Friday 10/20 Message to Families

Beloved Families,

I hope you had a great week and are weathering the changing climate. Along with the change in our seasons, the changing international climate rising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has had an impact on Seattle, Seattle Public Schools, and our beloved Nathan Hale High School community. As violence intensifies and civilian casualties rise during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I am deeply saddened and concerned about the tragic loss of lives and the well-being of people in Israel and Gaza in the occupied Palestinian territory. I extend my deepest condolences to the families of all those affected on all sides of the conflict.

As we have tragically witnessed in any conflict or war, there are grave repercussions for the lives and the livelihoods of students, educators, and families in our community. I recognize this and have experienced this hurt to our community these past few weeks. Although there is much hurt surrounding us, there is also hope, restoration, and community building. Our educators at Nathan Hale have created lessons around hate, bias, and how to be a good bystander in the midst of hatred, racism, and bias.

This week, our students participated on a lesson, “What Would You Do?” in Mentorship, teaching students how to be an active bystander and support peers who are being harmed or are victims of bias, racism, and hatred. These lessons began last week in Mentorship with a “Heat Identity Map”, where students focused on their personal identity and the intersections they see and can feel when experiencing bias, racism, and hatred. The ultimate goal was to connect with one another, learn about each other, and identify more with one another as we experience these challenging times together. A further positive highlight in our community: our Muslim Student Association and Jewish Student Union met on Thursday to connect, bond, and work on a path toward healing, “Anguish can be a sickness, or an engine…”—Barbara Kingsolver

With teaching and learning, there is great instruction always occurring in our classrooms and community. This week, it was powerful to observe the learning and engagement happening in Physics class! In senior Physics, Ms. Robinson took time to celebrate Filipino American History month by highlighting biologist, Baldomero Olivera. Students then drew pie charts to represent their energy over time, measuring velocity and collision. After which, they were posed with a competitive challenge called “Fast and Furious”, where students predicted the launch speed for a cart which was slingshot down a track. The goal for the learning was to prepare students for their upcoming unit exam. Wish them luck on their physics exam on Tuesday!

Gratitude

Thank you to our Nathan Hale Community Organization for the fabulous pizza lunch our staff enjoyed on Friday, October 13th during our in-service day. We are grateful for the parents who made salads and brought in fruit, beverages and treats! And an extra bonus, it was also such a gift to have the staff room kitchen cleaned up so amazingly well! Thank you!

Retake Day, Thursday, 10/26

Photo Retake Day is this coming Thursday, October 26th. The photographers will be here from 10am to 1pm on the Performing Arts Center stage.

• Missed picture day? Students who missed both picture and makeup day should plan on getting a photo taken on October 26. Families can preorder photos.
• Preordered photos and would like a retake? If you preordered portraits (ordered without viewing) and would like a retake, your student can return their portrait package in exchange for a complimentary retake replacement; please note that the retake photo will be the photo that is included in the yearbook
• View and order photos from picture day here using your student’s SPS school ID number as the online code and an email address.
• New ID cards are not issued for retake photos

Daily Bulletin

There are many events and items of interest that get posted in our Daily Bulletin. This is where students can hear about upcoming sports meetings, fundraisers, student-coordinated blood drive, ski bus, etc. Highlights from the bulletin are read daily over our school intercom and the bulletin is posted in the Main Office each day. You can receive it in your email inbox daily by signing up on the Hale Mail webpage. The bulletin is also posted on the Daily Bulletin webpage on the Nathan Hale website.

Flu & COVID Vaccine Clinics

Clinics will be offered here at Nathan Hale this coming Sunday, 10/22 and Sunday, 11/5. Go to the district vaccine clinic webpage for times, to schedule an appointment, and see other locations where clinics will be offered.

School Safety

School safety is a top priority to ensure all students, educators, and families feel safe and welcome to learn at their highest capability. Thank you to all students, families, and educators who have reported concerns surrounding school safety surrounding building safety with weapons and fighting, but also inappropriate behavior and conduct in our school and community surrounding harassment, intimidation, bullying, islamophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and racism. Please continue to report to administration, school security, and counseling department, and we will work to find resolution, support, and care. If you see something, say something.

Respect the Neighborhood

Please encourage your students to be responsible drivers as they travel in our community. There are many pedestrians around our neighborhood, including Nathan Hale and Jane Addams Middle School students (and when the remodel of John Rogers is completed, elementary students). Most of the streets around Nathan Hale do not have sidewalks which increases safety concerns. Also, some students in our community do not throw their garbage in trash receptacles, and instead appear to be throwing their garbage out on the student parking lot or in the nearby playground and park. We encourage all our students to Respect the House, and our neighborhood.

Have a great weekend!

Much love,

William Jackson, Ed.D. (he,him)
Principal
Nathan Hale High School