Board Reflections

September 2011- Letter from Co-President Karissa Webster

Twelve years ago this summer, when our oldest child was gearing up for his first grade year, we were just settling into our new home in the Arrowhead neighborhood inKenmore.  Prior to our move, we had lived inWest Seattle, where the public schools were not fairing too well.  Because of this, we had ponied up for private school for our son’s kindergarten year, but with two younger sisters growing up all too fast, when the projected bill for first grade came in that spring at over $12,000, we started really researching public schools in the area.  Lured by the outstanding academic performance of kids across the District, and in particular by the promise ofInglemoorHigh Schoolsome nine years down the road, we had gratefully and eagerly made our move to Northshore.

Here we are, twelve years later, at another major junction in our lives.  We attended our son’s graduation from Inglemoor a few weeks ago, and now are deep in preparations for his move to theUniversityofWashingtoncampus this fall.  It is a natural time to reflect on the events that brought us here, but for our family even more so because of the recent Seattle Times article which spoke to the fact that it is now more challenging than ever for in-state students to gain admittance to the UW.  The article sited as an example the valedictorian ofChiefSealthHigh SchoolinWest Seattlewho, despite his impressive academic resume, was denied admission to the UW.  Chief Sealth happens to be the high school our kids would have attended, had we stayed in ourWest Seattlehome and enrolled them in the public schools there.

 I will admit to some confusion with our son’s admittance to the UW, given the information provided in the article.  I don’t mean any disrespect to our son–he is a bright young man: he did the IB program at IHS & his testing scores were good; but he’s not top of his class–to gain admittance when a valedictorian did not really had me scratching my head  I took my question to the top and asked Superintendant Larry Francois.  The answer, as it turns out, is in the high schools.  As Larry explained, the University keeps track of the academic performance of their students, and so have come to know that a student fromInglemoorHigh Schoolis prepared for the academic rigor of the UW, while even the valedictorians of some other high schools may not be.

 How incredibly grateful is our family for theNorthshoreSchool District.  Our son was accepted at every university he applied to, and almost all of them offered him scholarships to attend.  How different would his choices have been for this fall had we stayed inWest Seattleand settled for the public schools there?  I share this story with you not to brag about my son, but rather to let you know what a great choice you have made in theNorthshoreSchool District.  So take a moment to pat yourself on the back, and congratulate yourself for choosing wisely for your children.  Then take another moment to share your gratitude with the community of administrators & educators who make it all happen.  I, for one, cannot thank them enough.

 ~Karissa Webster

Co-President

Northshore Schools Foundation