Harrell, Chief Diaz respond with more police, calls for change in state gun restrictions after student shot and woman killed in 23rd Ave gun violence

A bullet hole and shattered safety glass in the Metro bus stop in front of GHS (Images: CHS)

There are again more police and private security in place around Garfield High, the largest public high school serving Seattle’s Central District and Capitol Hill, after area gun violence injured a student at a 23rd Ave bus stop and left a woman dead on the sidewalk earlier this week.

Parents and the community are looking for a larger response as city officials and Seattle Police Department leadership say they are doing everything they can to make the area safer and solve the crimes.

SPD Chief Adrian Diaz told the audience at a Thursday night public safety forum held at the city’s central library that he expects “resolution soon” in the Wednesday afternoon shootout between two vehicles that sent a 17-year-old Garfield student caught in the crossfire to the hospital with a serious injury to her leg and left bullet holes and shattered glass amid crowds of students leaving campus for the day.

Investigative prospects are more dim for bringing justice in the shooting that followed hours later and only blocks away that left a woman in her 30s dead on the sidewalk at 23rd and Main.

Police have said they do not believe the shootings are related but have limited evidence from the slaying that took place on the backside of the busy AutoZone parking lot. Diaz said Thursday night the S Main killing happened just around the corner from a stepped up police presence at 23rd and Jackson following the Garfield shooting and only a block from the “Mobile Precinct” truck and camera system the department has parked in the lot since last fall’s driveby shooting that damaged a childcare center full of children and brought community calls for more to be done to address public safety issues in the area.

The killing happened despite the increased number of officers in the area. The deadly gunshots could be clearly heard during an officer’s radio call with East Precinct dispatch as police were making a delayed response to a reported altercation in the area. Continue reading

Massive art donation comes with a $25M gift for 12th Ave — plans for a new Seattle University Museum of Art

(Image: Seattle University)

Dick Hedreen (Image: Yosef Kalinko/Seattle University)

A 12th Ave Seattle University parking lot could become a new art museum and the center of the school’s art holdings as property developer Dick Hedreen has announced he is gifting his family’s 200-piece, $300 million collection of paintings, pottery, photography, etchings, and sculptures to the Jesuit university on the southern edge of Capitol Hill.

The rare handover comes with a $25 million donation to begin the development of the Seattle University Museum of Art, “a teaching museum that will showcase centuries of art history and be a true learning extension of the classroom,” Seattle U says. Continue reading

School Board member steps down over residency issue raised in Seattle City Council appointment process

Vivian Song, a Capitol Hill finalist in the recent process to fill an open citywide seat on the Seattle City Council, is stepping down from the Seattle School Board after complaints about her move outside of the school area she was elected to represent.

“Director Song’s legal counsel has advised that she can continue lawfully finishing her term,” a joint statement from Song and Lisa Rivera, another board director who has moved out of her school area, reads. “Nonetheless, after witnessing the manufactured distraction that others have leveraged because of Director Song’s move, we’ve decided that we will not allow this unnecessary distraction to continue, and are thus both tendering our resignations, which we are doing concurrently to streamline the appointment process for our colleagues and minimize disruption when other important district decisions are on the horizon.” Continue reading

King County ‘Safer Schools Strategy’ focuses on individual ‘high-risk, high-need students’

The King County Prosecutor has announced an initiative to assist area schools to address the ongoing wave of gun violence and school safety issues by identifying — and getting involved with — the highest-risk kids.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion says the “Safer Schools Strategy” rolled out to end 2023 focuses “on interventions at the student, school/district, and statewide levels” and is providing new resources and better coordination to improve King County school safety.

According to the announcement, a core element of the approach if focusing on individuals. Manion’s office says it began last year “notifying schools of students with pending felony firearm charges to improve safety planning.”

