Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year

Hello Sacajaweans!

It is our pleasure to welcome our new and returning families to another year at Sacajawea Elementary. Though this year will look substantially different, we are confident that the dedication of our faculty and the resilience of our families will create the conditions for our students to grow and for our community to thrive.

The Sacajawea Elementary School PTA is a small-yet-mighty organization that works to help support our school, teachers, administration, and most importantly, our students. Throughout the year, we host community events, work to promote equity, and raise money to support our school. 

One of the great strengths of Sacajawea is the broad participation and involvement of our parent community. With this year’s remote start, parents are more important than ever, working as educators and facilitators for our students. We, as your PTA, will work to support you and your families as much as possible this year with consistent communication and community-building events.

If you’re looking for an easy way to meet fellow parents and get involved, please attend our monthly PTA board meetings. They’re a welcoming, productive, and fun way to get involved. We meet monthly, and our first meeting is Thursday, September 17th, at 7:00 pm on Zoom.  Keep your eye on the PTA calendar for other events this fall, as we work to adapt our schedule of events to the current world.

Please be in touch with us as the school year gets underway. We’re here to help, and you’ll find our contact details below. And, to ensure you receive all of our PTA updates throughout the year, please subscribe to our email list: sacpta.org/subscribe.

Thank you all for making this school such a special place! At Sacajawea, we truly do all SHINE.

Sincerely,

Seth and Laura

——

Seth Bridges, PTA Co-Chair

seth@sethbridges.com

206-419-6624

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Laura Riley, PTA Co-Chair

lkriley99@outlook.com

206-550-7617

Sac Teachers are the Best!

As we shifted to remote learning this spring, our team of educators at Sacajawea came through in a big way for this community. Within weeks, we were back up and running, with online learning , library time, tutoring, and real interaction between students and teachers.

As the school year came to an end, we asked parents to share their thoughts about what went well and how their teachers played a role in those successes.

What came back from our modest ask was an overwhelming amount of positivity and gratitude from Sacajawea families. It’s clear from reading about your experiences: Sacajawea’s teachers and staff are truly amazing people.

Read and smile along with us.

Parent Kudos for our Sacajawea Educators

Ms. Teague has been helpful and thoughtful to both my child and myself during this time. She quickly responded and assisted me with troubleshooting several remote learning issues we had. She helped our family to get a Chromebook from the District, which has helped us so much to have our child use it while we're working on our other computer. Ms. Teague sent letters to my child, worked with my child in small reading and math groups, and made super fun home visits that my children greatly appreciated. We hope that my children can have Ms. Teague in 4th grade too!

Here is what my child had to say about Ms. Maynard: Ms. Maynard is a great teacher. She lets us watch this show called, School House Rock and she is nice. And she has a lot of math games that are really fun. I learned about division.

Ms. Bermet, you’ve done awesome! 

Thanks to Mr. Ryan for putting together our amazing virtual art festival and keeping the kids busy with creative activities during the closure. My kids wouldn't have survived without the creative outlets!

Both Ms. Bermet and Ms. Neal went above and beyond! They both sent my first grader hand-written letters that were so thoughtful and made him feel very special.

Mr. Walker is such a favorite teacher of both my children! He has clearly thought out his lessons from many different angles, and seems to use equitable teaching strategies to help all children become involved and feel like they belong and are integral parts of a whole community. The creative games he teaches are brought home and taught to other friends, and the rollerblading skills he teaches are SO APPRECIATED by the kiddos! He's involved in so many other teams and ways in the community as well. Thank goodness for Mr. Walker!

We really enjoyed Ms Teague's Making Meaning and Being a Writer series for the second graders. 

Thank you Mr. Walker and Mr. Ryan for providing such a fantastically fun weekly anchor for kids to just be. Keeping these anchors to school has been such a lifeline for families, and we can't thank you enough for providing this encouraging, safe space for all of our students. And, now we have a brand new arsenal of jokes to last all summer long!

We loved reading along to Wild Robot with Mr. Norman. It became a weekly story time for our entire family! Thank you!

Kudos to Mr. Walker, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Reddecliffe, Ms. Norman, Ms Jackie, (And probably others) who make enormous efforts to reach out to my kid ( all kids really) consistently with genuine kindness and playful limits, and constant attempts to engage and inspire my kid. We are immeasurably great full To have these adults in our kid’s life to connect with him and help him grow as a Whole person. The patience and positive energy that consistently comes from these individuals has made all the difference.

Thank you Mr. Walker, Charlene and the Packs for Kids team for your weekly dedication to making sure our families were supported throughout the closure. Thanks to everyone who donated time, money or supplies! 

