Julie Pellegrino Gilbert of the John Stanford PTSA writes:
Just wanted to pass this tidbit along in case neighbors were interested in providing their comments to the proposed change to a Seattle Landmark in Wallingford – the Latona/JSIS school.
The Landmarks Preservation Board Meeting this Wednesday April 4 at 3:30 PM has an agenda item discussing a change to a Seattle Historical Landmark: Latona School/John Stanford International School. The proposal is to place a portable classroom building at the south end of the site. Testimony on changes considered to the landmark may be presented at the meeting, or by submission of written statements to the Historic Preservation Program, Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Ave, Suite 1700, P.O. Box 94649 Seattle WA 98124-4649 prior to the meeting. A detailed agenda can be found online.
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Nooooo pleaseeeee!
No portables!
I will write to the SPS
Odds are the portables would look more like the boxes at the west side of the original McDonald’s elementary. Not real pretty. The portables and the gym (or whatever that large additional building is) at McDonald’s weren’t there when I went there in the early ’60s.
I emailed Beth Chaves, the Landmarks Coordinator of the Preservation Board. She told me, “The Seattle School District applied for a Certificate of Approval for the placement of a one classroom portable in the southeast corner of the site. The District needs approval from the Landmarks Preservation Board because the entire site of Latona/John Stanford School is included in the landmark designation. This is up for approval at the Landmarks Board meeting this Wednesday, April 4 at 3:30 pm in conference room 4060 at Seattle Municipal Tower. You’re welcome to attend the meeting, or e mail comments to me that I’ll forward to the Landmarks Board members. The School District project manager is Mike Jenkins, and they have hired architect Stuart Stovin to prepare the application submittal, including the drawings and paint colors (the proposal includes painting the portable the same colors as the existing buildings).
If you cannot attend the meeting but are concerned, email Beth [email protected]
I far prefer a single portable to annually fluctuating boundaries that leave families without a solid foundation for planning for the future.
I also prefer predictability, but to get that they would need to install 6 portables (we are short 1 classroom per grade). Putting in 1 portable does nothing to solve the real issue.
Is Margie a parent.a staff member or a neighbor with strong interests, please?
Also, it will be helpful to clarify how much these ‘super=looking’ portables will cost?
Many people have seen the ‘bare essentials’ type as has North beach or Whitman. It will be important to get clear info re portable appearance.
I am all 3 – neighbor, parent and staff member. And just frustrated that the district continues to find bandaid solutions that negatively impact our families lives.
The south / southeast end of the JSIS grounds is the main – blacktop – playground. I have heard that JSIS already has the smallest footprint of any public elementary school in Seattle. That will be some fun having outdoor P.E. and recess around a portable.
Besides the landmark issue, the playground is already packed during recess. Adding a portable would compress the population even more. I understand that enrollment in the north end is a problem, but these kids need to run around!
I also think that this is a terrible idea. I too understand the desire of families to have predictability, but this portable will not give you this. As Margie said, this is only a band aid that doesn’t even solve the problem at hand, and once again the kids suffer.
This playground is already the smallest in the district and they keep cramming more and more kids into the school. Enough is enough. SPS ignored the warnings of parents with “real data” that there was going to be a space problem years ago….and here we are. If SPS is going to jam pack the classrooms, at least let the kids have a little space to run outside!
Good news – I just got this email from Beth at the Landmarks Preservation board:
“I received a request from the Seattle School District yesterday afternoon to remove the Certificate of Approval application for the portable at John Stanford School from the Landmarks Board agenda tomorrow afternoon; it has now been removed from the agenda. I will notify you if the application is resubmitted in the future.”
Yes, Stanford is off the agenda for now. The District has a stock of portables that would probably resemble the ones at McDonald. My daughter attended McDonald when it was an interim school in 1998. The portables are pretty utilitarian – complete with pot-bellied, oil-fired stove and a friendly population of rodents.
