Lincoln High School Planning Team

There was a meeting on the design of Lincoln H.S. and announcements of several of the design team members. I don't see anyone representing Mathematics so I assume there will be some more folks named in the future.

https://www.seattleschools.org/schools/high_schools/lincoln_high_school/staff_bios/

• John Fox  (ELA)
• Jen Fox (Science)
• Daniel Noyes (SS)
• Michaela Peterson (Science)
• Stephanie Taylor (ELA)
• Katie Hathaway (Spanish)

I wasn't able to attend the in person meeting so if anyone who was there wants to offer up their impressions that would most appreciated.

Lincoln H.S. Planning Meeting now on Oct 3rd and Oct 12th

Dear Eckstein, JAMS, and McDonald Families:

I apologize that the October 3^rd Lincoln High School meeting conflicts with your schools' open house.   I appreciate your interest and enthusiasm.  

I have added a second “first meeting” to be held on October 12, 2017 at 6:30-8:00 at Hamilton

I will also hold the October 3^rd meeting. 

Lincoln High School will be (re)opening in the fall of 2019 to address growing enrollment in our city.  Boundaries for 

Lincoln have not yet been finalized, but work is starting to “build an innovation high school.”

We need YOU to help shape the Lincoln experience.

Families, students, and community are invited to help design an amazing experience for ALL students.  A school that cultivates a community of learners who are curious, connected, confident who are empowered to make measurable positive impacts in their lives, their community, the nation and the world. 

Planning is just beginning.  Please join us on October 3 at 6:30 -8:00 or October 12 at 6:30-8:00

Both meetings will be held at Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N 41^st St.

Please refer to Lincoln High School website for information about Lincoln.

www.seattleschools.org/lincoln

Sincerely,

Ruth Medkser, Principal

Lincoln High School Planning Meeting this Friday

Fri Feb 17th, Hamilton Commons 6:30-8:30 PM

From email from SPS Board Member, Rick Burke:

"I’m contacting you because you have attended meetings about, or expressed interest in Lincoln High School, which is planned to reopen in Fall of 2019. I’m pleased to be hosting another community engagement meeting to talk in greater depth about our timelines and the work currently underway to make Lincoln an amazing destination for Seattle students.

My last meeting, held on October 27th at the Lincoln library was quite well-attended. With the large number of people and range of questions, we didn’t have the opportunity to have in-depth conversations about the school. This meeting will be held in the Commons at Hamilton International Middle School, which has the potential for more seating and better participation.

The agenda will include general information updates about the current and near-term work on assignment boundaries and principal selection, 24 credit graduation requirement, and some Q&A to get started, and then folks will have a chance to circulate through multiple stations and share concerns, ideas, questions that can help us move the school planning process forward.

Get your ideas brewing about the following topics:

- Enrollment & Boundaries
- Academic Programming
- Music and Fine Arts
- Athletics
- Building/Facilities
- Community-Building and Family Engagement
- Community and Higher-Ed Partnerships
- Anything that doesn’t fit in the above…

Please feel free to share this information with other interested families, and I hope to see you at Hamilton, Friday Feb 17th 6:30-8:30 PM"


Note: if you can't attend this one, Dir. Burke is also having a community open house on Sat. Feb 18th 3:30-5:30 at the Fremont Public Library. I'm sure there were be an opportunity to bring issues related to Lincoln up there as well.


Official Renovation Plans:
https://bex.seattleschools.org/bex-iv/lincoln-building/

Current design plans: https://bex.seattleschools.org/bex-iv/lincoln-building/current-design/
(includes blueprints and visualizations)

Note: there have been updated plans and info in the last week including proposed building layouts.

Cascadia PTSA Round Table with Flip Herndon and Rick Burke

I'm just back from the general PTSA meeting tonight at Lincoln. Very generously, school board member Rick Burke and Flip Herndon the assistant Superintendent in charge of facilities and capacity came out to answer questions and hold a community round table after the general business was completed. For those hoping for new information about all of the impending capacity issues, the short answer is that not much has shifted since the last time I saw Flip in person.  All the key decisions, geo-splits, boundary zones etc. are still up in the air and won't be resolved until next Fall at the earliest.

However, there were a few interesting points raised. During  the principal talk, Rina announced next year's confirmed enrollment for Cascadia is currently at 732 which is actually down from this year although the window to join is still open.  We talked again after it was over and she made a special plea for those families who haven't officially committed to enroll as soon as possible. This will make the staffing and budgeting process easier for the staff.  She also mentioned that she is involved in the K-5 English/Language Arts curriculum adoption process. I hope to look into the materials further at some point and post about it.

