People think telling politicians their ideas is how to make things happen, but that’s just a test of how well a politician can fake empathy. If you really want your idea to happen, you need to go through a city funding process.

The Neighborhood Park and Street Fund submission deadline is 2/8. The fund provides for small-scale improvements to streets and parks, up to $90,000. Last year we held a vote on Wallyhood and the winning project got funded. Projects are chosen by the Lake Union District Council, then implemented by parks or SDOT.

If nobody submits ideas for Wallingford, …

Seattle Public School tours begin as early as today, depending on the school you choose. Enrollment choice forms must be submitted between 2/17 and 3/1. Regardless of the level of school you are entering, you have choices.

For Elementary, Wallingford has two language immersion option schools (McDonald and JSIS) and then two “neighborhood” schools that are outside the neighborhood- BF Day and Green Lake. There’s also K-8 option schools (Hazel Wolf, Salmon Bay, Licton Springs), and APP (at Lincoln) to choose from. Here’s the K-1 registration process.

For middle school you can choose your neighborhood school (Hamilton) or K-8 schools …

We poked into CVS a couple days ago and the main difference we saw with Bartell Drugs is that CVS sells spirits. Prices were similar across a sampling of beer, shampoo, and medicine. The store front looks to be well restored:

It seems pretty clear they are in direct competition with Bartell Drugs and Walgreens, and Bartell Drugs has been stepping up their game in response (see the new refrigerators). There were only a couple people in CVS, about 10 in Bartell Drugs, and easily over 100 in QFC with all the checkers having long lines. The neighborhood really needs …

In part 2 of looking at teacher reviews, today we focus on middle and high school. The net for high school is cast wide, since APP students from Hamilton go to Garfield or Ingraham. Here are the teacher survey results for middle and high schools your student may attend (for K-8 schools, see yesterday’s post):

Having had our kids go through both Hamilton and Garfield, …

School reports for Seattle Public Schools are released every year in December for the prior year. People focus on kids meeting standards, but that’s really just a reflection of demographics plus how much the school is focused on drilling kids just below standard on their test taking skills.

A good school works to meet every student where they’re at and puts them on learning tracks to succeed in life, it doesn’t treat every student as a widget to be stamped out as “meeting standard”. Worse still, schools with a high level of need can get stuck with a sub par …

Bette wants to thank Wallingford for helping out through the Caroling Party fundraiser:

The response to the Caroling Party fundraiser for Patty and Joe of the Holiday House was an astounding success! As of Christmas Eve, we have raised $2855.26. (The 26 cents was from a toddler who asked her Mommy it she could give her own money too.) I got a cashiers check made out to Patty for the amount raised so far and wrapped it inside the beautiful book of photos assembled by neighbor, Helen. A representative group of neighbors, children and dogs delivered the gift from a …

In kid sports there’s no tangible benefit to winning and no technical skills that will lead to a paycheck some day, so how much should a kid push themselves to practice and focus? Are kid sports about having fun and getting outside, or are they about teaching grit and how to win as a team?

Coach Convery of the Woodland Panthers offers his thoughts and describes how their season wrapped up in the Washington State Rec Cup:

As the head coach of the U-14 boys Panthers, I wanted to write up some end of the season thoughts about youth soccer …