Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 10, October 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Nathan Hale marks first 40 years

with big birthday bash

By JAMES BUSH

When Nathan Hale High opened for its first day of classes on Sept. 4, 1963, the school population included both students and construction workers.

"I think the poor contractor got so sick and tired of trying to finish with the kids around," says Joan Northfield, an original Hale faculty member who taught at the school for 37 years. The two groups got used to each other after a while. Northfield recalls that when a range wouldn't fit into the designated slot in the home economics classroom, workers arrived immediately to fix the problem. "I'm trying to teach class and they're sawing the counter off," she says.

So began the story of Seattle's youngest public high school. Nathan Hale, located at 10750 30th Ave. NE in the Meadowbrook neighborhood, celebrated its 40th Birthday on Saturday, Sept. 20 with a day of events and reunions, ending with a varsity football game.

The birthday party started with a reception for faculty and staff members past and present. Steve Reynolds, president of the Nathan Hale Foundation, says teachers aren't thanked often enough for their contributions. "There isn't any more important occupation in our society," he says.

Nathan Hale's first students were sophomores and juniors who would otherwise have attended Ingraham or Roosevelt high schools. The first graduating class was in 1965.

By the time the late '60s and early '70s rolled around, the school, built to house about 1,500 students, had a student population of 2,400. (Hale's current enrollment is 1,075.)

Ellen Roe, a retired 20-year Seattle School Board veteran whose six children all graduated from Hale, recalls that at one point there were 24 portable classrooms set up around the main building.

Reynolds says alum Doug Brown (class of 1974), another of the event organizers, told him he didn't have a single class inside the building during his senior year. Rebecca Roe (class of 1969) and Jeannine Blue Lupton (class of 1972) both remember the exact number of graduating seniors in their classes 686 in 1969 and 713 in 1972.

But the advent of busing in 1979, the massive exodus of Seattle students to private schools, and the School District's later switch to open enrollment gave Hale a different problem not enough kids. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the school struggled to attract students.

"In the last 10 years, they've done this reform movement here," says Reynolds, whose daughter Lindsay (class of 1999) and son Lang (class of 2001) are Hale alums. He and many others credit the school's rebound to recently-retired Principal Eric Benson. "He really brought Hale out of the doldrums." Now Hale is the most-requested Seattle high school among prospective students.

Nathan Hale owes its comeback, in part, to academic innovation. Currently, freshmen and sophomores are organized by grade level into "academies" of about 90 students working with teams of teachers. Reynolds notes that this same concept is being introduced in many schools around the country.

Another factor in Hale's new luster is the 1998 creation of the Nathan Hale High School Foundation. By raising money through fundraising events and direct donations from alumni, "the foundation tries to raise money to plug some holesdo some things the state isn't doing," says Rebecca Roe.

The foundation provided the first $20,000 for the school's first annual campaign, an effort aimed at extending school library hours, retaining the current three full-time counselors, and boosting the supply budget.

But the foundation's mission is bigger than any single project, says Reynolds. "The purpose of the foundation is really to build community-wide support [for the school]."

Lacking a formal alumni group, the foundation also provides opportunities for former students to stay connected to Nathan Hale, says Ken Emerick (class of 1973). "We're just trying to give back to the school."

Not that Hale alums can be accused of lacking spirit. Lupton and husband, Martin, had been members of the same graduating class, but never dated until they became reacquainted at their 20th reunion.

And Hale grads can reminisce with the best of 'em. The high point of this group interview came when someone mentioned the overly complex scheduling system Hale used in the late 1960s.

Hale then used a five-period day with four 50-minute classes and a one-and-a-half hour class at the end, then rotated the seven subjects each student studied. The intent was to vary the time and length of classes, explains Rebecca Roe. But the result was mass confusion. "I don't think you ever had the same class at the same time any day," she says. Students walked around with a chart to figure out where their next class was, adds Lupton.

"It was supposedly for the student who might get bored," jokes Northfield. "This way, he couldn't get bored because he never knew where to go."