(Image: City of Seattle)
Seattle Parks and Recreation is holding its next meeting on planned upgrades to Capitol Hill’s Miller Park this weekend:
Seattle Parks and Recreation invites neighbors, families, kids and all community members to help shape the future of the Miller Playfield Play Area. Join us on Saturday, January 31st, 2026, from 11 AM – 2 pm at Miller Community Center (330 19th Ave E) to meet the project team and share your input on the play area concept designs.
Meanwhile, the class of ’27 came up big time in the school’s winter sock drive (Image: @garfieldhsptsa)
The community around Garfield High School is continuing work to improve campus public safety and address social and economic challenges.
Over the weekend, city officials including Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth joined attendees at the latest “Reclaiming the Village” gathering at Garfield. Organizers say they hope the events will grow into an ongoing series of forums to support Black families and students in Seattle’s Central District.
Garfield Principal Tarance Hart launched the forums as the school has tried to address community needs, public safety, and gun violence following the deadly 2024 shooting of 17-year-old student Amarr Murphy-Paine in the school’s parking lot. Continue reading
(Image: Seattle Public Schools)
Part of life for many Pacific Northwest kids — especially in densely populated areas around Capitol Hill — are affordable and long-lasting hard-top paved elementary school playgrounds. Seattle Public Schools has budgeted to change that for one corner of a neighborhood school’s campus.
Plans are afoot for a $416,000 project to install synthetic turf on a large rectangle of the Leschi Elementary School campus, according to city permits. The new turf area will be installed where the school’s futsal court is currently marked. Continue reading
A jury has awarded $8 million in a lawsuit over a 2018 incident at Capitol Hill’s Meany Middle School in which a student was injured after he was punched in the face by his math teacher as shocked classmates looked on.
Lawyers for Zakaria Sheikhibrahim told jurors the now 21-year-old suffered a brain injury and continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. They also alleged the district violated non-discrimination laws. Continue reading
Just last year, the district was considering closing several campuses including Capitol Hill’s Stevens Elementary
Shuldiner
The Seattle School Board has approved a finalist to lead the city’s public schools.
Ben Shuldiner is currently superintendent of the Lansing School District in Michigan. Wednesday’s board meeting authorized the beginning of contract negotiations to finalize the hire.
Leading Lansing’s public schools since 2021, Shuldiner was part of a shift in the typical search for public officials as the board conducted a confidential process hoped to attract a stronger pool of applicants. Continue reading
The Northwest School’s rooftop sports field above Pike and Bellevue (Image: Northwest School)
The city has announced $4.7 million Building Decarbonization Grants for 2025 including funding for work at Capitol Hill’s Northwest School.
“These grants will cover design or retrofits to reduce climate pollution and help buildings reach Building Emissions Performance Standard targets,” the Summit Ave private middle and high school said in a statement on the grant. Continue reading
The Egyptian (Image: CHS)
The screen at The Egyptian hopefully won’t stay dark much longer.
A spokesperson for Seattle Central College that owns the 110-year-old former Masonic Temple building the movie theater calls home says the Capitol Hill school is currently “reviewing applications for short-term rentals and long-term leases of the Egyptian.” Continue reading
(Image: SIFF)
A plot twist in local cinema Seattle moviegoers had seen coming has been made official. Thursday, SIFF announced it will not be reopening its run in Capitol Hill’s Egyptian Theatre.
“For many months we prioritized finding a path to reopen this beloved venue. SIFF is currently prioritizing financial and operational sustainability above all else so the organization can continue the expansive programming offered at our additional three venues: SIFF Cinema Downtown, SIFF Cinema Uptown, and the SIFF Film Center,” SIFF executive director Tom Mara said in a statement. Continue reading
SPD increased its presence outside Garfield following the June 2024 murder (Image: CHS)
The Seattle School Board has rejected a plan supported by Mayor Bruce Harrell and his police chief to return a uniformed Seattle Police Department officer to the Garfield High School campus citing concerns over disproportionate policing and the district’s failure to implement community recommendations in its proposal.
“I cannot vote yes on this package. The trust has been ruined,” board member Michelle Sarju said during the Wednesday night session. “You all have broken my trust over and over and over again.”
Wednesday night’s decision on a “a School Engagement Officer” at Garfield follows more than a year of debate over the proposal following the 2024 campus parking lot murder of student Amarr Murphy-Paine.
The return of an assigned campus police officer would roll back a Black Lives Matter-era reform. Previously known as community resource officers, the program was dropped by the district in the summer of 2020 during the height of Black Lives Matter protests against police killings when the school board suspended a partnership with SPD that provided five armed officers with rotations and placements across Seattle’s public schools. Continue reading
(Image: Seattle Central)
By Matt Dowell
Families with high schoolers seeking a collegiate head start have an option back in the neighborhood for the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Middle College High School, which offers Seattle Public School system students a tuition-free college education as part of their four-year high school program, has relocated to Seattle Central’s campus after a year in Rainier Beach.
At Middle College High School, classes of around twenty students spend their 9th and 10th grade years earning high school credits. In their 11th and 12th grade years, they enroll in Seattle College’s Running Start program where they begin earning college credits and potentially an Associates Degree while they finish high school. Though any SPS student can attend MCHS, their primary aim is to “increase the college success of students that are the first in their families to attend college, those impacted by systemic racism and/or those impacted by poverty.” Continue reading
