The monthly newsletter of TOPS, a Seattle Public K-8 alternative school. 

September 1997 

Principal: 
Karen Kodama 

Penny Bolton 

McDonald School
144 NE 54th Street, Seattle, WA 98105 

729-3360 

The Outrageous Publishing Service 

Superintendent Stanford Taps Kodama 
for New Assignment 

Kodama's outstanding reputation for principal leadership has always been an asset to TOPS, but it's also been a liability. Over the past several years, Kodama has been asked by the school district to serve on various committees and provide leadership for district-wide initiatives. Last year, Kodama was asked to serve as a principal advisor to Madrona to help the community start a new school program. This year, she will help start a middle school component of that school. 

The International School is a challenging new assignment, and Kodama says she's looking forward to taking it on. "I think this is an exciting new initiative for the school district," Kodama says, "and starting a school is a thrilling, if daunting opportunity." The International School will be multiple grade levels, perhaps even K-12, and will emphasize world language education. 

Kodama has been with TOPS since it was an "add-on" program at Stevens elementary in 1987. "This has become my second family," Kodama says. "I love TOPS, and I very much appreciate the opportunity to have served as principal with this terrific group of 

TOPS Site Council is organizing a principal recruitment committee. The first task will be to identify the criteria we want in a new principal, then recruitment will be done. The district will screen all candidates to be sure their credentials are in order and that they meet our minimum criteria. The Site Council, however, will interview the candidates and identify its top choices, working with Stanford on final selection. 

Auction 

The date for this year's auction is the March 28, 1998 at the Asian Resource Center. Parents, faculty, staff and students are invited to start thinking about your procurement items soon. Volunteers are needed, and should contact either Rhian Lombard @ 325-5395 or Karen D'luhosh @ 323-8123. 

At TOPS, Helping Out Has Hundreds of Faces 

Here are some ideas to consider. Ask your child's teacher what you can do to help. No car? Ask if your child can bring a work project home for you on the bus. Call committee chairpersons. Committees are varied and have hundreds of different volunteer possibilities for you. Check with Karen's take-home letters on Wednesdays. Many times there will be requests for help on a particular task. Do you have friends or relatives with unique skills they might want to share with our school? Encourage them to call TOPS (and tell us who referred them). Feel free to call Joni Marts, our Volunteer Coordinator, at 298-7444, ext.4673. She can work with you to link your skills with projects. Thanksand remember, we're all in this together. 

It's Time to Not Bake Again 

At TOPS, we avoid the hassles, calories, and pressures of fund-raising by contributing directly to the school through our popular No-Bake, Bake Sale. Last year, we raised over $23,000 through the No-Bake, helping fund classroom supplies, music and drama programs, after-school tutoring, and more. 

Look for your No-Bake Sale flyer to arrive in early October, and plan to donate early and generously. Let's continue TOPS' well-deserved reputation of exemplary parental commitment and support! 

The Outrageous Publishing Service Prints Again 

Articles are welcome from anyone wishing to reach the TOPS community, and may be submitted to the mailbox in the main office or mailed to Amy at 4203 5th Av. NW, 98107. Articles are preferred on computer disk, accompanied by a paper copy. Both IBM and MacIntosh are accepted (MacIntosh preferred). Email submissions may be sent to Amy_Hagopian@ 

fammed.washington.edu. (but call ahead to discuss formatting). 

The next issue deadline is October 14, 3:30 pm. And we really mean it. Ask the people who missed the last deadline. 

TOPS Should Lead the Way on 

by Lianne Sheppard, TOPS parent 

State law dictates daycare providers may not care for more than 10 five year-olds for each adult in a maximum group size of 20 children. As soon as these same five year-olds enter the Seattle Public Schools, it is acceptable for a group of 28 of them to be cared for by only any one adult. I believe that our public school ratios are unacceptably high. That's a big reason why so many children are enrolled in private schools in our citya situation which depletes our district of even more resources. 

Reducing class size is very challenging because of its cost. District-wide it will cost $4 million to reduce every regular classroom by just one child. This choice is impossible in a year when the District already had to cut $10 million. 

