West Seattle High School has been awarded one of five high school levy grants, receiving $350,000 each year over the next seven years  The funds are from the City of Seattle Families and Education Levy.  The total amount then is $2,450,000.

Here's a snap shot of how they will be spending the funds:

Full time Academic Intervention Specialists to case manage the academic success of all 9th graders teaching 1 Focus class, coordinate University Tutors, manage Mandatory After School Study Halls and Saturday Schools, monitors daily individual student academic progress, collaborates with teachers, participates in AIS and 9th grade team meetings, tracks progress toward meeting Levy Target goals, attends Levy meetings, calls 9th grade families, refers identified students to SIT, collaborates with feeder middle schools for early intervention, coordinates 9th grade MAP testing.

Fund and additional counseling services for 9th graders to do the following; schedule all 9th graders in appropriate classes, hand schedules Focus students, plan 9th grade Parent Night, track 9th grade attendance, and creates attendance agreements for identified students, participate as a member of the Student Intervention Team, organizes parent/teacher conferences, implements the roll out of ConnectEdu to 9th graders and supplemental curriculum to support College and Career Readiness.

A half time Social Worker provided by community partner, YMCA.  The other half will be shared with our feeder Madison Middle School.  He/she supports a caseload of 10-15 students; provides home visits, coordinates care and direct counseling, family parenting classes, screening to support academic success and improved attendance. 

Pay for community partner YMCA to have a full time Senior Director of Education and Development on-site and integrated into the WSHS community.  A $26,000 program budget to provide 2-4 in-school and 8-12 after school enrichment and/or service based activities.  Responsible for tracking all 9th graders to ensure they are involved in a minimum of one extracurricular activity during the school year and removing barriers for participation that arise for some students.  Priority enrollment for identified 9th graders in “Y” activities will be given. 

Pay for community partner University Tutors to place 15 plus content specific tutors at WSHS in math and science classes and to support Mandatory After School Study Hall and Saturday School.

Pay for a .2 FTE Academic Interventionist to teach a focus class for re-classified 9th graders.  The school will use carry forward performance pay from 20011-12 to pay the $20,000 cost.

"We've had similar funding in the past but we were elated when we got this funding," said Jennifer Kniseley
Assistant Principal.