Salmon Bay Preference for Thornton Creek Graduates

Who: Children of all grades attending Thornton Creek. It is never too early to consider middle school options.

What: Please sign this petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/tc2sb/petition.html

Why: Our predecessors, in the late 1980s, had the same desire for an alternative middle school pathway. The result was New Option Middle School, or NOMS, which was located in the Washington (Central Seattle) and Old Hay (Queen Anne) buildings before merging with an Alternative Elementary (#5, Coho) in 1999 at their current Ballard location. Currently, Thornton Creek is the only alternative elementary school in the city that does not have an alternative middle school assignment. In the past, Thornton Creek students have received a preferential assignment to Salmon Bay in recognition shared history and program similarity.

Further Action: Board members are skeptical, and it is a nuanced situation difficult to communicate in talking points. However, a sample letter is provided below (Dec 5 post) for email (SchoolBoard@seattleschools.org), and face-to-face conversations are greatly encouraged. The board does seem fond of ensuring a “pathway” for language immersion students, and I like to remind them of our similar situation. We can acknowledge this is a short-term fix, and express our willingness to find a long-term solution when the dust from the student assignment plan settles.