Guest Post: Please advocate TODAY for aligning JAMS and Hale bell times!

IMPORTANT!  Please advocate TODAY for the alignment of the JAMS and Nathan Hale bell times!

Background:  The Transportation Service Standards, up for School Board approval, have JAMS in bussing tier 1 (7:35 arrival time), and Nathan Hale HS in bussing tier 2 (8:25 arrival time).  Principals Montgomery (JAMS) and Hudson (Nathan Hale) endorse an alignment of the bell times for JAMS and Hale, with JAMS’ bell time 15 minutes prior to that of Hale.  There are a myriad of reasons why this would be beneficial to both schools.  For example:

1.      High school students would be able to walk their middle school-aged siblings to school.

2.      8^th grade JAMS students could more easily “Walk to Hale” for advanced classes (i.e. Math, Science, Music, and World Language).

3.      It would allow for easier coordination of shared instructors between the campuses.

4.      Crossing guards/security presence can be maximized during similar times.

5.      Hale students can smoothly tutor/assistant/coach teach at JAMS.

6.      Coordinated bell times would be attractive to prospective families, and will help make JAMS a success story from the start.  This is important, since JAMS is the first new comprehensive secondary school to be opened by SPS in perhaps 50 years, and the first of four new secondary schools to be opened by SPS in the next 5 years.

With intentionally-staggered bell times and the sharing of resources between the two schools, JAMS implementation costs should be reduced, while educational equity is improved.  This is not a novel strategy.  The E-STEM K-8 program currently in the Jane Addams building has “Walk to Hale for Math,” and Nathan Hale students mentor afterschool programming for the K-8, such as Robotics. 

The pushback to aligning the bell times appears to be costs, though in looking at the Big Picture, it would seem as though any additional transportation costs would be outweighed the cost and educational benefits of coordination between JAMS and Nathan Hale. 

Bottom line:  Education, not transportation, should drive the bell times, and, the educators responsible have an intentional strategy to meet the needs of students that is best served by the 15 minute – staggered bell time approach.   

At last week’s School Board meeting, the Superintendent requested that action on the Transportation Service Standards be delayed until the February 5^th School Board meeting.  The School Board directors approved of this delay.  The delay allows SPS Staff time to do more analysis.  The JAMS/Hale bell time alignment should be part of this analysis.  An updated Transportation Service Standards document should be included in the Friday Post of the School Board meeting agenda.  That leaves only a few days for prospective JAMS families to advocate for the alignment of JAMS and Hale bell times.

If you haven’t done so already, please send an email requesting that the transportation schedule for JAMS be shifted later, so that it would allow for the JAMS bell time to be 15 minutes prior to Nathan Hale’s established bell time.

The alignment of bell times is a critical first step toward establishing a long-term, mutually-beneficial educational partnership between the two school communities; one which will better serve our children, one which will help get JAMS off to a strong start – right out of the gate, and one which will reap benefits for many years to come.

Thank you!

Kim McCormick

Parent, John Rogers Elementary

Email addresses for advocacy letters (please send emails to all the addresses listed below, with the subject line of “JAMS Bell Times – Please align with Nathan Hale’s”
 

Superintendent Banda: superintendent@seattleschools.org

SPS Assistant Superintendent of Operations (Pegi McEvoy):  pmcevoy@seattleschools.org

SPS Transportation Dept:  transdept@seattleschools.org

SPS Arrival/Departure Time Feedback: arrivaltimes@seattleschools.org

Seattle School Board:  sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org, sherry.carr@seattleschools.org, betty.patu@seattleschools.org, martha.mclaren@seattleschools.org, harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org, sue.peters@seattleschools.org, stephan.blanford@seattleschools.org

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JAMS Plans is happy to publish guest posts from the community (either signed or anonymous) that conform to the blog's guidelines. If you would like to write a guest post, please email us at janeaddamsmsblog@gmail.com.

 

Open thread for community conversation

Let's talk! Please review and abide by the blog's commenting guidelines.

STUDENT VOTE! Help choose the new JAMS mascot!

JAMS Principal Paula Montgomery just released a survey asking future JAMS students to vote on the new school mascot!

Here is the link: JAMS Mascot Survey link, Students Only

How exciting! Please help spread the word so that as many future students as possible can vote!

Music Teacher Leader Announced; Interview Training

JAMS has hired its first teacher!  From the JAMS Fusion page:

JAMS Music Leader Announced

We are incredibly pleased to announce that Debra Schaaf has accepted the position as the Music Leader for Jane Addams Middle School.

Debra has built the instrumental music programs at both Orca k-8 as well as Aki Middle School. She has developed significant arts partnerships for students throughout the district and also serves as lead teacher through our Career ladder teacher program. With nearly 20 years of music expereince, Debra has the right skill set to lead the development of the Jane Addams Middle School music program. She will be a great addition to the great cadre of music educators in North Seattle. Please join us in welcoming her as the first Jane Addams Middle School teacher!

