The Seattle Preschool Program is award winning — and there is still plenty of room for kids around Capitol Hill and the Central District

By Juan Jocom

Seattle is providing high-quality, accessible early learning programs but the sessions are under-enrolled including four opportunities around Capitol Hill and the Central District.

For the second year in a row, the Seattle Preschool Program has been awarded a gold medal rating by CityHealth and the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University for the system’s high quality and accessible preschool programming.

“Seattle was one of 22 cities, out of 75 rated by CityHealth, to receive a gold medal award for high-quality, accessible preschool programming this year” the Office of the Mayor reports.

Living in one of the world’s most expensive cities poses challenges, especially if raising a child is added to the equation but programs like SPP can make these challenges more manageable. It also helps prepare kids for academic success.

“High quality preschool helps all children be ready for kindergarten and sets them up for better success in school,” early learning division director Leilani Dela Cruz said in an email.

Despite this celebrated achievement, the programs around the Capitol Hill and Central District area remain under enrolled. There are currently nine programs in the Capitol Hill and Central District area and four are still enrolling for the 2023-2024 school year.

Northwest Center Kids – Chinook* 401 5th Ave, Seattle , WA

206-286-2390

First Place – Main 172 20th Ave
Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center – Main * 1625 19th Ave.

(425) 736-6665 Voice Call

(206) 829-5128 Video Phone

Launch – Miller Community Center Annex 301 20th Ave. E.

Programs like what SPP offers help to soften the blow of child care, especially in a city that is growing more expensive each day. Seattle residents with children between the age of 3 to 4 within the respective school year are eligible to apply for the program. Continue reading

William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation and Enterprise, Africatown’s center for ‘economic empowerment and community-driven development,’ opens in the Central District

(Image: Africatown Community Land Trust)

Named for a Black pioneer credited with shaping today’s Central District, the William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation and Enterprise will begin its work this week as a center for “economic empowerment and community-driven development” providing training, networking, and connections to help launch new businesses and careers in the Central Area, the Africatown Community Land Trust announced.

“Historic Districts are OK, but we don’t want to be museum pieces and plaques in the neighborhood where we once were vibrant,” trust president and CEO K. Wyking Garrett said in the announcement. “This will be a living memorial.”

Built out of the former Fire Station 6 at 23rd and Yesler, Africatown now holds a 99-year lease on the fire station property after its transfer in late 2020 following years of hope and promises including pledges from Mayor Jenny Durkan that summer as Black Lives Matter movement demonstrations grew in Seattle. Continue reading

Back to school: Seattle has tentative agreement to start bringing kids back to classrooms

There is a tentative agreement and a timeline for kids in Seattle Public Schools to get back in the classroom.

Leaders of the Seattle Education Association union have reached an agreement with the district on a plan for restarting in-person education for the city’s thousands of public school students that will give families the option of putting kids back in the classroom starting March 29th. The union’s members must still approve any deal.

Under the agreement, the district’s pre-kindergarten and elementary special education students will have the option to return to the classroom March 29th. Other elementary students and older special education students would have the option to return to the classroom on April 5th. The district and union still need to agree on a plan for return for  middle and high school students. Continue reading

Seattle U likely heading to court after refusing to bargain with faculty union

Students and faculty rallied on campus in support of a union in 2015. (Image: CHS)

Students and faculty rallied on campus in support of a union in 2015. (Image: CHS)

Seattle University may be heading to court after administrators formally refused to enter contract negotiations with a labor union newly representing adjunct faculty at the Capitol Hill college.

After organizing for nearly three years, SU’s non-tenured faculty voted in September to join Service Employees International Union 925. The university administration has opposed the union from the start, saying federally regulated contract bargaining would violate the college’s First Amendment protections of religious freedom. Administrators are specifically concerned about being required to hire faculty members that do not subscribe to its Jesuit style of teaching. Continue reading

Seattle University administration tells faculty not to unionize

A Seattle University official has notified faculty that the school’s administration opposes ongoing efforts to unionize non-tenured instructors and encouraged faculty to oppose joining a union. UPDATE: We have additional information from an instructor working to form “a union to work with the administration to retain excellent part-time and full-time non-tenure track instructors.” You’ll find the update below.

In a letter obtained by CHS, Provost Isiaah Crawford recently told SU faculty at the 12th Ave campus that bringing in a union to represent contingent full-time and part-time faculty would negatively impact the university culture by “disrupting the direct relationship between the university and its faculty and the faculty’s governing body.”

Continue reading

Seattle Central sees drop in enrollment as international, technology learning opportunities grow

In the Seattle Community College District enrollment is dropping across the system’s three campuses, a trend hitting closest to home at Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central Community College where Monday the 2013 spring quarter begins.

From 2010-2011 to the 2011-2012 years Seattle Central and its Seattle Vocational Institute component in the Central District combined have seen a drop in enrollment of more than 1,200 students. The 6% dip to 18,800 total students between the two institutions comes amid an improving economy and an ongoing population increase in the city.

Seattle Central specifically as of fall 2011 had about 9,600 students enrolled. The district has been watching these numbers carefully and say it has a “10-point plan” to address the dropping numbers. Continue reading