Principal Roy sent the below message to the Queen Anne Elementary community today. Please read below. We hope to see you on Wednesday, March 29th at 6:30 p.m. at the QAE Cafeteria. If you can't attend or want to share comments in other ways, you can write Janine directly at jbroy@seattleschools.org or contact the QAE PTSA at communications@qaeptsa.org. Dear QAE Families/Guardians:
On March 13th, a Community Meeting was held at Catherine Blaine with families from Coe, Catherine Blaine, and Lawton to discuss boundary changes regarding Magnolia Elementary, which will open in the Fall of 2018. (Information can be found on the Magnolia Elementary Boundary Planning Page). This page will continue to be updated throughout the process. All questions and feedback can be sent to: growthboundaries@seattleschools.org.) Queen Anne Elementary and John Hay Elementary communities were not part of this Community Meeting as the potential Magnolia boundaries were not anticipated to impact our schools. I was invited to attend the meeting as a neighboring principal. At the meeting, some participants made suggestions about easing the overcrowding at our neighborhood schools that would affect Queen Anne Elementary. These suggestions were unanticipated, and they need to be discussed within our community and with our neighboring communities. Following the Community Meeting, I met with Director of Enrollment Planning, Ashley Davies, and Enrollment Planning Project Specialist, E.R. Alvarez to work together to look at how Magnolia Elementary’s opening in 2018 will impact schools in our neighborhood. I invited Ashley Davies and E.R. Alvarez to come to a Queen Anne Elementary Community Meeting to be held on Wednesday, March 29th @ 6:30 PM in the QAE cafeteria to answer community questions from QAE families, share boundary procedures and gather our parent community feedback on how we can help overcrowding in our neighboring schools. Many thanks to our QAE community for working together on this. As QAE PTSA President Heath Dixon says, "This is a perfect time for us to model what we're teaching our children about how to handle challenges. Let’s help to share the facts calmly within and outside of our community and help our neighbors solve this problem collaboratively. We need to contribute to the district's process of making decisions about boundaries in our neighborhoods. That starts by encouraging communication and understanding." I am gathering all of the information I can to compile questions, comments, or suggestions from you before the meeting so that the format for the meeting can be set according to our community’s needs. Please email me at jbroy@seattleschools.org to share your input. Janine Janine Roy Principal Queen Anne Elementary 411 Boston Street Seattle, WA 98109 206-252-2480 Know any families interested in becoming part of Queen Anne Elementary next school year? Make sure they get all the paperwork taken care of: school choice forms are due by February 24th, 2017! Sibling Reminder: If you have a student currently enrolled at Queen Anne Elementary and plan to send your other child/ren to QAE, you must complete the Open Enrollment for the incoming sibling(s). Got questions? We've compiled info about the timeline for enrollment, helpful tips and links on our Prospective Students page. The PTSA Legislative Team issued the QAE Bell Time Survey to poll our community on the existing and potential upcoming changes to the Seattle Public Schools Bell Times. There were 121 responses, thank you QAE! We hear you and your contributions to the ongoing discussion of Bell Times is valued! SPS has received our Survey and it has been sent to our School Board and to Pegi McEvoy (Assistant Superintendent of Operations) who are working on the Bell Times for next year.
View the results from the survey here. Some details on the complexity of the Bell Time Issue and where it currently stands: Pegi McEvoy has been diligently working on the Bell Time issue for families and the District is working on a goal to move from the current three Tier system down to a two Tier system. The current three Tier system has three different bell times with 50 minutes between each start and end time so that transportation works across the 98 schools of the District. In order to switch from three Tiers down to two Tiers there was originally a one time 3.7 million dollar cost. By making transportation changes and cost reductions, Pegi McEvoy has gotten this number down to a one time cost of 2.3 million. This current one time cost of 2.3 million to achieve the switch to two Tiers and potentially be able to offer better bell times as a result must be completed with outside funds. (Due to a current tough budget year and the potential for the Levy Cliff next year.) Pegi McEvoy is working very hard at trying to secure this outside funding, with a deadline of May 1st. Two Tiers across the District has the potential to have great positive change for families, kiddos and schools. (and also may avert the necessity for an earlier Tier 1 bell time) If you have any leads on helping the funding issue or want to offer any other help toward this issue, please contact: Pegi McEvoy Assistant Superintendent of Operations pmcevoy@seattleschools.org 206-252-0707 The PTSA Legislative Team would like to thank QAE parent, Christina Thibault for her wonderful help in crafting this Survey and for the PTSA Board and Ms. Roy for being in collaboration on this effort to have our voice heard. QAE cares about our families and knows that there have been many experiences related to the Bell Time change this year. Members of our QAE PTSA reached out to our District and heard back from Pegi McEvoy, SPS Assistant Superintendent of Operations, who let us know that the District is accepting data from individual schools within SPS on the Bell Time issue.