I had mentioned here that Flip had three children enrolled in the district. He added on tonight that one of his kids was involved in the HCC qualification process this year. If its any comfort to those of you who also went through the process, the senior staff share your pain: Flip mentioned missed screening deadlines and late status notifications.

On the subject of whether Cascadia will split, there was little new information but his tone made it seem likely.

• Apparently the district is trying hard to avoid portables on the new site. This was stressed.
• The new K-3 teacher student ratios have further reduced the capacity of the building absorbing all the flex spaces that were planned.
• The 660 capacity numbers are the "right size" for the building.
• If there is a split, the district will try to identify a cohort of  around 150 students. Note: for comparison Fairmount Park has about 164 HCC students.
• The only possible site that came up by name in his talk was the Decatur Building. 

There was a brief mention also of the Hamilton Capacity issues for next year. The district is still trying to get permission from the city Landmark Commission for a one year placement of 2 double wide portables on the blacktop. This will be decided hopefully by mid May.

High Schools were talked about as well. Flip mentioned Garfield is projected to reach 2400 students in a few years without adjustments being made. He also said conversations were being had about whether to make Ingraham the default High School placement for the north end rather than an option despite this year's enrollment issues.

Finally, in a brief comment Rick Burke mentioned that the district is 11 curriculum adoptions behind and doesn't have the budget to get those done as quickly as he would like. So any HCC specific materials are very unlikely and that instead the adoptions are being done with an eye towards textbooks that will serve both the gen-ed and advanced learning communities.

One editorial note: If you're planning ahead its best to make peace with the lack of certainty and assume that you will be geo-split. The capacity  and budgetary constraints are only getting more severe.

Flip Herndon talk at Ballard High School on Capacity Issues

Another evening, another adventure in a Seattle Public Schools building I haven't been inside yet. I found myself tonight in the packed library at Ballard High School.  At first the evening started with a normal PTSA meeting. There were minutes to be approved and budget items to discuss. You could sense the anticipation in the room through all of this. The principal Keven Wynkoop even joked that while usually his speech was the highlight of the night, he knew the everyone was really waiting for Flip Herndon to speak, While Flip, the assistant superintendent in charge of facilities  was being introduced, the PTSA officer mentioned that Flip's own children attend Ingraham which I hadn't realized. It always makes me feel a bit better to find out the central staff are also parents.

His talk started with a brief mention of the general capacity issues and how all the high schools are full with the exception of Rainier Beach. For those in the SE Quadrant, he also gave a shout out to the IB program there and its successes which one could interpret as an official sign of administration support.

Onto the real meat of the talk:

• Assuming the current BTA and Operations levies pass, we will build the 500 seat addition to Ingraham High School.
• Lincoln will have an additional 1600 seats which when completed in combination with the above space will just meet the immediate needs in the next few years for the north end.
• The district actually still needs one more comprehensive high school which they really want to place near Queen Anne. The current first choice is to build on the Memorial Stadium site in the Seattle Center. However, this is governed by a covenant with the city that will have to be renegotiated. (And the city really wants the land back)
• There are no decisions yet on the boundaries or a rolling start vs. an immediate geo-split. This was probably the most emotional topic for the crowd since many were worried about having to move their kids potentially even in the Senior year to the new high school.  The district wants to have these decision made 18 months prior to opening and will start planning this 10-11 months from now.
• Interestingly Flip has gone back to the 1970's boundary maps as a starting point back when the district still had 12 high schools and ~75000 students vs. our current ~54000.
• The total cost of the renovation of the Lincoln building is now around 75 million dollars.
• In the meantime all the overcrowded schools including Ballard, HIMS, Garfield are just going to have deal with being overcrowded. There's no interim plans to help out at least for now.
• There was also a discussion about the fields spaces. The district is renegotiating its master agreement with the park department. That includes discussion on the use of lower Woodland Park for Lincoln High School. For those worried about crumb rubber fields the district has heard parent concerns but is apparently waiting on more definitive research, They also have not put out bids yet for the work on various sites and so may still change their ultimate decision. Unfortunately, I didn't find out if that included the Wilson Pacific site.
• Flip gave the first official confirmation that I've heard that Cascadia may be split due it being too large to fit on the new site. This decision will be made sometime this Spring and there is no idea about what other sites could be used (mostly because everywhere is full).
• I also asked at the very end about the Decatur Building. Currently there is no plan yet for how it is to be used.

On a lighter side before the meeting started I was able to see some video from the recent Ballard High School production of Carmina Burana. It was very impressive.  I definitely encourage you to take a look at:  https://vimeo.com/149092851


Note: The capacity crunch tend to produce the most heated discussions. Please keep the conversation constructive.