But our children need more attention now. We should recognize some steps are short-term Band-Aids while others address the fundamental inad 

• · Hire at least two (preferrably four) AmeriCorps members, and emphasize their interaction with kids during those times of the day when staffing plummets due to teacher breaks. 
• · Adopt and implement a policy of no longer accepting more children into TOPS in any grade than the contract maximum permits.
• · Take advantage of opportunities to attract more adults to the building, such as work-study students. 
• · Reconfigure the site council budget so we can hire additional classroom assistants, particularly for grades K-3. 
• · Restructure the schedules of the non-classroom-teacher certified staff so they all provide classroom support each day (administrators, librarian, etc.) 
• · "Buy" smaller class size with our district-allocated budget by making other choices of what staff time we purchase. 
• · Allow site council sponsored directed fundraising, as we do now with PEAK. 
• · Expand the No-Bake Bake Sale to donors other than parents, and allow targeted donations. 
• · Join the district in its efforts to improve state-wide funding for education. 
• · Consider joining a lawsuit to improve funding for education. 
• · Pressure the teachers union to adopt class size as a priority issue. 

How are decisions made by the Site Council? 

• · Everyone contributes. 
• · Everyone understands the issues. 
• · Everyone has an opportunity to express feelings. 
• · Those members who continue to disagree are willing to go along with the majority for a period of time. 
• · Although everyone may not agree that the decision is the best, all members take responsibility for implementation of the decision. 
• · It's not unanimous, everyone's first choice, or conflict-free! 

Two examples of thorny issues that were brought up last spring are class size and directed fundraising. The Executive, Fund Development and Curriculum Committees will have to work hard this year to get a proposal together that will work for both for the staff and the community at large to reduce the adult/child ratio in the school. 

You can have influence all along the way to Site Council and can attend committee meetings and have your say. Once there is a specific proposal, the Executive Committee will bring it before the whole Site Council. 

Committee Reports 

TOPS News on the Web 

Curriculum Enhancement's Chess club will start October 6, and meet Mondays after school from 3:30 to 4:30 most every week through June. Enrollment forms will go home in the Wednesday packets. Volunteers to help with snack, t-shirt design, and tournament participation are needed. Coordinators will be Steve Ludwig (706-0989) and Patrice DeMom-bynes (632-0494). The coaches are Albert & Katya Shmidt, provided by the Chess Mates Foundation. 

Curriculum Enhancement's Science committee will have its first meeting on Tuesday, October 7, 7 pm, at McDonald's staff room to plan stategies to support the NSF-funded Inquiry Science program. Lianne Sheppard (633-2184) is coordinating. 

Diversity committee is being chaired by Jonathon and Gwen Davis (725-5916). Next meeting is September 24 at the Rainier Beach library, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. 

Drama committee is putting on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as the middle school play in December. Auditions are Sept. 22. The elementary play will be a sequel to last year's History of Seattle. 

Executive committee consists of the TOPS site council leadership, including chair Penny Bolton, vice-chair Melora Battisti, secretary Belinda Butler-Bell, treasurer Doug Williams, and principal Karen Kodama. The current project is working on the principal recruitment and selection process. 

Facilities committee helped us with the move, and can always use more help. The next meeting is 7 pm on Tuesday, October 7, at McDonald. The city's Department of Construction and Land Use hearing examiner made two decisions on the TOPS Master Use Permit last month: 

1. Conditionally granted the requested "departures from the Land Use Code" regarding the number of off-street parking spaces, busloading plans, setback and landscaping aspects in our design; and 

2. Declared we need not prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the project. 

These decision have been appealed, and the hearing is scheduled for September 29.Chairs are Debrah Walker, Phil Converse and Lynn Wunder. 

Finance committee provides "Request for Payment" forms in Doug Williams's mailbox at school. The NoBake Sale is to be launched soon (see related article), the goal of which is to raise $23,000. 

Parent Steering committee is chaired bySusan Spieker, at 324-7261. Room reps will coordinate volunteers in the classroom, and this committee is responsible for the Involvement Fair (Sept. 18), the Curriculum Night and other all-school events. 