“This change was implemented in late 2023, and 30 youths have been identified with notification made to school authorities whenever possible,” the prosecutors say. Continue reading

Fields damaged during Seattle freeze leave youth and recreational sports schedules a mess — UPDATE

The many colored lines of the Washington Park field (Image: City of Seattle)

Several sports fields across Seattle are closed and in need of repairs after a sustained bout of freezing temperatures has caused damage to the synthetic turf. Seattle Parks says at least nine of the fields at its facilities have been reported damaged and the Seattle Public Schools system has closed all of its turf fields to “assess the severity and scope of the damage on their fields.”

“Unfortunately, this weekend with the extreme freezing weather, a number of SPR (Seattle Parks) and SPS (Seattle Public Schools) synthetic turf fields experienced buckling and damage underneath the turf, resulting in lumps, divots and craters in areas of the field that make them unplayable,” the statement from the city parks department read. Continue reading

Garfield High School receives $500K mental health services funding boost from city

Garfield High School, the largest public high school serving Capitol Hill and the Central District, has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the city’s Department of Education and Early Learning to bolster the 23rd Ave campus’s mental health services.

The school says the funding will help add an additional full-time mental health professional based at the Garfield Teen Health Center operated by Seattle Children’s/Odessa Brown Clinic. As part of the grand, University of Washington doctoral students in psychiatry will also do field work at Garfield and a staff member from the Urban League will help manage and coordinate the new resources. Continue reading

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

Capitol Hill’s St. Joseph School: a century in its school building — and new hopes for a playfield/parking structure

(Image: St. Joseph School)

The kids at Capitol Hill’s St. Joseph School sometimes probably can’t wait to go home and get out of the place but they joined together recently to mark a big milestone. The school marked the 100 year anniversary of its 18th Ave building by recreating a historical photograph of the student body across the ages.

The school has continued to grow with an expansion to the campus about ten years ago and plans for a new playfield structure in the works.

The photographic celebration came on the 100th anniversary of the school building but a few years short of the present-day church structure’s centennial. They’ll mark that milestone in 2030. Continue reading

Seattle Public Schools: No closures next year but 2025/2026 cuts still on the table

Seattle Public Schools is putting off any decision on campus closures that might be needed due to predicted budget shortfalls, the district announced in a statement in advance of Superintendent Brent Jones’s appearance in front of the Seattle School Board Wednesday night to present his budget plan for the coming school year.

“Superintendent Jones will not be recommending any school closures or consolidations for the 2024-25 school year,” the statement reads. “SPS is working to right-size the number of schools to accommodate lower student enrollment. This may include school closures or consolidations as an option for 2025-26.”

“We know it takes time to plan and implement large-scale changes and will include our community to provide feedback as we move through the process,” the statement concludes. Continue reading

Are you ready to rock, Montlake? School of Rock planning 24th Ave E location

(Image: School of Rock)

The national music school franchise School of Rock is planning to open its second location in Seattle to start 2024 in a space not far from Capitol Hill’s bustling nightlife and live music scene. Are you ready to rock, Montlake?

News of the planned opening comes as a key Capitol Hill music venue where some of those Montlake kids might eventually rock faces permanent closure.

The new “School of Rock Seattle Downtown” will be offering music classes and camps for ages six and up along 24th Ave in Montlake.

“We want to be the music in the community,” says Chad Fondren, co-owner and general manager. “There’s no better way to learn an instrument through the performance-based music education program that we offer. We use rock music and rock instruments as a vehicle, so it’s gonna be a little more fun.”

There have been School of Rock performances on Capitol Hill in the past. Cafe Racer and Neumos have all hosted end-of-season performances. The new spot might mean Capitol Hill will see more of them.

But Cafe Racer may never host another young Seattle band. The 11th Ave venue has been shuttered since being forced to close earlier this month over unpaid rent. Racer’s Jeff Ramsey said he has been scrambling to change the club’s business model and find a more sustainable path forward. So far, the cafe has remained dark.

Chad and Tracy Fondren also run the School of Rock in Issaquah while planning the Montlake location. School of Rock in Issaquah grew to hire 19 instructors and teach around 250 students. They’ll also be bringing a third co-owner and music director with them, Cole Paramore, who was the first instructor hired in Issaquah. Fondren says he and his wife love Issaquah, but are excited to be in Seattle. Continue reading