JAMS PTSA's website: the best, most immediate source of information

Hopefully, many readers have already discovered the JAMS PTSA official website:

www.jamsptsa.org 

The PTSA website is undoubtedly the best source of updated information about events and developments at JAMS.  There is also the JAMS Fusion page, jams.www.seattleschools.org (yes, that's correct), which is perhaps less user-friendly, but has detailed announcements that Paula Montgomery posts directly.

Both of these resources include the option for you to sign up to receive email updates. We encourage you to join these email lists.  You'll get news about topics such as the election of PTSA officers, ongoing hiring of teachers, and upcoming meetings for your children to get to know their new school.

A note about this blog:
You will have noticed that the posts on this blog have been few and far between as of late -- this is partly due to personal pressures and partly due to the fact that the PTSA and Ms. Montgomery now have direct means of communication with the JAMS community.  This blog was created back when JAMS was only an idea, and there were no other sources of information and organization. Now, there are other, centralized sources of direct information. The blog will continue to exist, but it will exist mainly in the form of discussions rather than intermittent news blasts. Please send your suggestions for topics to janeaddamsmsblog@gmail.com.  Thanks!

JAMS News and Open Thread

MEETINGS YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS
Don't forget! There are two important dates coming up for prospective Jane Addams Middle School families.

TOMORROW, February 11:
5:30-6:30 p.m., in the Jane Addams library, principals Paula Montgomery (JAMS) and Debbie Nelson (JAK-8) will be available to talk to families of current Jane Addams K-8 students who will be 7th or 8th graders next year about the differences between JAMS and JAK-8.

6:30-7:30 pm, in the Jane Addams auditorium,  Information Night for prospective JAMS families. This is a chance for you to tour the school and ask questions about the JAMS program.

TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW, February 25: 
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the Jane Addams library, Special Education Executive Director McWilliams and other Special Education staff will be available to discuss Special Education Services at JAMS for 2014-2015.

6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Jane Addams auditorium, the second Information Night for prospective JAMS families, another chance to tour the school and ask questions about the JAMS program.

JAMS AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS: YMCA ON BOARD
The JAMS PTSA Steering Committee has announced on its website that after-school activity programs at JAMS will be run by the YMCA!  This is great news for people who were wondering or worried about how this would be pulled off at a new school. The YMCA runs the after-school activity programs at Eckstein and HIMS.


MORE TEACHER HIRING NEWS
The JAMS Fusion Page official website has announced the hiring of four more teacher leaders: science leader, language arts leader, head counselor, and assistant principal. With the music teacher leader hire announced earlier, this makes five teacher leader positions filled. If you are interested in participating in the teacher hiring process, you can take the SEA interview training and let Principal Montgomery know that you would like to participate in an interview team.  There is a training scheduled for tomorrow, February 11.


REMINDER: LET MS. SCHAAF KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S MUSIC TALENTS AND NEEDS!
As reported earlier, the JAMS PTSA Steering Committee is helping the new music teacher leader, Debra Schaaf, gather information ahead of time about the music program needs of kids who may be coming to JAMS. Please visit the JAMS PTSA Steering Committee's website to fill out the online information form.


OPEN THREAD
Feel free to discuss any and all of these things in the comments to this post, or anything else (on-topic) that's on your mind!

JAMS Meeting tonight -- your thoughts?

If you attended the JAMS meeting this evening in the Jane Addams building, please share your thoughts and have a conversation about it!

Here are links to the materials: Dec. 11 JAMS Meeting Materials and JAMS Dec 18 Meeting Presentation Materials


They are available from the JAMS FusionPage: http://jams.www.seattleschools.org

As always, please review and adhere to our posting guidelines. 

Official JAMS website and new opportunities to get involved!