PEAK, coordinated this year by Betsy Scott, reports that only 34 kindergarten parents have committed to paying the monthly "dues" which support the extended-day kindergarten program and related snacks and the teaching assistant budget. Seven additional families would need to participate to make ends meet with the current $90 monthly payment per family. Part of the problem is that enrollment between the two classes is only 47 this year, and a higher number was expected. 

Safety committee is monitoring the school's "natural" escape routes, as opposed to the "official" ones which were established before the school was in use, in order to alter the evacuation plan. There is a concern that since all the play surface is paved, the injury rate may climb. Call Michelle Butler-Myles at 725-7447. 

Staff Appreciation is a new activity of the Parent Steering committee, and is being organized this year by Janet Moore (283-7284). Janet needs some compatriots to help organize all-school teacher appreciate activities. Individual teacher appreication will still be done by classrooms. 

Volunteer coordinator is Joni Marts, who can be reached at school or at 632-9741. 

Vital Statistics 

Kids Company phone number has changed to 524-2698. 

Anti-Harassment Team to Advise All of TOPS in October 

This year's mission for the Anti-Harassment Team? To explain the policy to over five hundred TOPS students. The team plans to train and advise seven teams of 6th graders, who in turn will meet with other students throughout October in order to make TOPS as emotionally and physically safe as possible. Working from kindergarten on up and employing role-playing and other methods, the teams will explain the policy and show all students how they can respond to teasing, taunting, name-calling, and other forms of harassment. 

Head Teacher David Katz, 547-1263, is spearheading the operation. 

New TOPS Staff 

• Caprina Stone, family support worker (BOC) 
• Kim Duong, night custodian 
• Ernese McQueen, lunchroom manager 
• Jeanne Amundsen, communication D.S. 
• Julie Trout, fourth grade teacher (room 5) 

Meet Americorps Volunteers Roxana Marachi and Niki Contos 

• 1. Coordinating the after school tutoring/homework program; 
• 2. Supporting teachers in the classroom by working with individual students and small groups; 
• 3. Organizing the TOPICS program including lininig up parents and community members to teach; 
• 4. Facilitating service learning opportunities in the community. 

Niki Contos is especially attracted to the TOPS ideal of parent and family involvement, our belief in our community. Committed to this community, she seeks the rewards of playing a part in the growth of all TOPS students. Niki has studied Early Childhood Education at North Seattle Community College and taught preschool at Cooperative Children's Center. Her many interests include bike riding, film, reading, good conversation, and tackling the NY Times crossword puzzle (when she has a spare moment 

or two). 

Need a Familiar Babysitter? Dial Up a TOPS Middle Schooler 

Julie Trout Starts Fourth Grade 

Meet New Cultural Outreach Coordinator Cheryl Pappy 

Enrollment Report for 1997/98 

Faculty may agree on some blending or combining across grade levels as enrollment stabilizes. There is no extra money from the district this year for teaching assistants, as each school was given its global budget in one lump sum to spend as it chose. TOPS is also empowered this year to move its own waitlist. Ms. Kodama reported that this is the first year we've seen such a complete turn out of assigned students during the first week of school. TOPS maintains an extensive waiting list. 

New 12-Week Keyboarding Class to Begin October 6 

Principles on Selling our Kids' Attention 

The Principles state that since "compulsory attendance confers on educators an obligation to protect the welfare of their students and integrity of the learning environment, ....schools and business (partnerships) must ensure that educational vaues are not distorted." 

• · Not requiring students to observe or listen to advertising; 
• · Not providing commercial access to students in captive environments; 
• · Restricting corporate involvement to that which is consistent with the goals of the school and which meets school needs; 
• · Sponsored or donated materials should meet the same high standards as that which is purchased; and 
• · Teachers should have discretion in the use of sponsored materials. 

Middle School Band 

The TOPS After School Band Program is an enjoyable, educational and musical endeavor, sponsored by the After School Activities Program of Seattle Schools and the TOPS Site Council. New and returning band members are welcomed. 