 You can watch a performance by the Orca Jazz Band here!

Hiring of teacher leaders is going on right now, and hiring of other teachers will be continuing into the spring.  Anyone who would like to participate on an interview team must complete the Seattle Education Association training and then notify Paula Montgomery of their interest.  Students can participate in the training and be on an interview team, too!

There is an interview training being held TODAY at the Jane Addams building from 4-5 p.m.  Contact Paula Montgomery at p l mont gom ery at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols] to see whether there is space if you are interested in joining in today. 

The next training being held at the John Stanford Center is on February 11, 2014.  Email Regina Redmond at: SEA at washington ea dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols] to register (pre-registration is required).

Student Clubs and Activities

Student clubs and activities are an integral part of providing the kind of comprehensive student experience that we all want for our kids at JAMS. As one commenter so eloquently put it about her current Eckstein 7th grader:

I would like his last year of middle school to be HAPPY not just tolerable so I think that some activities which empower, energize and connect kids as a group would be very welcome.

Similarly, L.H. emailed us:

I’d be interested to get a conversation going about particular student clubs as I am interested in starting a Model United Nations club that could serve to unify kids from different programs, and be interesting and fun. I have a friend whose kids do this in California and they get to go to the United Nations in NYC for a trip - could be really cool

Sounds fabulous! What clubs would you and your kids like to see at JAMS? Interests that current fifth graders would like to pursue or develop? For example, many Sacajawea kids have an interest in theatre from the school play and an amazing 4th/5th grade teacher who uses theatre as a strong teaching tool in his class.

Eckstein and Hamilton appear to offer after-school clubs through the YMCA: [list of current Eckstein clubs; opens as PDF in new window]. [List of current Hamilton offerings; opens as PDF in new window]

Commenters on this blog have also suggested:

• Ultimate Frisbee club (co-ed, multi-age activity in which many Eckstein and HIMS kids participate)
• FLL robotics team
• Drama
• Ski Bus

Are there other freestanding clubs that Eckstein and Hamilton students want to continue? 
 

The other question is getting the clubs up and running for the fall. One commenter noted:

At Eckstein, it seems like teachers are often in charge of many extra-curriculars..such as coaching sports teams and chaperoning ski bus. I am not sure if this is standard throughout Seattle Middle schools but I am hoping we will see this at JAMS. It also is a great way for kids to form an additional bond with teachers.

How do we do this? If your kid is really interested in a particular activity, are you able and willing to start getting together with other like-minded parents to support that activity at JAMS? This blog would be available to help you communicate and find each other. Let's work on this together!

Parent Core Team applications due tomorrow; SpEd news; Info Nights

JAMS Special Education Meeting on February 25
Do you have questions or concerns about how Special Ed will be implemented at JAMS? There is an important meeting coming up on Tuesday, February 25! From the JAMS Fusion website:

On Tuesday, February 25 from 5:30-6:30, Executive Director McWilliams and other Special Education staff will be available in the JAMS library to discuss Special Education Services at JAMS for 2014-2015. This is prior to the all school information meeting that begins at 6:30.

JAMS Info Nights 2/11 and 2/25

There will be two general JAMS Information Night meetings. They will be held in the Jane Addams building auditorium on the following dates:

Tuesday, February 11, 6:30-7:30 pm
Tuesday, February 25, 6:30-7:30 pm

 

REMINDER: Applications are due TOMORROW, January 10, to join the Parent Core Team that will be instrumental in planning our new school. The application form can be found at the bottom of the JAMS Fusion page.

Later start time for JAMS?

A couple of people have emailed the blog suggesting a later start time for JAMS. A parent raised this issue at a JAMS meeting and later started an online petition for an 8:30 start time to match that of Nathan Hale. Tracy's petition makes some great points. Please check it out!

The National Sleep Foundation points out in an article on later school start times that adolescents need as much sleep as children, but the changes in their bodies make their natural "fall asleep" time later.

So how does this compare with other schools? Most Seattle middle schools start at 7:50. (Denny is the only exception -- it starts at 7:40!) Hale starts at 8:30; Garfield and Ingraham both start at 8:00.

So, what do you think? Any downsides?

World Language Programming at JAMS

World languages have generated the most emails to this blog and also have been prominent in the comments to several posts.  Clearly this is a topic that lots of us care about!  Principal Montgomery has said that Karen Kodama, the district's International Education Administrator, is helping with planning and continuity for world languages at JAMS.

Ms. Montgomery earlier sent us the following: "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."

Choosing the languages won't be easy -- there are continuity issues for students transferring to JAMS from Eckstein, Hamilton, and Jane Addams K-8, as well as issues of preparing students for language study at the high school level at Nathan Hale, Garfield, and Ingraham.