There is now an official JAMS website where Principal Montgomery can directly upload materials and information for the JAMS community! You can "join" the Fusion Page to be alerted when new materials are posted.  You do this by logging in with your Source login.  You do not have to join in order to read the page.  Here is the link:

http://jams.www.seattleschools.org/

In addition to the PTA/PTSA Steering Committee opportunity we posted about last Friday, there are two other new ways to get involved.

Apply to join the Parent Core Team

From the new JAMS Fusion website:

Parents, please consider being a leader in your community and be part of the JAMS parent planning team. The core team seeks 1-2 parent representatives from each of our elementary schools as well as Eckstein and Hamilton. This is an exciting time to help create an incredible new school. See the attachment for the application and send or email back to Principal Montgomery.

Principal Montgomery's email address is: p l mont gom ery at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols]

 

Join a Teacher Interview Team -- incoming students can do this too!

Principal Paula Montgomery has already posted six Lead Teacher positions in the district's internal hiring process. Interviews are coming up, and both parents and students can be involved. The same kind of interview teams will be formed throughout the spring as general hiring progresses. Broad representation from the different JAMS feeder schools is highly desirable. 

Here are the steps to get involved:

1. Complete the SEA Site-Based Interview Training.
You must have completed the SEA Site-Based Interview Training prior to being put on an interview team. Interested students must also attend the training in order to participate. Here is the schedule and contact info for registering for upcoming trainings; the next one is on January 9. They are held at the John Stanford Center in SoDo.

Ms. Montgomery is also working with HR to have a training take place at JAMS so that parents and students don't have to travel as far.

2.  After completing training, tell Ms. Montgomery about your interest.
Ms. Montgomery wants to bring in as many parent communities as possible. However, a caveat: an interview team must be of a manageable size, so any given team will likely include only one representative from each constituency.  You can reach her at: p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org. [Remove spaces, replace words with symbols.]

There are two interviews coming up soon, for which Ms. Montgomery is reaching out to PTA organizations to put together interview teams. 
1. Head Counselor: Tuesday, December 17, 3:45-6:00, Jane Addams Middle School
2. Arts Team Leader: Wednesday, December 18, 3:45-6:00, Jane Addams Middle School

Tonight's JAMS Meeting: Your thoughts?

If you attended the JAMS meeting this evening in the Jane Addams building, please share your thoughts and have a conversation about it!

Here is a link to the materials: Dec. 11 JAMS Meeting Materials

If you missed the meeting, don't worry -- there will be another with the same agenda next Wednesday, December 18, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Jane Addams building.

As always, please review and adhere to our posting guidelines. 

Easing the transition for incoming 7th and 8th graders

In response to some questions about whether the upcoming JAMS meetings will be appropriate for incoming students to attend, Paula  Montgomery sent us the following.

I think that it's fine to bring current middle school students to the December meetings; however, I am thinking that the bulk of the time at the meeting will be to answer questions about programming.

Once we (Eckstein principal, Hamilton principal, and I) get a list of students making the transfer, we will have regular meetings with current 6th and 7th graders to include them in the planning in a way designed for student voice. All three of us want to make sure that all students transferring have a high degree of attention prior to the summer. Once we have teachers hired, those new teachers will also be involved in working with students.

It sounds as though the middle school principals have this question of  transitioning students from their current schools very much on their radar.  We've had some discussion in the comments on this blog about ways to help these kids, including meetups well before school starts.

If your child is one who will be re-assigned to JAMS from another middle school, what do you think your child is concerned about?  What worries you?  What would help your child feel more on board with changing schools?  What can the community do to help?

JAMS Meetings Coming Up -- Please Come!

From Paula Montgomery, the JAMS Planning Principal:
_________________________
While it is early in the process (we have not hired team leaders), I know that parents have many, many questions, want to meet me, and want to start to give input.

The agenda is the same for both meetings. And we will have monthly meetings after the school year, including a day time option.