Ryan Schmidt continues to be a wonderful art teacher! My kids will sometimes say, Oh, that's CLASSIC Mr. Ryan! They adore his personality, his artistry, his creativity, how he guides them without doing things for them, how he teaches different ways to create, and how he spotlights their ideas by allowing them to draw or post things on the classroom walls. He is clearly dedicated to his work and to our children, and is such a tremendous benefit to the Sac community! 

We could not be more thankful for Ms. Bermet. During this stressful time, she constantly let us know she was here for us. Her regular emails saved us in being organized and able to keep up with regular academic work. Every meeting she was engaged and supportive of each child. Her love of teaching and her students shined through with her lessons. 

Our experience truly could not have gone any better. The support we received from Ms. Bermet and Ms. Doss was extraordinary and it shows how much they really know our kiddos and what amazing educators they really are. They were flexible and understanding and magically provided the just right amount of work and online meetings. My husband is an essential worker and I have been working from home and trying my best to home school. If I fell short on the homeschooling a week here or there, I never felt judged or like I wasn't doing a good enough job. When my boys would melt down every now and then, and I let them skip an online meeting, their teachers were totally understanding of that. They really want what is best for our individual family and they care so much. I also had other teachers reach out and/or work with my boys - Dr. Estrada, Ms. Durand and Ms. Singh. Are you kidding me?! I have so much gratitude that they were able to continue to get help and support in the areas they need it most! Although my boys chose not to participate in library, gym or art, it was greatly appreciated that they Mr. Harvey, Mr. Walker and Mr. Ryan had those options available. Thank you to Rachel Friesen and the PTA for the constant communication. Thank you to the whole staff for listening to the parents and adapting where needed - i.e., having Schoology as our one stop shop for assignments. etc. My heart is full for this small but mighty school! <3 

My kindergartener was always so excited for library time with Mr. Harvey. In fact, he was so excited that he made sure to bring his younger preschool brother to class every single week!

Ms. Maynard's endless positivity has kept our son engaged and loving school, in-person and remote during this interesting school year. It says a lot when kids enjoy going to school. We know he felt secure, happy and most of all, loved his teacher. We are so thankful Ms. Maynard fostered that environment in her class this year. We are a little bummed this classroom experience was cut short. 

We appreciated Ms. Bermet’s frequent emails to keep us updated to all the nuances of learning at home. She gave clear instructions on what was expected for her sessions with follow up information as needed. She was quick to respond to frantic (were going crazy)emails (even late at night). Giving reassurance and guidance! Thank you!!!!

Ending our kiddos kindergarten year via a screen was not what any of us had in mind, but I want to send a huge bucket of thanks and gratitude to Ms. Jackson and Ms. Rings for teaming together and making all of our newest students' years as special as they could possibly be. It’s hard to teach online, and especially hard with our youngest kiddos. But these two did such a lovely, lovely job. Thank you so much for all the dedication, time and attention you've show our children!

Ms. Doss, we LOVE you!! Your love for your students truly shined in the midst of this pandemic. The regular meetings, communication and organization made home school survivable and actually a success. You guidance helped our student continue to shine. We cannot thank you enough!! 

Our family has only been with our nuclear household for months, so to have our teachers in our yard chatting was like a party! We appreciate our Sacajawea teachers SO MUCH. They go the extra mile to make our kids feel like they matter. They support parents and express interest in our families. They work hard to help our kids grow academically and emotionally. Thank goodness for Sacajawea educators!

Ms. Teague was a rock star at keeping our kids connected and learning. She hosted Zoom calls before the district made it mandatory and even started doing socially distanced home visits to truly be able to talk to each child one on one. She adapted her teaching to online and her communications to the parents always let us know what was going on. We couldn't have done it without her! 

We have loved Ms. Teague’s Friday visits. It’s been a great chance to stay connected to her and the schoolwork. Throughout the school year she’s done a fabulous job communicating what’s going on in the classroom, and now with school from home, what the weekly expectations are. She clearly loves teaching!

Big shout out to Ms. Bermet for being so engaged with the kids and so adaptive. She adjusted her process through out the time to better serve the needs of the kids. Our son really loved the small group Math classes and his weekly 1 on 1s. Also, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Walker's weekly lunch zooms were a huge highlight! Any time we had any small issue she stepped up to make sure we were accommodated. Thank you could never truly say how much gratitude we have for her as a teacher. She was so flexible and accommodating with the many challenges thrown at all of us.