	JA K-8	Eckstein	Hamilton	Hale	Garfield	Ingraham
Chinese	X			maybe in the works?
Japanese		X	X	X	X	X
Spanish	X	X	X	X	X	X
French		X		X	X	X

 Eckstein offers three languages starting in 7th grade. Hamilton has only 2 languages, but offers them for three years. 

KM pointed out in a comment: "From what I understand, two years of a World Language taken in middle school counts towards one year of high-school level World Language, so a student who has taken a World Language, for two years, in middle school could enter at the second year level in high school."  


Spanish: Definitely will be offered
Paula Montgomery has stated that Spanish will definitely be offered at JAMS.  

French: On the fence

As noted above, Ms. Montgomery will need to see how many kids would be interested in French before a decision is made about whether to offer French.  L. A. emailed us:

My son is a current seventh grader at Eckstein. Students are not able to begin a foreign language at Eckstein until 7th grade so if Ms. Montgomery is counting current 6th grade students taking French then Eckstein would have zero or none. I'm worried this will impact her decision on whether or not to offer second year French to incoming eight graders.

For Nathan Hale, two years of middle school foreign language classes allows a freshman student to start the same language at a second year high school level. My son would need to continue French in eighth grade in order to qualify for this two year deal. French is offered at Nathan Hale.

He loves his current French teacher at Eckstein, wants to continue French next year (and at the high school level), and is very disappointed to hear he may not have that opportunity at the new JAMS. 

Lori had previously commented and pointed out that this might be a place to use mitigation funds:

I'm curious how languages will be handled with kids coming in from Eckstein and Hamilton, which have slightly different offerings. Both have Spanish and Japanese, but only Eckstein has French. Seems those kids already studying French should be able to continue, but will there be enough to support a teacher? I hope this an area where the district can provide mitigation funds. That is, even if it's only a handful of kids, and such a low number generally wouldn't justify a position, they'll make a "hardship" exception so children can continue their chosen language. A school with 700 kids probably wouldn't normally offer 3 different languages, but this one should have to, given the circumstances.

Japanese: Continued from HIMS and Eckstein but possibly phased out

 Wedgwood Family commented: "Paula also mentioned three years of language being offered to every student and phasing out Japanese for new langauge learners and adding Mandarin. Will JAMS become an international school?"

Shannon commented: "For the Japanese Language program at HIMS they have an exchange program and end of the year trip for 8th graders who have had 2 years of Japanese. My son was looking forward to participating."

Ms.Montgomery has indicated that Japanese will be offered at JAMS; however, she has stated that Japanese might be offered only temporarily, until the 7th and 8th graders coming from Eckstein and Hamilton have moved on to high school.

Mandarin Chinese: A Possibility

At her meeting with Sacajawea parents, Paula Montgomery mentioned that Hale is actually encouraging her to offer Mandarin Chinese at JAMS. It sounded as though Hale was considering or instituting a Mandarin track.

Z. X. emailed us:  

"I would very much like to see that Chinese is offered as an option for foreign language at the new JAM middle school. Many students would have liked to taken it if it were offered at HIMS (or at least their parents would have liked their kids to take it). In fact, many parents lobbied the principle at HIMS, but it was not possible because the foreign language teachers were already hired there.  Since JAM is starting new, this will be a golden opportunity to start to offer Chinese. It would be a strategically smart move."

KM commented: "JA K-8 offers Spanish and Chinese/Mandarin (Mandarin is new this year). Historically, languages at the K-8 were only available for 7th and 8th graders, but I'm not sure if that still applied to this year's (large) 6th grade class."

As mentioned above, Ms. Montgomery has mentioned the possibility that JAMS and Hale could institute a continuous track for Mandarin Chinese.

Language travel opportunities?
A few commenters have written about how much their Eckstein or Hamilton students have been looking forward to traveling with their language classes in their 8th grade year. These do indeed sound like amazing opportunities that would be really hard for these kids to give up. 

Shannon commented: "For the Japanese Language program at HIMS they have an exchange program and end of the year trip for 8th graders who have had 2 years of Japanese. My son was looking forward to participating"

JoRo commented: "Please offer French. I hope you are able to pull together a language travel program for language students. That is the #1 thing my kid was looking forward to - for her 8th grade at eckstein."

Leanne G. commented:

For the Spanish program, Eckstein students travel to Costa Rica after the end of school each year...it is typically a combination of tourism and service projects, as well as home stays with host families. Ihave only heard good things about it...my daughter would have participated next year after her 8th grade year. I think the best way to learn about these programs is to have language leads/Paula schedule some time with the coordinating teachers at Eckstein or Hamilton. Apollonia Guerra is the Eckstein Spanish teacher who coordinates the Costa Rica trip.

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