Jane Addams Middle School Community Meeting
Jane Addams Middle School Library
(Same agenda both dates)

Wednesday, December 11 6:30-8:00
Wednesday, December 18 6:30-8:00
Agenda:
Overview of timeline , teacher hiring, and spring processes
Review of facility work
Q & A
Opportunity for parents and community to give first input into the educational design
Brief school tour
_______________________

EDITED TO ADD:  Paula Montgomery, asked about bringing kids to the December meetings, responded: "I think that it's fine to bring current middle school students to the December meetings; however, I am thinking that the bulk of the time at the meeting will be to answer questions about programming."  She added that there are plans to involve current 6th and 7th graders in the planning -- please see the next post.

Also, in response to questions about touring the JA building, she reminded us: "We will absolutely provide tours of the school, but they will need to be during the evening when school is not in session. And yes, no one should enter a school without permission from the current principal."

Information from Paula Montgomery on JAMS Programming

Thank you all for your comments and questions on the last post. We asked Paula Montgomery, the JAMS Planning Principal, for information on planned meetings with families. We also sent her the link to the last post so she could see what some families are thinking about.

Ms. Montgomery is working on a master calendar of currently scheduled meetings with families and will get it to us at the beginning of next week to post. We know from a meeting she had with a group of Sacajawea families last week that she is planning multiple appearances at PTA meetings and with kids at Eckstein and Hamilton who will be geo-split away to JAMS to get their perspectives. Definitely watch for that master calendar and take advantage of the chance to get to know her and ask her questions.

Here are Ms. Montgomery's "quick big answers" to questions posed on the blog. 

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1. Yes, JAMS will have Algebra 2 next year. It looks as if we may have enough qualified students for two sections.

2. Geometry and Algebra 1, no problem. Plenty of sections.

3. Yes, for band and orchestra program. Just added a second music room to the plans for Phase 2 (summer 2014). The number of sections/levels will be driven by student needs. Both Hamilton and Eckstein band directors are involved in planning.

4. Working on initial instrument and library inventory with district.

5. Yes to foreign languages, starting for 6th graders. At this point, I can say absolutely Spanish and Japanese due in large part to preparing students for high school. I will need to see the number of current 6th graders in French before making a decision.

6. Spent day at Garfield, learning what needs to happen in APP at the middle level for students to be successful in 9th grade. Plan to visit Ingraham as well.

7. Yes to biology. Hoping to pull off science electives as well. Our school site is an amazing resource for environmental sciences. In conversation with science leaders in the district to develop possibilities.

8. Teacher leader positions are now posted! An all Seattle district email should be sent out next week, alerting teachers about the opportunity. Hope to have interviews in late December. May have to interview in early January given how busy December is . These leaders should be on board by mid-January.

9. Other programming decisions are waiting for 1) student data review, 2) teacher leader input, 3) student input, and 4) parent input.

And now I have a BIG ask. If anyone out there is able/willing to do pro-bono work on logo design. I would love to connect. Our BEX levy is really covering academic spaces and curriculum and this is an area that has not been addressed. Would love to use the expertise of a professional to start designing logo/mascot possibilities and have our future JAMS students select the mascot/colors/etc prior to February. The architect for the project then can include these elements into finishes for our school.
---------------------

If you're interested in providing some design help, Ms. Montgomery can be reached at p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org. [remove all spaces, replace words with symbols.]

Also, information that Ms. Montgomery passed on from Tracy Libros in response to the questions raised by maps of the JAMS, Eckstein and Hamilton attendance areas: they are working on "enlarged (and therefore more detailed) maps of the middle school attendance areas for JAMS, Eckstein, and Hamilton."  Dr. Libros provides this info for families: "For specific information on where your child will be assigned for next year (2014-15), please go to the Address Lookup Tool on the district’s web site. We are in the process of updating that information for 2014-15 to reflect changes approved by the School Board. We expect to have the updated information posted the week after the Thanksgiving break."

