Two Dog Yoga benefit class to support Hunger Intervention Program project

Two Dog Yoga and the Hunger Intervention Program will offer an all-levels yoga class taught by Annie Stocker, owner of Two Dog Yoga, to benefit the Healthy HIP Packs Program.

Space is limited to 25 and will be filled on a first come first served basis.

When: Saturday, March 23rd, 10:15 – 11:45 a.m.

Where: Two Dog Yoga, 12549 28th Ave NE

Suggested Donation: $25 (Please donate what you can. It’s for a good cause!)

Advanced Registration and Payment required. Once you complete the registration form, you will be directed to HIP’s Donation Page (through PayPal) to complete payment. To register click here.

Hunger Intervention Program expanding service to feed low-income school kids on weekends

Aidan Cummings, 8, tries to keep cereal packages from toppling over during a “Healthy HIP Packs” packing party at Lake City Presbyterian Church. The food is packed by volunteers coordinated by the Hunger Intervention Program for low-income students that rely on free and reduced school lunches during the week, but on weekends do not have proper nutrition at home. (seattlepi.com photo used with permission)

Lake City's Hunger Intervention Program has expanded its much-needed service that provides food on weekends to low-income students that rely on in-school free and reduced meals.

The program has expanded from serving low-income students at John Rogers Elementary to include students at Olympic Hills Elementary and Viewlands Elementary in Greenwood. The two schools added to the program have some of the highest rates of students in the district on the in-school free and reduced meal program.

The group hosts monthly packing parties at its headquarters at Lake City Presbyterian Church, where volunteers assemble meals for students. The "Healthy Hip Packs" are then discreetly given to students that need the nutrition on weekends when they are not getting meals from the schools.

The group's efforts were profiled in the Seattle P-I on Wednesday.

From the P-I story:

When people think of low-income areas, they typically don't think of this part of Seattle, said Murphy, program manager for HIP, during a packing party at the group's headquarters at the Lake City Presbyterian Church. But Northeast Seattle, particularly Lake City, is home to many struggling and low-income families.

"This program is such an important resource for children when school meals are not available," said Murphy.

The most recent data from Seattle Public Schools lists Olympic Hills Elementary's free and reduced-cost students at 73 percent of the school's population, Viewlands in Greenwood at 60 percent and John Rogers at 35 percent...

...The food in the packs emphasizes whole grains, milk, high-quality proteins, fresh fruits and products with no added sugars. Under current funding, the program hopes to provide weekend meals to up to 20 students at each of the newly added schools. Their goal is to increase that to 40 students per school for the 2013-2014 school year.

You can read more in the P-I story here, which includes photos of one of the group's packing parties.

Update: KIRO/7 also featured the HIP Program in their Thursday newscast. You can see their story on HIP by clicking here.

Seattle Public Schools Levies Offer Significant Improvements to Greater Lake City Neighborhood Schools

Note: The following post was guest-written by a member of our community.

If passed, the Olympic Hills Elementary building will be replaced and expanded

Seattle voters recently received ballots in the mail for the renewal of two property-tax levies. The levies, which are the only measures on the ballot, will help bridge state funding gaps and support facility improvements for Seattle Public Schools

These levies, if passed, would have a significant impact on the Lake City neighborhood because they would fund two new, expanded replacement school buildings on the sites of Olympic Hills Elementary and Pinehurst Elementary.

They would also provide for earthquake safety improvements for Jane Addams, Rogers Elementary, and Sacajawea Elementary buildings.

Click map for larger

Proposition 1: a $551.9 million Operations Levy, will provide funding for approximately 27 percent of Seattle Public School’s operating budget over the next three years. The school levy will help fund teachers’ salaries, textbooks, transportation, a sixth period for high school, security and special-education programs, among other day-to-day costs not fully funded by the State.

