th
10:30-noon
Director’s presentation @ 11 am

NOW ENROLLING
Ages 2.5-6

(206) 725-7714
www.learninggarden.net

4226 South Lucile Seattle, WA, 98118

My daughter is only 1 year old, but we have started to research preschools. I was wondering if anyone knew of an arabic/english preschool (other than Islamic School of Seattle) around here. A google search isn't bringing anything up.

Ideally - we would love to place her somewhere where she could learn the Arabic language without religious teachings.

I did call the Islamic School (very nice, btw) and they said that they don't teach too much of Islam to the little ones, but I was hoping to find other options.

Thanks in advance!

Here's How:
Go to the link “Keeping Arts Alive” with Pepsi! http://pep.si/jwZGHK

Click the "Vote for this idea" in the upper right corner

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You are then given the option to login with facebook or sign up for a Pepsi account.

If you use facebook, you can post our idea on your wall and help promote this great idea with your friends and family

Vote daily throughout the end of June!
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Together as a Community — We Can Make the Difference!!!

I haven't had any recent conversations about what's in store for Columbia School.

Last I heard, Torah Day School had applied to the District to move into Columbia School. Then the South Shore School (the New School) moved back into their temporary home ('07-09) while the District figured out what in their new Rainier Beach building has made people sick. Assuming the health concern is resolved, Columbia should be available again in the fall. I think the District’s RFP (Request for Proposals) originally stated the site would be available for a three-year lease.

Right now (July 2010), the District's site says this:

The Columbia School lease is on hold pending a decision on reoccupancy of South Shore School.

Meanwhile, TDS is hiring, though "Columbia City" could refer to their current or proposed locations. I think TDS' proposal includes other neighborhood-based organizations, so other Citizens are definitely more in the know about this.

I also know very little about TDS, and their website is pretty sparse. Here's some of what other people in the Jewish community have written about the new and growing school:

• Learning curve: The success and failure of two schools in Seward Park
• The Seattle Kollel: Case Study in Unintended Consequences

My name is Irene. I am a student at Orca K-8. I am studying the history of the houses that used to be on the Orca (Whitworth) playfield and the families that lived in them. In the '80s seven houses were torn down to make the playfield that is there today. On June 17th we are going to (temporarily) recreate the houses on the field and invite our neighbors to come visit them. If you remember the houses or know any information about them or have any pictures of them, we would love for you to contribute to our project. Please contact our teacher, Mikala Woodward at 206-501-6904 or jojoma3 AT aol.com.

Thanks!

Breakfast (8:30 AM), lunch and childcare will be provided. Translation services available for Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, Oromo, Amharic, Tigrigna, Cambodian, and Samoan. This event is FREE.

Questions? Contact Julie DeVito at (206) 252-0989 or gro.sloohcselttaes|otivedj#gro.sloohcselttaes|otivedj

Some of the gaps we are asked to fill are things you might consider “extras” but that are essential to our school as we know it: without our half-time Environmental Science / Garden Coordinator our award-winning Garden program — integrated into the science curriculum at every grade level — could not function. Other holes in the budget are simply maddening: the district only provides us with 5.6 middle school teachers, for instance. How we are meant to serve six classrooms of students with 5.6 teachers is beyond me — I suppose we could send one of the teachers home at lunch every day and lock all 65 6th graders in the gym for the rest of the afternoon? Last year $25K of our PTSA budget went to fill out the sixth middle school teacher’s salary, and another $30K paid the Environmental Science teacher. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for our amazing group of committed parents to work all year raising all that money — Annual Fund letters and the Plant Sale and a Jog-a-thon and the Spring Auction — just to put a teacher in each classroom.

Please read the whole thing.

Learn about your neighborhood school
Ideas to influence school planning
Build skills to communicate with policy makers

Rainier Vista Center
4410 29th Ave. S., Seattle, WA
206-461-4568 ext. 211

Date: Tuesday, April 7th 2009
Time: 10:30 ­ 11:30 AM
Place: Orca @ Whitworth
5215 46 Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98118
ROOM 308
(When you enter the front of the school, go upstairs one floor to sign in at
the office)

RSVP to Jen Cole at Feet First: 652-2310 / ofni.tsrifteef|nej#ofni.tsrifteef|nej

This meeting is intended for school parents who are working to encourage
walking and other active commuting to school. Spring is a wonderful time
of year to conduct an encouragement campaign. We will provide information,
share ideas, and distribute free materials to help with your Safe Routes to
School efforts.