A big shout out to someone who likely doesn't get thanked enough - Principal Friesen! She navigated a truly unpredictable and ever changing process to help things go as smoothly as possible for the teachers and our kids. I appreciate all the hours she spent making sure everything worked as well as it did. 

Thanks to Carmen and Mary for putting out YouTube videos to keep our kids connected to their music. It was so nice to get to see and hear them! 

I’m glad to have had my kiddos in the guidance of Sacajawea teachers. 

Thank you, thank you! I hope you find joy and some needed restoration during the summer.

Having one-on-one time for my kiddos was very special. 

Ms. Doss provided so many materials, opportunities for connection, engagement and learning- it was amazing! 

Thank you for all you’ve done! 

Ms. Warner was such a positive support person for my child and all 4th graders! Transitioning to distance learning is no small task, and Ms. Warner did such a wonderful job supporting kids' social and emotional growth and helping remind kids (and parents) not to stress out about school! I loved how she carved 1:1 time out with kids, and found so many ways to be creative with our learning. I know teachers did not sign up to be distance teachers, but Ms. Warner made this experience one of joy!

Ms. Jackson has been supportive and patient to both children and parents during this time. She listened and sympathized when I complained of our issues with remote learning at home and how much my child missed school and interactions with teachers and classmates. She supported my child with positive comments, sent letters to our home, made super fun home visits, and expressed delight with my child's half-heartened attempts to complete assignments with a crummy parent teacher. Both of my children love Ms. Jackson!

The technology you’ve added to your repertoire of teaching skills is awesome. 

Ms. Doss offered weekly one on one conferences with all her kids in order to be able to checkin with them and really know how they were doing. Her focus on the social emotional part of everything we went through this year was highly valued. She will be missed next year! 

Sharon Rings really worked hard to translate the feeling and style of her classroom into the online environment. She did a nice job of making space for kids to share their feelings and their work, and I could tell that my student responded so well!

Ms. Doss, you’re fantastic!

Debbie Bermet was so absolutely dedicated to getting face time with her students. Her weekly 1:1 meetings were the highlight of my kid's week. She had small group math and provided good guidance and prep each week. It made all the difference in how we supported our learner!

Congratulations, Mr. Norman! You pulled off a most challenging task, given no time and under trying circumstances! We appreciate ALL the work you did to teach students and help parents through the last three months of online learning. It’s been challenging for all of us, especially our kids, and you’ve made no small difference in always being yourself and being relatable to kids, while also demonstrating patience with all of us as we navigated uncharted waters. I also want to give a shoutout to the powerhouse teaching team that you and Ms. Teague have created for second graders. It always made a positive impact and continued to SHINE in meaningful ways during this period of sheltering in place. 

Ms. Maynard's endless positivity has kept Jackson engaged and loving school, in-person and remote during this interesting school year. It says a lot when kids enjoy going to school. We know Jackson felt secure, happy and most of all, loved his teacher. We are so thankful Ms. Maynard fostered that environment in her class this year. We are a little bummed this classroom experience was cut short. 

Ms. Singh did such an amazing job at supporting my daughter and me during the home schooling. She provided tons of additional resources for her to use across all of her subjects. Her weekly zoom calls were always a highlight in our day... and she even offered them during spring break to help keep our schedule as consistent as possible. Ms. Singh was also instrumental in helping change the district's mind about being able to use Zoom instead of having to switch to Teams. We love Ms. Singh! Thank you. 

Sacajawea staff, THANK YOU! This community was a saving grace for us. The accommodations for home school were above and beyond. The communication and supportive words helped us through the stress of homeschool. Your support of diversity and making change for equality is invaluable. Thank you! We feel blessed to be among this community. 

Thank you Mr. Reddecliffe for your enthusiasm and engagement of our kiddos -- and the time, attention and space you made to care for their mental health and wellbeing; and for continuing to teach them about the world around them and supporting them to be the best human beings they can be. Your math lessons were fun, creative and innovative, and your teaching style keeps the kids energizing and engaged, even via Zoom! Our community is so grateful and lucky to have you. Have a great, adventurous summer!

Thank you to Our Community from Ara and Seth

Dear Sacajaweans,

As we end this school year, Seth and I wanted to express our gratitude to every member of this community. You all have supported each other, our teachers, our children, and our school in meaningful ways.

You sprang into action when schools closed in March, collecting money, food, and supplies to make sure no family at Sacajawea fell through the cracks. Charlene Shanahan, Mr. Walker, and the entire Packs for Kids and Equity Teams continue to do fantastic work here, and we couldn’t be more thankful for you.

