6/18/26: Community Newsletter

Ingraham Families,

I apologize for the long newsletter, but it's worth the read, I promise.

We made it! Thank you for an amazing school year. I can't express enough my thanks to you all for the communication, advocacy, and support of Ingraham. As I said in my first newsletter, Ingraham is my home and I'm so fortunate to lead this school that has strong community support, incredible staff, and most importantly THE BEST students in Seattle Schools.

Ok, let's get into the year in review. While we had many struggles: two-lunch craziness, boiler going down for a week, budget mess, and a shelter-in-place, there was a ton that went right this year. Here are some of the amazing feats:

First, Ingraham staff and our community. Every district person who comes into our building says the same thing: the staff and community at Ingraham are amazing and welcoming. People say hello, talk to one another, and genuinely seem to love what they do. Then they also say, "It's not like this at other buildings." So THANK YOU ALL.

Second, Curriculum Night, Open House, the Multicultural Assembly, Family Resource Night, the Visual Arts Mini Show, Latin Heritage Night, the Ingraham Film Festival, and so many other events highlighted our students and staff and showcased what Ingraham has to offer. 😊 I apologize if I missed any.

Third, promoting and coordinating IB. Laura and Angela worked incredibly hard this year to make Ingraham's IB program one of the best in Washington. We had 50 diploma candidates and 213 individual students testing in IB. The amount of work that goes into the program is unbelievable. Thank you for making IB amazing at Ingraham.

Fourth, the courtyard cleanup. The grounds team absolutely knocked it out of the park this year. Rachel and team, you are amazing and have made our campus an inviting place for our community.

Fifth, our Building Safety Team. The team continues to improve safety for our entire community. Their work was most evident during our shelter-in-place. Everyone knew exactly what to do. In Ms. McJilton's words, "That's why drills are so important." 😊

Sixth, MTSS is getting work done. The MTSS team took a huge stride forward in strengthening our Tier 1 practices for next year, which will hopefully help bring more students to our school.

Seventh, the Building Leadership Team. BLT did a great amount of work rewriting bylaws, developing a building decision-making matrix, supporting the budget process, and building out professional development. They deserve a lot of credit for how well our building is running.

Eighth, Ingraham's Culture Team. From the PRIDE mural to Staff Spirit Week, the photo booth, holiday party, Rammies, and more, the team went above and beyond to improve our school culture.

Ninth, Performing Arts absolutely crushed it. The concerts, plays, and musicals were outstanding. When we talk about what brings students to Ingraham, Performing Arts is always part of that conversation. Ms. Oveson and Ms. Wood, bringing 500 elementary students to see The Little Mermaid was a genius idea.

Tenth, three Metro Championships. When was the last time Ingraham won three Metro Championships in a single school year? And we didn't have a single coach or athlete ejected from a game all year.

These are just a few things that went incredibly well. I ask if you want to share others, please send me an email.

As for our goals. How’d we do?

1. Attendance. Our goal was 90% attendance this year, and we didn’t reach it. We finished the year at an 83.2% attendance rate😑 The admin team, staff, and community members are going to come up with a plan this summer to improve attendance.
2. 12th grade graduation rate. Our goal was to have 95% of our 12th grade students graduate with taking at least one advanced course. According to unofficial data, we had 92% of our 12th grade students graduate and 91% took an advanced course. While we didn’t meet our goal, it’s growth from last year. We will make minor tweaks to improve, but are heading in the right direction.
3. 9th grade on track to graduate. Our goal was to increase the percentage of 9th grade students on track to graduate from 84% to 88%, with a particular focus on supporting students furthest from educational justice by raising their on-track rate from 67% to 72%. We had 84% of all 9th grade students on track to graduate and 72% of our students furthest from educational justice. While we didn't reach our goal for all students, we did reach it for students furthest from educational justice. Our amazing 9th grade assistant principal, Michael Wheatley, is working with those not not on track to graduate to enroll in extended summer learning to get them caught up.

As we write goals for next year, I plan to give more information on what action steps we are taking to meet our goals.

We have big plans for next school year to continue improving our school to help reach its full potential.

1. We are offering a summer program for incoming 9th grade students to get academic support in math and reading and writing to prepare them for high school. They will receive .5 credit for participating in the program!
2. Every student will receive an Ingraham planner that will include school contacts, school-wide expectations, map of the school, and of course a calendar. Our goal is to strengthen executive functioning skills across our entire student population.
3. Separate lunch periods by grade level, with one lunch designated for 9th-grade students and a second lunch for students in grades 10–12.
4. School wide aligned syllabi so it’s easier for families to find information.
5. Department aligned assessment re-take policy.
6. Ram House Rules: Schoolwide expectations communicated at the beginning of the year and revisited throughout the year​ in classes.
7. Communicating better with community about what we are doing to reach our goals.
8. Calendar of school year events distributed to community before the school year begins.
9. A separate 12th grade calendar with senior deadlines😊

These are a few of the ways we plan to strengthen and improve our school. As we continue reflecting on the school year and getting feedback from our community, we expect to identify additional opportunities for growth and improvement.