Family Message May 15

Happy Friday,

This week a huge takeaway for me was sharing space with Hale staff on Wednesday’s professional development day to go deeper on our Hale’s Identity work. Staff and students have been discussing how to celebrate all the amazing things our students do for our school, each other, and the broader community—we are working to better tell our story.

We have another congratulations. Ms. Burrell has been named, for real, the new Roosevelt HS principal. She, and we, are glad that she will be able to finish out another great year here at Hale, as she will officially start there on July 1st. Please help me wish her the best of joy in her green and yellow. Hale yeah! Once a Raider, always a Raider. I look forward to working with our school community to hire a new assistant principal who encompasses our Nathan Hale values to continue the fine work Ms. Burrell did for us here at Hale.

AP testing has been going strong. We finished AP testing this week. Good job to all our testers. I appreciate the hard work that staff and students put into preparing for AP testing. If you have an Assigned Late Testing date, please look for an email for instructions from our AP Coordinator, Taylor Bosworth (tabosworth@seattleschools.org).

Next week we will start our state testing (SBAC). Please make sure your student gets to school on time and report to their right assigned testing room. Student room assignments and other alternate locations were posted around the building this morning and will remain posted throughout the week of testing. Please remember, too, that students who aren’t testing and opt not to attend the testing day in their assigned alternate locations, need to have their families call out their attendance to the main office.  Students will not be allowed to be roaming all over the building or campus as we want a secure testing environment for testers. See Friday, May 1st Family Message for more information. See also the State Testing Schedule on the school calendar for more details about the alternate schedule and alternate activities for those students who aren’t testing.

This is the bell schedule for next week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. We will observe a regular Wednesday schedule on May 20th.

MONDAY 5/18	TUESDAY 5/19	THURSDAY 5/21	FRIDAY 5/22
8:50-12:05 – period 7	8:50-12:05 – period 7	8:50-12:05 – period 7	8:50-12:05 – period 7
12:10 – 12:40 – lunch	12:10 – 12:40 – lunch	12:10 – 12:40 – lunch	12:10 – 12:40 – lunch
12:45 – 1:40 – period 1	12:45 – 1:40 – period 4	12:45 – 1:40 – period 1	12:45 – 1:40 – period 4
1:45 – 2:40 – period 2	1:45 – 2:40 – period 5	1:45 – 2:40 – period 2	1:45 – 2:40 – period 5
2:45 – 3:40 – period 3	2:45 – 3:40 – period 6	2:45 – 3:40 – period 3	2:45 – 3:40 – period 6

Spring sports are wrapping up. Please continue to support our Raiders still in action. Here is the link to the Metro League Schedules.

• Baseball won the district championship last night. They have qualified for the state tournament which begins next weekend. Location TBD.
• Fastpitch Softball competes in the district championship tonight at 5:30 p.m. at SWAC vs Cedarcrest.
• Boys Soccer will compete in the district tournament tomorrow, 5/16, at Juanita HS at 1 p.m. Winner to State.
• Track & Field compete on day 2 of Metro Finals tomorrow, 5/16, at 10 a.m. at SWAC.
• At districts for Tennis, Fletcher G. took 1st place and Sam P. took 2nd place in singles. Both are heading to state. The boys team also won the overall 1st place team award at districts. Our girls’ team is still in the playoffs, but their match was delayed because of rain. Miko B. will play Delia M. to decide 2nd and 3rd place and the winner will advance to State.
• Girls Ultimate Frisbee will be playing in the State Quarterfinals game on Wednesday, May 20th, at 7:30 p.m. at Garfield High School. They will also be heading to Nationals, which will be held in Salem, Oregon on June 12-13.

Reminder that PE Waivers are available to all 10th, 11th and 12th grade students who have completed the spring season in a school sponsored sport. Make sure the PE Waiver is signed by both your coach and parent/guardian and turn it into the main office. They are due in the first week of June. Talk to Mr. Darby Haskins, PE Dept. Head if you have questions.

Save the date for the Spring Sports Dessert on Tuesday, June 2nd in the Commons starting at 7:00 p.m. This is when the achievements of our spring sports teams and athletes are recognized, and awards are distributed.

This weekend will be the final opportunity to enjoy the spring musical, “Legally Blonde”, the fabulous performance by our theatre students. There are performances this evening and tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. and a matinee on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

Hale’s annual Mental Health Resource Fair is this Wednesday (5/20) during Mentorship in the Cafeteria/Commons! Fourteen different mental health/community resource organizations will be gathering to share the different types of services and support they can offer to you and your students. We hope students will grab some free swag and learn more about the ways they can help support themselves, their friends, and community. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Chereen Kwon, Behavioral Health Coordinator: chkwon@seattleschools.org

Our Semester Two finals schedule for grades 9-11 is posted on our website so you and your student can plan accordingly. We will follow the same type of schedule observed first semester over three days with the first day, Friday, June 12th being finals for periods 1 and 4; Monday, June 15th will be finals for periods 2 and 5; Tuesday, June 16th will be finals for periods 3 and 6. Senior teachers schedule their finals directly with their classes and students. 

In close, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I will be flying back home from Katy, Texas this weekend after attending my nephew’s graduation. I am even more excited and anxious to get our NHHS senior class to graduation and the underclassman to the end of the school year. We got this Hale. May we all finish strong. June 17th is around the corner.

Final note: Senior parents and families who plan to attend NHHS graduation please make sure that you have a “clear bag” (no purses or backpacks) for entrance into the graduation. Graduation is a ticketed event and will have safety measures upon entrance. All families and friends who want to attend graduation and do not get a ticket you will have the opportunity to come into the graduation and sit in the general admission “nonticketed” area after ticketed guests have all entered.   Please find more information regarding NH Graduation 2026 on our website. Remind seniors to keep checking their SPS emails for updates.

In partnership,

Ms. Jolene Grimes
Proud Principal