This will be the second year of middle school band, and is scheduled to begin in October (exact date to be determined). Band members will meet from 3:30-5:00 P.M. in the TOPS lunchroom. Continuing as band leader will be Sam Chambliss, music director at Mercer Middle School. 

Through the spearheading efforts of parent Belinda Butler-Bell, the TOPS band program began in January, 1997, with about 20 students. Due to complications with after school sports, etc., a few students were not able to continue. The 17 who remained practiced and performed admirably through the rest of the school year. The band gave its final performance of the 1996-97 school year at the TOPS Achievement Fair in May. 

This year our band program will run for 8 months. A fee of $10/month may be paid all at once ($80) or by semester ($40/semester). A 50% scholarship is also available. It is assumed that band members will participate in the program for the whole year. 

A flyer with band program information and a registration form was sent to all middle school families on Wednesday, September 17. Additional flyers are available at school. Please complete the form and return it with a payment to the Attendance Office as soon as possible, but no later than Thursday, September 25. For more information, please call Jo Shapiro at school, at 729-3360, or Belinda Butler-Bell evenings or weekends at 722-5012. 

What's the TOPS Way? 

Dear Mr. TOPS: 

Faculty at TOPS have a pamphlet titled "I'm Bored," which we could share with you. The pamphlet suggests keeping classes open-ended, which TOPS classes tend to be. There's always an opportunity for an especially intrepid student to do more. Some students go into the primary grades thinking "I'm gonna learn to read right away," which obviously can lead to disappointment. 

But when a student says "I'm bored" it's often 'code' for "I don't have any friends; I'm lost; I don't get it; I don't want to try." Parents of students who say they're bored may want to dig deeper and find out what socio-emotional things may be influencing their children. They also said "bear with it, we've only ended our first week." 

If the student turns out to be truly be bored and knows the stuff already the teacher will soon recognize this and make arrangements to challenge the child appropriately. Parents are always welcome to make an appointment with a teacher to discuss these kids of issues. 

TOPS 1996 Annual Report Available 

Karen's administrative team: 

Jo Shapiro and David Katz make up the administrative team which works with Karen Kodama to keep TOPS on top. They both joined the school last year, but some of us are just getting to know them. 

Discipline is an important component of an administrator's job in a school system, but it is certainly not the most important. "Part of our program is teaching kids self-discipline," Katz says, and he does this partly by teaching a course to entering 6th graders on "creating and sustaining a class community." Some days discipline is all of the job, some days it's not a problem at all, both Katz and Shapiro report. Shapiro handles discipline for the odd numbered grades, Katz takes the even numbers. 

Shapiro spent much of her time last year getting the school ready to move. Now her facilities issues are around safety, and helping the school district do earthquake survival improvements to the McDonald school in the summer of 1998. 

Shapiro says her mission is to "help kids succeed academically and socially and to help teachers do the same." Everything the administrative team does is headed toward that goal. 

Both Shapiro and Katz spend time in classrooms. Katz plays guitar and sings, and he organizes the debates. Shapiro has a stronger interest in math and science, and coordinates the school's National Science Foundation Science Inquiry program. 

Katz graduated from the University of Washington's Danforth Program in Educational Leadership in 1996, and received his teaching credential in 1990 from San Francisco State after graduating from Vassar with a BA in cultural anthropology. His teaching experience is at Washington Middle School, Kimball Elementary and West Seattle High. His interests are bicycling, playing music, cooking and paragliding. 

Shapiro has a principal certificate from Seattle Pacific University, a masters in math from the University of Washington, and a BA in English from Goucher College in Baltimore. She grew up in Hawaii. She served as a math specialist at Whitman Middle School for several years, and as a science teacher and supervisor at the Pacific Science Center. 

School To Work Plan Enhances 

The School To Work committee at TOPS is a dedicated band of parents, administrators, and teachers committed to bringing opportunities from the business and service community into the classroom under the direction of the teaching staff and Assistant Principal Jo Shapiro. This experiential learning situation enhances the children's learning through the use of speakers, presenters, job shadow opportunities, and work-based learning activities. 