Many thanks to Orca for hosting this event!

more details here: Orca K8 Website

Orca @ Whitworth K-8 —-5215 46th Avenue South—98118 - (206) 252-6500

The schools' small sizes are largely the legacy of the district's school-choice system. Budgets are based on enrollment, meaning larger schools had funding to offer more electives, AP or honors classes, and extracurricular activities. Many Rainier Valley families sent their children to those bigger schools — even if it meant a long bus ride to West Seattle or north of the Ship Canal.

Low test scores and long-held negative perceptions also hurt, and enrollment steadily dropped. For at least 10 years, Rainier Beach and Cleveland have been the district's two smallest comprehensive high schools — smaller now than even some elementary schools — and Aki Kurose, the second smallest middle school in the district, is slowly shrinking.

But the district can't just give up on the schools because of low enrollment, said School Board President Cheryl Chow.

"It's an equity issue," she said. "After 20 to 30 years of the district basically letting the schools in the South End flounder, it became a downward spiral. People are saying, 'They should be like all the other achieving schools.' Well, yes — if we could make the playing field equal."

Seems like a fair assessment of our predicament.

Each of the three schools rolls out major changes in the fall. At Aki Kurose, an extended school day will allow students, even those required to take double doses of math or language arts to catch up to their peers, to fit electives into their schedule.

For parents with school-aged kids —

• Is this the sort of action that could affect where you decide to school your children?
• What will it take to get more south-end families to support nearby public schools?

Kimball and Orca parents are collaborating on this community event, which will bring together Reps Sharon Tomiko Santos and Eric Pettigrew, a staff person from Senator Adam Kline’s office, and PTAs from all over the 37th District. We’ll hear from the Legislators about the progress they’ve made and the challenges they face in Olympia as they try to secure more funding for schools. And we’ll share our stories about how inadequate school funding affects our communities. The idea is to learn from each other, increase our understanding of this complicated issue, build relationships, and strategize about future action. Childcare and refreshments provided. Please join us, and help spread the word!

TUESDAY MAY 20 — 6:30-8:00 p.m. — ORCA SCHOOL AT WHITWORTH, 5215 46TH AVE S.

please enter by north entrance on S. Dawson St.

Program teaches children power of the pen

By Jessica Blanchard

The first is two nearly bare pages, with two garbled sentences, illustrated by a single pencil drawing. The second, a tale about a little girl's morning routine, has much more detail, the words and pictures filling three full pages. The cheery sketches are carefully labeled: house, flowers, fence, sun.

The author is a second-grader who is learning English as a second language — and the two stories were written just over two months apart.

"It's so incredible to see the growth," said Dan Coles, the literacy program manager for Seattle Public Schools.

snip

Four elementary schools are testing out the Writer's Workshop program this year: Coe, Olympic Hills, Madrona and Loyal Heights. District officials hope to eventually expand the program to all the elementary schools.

Read the whole story at seattlepi.nwsource.com.

What do you think?

Difficult as it is, I think the Board should raise and continue to raise this question of limiting school choice. It plays out differently for everyone, but for my part, I welcome some limits.

Before the Board closed our neighborhood elementary (Whitworth), many local families shunned it, opting instead to send their kids to schools further north. We chose Graham Hill, and our family is happily integrated with the school and its community. It's the classic "prisoner's dilemma", in which there's a fundamental disconnect between the family's rational choice and the community's greater good. The school closures finished off the Whitworth program, but School Choice is a clearer culprit.

Columbia City is racially diverse and has a reasonably even socioeconomic mix. For all I know, flexible school assignments have contributed to the neighborhood’s gentrification. I think our neighborhood is a good candidate for limited elementary school choice. It's a bit of a challenge, now that the neighborhood's two most local elementaries (Orca and the New School at its interim site) are alternative schools drawing from much wider areas, and true neighborhood schools are further removed and across major arterials. Barring an exodus to the private system, a mandatory assignment would likely result in schools that more closely resemble their communities.

But a neighborhood-based system could drive a further wedge between the communities that have and the ones that have not. I suggest that students who qualify for free lunches should also qualify for elementary school choice and transportation. It would decrease the likelihood of school segregation driven by the housing market, and it would empower students who might have the most to gain from the status quo. The rest of us should instead focus our time and commitment on our local schools instead of voting with our feet.

I urge you to give special consideration to limiting school choice, taking care not to further segregate schools by race or socioeconomics, and maintaining educational options for students who are least advantaged.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Seattle's schoolchildren.

local teacher