QAE Bell Times Survey is an opportunity for us to communicate with our District and provide our QAE staff and PTSA data about the Bell Time issue as it relates to our community. There are only 11 questions on the survey and it should only take five minutes. The QAE Bell Times Survey must be taken by 1/2/17 by 10 p.m. so we can collate the data and communicate it to SPS. The data will not be used to advocate for one bell time over another and will be shared with our community after the holiday break. This survey's main intent is to let you know that we care about you and value the needs of our community. Please note that whatever QAE's preferences, scheduling bell times is a complex process where the District will consider feedback from all schools. Take the Bell Times Survey now... Background & Other Ways to Share Your Thoughts During the last contract negotiations between the District and the Seattle Education Association, the parties agreed to add 20 minutes instructional time each day as well as a one hour early dismissal each week to give teachers more time for collaboration and planning. After receiving feedback from families, teachers and staff, the initial proposal is to add 10 minutes to both the beginning and end of the day. Under this plan, the 2017-18 QAE school day would begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 2:15 p.m. The early dismissal would be every Wednesday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. See this page on the School Schedule Recommendations for 2017-18 for more information. You can also share your thoughts directly with the District by writing to arrivaltimes@seattleschools.org. Special thanks to the amazing Christina Thibault, QAE parent, who helped to craft the survey and to Ms. Roy for support and collaboration. With Gratitude, Christa Winquist & Ian Stewart QAE PTSA Legislative Team The annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Families Dinner will be held Thursday, November 3rd from 6-8pm at Washington Middle School. Members of the school board will be there to welcome LGBT families and their friends. All SPS families and staff are welcome to attend! This event is brought to you by the Health Education Office and the Office of School Family Partnerships. Dinner and entertainment will be provided. To reserve space at this popular event, please RSVP with the number of people in your party to Lisa Love in the Health Education Office at 252-0982 or llove@seattleschools.org. The window for referring students for Advanced Learning testing closes October 6. Referrals in English are done online, using the Source (which is the parent portal for individual student information.) More information on the referral process and translated versions of the forms are available on the Advanced Learning site.
If you have questions, please contact Mary Mills (mamills@seattleschools.org, 206-252-0182) or Matt Okun (mjokun@seattleschools.org, 206-252-0033). New to the Source or having trouble logging in? Check out the About Source page on the SPS site. You can also email sourcesupport@seattleschools.org Dear QAE Parents, As you may be aware, the Seattle Public School District is currently evaluating new growth boundary proposals for many of its schools. While there are no changes to QAE’s boundaries in the proposal at this time, there are significant implications for our school. We are writing to let you know what some of these are, and to ask for your help in voicing any requests/concerns you may have for QAE. The new boundary proposal increases QAE’s enrollment capacity from 350 to 525 (for 2019) and also includes a self-contained special needs program. The capacity increase is no surprise, given our current enrollment figure of 336 and our build-out rate of two new classrooms per year. The district opened QAE’s doors to alleviate over-crowding in the McClure service area and to provide families with an option other than their neighborhood school, and we are certainly accomplishing that goal! You can look here for projected student enrollment and other statistics. QAE is on the BEX IV levy for a major renovation and expansion that would accommodate the larger enrollment; however, the new building will not be completed until 2019. We need the district’s help in planning and funding short-term mitigation measures. Once our neighborhood school boundaries have been solidified, we anticipate possible changes to our boundaries, and we want to insure that the board considers the needs of our school and the entire McClure service area when they vote on those changes. QAE PTSA strongly encourages you to write the board with any thoughts or comments you may have; their names and contacts are below. In addition, there is an important board meeting next Wednesday night, 10/16, where they will be discussing the proposals and hearing testimony from interested parties. We encourage you to attend that meeting, if you are able. Board meeting details can be found here. Having reviewed the information available, here is what we plan to say to the board: · We support any boundary changes that the Board determines will best meet the needs of the entire McClure service area. · We ask the Board to consider the capacity and infrastructure constraints of our school. With a total capacity of 16 classrooms, a gym portable, small lunchroom, and four other under-sized portables currently on site – it will be a challenge to accommodate 18 K-5th grade classes and support their needs with Special Resources, Art and Technology rooms on site. QAE needs your help in planning for this growth. · QAE welcomes any one who would like to enroll in our school, and we ask that our school boundaries and option school status reflect this inclusiveness. · As an option school in the McClure service area, we provide great value to our community, and we respectfully request to maintain that status. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments on the above information. QAE PTSA Please email the following contacts: GrowthBoundaries@seattleschools.org Tracy Libros, Manager of Enrollment and Planning trlibros@seattleschools.org Flip Herndon, Assistant Superintendent of Capital Facilities ltherndon@seattleschools.org Seattle School Board Directors Michael DeBell, District IV (QAE district) michael.debell@seattleschools.org Kay Smith-Blum, District V Operations Committee, President kay.smith-blum@seattleschools.org Marty McLaren, District VI Operations Committee martha.mclaren@seattleschools.org Sharon Peaslee, District I Operations Committee, Member-at-Large sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org Sherry Carr, District II sherry.carr@seattleschools.org “Welcome Back” Regional Meetings September 20 – September 30 Seattle –Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D. invites parents, guardians and family members to attend a “Welcome Back” meeting in their region of the city. The meetings are part of the Superintendent’s engagement plan for 2010-2011 which focuses on the theme of Listening, Learning, and Responding. Families will have an opportunity to meet and talk with the Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Susan Enfield, the Executive Director for Schools in their region, and representatives of schools in the region. For more information, visit http://www.seattleschools.org/area/news/1011/20100913_Regional_Meetings.pdf Community Coffee Chats with Supt. Goodloe-Johnson Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D., is hosting a series of Community Coffee Chats in October and November for all parents, grandparents and caregivers of Seattle Public Schools students. “I am eager to listen and learnfrom our families, and to hear more about the educational issues that matter to them,” Dr. Goodloe-Johnson said. Central Region Coffee Chat information: Date: Thursday, October 7, 2010 Time: 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Location: SBOC (301 21st Ave East Seattle, WA 98112)
|
Welcome to the Rocket Reader blog! The PTSA's collection of news & information relevant to QAE Families. This is also shared weekly in the Rocket Reader e-newsletter. Use the form below to sign up!
E-News Sign-UpThe Rocket Reader newsletter is sent weekly by the PTSA. Categories
All
Archives
January 2024
|
CONTACT |
SCHEDULE2023-24 On-Site Schedule
7:55am - School Day Begins 2:25pm - Dismissal Wednesday Early Release 1:10pm - Dismissal |