Proposition 2: the $694.9 million Capital Levy (BEX IV), will provide necessary funding to maintain, improve and expand school buildings. In 2007, voters approved the BEX III capital levy that improved district buildings, infrastructure and classroom technology. Every project in BEX III came in on time and within the budget. The renewal of the BEX Capital Levy will replace or renovate school buildings, many of which are more than 50 years old. Additionally, the levy will provide funding for new schools and school expansions in response to increased enrollment in recent years. Within the past year, enrollment has increased by about 1,400 students and an additional 7,000 students are anticipated over the next decade.

The BEX IV Capital Levy will also continue to provide earthquake retrofits for 37 schools that do not meet updated safety standards.

Further, BEX IV will build additional lunchrooms, new science labs and improved outdoor athletic facilities. All schools are slated to receive technology upgrades that include wireless internet access and improve accounting systems

Both propositions are renewals of existing levies. If approved, these levies would cost the owner of a $400,000 home $13 a month over what the homeowner pays on the expiring levies

Below is more specific information about projects the levies will fund across the district:

School Levies and their impact on Lake City

Our friends at Families for Lake City have put together a post that explains the significant improvements Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 will have on Seattle Public Schools in Lake City and Northeast Seattle.

The Building Excellence (BEX) Capital Levy (Prop 2) and the Operations Levy (Prop 1) will bring much-needed improvements to our neighborhood schools. Families for Lake City and Douglas Park Cooperative both ask you to vote YES for Proposition 1 and YES for Proposition 2 to help improve and invest in our community schools.

If approved, these two levies will be a continuation of expiring levies. If approved, these levies would cost the owner of a $400,000 home $13 a month over what the homeowner pays on the expiring levies. A simple summary of the two levies is available here.

Below Families for Lake City explains how these levies will impact individual schools in Lake City.

What do these levies mean for Lake City area schools?

The Capital Levy (Prop 2) will help fund new construction and safety improvements at multiple Lake City area schools. The Seattle School District is facing severe capacity shortages, particularly in our NE corner of Seattle, just based on current enrollment. With projected enrollment included, the capacity issues worsen.  Without Prop 2 passing, we’ll see Lake City schools overcrowded and thriving programs dislocated or disbanded altogether.
The Operations Levy (Prop 1) provides crucial support for everything from textbooks and transportation to student activities and support for bilingual and special education students.
With schools bursting at the seams, whether or not the levies pass, the following Lake City area schools will be impacted:

Olympic Hills Elementary
If the Capital Improvement Levy passes, Olympic Hills Elementary will receive a rebuilt and expanded school.  The Olympic Hills program would temporarily re-locate during construction – either to the currently closed Cedar Park site, or to another location. If the capital levy does not pass, Olympic Hills will not be rebuilt. Instead, neighbors would likely see a slew of portables added to house more students, putting additional strain on the school’s small infrastructure.

Cedar Park
The Cedar Park site formerly housed a neighborhood elementary school, but has been leased to an artist cooperative for the last 30 years. Regardless of whether the levy passes or not, the school district plans to re-open this site. At a recent community meeting, Pegi McEvoy, Assistant Superintendent of Operations, presented two scenarios: 1) if the levy passes, Cedar Park will be used as an interim site for Olympic Hills, then reopened as a permanent school, 2) if the levy fails, the district will need to reopen the school as soon as it can be made ready; a time crunch that will limit the district’s flexibility with how to redevelop the site.

Jane Addams
To relieve overcrowding at Eckstein Middle School, the district will begin a comprehensive middle school at the Jane Addams site in fall of 2014, called Jane Addams Middle School (JAMS).  Currently, the Jane Addams site houses the Jane Addams K-8 option program (JAK8). It’s expected that these two programs may be co-housed at the site for one or more years.
If the Capital Levy passes, the JAK8 program will be permanently relocated to a new facility at the existing Pinehurst site by 2017. If it doesn’t pass, it’s unclear what will happen to the JAK8 program.
With JAMS will come a new middle school feeder pattern, with Olympic Hills, John Rogers and Sacajawea feeding into JAMS instead of Eckstein. This has raised equity concerns, as these elementary schools have much higher concentrations of low-income students than the elementary schools which will remain in the Eckstein feeder pattern. In a meeting last week, the School Board voted 4-3 to wait until 2014 to open JAMS in order to allow adequate planning time to address these concerns and bring this new school online.

