Friday 2/7 Family Message

Happy Friday!

What a week! We hope you all enjoyed the snow and stayed warm during the cold temperatures we have had. Freezing temperatures are still in the forecast so the district office will continue to monitor weather conditions over the weekend. Your student was reminded today to bring their laptop device home in the event the district decides to pivot to remote instruction on Monday. If remote instruction is necessary on Monday, we will follow our 2-hour late start schedule. I will send a family message in the morning if this is the case.

This week it was nice to pop into remote classrooms and see students engaged in learning. Staff crafted such lessons as reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” as students prepared for their classroom Socratic seminar. Another class listened to the audio track, “A Raisin in the Sun,” as they previewed different Acts and Scenes in honor of Black History Month. Students worked in their Desmos math program to practice finding values of a function and its reciprocal in their pre-calculus class. I also enjoyed seeing students learn about taxes on their investments in support of students who may be filing taxes as young adults. The important question they grappled with was: Why would someone receive money from the government filing their taxes? I feel strongly that our Bus 130: Business Math class teaches students valuable lessons to be responsible adults who have the knowledge and confidence to make good decisions around their finances. Today, I ended my day listening to the powerful live music from artist King Youngblood as he shared his story and music with students as a black musician in honor of Black History Month. I appreciate the time, energy and care our Nathan Hale staff put into ensuring students honor and celebrate the rich culture that makes us Hale and proud Seattleites.  

Next week is another busy week at Nathan Hale. We will launch our NHHS Registration Process for the upcoming 2025-26 school year. The registration video will be available to preview on-line by the end of the school day, Monday, February 10th. Counselors will go into Mentorship classes on Wednesday, February 12th to help students start their registration. I encourage students and families take a few minutes this weekend to preview the registration materials shared on the Nathan Hale Website under Resources – Counseling Office – Scroll down to the Navy-Blue box and click on the Online Course Registration link. Here you will find the light blue NHHS Course Catalog Resources link, along with the SPS guide for course registration and SPS graduation requirements, shared in multiple languages. All of these are important resources for you and your student to be familiar with in high school. After you preview these documents, you will scroll down and find the instructions for submitting online course requests and the appropriate steps that will be taken for students to register for classes on Wednesday, February 12th with school counselors and mentorship teachers. The goal for our upcoming registration process is to get as many students registered on the 12th. This helps as we continue to plan and prepare for the upcoming school year’s staffing and budgeting needs. Thank you in advance for partnering with us to make registration a smooth process.

The Seattle Skills Center has opened their application for the 2025-26 school year. They offer school year courses (including Teaching, Medical Assisting, Advanced Manufacturing, Automotive Technology, Construction Trades, Fire Fighting and Emergency Medical Services, Maritime, Media Arts, Nursing Assisting, Video Game Design) which typically work best for 11th and 12th grade student schedules. Details can be found on their School Year Courses website. They will give this year’s 11th graders a head start on getting into a Skills Center course in their last year of high school by giving them priority placement in their classes through this evening. After that, seats are first come, first served. The Skills Center also offers summer classes. The application for summer classes will be available around early April. Read more about their Summer Courses on their Skills Center Summer Courses website. There are so many opportunities within SPS – check them out. Do not miss the deadlines.

Do not forget – It is Levy time: Ballots for Seattle Public Schools’ (SPS) levy renewals are due by 8:00pm on February 11th. These two replacement levies continue funding for programs and services that support students and schools. Proposition 1, the Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) Levy, provides funding for student learning, support staff, and activities such as music and athletics. Proposition 2, the Building Excellence VI (BEX VI) Levy, funds technology, energy efficiency projects, and school building repairs, renovations, and replacements. These levies replace expiring ones and do not create new taxes. They can be dropped off at a secure ballot drop box or mailed if they are postmarked by Election Day. Visit the SPS website to learn more about what the levies fund. Thank you all in advance for supporting SPS.

In close, Raiders on Ice is coming soon on Saturday, February 15th! Nathan Hale has rented out the Kraken Community Iceplex from 8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. for Hale’s first skate night. Tickets are being sold in the AC during lunch all next week for $20 with ASB and $22 without. They can also be purchased online from the Raiders on Ice SchoolPay link. People outside of Hale can attend, so bring your friends and family! Tickets include ice time and skate rentals! Only 150 tickets are available so do not miss out! Waiver must be signed at the door upon arrival. We look forward to this NHHS community event planned and arranged by students.

In Partnership,

Jolene Grimes
Proud Nathan Hale Principal