Are you getting ready to send junior off to Kindergarten next fall? Curious about the school to which your child has been assigned? Is your youngster graduating from 5th grade and moving on to Hamilton? (If so, lucky ducks for being the first in the new remodel). If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, then I suggest you attend your new school’s open house. Open houses are a great way to meet the principal, get a feel for the school’s programs, and ask questions. Additionally, most schools are offering tours on select days (see below).
Seattle Public Schools has published an open house schedule online, which can be viewed here in its entirety. For the sake of our neighborhood schools, the following are dates and times for John Stanford International, McDonald School, Hamilton International Middle School, and Roosevelt High School–which is all of Wallingford’s attendance area high school.
Weeknight open houses will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. and Saturday open houses will be held from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Where applicable, you can click on each school below for more information.
John Stanford International – Open House – Wednesday, February 3, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. School tours will take place on these Wednesdays in March: 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th from 9:30-10:45 a.m. in the library.
McDonald School (at Lincoln) – Open House Saturday, March 6, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Hamilton International Middle School – Tuesday, February 2, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Two school tours are scheduled for Tuesday, February 2 as well. The morning tour is from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the afternoon tour is 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tours are also available on Thursday, March 11 with the morning from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the afternoon from 1-2:30 p.m.
Roosevelt High School – Open House, or “Choice Night” is scheduled for Thursday, January 28 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The daytime tour schedule has not been set yet. No daytime tours have been set yet, but check Roosevelt’s website for updates.
Margaret:
Thanks for a great write up! I live on 53rd and Latona and I’m so pleased McDonald School will be alive again very soon!
I found the following on the John Stanford website:
School Tours for prospective parents will held be Feb. 10, 24, and every Wed. in March at 9:00am. No appointment is necessary, just meet in the Library by 9:00am. Please allow extra time to park on the street.
http://www.jsisweb.com/about-us/learn-more
I guess I will call to double check before showing up at 9:00.
Jessica,
Thanks for pointing out that link. I will give them a call tomorrow to have them amend their site as they have two conflicting pages of information. What I posted above is directly linked to their front page:
http://jsisweb.com/new-family-and-school-tours
New Family Information Night (Evening Event) — Tue, Feb 3rd, 6:30 – 8:30 PM, Cafeteria
Come hear Kelly Aramaki, JSIS principal, speak about our school’s academic and extra-curricular offerings, our unique and award-winning international/language immersion program, and the district’s new enrollment process. At this information night you will also have the opportunity to meet with some teachers and parents of current students, ask questions, and enjoy performances by the JSIS Chinese Ribbon Dance Team and the John Stanford International Choir. The program starts promptly at 6:30 pm in the school’s cafeteria. Note: Tours of the building will not be held during the information night. Instead, tours will be offered during the school day on the first four Wednesdays in March (see below).
School Visits (Daytime Events) starting in the Library
If you would like to visit the classrooms and school building, get a feel for the learning community, and see our award-winning program in action, please feel free to visit the school during one of the following tour dates. Tours will start promptly at 9:30 in the library. Tours in Spanish and Japanese will be available. Please note that parking is limited, so please plan accordingly.
1. Wed., March 3rd, 9:30 – 10:45 AM
2. Wed., March 10th, 9:30 – 10:45 AM
3. Wed., March 17th, 9:30- 10:45 AM
4. Wed., March 24th, 9:30 – 10:45 AM
At JSIS, 5th graders are excused from classes to go with parents to the Hamilton morning tours. Wahoo!
On behalf of Hamilton students everywhere, I’m feeling thankful for Mary Heim and Jennifer Veninga, and everyone who pushed the school district to get Hamilton remodeled!! It’s looking very very good. We are lucky to have this fabulous new building in our neighborhood!
The Hamilton program was mandated by law to receive a remodeled facility, first as a contingency in the 2001 BEX II levy and then as a primary project in the 2007 BEX III levy. This was in return for the hard work and effort of dozens of good people in the Wallingford community beginning in 1981 when Lincoln was first closed, followed by a commitment from the School District in 1996 to provide an improved home, and also by inclusion of the project in the Wallingford Neighborhood Plan in 1998. The voters “pushed” the District to perform the remodel by approving the levy.
Isabel’s comment appears to overlook the efforts of people who have been interested and active in the greater Wallingford community planning effort, not just in Hamilton, for many years.
Great comments Greg. It will be great for kids attending Hamilton to have a new facility. Now that the Hamilton remodel is taking shape it seems more evident that the move to Lincoln would be more beneficial. There is so little outdoor play area remaining at Hamilton. It would have made a lot more sense to provide double pane windows than custom fabricated curved metal roof panels or siding imported from Europe. It seems a shame in energy conscious Seattle that a new school facility is not held to the same energy efficiency requirements that our homes are.
I’m staring at the new school ballot proposal and wondering why SSD fought to close 6 schools and now needs to open 5, wondering if Hamilton would be better at Lincoln with a gym AND usable outdoor space, wondering how much BEX money is spent on defense of decisions rather than community involvement. I’m all for schools, but I think few of our “brick and mortar” dollars actually buy bricks.
Who was it we have to thank for this?
Bill, what makes you think there aren’t double pane windows? I haven’t seen that anywhere.
Chuck,
The existing windows in the historic building were all removed, shipped off site, the glass removed, the wood refurbished ore replaced as needed, primed and painted then re glazed with single pane glass. The windows in the new (imported siding) portion of the building are insulated glass. The bulk of the glazing in the building is still single pane. NEW single pane.