Pinehurst 
If the levy passes, the existing Pinehurst site will have a new facility built on it to house JAK8. District plans for the existing Pinehurst K-8 program aren’t specified, but the possibility of relocating it to the Cedar Park site was mentioned at the Cedar Park community meeting with Pegi McEvoy.
If the levy doesn’t pass, the Pinehurst program may experience even more radical changes. It’s unclear what the district would do to relieve capacity issues, but almost certainly the Pinehurst site would get more students than it currently does.

John Rogers, Sacajawea & Jane Addams
If the levy passes, these three schools will receive important seismic upgrades to improve earthquake safety.

In addition to benefiting Lake City area schools with new construction and seismic upgrades, these levies will also fund sorely needed projects in other areas of Seattle, such as replacement of the severely dilapidated Arbor Heights building.  If approved, these levies would equate to a $13/month increase for the owner of a $400,000 home. The following chart provides a comparison of how Seattle’s education levy tax rate stacks up against other cities:

*Levy rate chart available via www.seattleschools.org
**Note:  With any school construction, the school district will work with the City of Seattle to address neighborhood impacts following SEPA and best practice protocols for community involvement.

Meeting Tuesday night about proposed sidewalk on NE 130th Street

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Seattle's Department of Transportation will be presenting plans for a new sidewalk in our neighborhood at a meeting tomorrow night (Tuesday, December 4th) at 6:30 PM in the Olympic Hills Elementary School lunch room. The meeting is open to the public.

The new sidewalk segments are proposed for the south side of NE 130th Street from 25th Avenue NE to 28th Avenue NE. The plan is for the sidewalks to include curbs, planter strips, street trees, and public art.

The development plans will be available for residents' comments and we can also provide SDOT with additional feedback regarding the safety of school routes.

There will be snacks at the meeting and it is expected to be approximately 1 hour long.

The sidewalk is expected to be completed next summer.

Come support Olympic Hills Elementary at annual Pancake Breakfast

Olympic Hills Elementary is hosting its 7th annual Pancake Breakfast fundraiser on Saturday, December 1st, from 9-11 a.m. And you are invited to come enjoy some food with your community and help provide for our neighborhood school.

The fun event includes performances by the school's impressive Taiko Drummers, the Intermediate Choir and the Primary Choir.

You get all that entertainment plus a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, juice and coffee for 6 dollars, 4 dollars for the kiddos.

Proceeds from the annual event help fund classroom field trips for Olympic Hills students.

The breakfast will be held at the Lake City Community Center and is sponsored by the Lake City Lions Club.

• 9:30 Taiko Drummers to perform
• 10 Intermediat Choir
• 10:15 Primary Choir 

Latest schools levy proposal calls for new Olympic Hills school building by 2017

In February Seattle Public Schools will have two levies up for renewal, the Operations Levy and the Building Excellence (BEX IV) IV Capital Levy.

The current version of the BEX IV Capital Levy calls for completely replacing the building housing Olympic Hills Elementary School by 2017. Superintendent José Banda spelled out the current proposal in this letter recently posted on the Seattle Public Schools website.

Previous versions of the proposal have called for other dramatic changes at the small neighborhood school, including construction of a middle school or K-8 on the Olympic Hills campus.

Other elements of the most recent proposal that will affect our community are:

• Jane Addams K-8: Move to Pinehurst K-8 and open Jane Addams building as a middle school by 2015

• Northeast Seattle elementary school: To meet growing capacity, add K-5 school on Thornton Creek site by 2016

The Seattle Times pointed out in a Thursday story that schools and neighborhoods with exploding populations of children, notably Northeast Seattle, are getting priority in the levy proposal.

The public is invited to attend the following meetings regarding the proposals:

• Wednesday, Oct. 24, 4-5 p.m. – BEX IV and Operations levies public comment session, John Stanford Center. Public testimony taken.
• Wednesday, Nov. 7, 4:15 p.m. – School Board meeting, expected vote on BEX IV project list.