Now a request from us to you: please share the address of this blog with people you know. The more community involvement, the better it will be. Thanks.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Jane Addams Repurposing Project: Meet our new Planning Principal & View the Building Design!

SAVE THIS DATE! 

November 7, 2013, 6:00-7:30 PM

Invitation From SPS:

Seattle Public Schools invites you to a Community Meeting on the
Jane Addams Building BEX IV Construction Project

Date:       Thursday, November 7, 2013

Time:       6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Jane Addams Building, 11051 34 Ave NE

Room:     Cafeteria

Dear Jane Addams area communities,

Because you live in the greater Jane Addams building area, you are receiving this letter. 

Seattle voters approved the Seattle Public Schools Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy in February 2013, which includes the construction project to repurpose the Jane Addams building to become an attendance area Middle School.

The meeting will be presented by representatives of Seattle Public Schools BEX IV Capital Projects Team, the Jane Addams Middle School planning principal and Hutteball & Oremus Architecture, who will provide information about the project’s early construction design progress. You will be able to learn more about the construction project’s scope, schedule and design exploration. You will be able to ask questions and give us input and feedback. We hope that you will be able to join us!

This meeting is not related to boundaries issues, but only to the construction project to repurpose the building to become a Middle School. As you may know, boundary changes have not been made: the Board is scheduled to vote on any possible changes at its November 20 Board meeting.

For more information, please visit http://bex.seattleschools.org

Sincerely,
Seattle Public Schools Capital Projects Team

Back-to-School Update

Happy back-to-school, everyone! Here's a brief update, with more details to come soon.

Communicate Your Needs for the JAMS Interim Plan -- ASAP!
The JAMS Interim Plan, covering school years 2014-15 and 2015-16, will be developed as part of the Growth Boundaries Revision Process going on right now. SPS is seeking input from the community for the Growth Boundaries process. The data collected and decisions made will determine, among other things, whether, how, and for how long JAMS and the K-8 will share space in the Jane Addams building.

It's so important for potential JAMS families to communicate what they expect from their kids' middle school experience, particularly during the interim years (2014-16).  Please share your thoughts and your family's needs with SPS by sending an email to growthboundaries@seattleschools.org and to the School Board Directors*. If you are the parent of a current 6th grader who chose the K-8 for your child's 6th grade year, it would be good to give the district feedback about whether you intend for your child to remain at the Jane Addams building with JAMS or move with the K-8 if they are moved to an interim location.

There is a School Board work session on Growth Boundaries scheduled for Thursday, September 17th, just a week away.  It's best to get your comments in to SPS staff and the Board Members well before this work session.

Our local Growth Boundaries meeting will be September 24, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at Nathan Hale High School Commons. Please come and participate!

* Email addresses of Seattle School Board Directors:
sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org, sherry.carr@seattleschools.org,
harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org, michael.debell@seattleschools.org,
kay.smithblum@seattleschools.org, martha.mclaren@seattleschools.org, betty.patu@seattleschools.org

Planning Principal Chosen to Lead JAMS
Over the summer, Paula Montgomery was chosen as the new Planning Principal for JAMS. In this position, she will be instrumental in planning JAMS and will be the school's principal for at least the 2014-2015 school year.  We look forward to getting to know Ms. Montgomery and hope to help you get to know her, too.

The Design Team is Working on JAMS
The Jane Addams Middle School Design Team (JAMS SDAT) was formed and got to work this summer. The Design Team includes JAMS Planning Principal Paula Montgomery, parents from potential JAMS feeder schools, Eckstein Middle School staff, Nathan Hale High School staff, Executive Director of Schools (NE) Kim Whitworth, Matt Christensen from Hutteball and Oremus Architecture, and SPS Project Manager Scott Hogman. There should be a public meeting sometime this fall.

Architectural Design is Under Way
The school district has chosen the architecture firm of Hutteball and Oremus to repurpose the Jane Addams building to house JAMS, and it appears a contract was executed over the summer.  More details to come!