Volunteer opportunities abound 

1997-98 School To Work goals 

• · Opportunities for middle school students to participate in after-school keyboarding class (begins October 6); 
• · Continued development of service-learning opportunities, such as a Tech Team working in conjunction with the tutoring program; 
• · Continued establishment of School To Work coalition with additional partnerships, businesses, and clubs; 
• · Job Shadow Day at North Seattle Community College; 
• · Career Day planning and development; 
• · Curriculum Enhancement for middle school teachers. 

Chess Club Puzzle 

Source: 200 Classic Chess Puzzles, edited by Martin Greif, Sterling Publishing Co., 1993. 

black 

1 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

abcdefgh 

white 

Transition into Middle School: A Workshop for Parents 

How can parents best support their children and themselves through this period of physical, emotional and cognitive change? 

Middle school is a new experience for 6th graders as well as for most of their parents. The first of a series of parent workshops to be held at TOPS this year will deal with this transition and its effects on students and their families. Sponsored by the Families First Program of Seattle Schools, this workshop for parents will take place in the TOPS lunchroom on Tuesday, October 14, from 6:30-9:00 P.M. 

This program is offered especially to parents of new 6th graders and 5th grade parents who are already anticipating the changes to come. However, all middle school parents are welcome. 

An informational flyer was sent home on Wednesday, September 17, with your student. Additional flyers are available at school. Parents who wish to attend are asked to contact their room rep as soon as possible, but no later than Monday, October 6, as the program cannot be presented unless we have a minimum of 20-25 parents who can attend. For more information, please contact your room rep or Jo Shapiro, at 729-3360. 

Help Wanted 

Eastlake Community: A TOPS representative is needed to attend Eastlake Community Council meetings to maintain good relations and communications. Call Gwen Demombynes at 632-0494. 

Handypersons: Teachers still need help with moving-in projects which require some carpentry type skills. Call Joni Marts at 298-7444, ext. 4673 and let her know what you can or want to do, and what skills you have. 

Internet Literates: Web page coordinators are needed for each classroom, to help them get their pages posted and updated regularly. David Demorest (632-4821) will coordinate and help you. 

Haven't you always wondered.... 

What Goes on in Gym? 

The Co-Motion Dance Company will also be with us again, due to grant funding. The "Dance Summit" at the Seattle Cetner last year was a huge success and we look forward to another such experience. You can see two of our dance instructorsGail and Jesseperforming at Broadway Performance Hall (Seattle Central Community College) Sept. 25-28. 

You may have noticed there is no real gym at McDonald, although we thought there would be a temporary structure in the east playground by the time school started. Discussions with the neighborhood led to a decision to locate the gym on the west playground instead. It also turned out that the pre-fabbed building we were buying from out of state didn't meet our state's specifications for a gym. All that has been sorted out, and you can see the construction going on just south of the portables in the parking lot now, which should be done by November. 

In the meantime, P.E. faculty Eric and Don tell us the middle school students should view "the world as their gym," and are conducting speed walks to Greenlake the Good Shepherd Centerwith litter pick up along the way. 

Needed are tennis and badminton racquets, used tennis balls, golf clubs, six-foot 2 by 6's, some galvanized pipe and some volunteers to build a few things. 

Service-Learning Lets Students Learn Community Participation 

What is service-learning? 

• · Meet actual community needs; 
• · Are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community; 
• · Are integrated into each student's academic curriculum; 
• · Provide structured time for a student to think, talk, and write about what he/she did and saw during the actual service activity; 
• · Provide students with opportunities to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities; 
• · Enhance what is taught in the school by extending student 

• learning beyond the classroom; and 
• · Help foster the development of sense of place in the community and caring for others. 

Why should TOPS students engage in service-learning? 

Call Andrea Leary or Melora Battisti. 

815 Fourth Avenue North 

P.O. Box 19116 

Seattle, WA 98109-1116 

Kudos 

Penny Bolton, for cheerfully assuming the duties of site council chair this year. 

Phil Converse for all the work you put in to getting the school ready for the first day. 

Julie Trout, new fourth grade teacher, for agreeing to serve on site council your first year as teacher. 

Your thanks can appear here next issue: just send them in! 

Thanks to G&H Printing 

329-9888