More information can be found here on the BEX IV page of the SPS website.

Saturday Car Wash to Benefit Olympic Hills Elementary

Our neighborhood school, Olympic Hills Elementary, will be hosting a car wash on Saturday, September 22nd from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to benefit programs at the school

Mark your calendars and drive those dirty cars over to Jiffy Lube, 13015 Lake City Way NE, and help support our community.

$5 suggested donation.

Sponsored by the Olympic Hills Elementary Family Group PTA.

Cow, headstone on traffic circle in our neighborhood

Traffic circles in our neighborhood are not particularly interesting to look at. A few have obviously been cared for by nearby neighbors but many could use a bit of landscaping —or they are just capped with asphalt.

It also appears that many people in Seattle neighborhoods do not know how to use our traffic circles, used at many intersections in place of stop signs as a speed calming device.

Well apparently someone has given some personality to one of the circles in our neighborhood.

A one foot-tall cow and a silly headstone have mysteriously popped up on the circle at NE 130th Street and 23rd Ave NE.

The odd objects are fun to look at while slowing as you approach the circle and can offer a smile during a drive home or to Fred Meyer for milk. Kids walking to Olympic Hills probably also notice the oddities as they cross the intersection in the marked crosswalk.

Could they be the beginning of a new guriella art installation in our neighborhood?

See photos below.

By the way, the proper way to use a traffic circle is to travel to the right, counterclockwise, even when making a left turn. Please try to use them properly.

A foot-tall dairy cow has popped up in a traffic circle.

A headstone on a traffic circle.

New sidewalk coming to NE 130th Street

A grant has been awarded by the Washington State Department of Transportation to continue a sidewalk from Olympic Hills Elementary to the Lake City Library and Community Center.

The sidewalk is being built as part of the 'Safe Routes to School' program. Many community members have been asking for a continuous route between the school and library for decades.

The $440,000 project is still in the design stage and will be unveiled to the community in the fall. But it tentatively includes a curb, sidewalk and street trees. It will be on the south side from 25th Ave NE to 28th Ave NE.

The grant also provides funding for surveys of parents and students at the school, pedestrian safety classes and education, a basics of bicycling class and a Bike Rodeo.

You can see the grant application after the jump:

Olympic Hills Elementary to get new co-principal

Neighborhood school Olympic Hills Elementary will have a new co-principal beginning in the 2012, 2013 school year.

Seattle Public Schools announced last week that Helen Joung will be joining the school, working alongside current Principal Zoe Jenkins. They will work as co-principals.

From Seattle Public Schools Interim Superintendent Susan Enfield: "Ms. Joung is committed to understanding the immigrant population experience and will be a great fit for the Olympic Hills community."

She was most recently an assistant principal at Emerson Elementary in Everett

She will start at Olympic Hills July 1.

Preliminary Seattle Schools proposal to build middle school on Olympic Hills Elementary campus

Update: A PDF of the actual plan is embedded below. 

Under a preliminary plan in the Building Excellence BEX IV levy, Seattle Public Schools has revealed at recent community meetings a proposal to building a middle school on the campus of Olympic Hills Elementary School. The changes could be dramatic for the small neighborhood school.

One proposal being considered is to build a middle school on the campus and create a K-8. The proposal would add an estimated 1,000 students to the relatively small school. But the project being considered would depend of funding approved by voters. The school levy will go up for voter approval in February of 2013.

According to charts in the embedded PDF below, Eckstein Middle School is projected to experience growth that cannot be sustained. Also, comments during a community meeting suggested that officials are eyeing the Olympic Hills Elementary site for a new middle school because of the large campus.

From Families for Lake City:

Of three proposed options, two call for adding a building adjacent to the elementary school by 2018 or 2019. This would change Olympic Hills from a K-5 to a K-8 and add much needed capacity for 1,000 6^th-8^th grade students.

Here is coverage of a recent meeting about the proposed levy that notes some of the discussion about Olympic Hills.

Thanks to Families for Lake City for alerting us to this story.