May 2009

Staff at West Seattle HIgh School have voted to have a "rolling four" schedule as its framework next year over the more traditional six-period day.

The public is invited to express their questions and concerns at a schedule committee meeting on May 27 at 2:45 p.m. The meeting is open to the entire public.

The committee will be working toward determine details, such as start and end time, breaks, exact length of periods and special schedules.

Under a typical rolling schedule, students would attend six, 55-minute periods Monday and Friday. The remaining three school days will be four, 85-minute periods. Though these details are yet to be determined.

Detailed schedule options will be presented to staff for a vote before the end of this school year.

West Seattle High School's four-period day schedule has been supported by a majority of its staff since 2006. The proposal to convert to a six-period day was driven by parents and some staff who did not like that classes are on average larger than with six periods and have fewer hours of instruction per credit.

Eli Scott first started playing tennis at the age of 6, when he was introduced to the sport by his father.

Now, Scott is playing men’s singles for West Seattle High School’s varsity tennis team. He has been in the top spot since last year, beating everyone at the school.

Scott practices tennis almost every day to improve his skills. This year, his personal record is 5-4.

“Last year more seniors were into competitive playing, now the team is younger and more relaxed,” said Scott about the players this year compared to last year’s players.

“I liked the coaching this year more because of a set latter and more individual decisions during practice, on what to do,” said Scott.

After high school, Scott doesn’t plan to play tennis in college, but said he will still continue to play for fun.

During Scott’s free time, he does pretty much everything a typical high school student would do, such as hang out with friends at the mall or go to the movies. When it’s not tennis season, he enjoys playing golf and tennis with his friends.

The first meeting between West Seattle and Ingraham on March 19 resulted in a 2-2 tie. At that point, the boys hadn’t gelled together, and weren’t playing their best soccer, but when they met again on April 24, the Wildcats were ready.

The Widcats were looking to return to the Metro playoffs as they did in 2007. A win over ingraham would guarantee them a spot in the first round.

West Seattle was all over Ingraham early, taking many quality shots, and controlling the game. However, the Wildcats had some trouble finishing in the first half.

After continuing to pressure the Rams, Westside forward Daniel Zizeros scored to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats continued to dominate, and took a 2-0 lead by halftime.

In the second half, Westside kept attacking, resulting in two more goals and a 4-0 shutout victory.

After a tough 2-1 loss against Nathan Hale, the boys finished the regular season with dominating victories over Cleveland and Rainier Beach. This meant West Seattle was going back to the Metro playoffs as the second seeded team from the Metro League Sound division.

The West Seattle baseball team came into the Metro League playoffs on a five-game winning streak, and had won seven of their last eight games.

With a 12-4 record in the Metro League, the boys were crowned Sound division champions, and were awarded with the top seed in the playoffs. They beat Ingraham, Nathan Hale, Franklin, Rainier Beach, and Chief Sealth twice this year, while also defeating Seattle Prep and Lakeside.

Four of the top 10 teams in the state come from the other side of the Metro League- Eastside Catholic, Bishop Blanchet, O’dea, and Bainbridge. These are the only four teams in the league to defeat West Seattle this year. However, going into the playoffs, the Wildcats knew they had to play one of these teams in the first round. This ended up being Bainbridge, who had beaten the Wildcats 17-0 earlier in the year on the island.

West Seattle knew they had to give a more solid effort this time if they had a chance at beating the Spartans. However, the result was very similar, as Bainbridge scored five runs in the second inning, and won easily, 12-0.

Electronic Music Collective (EMC) is proud to announce "Total Immersion 2," a surround sound concert showcasing members of the EMC live with a unique performance by String Station on June 13 at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.

"Total Immersion 2" is an adventure into the new world of downtempo electronic and electro acoustic music by cutting edge Seattle artists performing live surround-sound music to striking triple-screen visuals.

Special guest String Station will present a futuristic new instrument that involves 40 strings, digital sound modeling technology and adventursome performance techniques. It will be played by its inventor, Jim Bartz.