As parents, you became aspiring educators and learned to handle Zoom calls, reading sessions, math workbooks, and more. You’ve been pulled in more directions than ever before, and we applaud your commitment to your children and families.

And of course, we’re incredibly grateful to our teaching staff at Sacajawea, who continued to educate our children while guiding us as co-educators from home. Further, our teachers were continually experimenting and improving their processes along the way.

Though the pandemic has been hard, we’ve endured together, and we’ve learned about our collective resilience. What the next school year holds for us all is unclear. However, we’re confident that we can face it together.

In addition to the global health crisis, we’ve watched our nation start to acknowledge that racism is a real, pervasive, and constant threat to the lives and liberties of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and non-white Americans. We’ll continue our work on racial equity and anti-racism at Sacajawea, and we’ll need your help along the way. You can get started by educating yourself, talking to your kids, and speaking up against injustice.

Finally, please remember that this summer, our Packs for Kids team will work to provide extra support to any family at Sac in need. If you’d like to help, please be in touch with Charlene Shanahan (cyshanahan@seattleschools.org). We’ll send out reminders throughout the summer to call for additional help and donations as we need them.

Thanks again for being a part of this community, and we look forward to being together one day soon.

Sincerely,

Ara Swanson Merkens and Seth Bridges
2019-2020 Sac PTA Co-chairs

Congrats to our Volunteer and Educator Award Recipients

While we wish we could celebrate and announce these awards at our end of year ice cream social, we know that isn’t possible right now. Our new plan is to celebrate with everyone in the fall, once we are back to at least a slightly more normal version of life. Congratulations to our outstanding volunteer and educator award recipients! Here are some of the reasons why Sacajawea is such a wonderful community.

Golden Acorn Awards

Our Golden Acorn Awards recognize volunteers who go above and beyond.

Seth Bridges (Parker & Will’s dad)

Seth was one of our fearless leaders this year and will continue in the role of co-chair for next year. He’s been an incredibly active member of our PTA since his first son started Kindergarten. Seth updated our PTA website in order to make it a useful, reliable, and relevant resource for our school and community! He also undertook the weekly PTA newsletters, helping to disseminate important information in the easiest way possible. Seth is a great leader who knows how to listen, take action, and solve problems. His thoughtful, measured opinions are highly valued…plus, he’s fun to work with too! Thank you, Seth, for all that you have done and will continue to do!

Karla Sclater (Zack’s Mom)

Karla leads our Arts Fest, is one of the parent reps on the BLT committee, is a member of the Equity and Grants team, and led our Environmental Principles and Safe Routes to School initiatives this year! Karla is a tireless advocate for our kids and our school. She is someone you can always count on to help when there is an ask, and when she sees a need or something that should be done, she takes the initiative to make it happen. All this PLUS she is also the room parent for her son’s classroom. Karla, thank you for being such an important part of our PTA, school, and community!

Outstanding Teacher Award

Our Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes a member of the staff whose dedication and impact is evident throughout the year.

Jahira Teague

Ms. Teague is one of our 2nd-grade teachers. She is a member of the BLT and Equity committees, a school tech support guru, co-founded the NEST program at Sacajawea, and has served as our testing coordinator in previous years. Ms. Teague is constantly going above and beyond what is required of her. She is super organized, thoughtful, and caring. She is also a fantastic teacher who always prioritizes the needs of her students and communicates well with families. She has been a shining star during the online transition and adapted her teaching style to make it feel seamless. When teacher requirements were still in flux, she always made herself available and helped the kids feel as normal as possible. She was one of the first teachers to start doing weekly Zoom calls and has been doing weekly home visits as well. Jahira is always willing to jump in and help where she is needed. She is smart, and her genuine, honest teaching style is appreciated. We will miss her in 2nd grade next year, but can’t wait to see what she does in 4th grade. Thank you so much, Ms. Teague, you are a superstar!

The Roy Norman SHINE Award

The Roy Norman SHINE Award is given in honor of Ms. Norman’s late husband. Roy was an amazing man and the type of person who would jump in to help anyone, anywhere. He fully embodied the SHINE motto at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly, and Engaged!

Kara Golgert

Kara has been an integral part of the Sacajawea and Seattle Schools Community since her children attended many years ago. Kara is one of our developmental preschool teachers and she constantly goes above and beyond to take care of and advocate for her kids, our community, and all students in Seattle Public Schools. She is an active member of our PTA, providing her guidance and experience on important issues. She is kind, caring, and inclusive. She is generous with her time and can be found fixing the playground area on weekends. She also serves as Sacajawea’s Union building rep and a BLT member. When Sacajawea was advocating for funding to rebuild and fix our school and playgrounds, Kara was there at the school board meetings providing testimony. She is an invaluable resource to our families, helping so many parents navigate the IEP process as well as providing support for families struggling to cope with children with disabilities and limited services during quarantine. Thank you, Ms. Golgert for your continued passion, advocacy, and ability to SHINE among us!

