Announcements

Teacher Marian is preparing to depart on a NOAA research journey aboard the R/V Savannah.  Follow her blog, make comments and even ask her questions here!

Shawn's class created artwork for a Sunset Hill bus shelter using what they learned when they studied orcas during the 2010-2011 school year.  Check out the My Ballard story!

Monday April 4th, Thornton Creek Elementary School is hosting a discussion regarding standardized testing.  Salmon Bay School is a partner with Thornton Creek on the Alternative Schools Coalition.  The ASC is co sponsoring the below event.   
 
Parent Perspectives on Standardized Testing
Love ‘em?  Hate ‘em?  Questions? Concerns?
Let’s talk!
 
Monday, April 4, 6-8 p.m.
Thornton Creek School
7711 43rd Ave NE, Seattle
All parents (& teachers) welcome!
 
Sponsored by Parents Across America - Seattle and the Alternative Schools Coalition.   For more info contact Chris: stewcc@hotmail.com or Dora: dora.taylor@gmail.com
 

Salmon Bay families should have received their assignment letter from the Seattle Schools.  For families who intend to enroll a sibling at SB for 2011-12, you probably noticed that your incoming sibling was not automatically assigned to our campus.  Please be advised that you MUST fill out an Open Enrollment application form by April 15th in order to take advantage of the Sibling enrollment tiebreaker.  Online instruction and an application are available here.

Bill Supports Alternative Schools, by John Miner, Thornton Creek Principal

The Washington State House of Representatives is working on HB 1521, a bill that would recognize schools of innovation in the state. Thornton Creek School is named within the bill as an example of an innovation school in Washington.

Parents, please write your legislator and our School Board directors to request their support for HB 1521. The passage of this bill will help with work that the alternative schools have embarked on within the district. Seven of Seattle's alternative schools have begun working with SEA and SPS to establish operational assurances that will support creativity and innovation within the alternative schools.

The more support for HB 1521 that legislators receive, the more likely that the bill will pass. You can email the School Board at schoolboard@seattleschools.org.  You can find your Representative here.

Thank you for your help!

For some time now a group of teachers/parents/principals have been working on getting feedback about what makes alternative schools in Seattle an alternative school. Where do we live up to our mission, and where do we need to go further?

The school board gave us an important nod of recognition when, rather than do an “outside” audit, they agreed it would not yield good data if, as expected, those doing the audit did not really understand alternative school missions.

The results of your feedback will be important for us at Salmon Bay as we work to improve the school, and will also be important to the school district as they determine how to sustain alternative education in Seattle Public Schools.

We’d like to see a HUGE participation from Salmon Bay families. Eventually the data will be combined with data from other alternative schools in Seattle School District, as a self-audit report, and presented to the school board sometime this spring. Preliminary results of the survey will be also be shared with Salmon Bay families at the same time. 

The anonymous survey can be completed online by clicking this link:
Alternative School Self Evaluation Salmon Bay Parent Version.

We would ask you to please help us by completing it as soon as possible and no later than Friday March 11.  If you would prefer a paper version one can be obtained in the main office. Questions about the survey itself can be directed to one of our parent board directors: contact Caleb Banta-Green at cbantagreen@gmail.com.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE PRACTICE: This Friday, March 4th

The practices will happen on Fridays on the upper field for 3rd- 5th grade students beginning at 2:45. Games will happen on Saturdays somewhere around Seattle. The coach will be our own fab Sam Olson. The cost is still being determined. Tshirts are being talked about (who doesn’t need another great shirt). AND, we could use some parent assistance with this whole terrific program. We have never offered ultimate Frisbee as an afterschool activity to our elementary kids, so this is a learning year for all of us. Help out if you can-- email me at mcratcliffe@seattleschools.org.

The first design workshop will be on Saturday, January 22nd, from 10-noon, at Ballard First Lutheran Church.  Your participation not only ensures that we create an exciting design, but an hour’s worth of your time is valued at $20, which the city matches at double the amount through their Neighborhood Matching Fund!   For more information, visit our website at:   http://sites.google.com/site/letsplaysalmonbay.  Contact: robin@lofstrom.com