EMC aims to support and work alongside the local community by providing a very unique surround-sound experience. Part of the proceeds of this event will be donated to MusiCares, which provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need.

EMC is also working in affiliation with The Body Bar Day Spa who will be providing chair massage during the performance and will be handing out $25 gift certificates to the first 20 people through the door.

The West Seattle High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association is giving one last push to solicit community support for its "first ever" West Seattle 5K Run/Walk event happening this Sunday, May 31.

"We’re expecting a great turnout (of about ) 800 to 1,000 to participants, especially if the extended weather forecast is accurate," said Jo Bader, an organizer of the event.

"We’re working hard to make this a first-class event and have registered people from all over the greater Puget Sound area and beyond," she said. "We’re excited to showcase our West Seattle community, as well as raise some much needed funds for West Seattle PTSA’s."

This is a family-friendly event that will raise funds to support educational programs at West Seattle High School.

Registration is still open. Gather together your family and friends, and register online, or by mailing or dropping off
your registration form at the school office. You can find more information here.

Registration fees are $30 for Adults, $20 for Students, and 6 and under are free. Prices go up after May 15.

Thanks to four consecutive warm sunny days, and, of course, Seattle's love for folk music, the 38th Annual Northwest Folklife Festival was a huge success and it is believed the crowds were bigger than ever.

So how did things go this year?

"Excellent. Excellent. Excellent," enthused Kim Camara on Monday the last day of the event.

Camara is a West Seattle resident on the Folklife board of directors.

"We had a great selection of performers, young and old, and of the folk and modern traditions, a diverse spectrum," she said.

Camara believes the four-day total of donations may be the highest ever, but said the number has not been completely counted yet.

Camara's 10 year-old daughter Kadi performed in the Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre Program at the festival Sunday morning.

Also from West Seattle, musician Thaddeus Spae performed traditional Yiddish songs and his own compositions with voice, trombone, guitar and harmonica.

On Sunday, May 25, at about 4:15 p.m., South Precinct officers responded to a report of a small propeller plane that landed in the south end of Genesee Park, near the 4300 Block of South Dakota Street.

Upon arrival, officers discovered that the plane had landed without injury to anyone or damage to the plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is aware of the incident and is investigating. The Seattle Police Department is also assisting on this incident.

Emergency crews responded to a house fire in West Seattle Monday, May 25 at 3519 S.W. 108th. A 37-year-old man was seriously burned and sent to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.

Police are reporting that there was no evidence of a meth lab or drugs on the premises, but for now this is strictly a fire department investigation, though the police will intervene should criminal evidence become available, said Mark Jamieson, Seattle Police Department spokesperson.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined and damage to the home is estimated to be about $250,000.

There were reports of explosions and even gunshots, but now police believe the "popping sounds" were from sources inside the house and the loud noises were the result of the fuel tanks in two vehicles, which were burned in the fire.

Police said the call came in at about 11:45 a.m.

Jamieson said that the Bomb and Arson squad were on the scene.

The paving project on Fauntleroy Way Southwest will begin work on Tuesday, May 26.

Crews will rebuild large portions of the roadway from Southwest Alaska Street to Southwest Holly Street, including: new curb ramps to improve accessibility, drainage improvements, new bike lanes, sharrows, and additional marked crosswalks.

This project was originally set to end at California Avenue Southwest, but due to a very competitive bidding climate, the Seattle Department of Transportation was able to extend the improvements through to Southwest Holly.  

The work is expected to be completed by fall.

For the first phase, the crews plan to start at Southwest Alaska Street and Fauntleroy Way Southwest and work their way south to California Avenue Southwest on the western side (southbound lanes). At least one lane of traffic in each direction will remain open.

On-street parking will be restricted.

The newly repaved street will be reconfigured (“rechannelized”) on the segment of Fauntleroy Way Southwest from California Avenue Southwest to Southwest Edmunds Street.