Matthew Walker

It’s hard to think about Sacajawea without thinking about our amazing PE teacher, Mr. Walker. Matt has been a force to be reckoned with since joining the Sacajawea community in 2009. He more recently served as our co-chair for three years in a row during a few tough transition years. He cares so deeply for all of the kids and families at Sacajawea and truly embodies the heart, soul and spirit of Sacajawea SHINE-ing. He works hard to bring together all the vibrant threads of our community and is a familiar face at nearly every event. He constantly cheers our kids on as well as giving them a gentle nudge when they need to steer themselves out of tricky situations or navigate poor choices and restoration. Matt has a positive attitude that is inspiring. He makes doing the work fun for kids and their parents. During the school closure, Mr. Walker has taken a lead role in ensuring our families in need are taken care of. He has gone above and beyond to collect, organize, and distribute food and supplies to our families. Thank you, Mr. Walker, for showing us what it means to SHINE!

Charlene Shanahan (Calle & Declan’s mom)

Charlene has been an amazing addition to our school as a parent volunteer for the past five years and for the last two she doubled-down on her Sac commitment while also serving as our volunteer coordinator. Her involvement as a parent volunteer has been unmatched and her role as the volunteer coordinator just connects her more closely to all that is Sacajawea. If you have a question about anything, she is your go-to person.

She has led our Equity committee from its beginning and is a reliable leader who is involved in nearly everything that happens at our school. Charlene has run several successful auctions and coordinated/assisted with so many different events there are truly too many to list. During the school closure, Charlene took a lead role in the Packs for Kids/Food Bank organization and coordination.

She is a humble leader who tries to avoid the spotlight and rarely wants to take credit for all that she has done. She always makes everything look so effortless and her dedication and caring is contagious. She inspires people to get involved because she is so involved. She is someone that you can ALWAYS count on to show up and help. She embodies every part of SHINE in her life inside and outside of the school, which is why she is so deserving of this award.

Thank you, Charlene, for helping to make us all SHINE a little brighter. Our school is a better place because of all your efforts!

Thank You Seth, Karla, Jahira, Kara, Matt and Charlene!

Letter-Writing Campaign to School Board and City Council

Dear Sacajawea Community --

The killing of George Floyd has generated worldwide protests on an unprecedented scale, and the choices our city, state, and country make today will deeply impact our children’s lives and safety in the future, especially the lives of our Black children.

We believe our students should have a voice in saying how they want to effect lasting, systemic change. To this end, the Parent Racial Equity Team is organizing student letter-writing campaigns to speak to both the School Board and the Seattle City Council. We encourage you to join us by helping your child write a letter to express their thoughts, concerns, suggestions, and/or demands to our elected officials. These letters will provide an opportunity for students to engage in civil action at a critical time for our society and democracy—an experience we hope will help spark a lifetime of civil action to fight injustice.

Emails to schoolboard@seattleschools.org must be sent by Tuesday, June 9th in order to be read before the last Board meeting of the academic year.

Letters to City Council (whether hand-written or typed, short or long), should be sent to Equity Team member John at jdelfeld@gmail.com by Wednesday, June 17 for presentation at the Council meeting the following Monday. If you need to arrange a pick-up of your child’s letter, please contact John. Letters sent to us may be posted publicly on our website, so if you do not want your child’s letter posted, please specify so in your email.

For emails to the School Board, we suggest a focus on:
SPS immediately severing ties with SPD, as Minneapolis and Portland have already done; SPS implementing restorative justice programs in every school, including training, funding for alternative suspension placements, more counselors and support staff, and connections to outside support services; and SPS transparently holding police and schools accountable for abusive behavior towards students, especially Black students.

For letters to City Council, we suggest a focus on:
Police accountability and transparency; demilitarization of the Seattle Police Department; a ban on the use of tear gas and "less than lethal" projectiles for crowd control; improved de-escalation training; a ban on chokeholds; and the reduction of police funding in order to provide more safety net services.

We hope this campaign provides a hands-on learning experience in civic engagement and civil rights and allows our students a chance to express their concerns and take control of their shared future.

In solidarity,
The Sacajawea PTA and Parent Racial Equity Team