I believe that the record for smallest elementary school footprint belongs to the remodeled Hamilton Middle School 🙂
Hamilton definitely has the “small footprint” award for middle schools, that’s true.
Speaking of the JSIS playground, this morning I talked to two SPS maintenance guys about what they were doing with the chain link fence that is the south border of the main playground. They are going to add 5 feet to the existing 10 foot fence because the neighbor directly behind the fence has complained repeatedly about rubber balls hitting his house. This gives you some idea of how small this playground is. My question has always been why this guy chose to build his house (30 years ago) next door to an elementary school. I wonder how many times he has called the district and/or the JSIS principal with complaints.
Latona site 2.21 acres
Hamilton site 1.9 acres
BF Day site 3.87 acres
MLK site 2.0 acres and the District closed it saying the site size was too small for an elementary school
Hamilton wins the “small footprint” award for elementary schools, too 🙂
(Oh, Eckstein site 14.1 acres)
Good info, Ghost. Where did you find it?
It’s always amazing to me that there are people who live in Wallingford and complain about kids’ balls in their yard. This is a neighborhood of kids and the more they are outside playing the better. How much effort is it to just throw it back over your fence people!!!
@tri-p: You have to know the history of the area between the JSIS fence and the neighbor’s house. It’s a steep slope, about 30′ top to bottom, that ends with a level area about 6′ wide. The slope belongs to JSIS and the level area belongs to the neighbor. There is a concrete retaining wall that signifies the property line. No one at JSIS seemed to know that the school property extends almost to the house at the bottom of the slope. I did some research to discover the property line as I wanted to rehabilitate an apple tree that was on the south side of the fence and discovered it belonged to JSIS.
Until about 3 years ago, the entire between the fence and the house was covered with a 6′ mass of blackberries. I few people (I was one) had the nerve to go inside the brambles to retrieve balls that went over the fence. As if the blackberry pokes weren’t enough, the neighbor would yell at kids for coming on “his” property. They were scared to death of the guy, as were most staff members.
A group of hardy JSIS parents removed the blackberries over the last couple of years. More parents plus UW students terraced the slope so you could walk on it without risking injury. We’ve planted native plants, added compost, students have raked leaves from JSIS trees and mulched with them. With all this activity, we obeyed the neighbor’s request that we don’t touch “his” blackberries. They are still in place, on his side of the row of concrete.
Needless to say, this neighbor wasn’t going to be throwing any balls back. He was doing his best to make sure no one came to get the balls. Apparently now that more people can actually see and retrieve the balls – even without walking on his property, though the balls may roll down to his property – he still demands that the district raise the fence.
Aww, raise the fence. No big deal. Thin line (and thin skin) between an occasional ball and regular occurrence. Tall fences make good neighbors?? 🙂
Site info is from the SPS website. They have a 2-3 page history for each school (even those that have been sold or demolished). Interesting reading.
“With all this activity, we obeyed the neighbor’s request that we don’t touch “his” blackberries.”
Why the scare quotes? Are they his blackberries or not?
They are definitely his blackberries, as they are growing on his property. I guess that was the first time I’d encountered someone who insisted on having Himalayan blackberries in their yard and side yard.
Weird. Sorry you have to deal with this guy!
Maybe he likes them? And, aww, raise the fence and teach example-setting neighborliness, please.
Latest update on the neighbor. Balls continue to go around the 15′ section of the fence. This afternoon two students intentionally threw a ball over the high section and hit neighbor’s house. Neighbor contacted Principal Alvarez. Guilty students apologized. Neighbor refused to hear apology. Principal Alvarez not impressed by neighbor’s refusal. Neighbor says he will call the police next time a ball hits his house. So much for good fences making good neighbors.
He is probably REALLY sick of it. Everytime is the second time over and over and over. There is not a solution in place. Big circle keep on turning . . .
I agree with Nancy. It is easy for everybody else to be critical of his response to the issue but none of us has to deal with it. As precious as our kids are, they can be annoying. Trust me, I know.