The annual MLK Day march from Garfield High School stretched across blocks of the Central District Monday even as Seattle temperatures continued below freezing. In 2024, cries for ceasefire in Gaza echoed along the route as a Palestinian flag flew among signs and banners from the labor and community groups part of the day’s activities. Continue reading
Gunfire broke out and brought a massive police response after an altercation reported Wednesday afternoon at Garfield High School. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the gunfire but Seattle Fire was called to treat a teen with a laceration to the face.
Police were called to a reported fight disturbance near the school’s football field around 12:15 PM as shots fired were suddenly reported in the area. According to East Precinct radio updates, police found shell casings near MLK and Alder. A house in the area — ten blocks away — also reported a bullet through a window. Continue reading
The 2023 Garfield High School graduation ceremony at Memorial Stadium (Image: SPS)
Seattle Public Schools will begin a series of meetings Tuesday night in the Central District that it says will be used to gather feedback from “students, families, staff, and community partners” as it starts a painful budget process it says could result in campus closures.
But the “Well-resourced Schools” community meetings aren’t exactly being portrayed as such serious business. Instead, SPS is focusing the meetings on the resources students and families say they want in their public schools — many of which won’t be available or could need to be cut as a statewide funding pinch tightens.
“We are developing a shared understanding of what resources, programs, services, and learning experiences make up a well-resourced school,” the SPS invite for the sessions reads. The first meeting will be held Tuesday night at Garfield High School. Continue reading
Seattle Police and Seattle Fire were called to the parking lot at Garfield High School late Thursday afternoon after a shootout in front of the school.
According to emergency radio updates and Seattle Fire, a 19-year-old was reported shot in the leg and police were looking for suspects seen in a vehicle leaving the area.
The shooting was first reported around 4:40 PM about an hour after the final bell of the school day on the still busy 23rd Ave campus.
Seattle Fire says the teen was transported by paramedics to Harborview in stable condition. Continue reading
Artist rendering of a new “comfort station”. being planned for the project
By Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero
The Garfield Super Block Coalition has completed a master arts plan that is being reviewed by the Seattle Parks Department which is working to add public art throughout the $8.4 million promenade and public space project and is wrapping up their design process for the overhaul of this Central District block with hopes to start construction in summer 2024.
The plan is to include art from eight public art pieces with seven pieces being from different ethnic groups such as the Duwamish, Jewish, African-American, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Italian communities that have helped shape the Central District. The last piece will be a collaborative piece from all seven ethnic groups.
“At the heart of this project is art that lifts up the legacy of seven different ethnic groups that really have built roots in this community,” Sharon Khosla, one of the Garfield Super Block Coalition members, said.
An ethnic advisory committee has been formed with members from each community composed of community leaders and artists. This group is tasked with finding artists to do public art work.
“We’re really hoping that this artwork can help people understand the history and can feel the pride of their community,” Khosla said.
The art will join the Legacy and Promise Promenade, a pathway fulfilling the long-envisioned goal of connecting Horace Mann School, now home to Nova High School, just on the other side of Cherry with the Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center in the center of the Garfield High School campus. Continue reading
The Seattle City Council has called today’s meeting of the Select Budget Committee to recess until at least 1 PM so councilmembers can listen to students at City Hall protesting gun violence. pic.twitter.com/MYThVsWspf
— Seattle City Council (@SeattleCouncil) November 14, 2022
The students at North Seattle’s Ingraham High School will lead a walkout across the district Monday morning with students from Capitol Hill area schools including Garfield High School expected to make the trek to City Hall to call on officials to address gun violence.
The Seattle Student Union advocacy group spread word of the plans last week and over the weekend after last Tuesday’s fatal shooting of a 17-year-old student on the Ingraham campus. Another young man has been arrested for the murder.
The student union group’s demands include increasing the number of mental health counselors available on campuses, increased training for SPS staff, a ban on assault rifles, and updated safe storage laws.
But others are calling for the return of Seattle Police school resource officers to campuses.
SPD Chief Adrian Diaz is lobbying for more officers and a change in policies to allow SPD officers back on public school campus. Diaz, last week, called for the city to hire more officers and for Seattle Public Schools to restore programs like the “school resource officers” that used to be deployed on area campuses. In the summer of 2020, the Seattle School Board suspended a partnership with SPD that provided five armed officers at Seattle schools. The program — which cost the district about $120,000 a year — remains on hold. Continue reading
(Image: Seattle Public Schools)
By Hannah Saunders
Garfield High School, where graduates have experienced the challenges of wars, the Great Depression, space exploration, and the rock n roll era, is marking its 100-year-anniversary with a celebration on August 27.
The 23rd Ave school — with a long roster of alumni notable in Seattle and beyond including current Mayor Bruce Harrell — turned 100 years old back in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration was put off–until now. Garfield High School originally opened with portables as East High School in 1920, and by 1922 the incredible building that still stands today opened.
“It had a tremendous amount of interesting, different people going to Garfield of all different kinds from day one,” said Lynn Jaffe, event chair.
Today, Garfield is — compared to the rest of the city — incredibly diverse with more than 24% of its students Black and more than 14%, Asian, according to the district. It serves students from the Central District, Capitol HIll, and nearby neighborhoods.
Jaffe began working on the centennial celebration at the end of 2017. The principal at the time, Ted Howard, thought it was a good idea and confirmed the party plans.
Garfield’s centennial celebration will showcase numerous activities that reflect the school’s history through videos, pictorial displays and entertainment.
“There are some tremendous, wonderful murals around almost the whole first floor,” said Jaffe, who noted Martin Luther King Jr. visited Garfield High School in the 1960s. A mural from the visit will be showcased during the celebration.
Historical displays will be presented and broken up by the decade, said Jaffe, who explained how major current events impacted Garfield High School. As a graduate of the class of 1958, Jaffe recalled her experiences at the school.
“I went to school with a lot of Japanese kids that spent their very early years in the camps, so Garfield had experienced that for many, many years,” said Jaffe. Continue reading
