History of Sunset Park Elementary School
Sunset Elementary School was opened in 1957, with Dorothy Revelle serving as the first Principal. At that time, only the primary wing was finished. The staff of nine served a K-5 population until 1959, when it became a full K-6 elementary school. By year five, the staff had grown to 27, including a librarian and two music teachers.
It was because of a levy failure in 1971 that Sunset became one of two community schools, along with Lake Forest Park. The idea was to get people more involved in the schools by offering building use in the evenings. The "community school" offered evening classes in areas from "arts and crafts, recreation, safety survival, finance, social activities (music, reading, writing, speaking, discussion), food preparation, human relations, table games, hobbies, needle and thread and do-it-yourself activities." For five years, Sunset Elementary served approximately 567 people in the community this way, who were not necessarily connected to the Elementary school in any other way.
Sunset was also involved in an archaeological program for middle grade students in cooperation with the Pacific Science Center. The Science Center made replicas of Northwest Indian artifacts, which were then placed throughout the dig site. The students were then tasked with digging them up, measuring where each piece was found, reconstructing the site, and drawing conclusions from what they had found. "At the end of the unit students were expected to understand the three elements of archaeological context: space, time, and culture."
In 1978, because of declining enrollment, 4 Shoreline schools had too few students. As a result, Sunset Elementary became a 4-6 school, with the K-3 students attending Highland Terrace Elementary. This meant that each grade level had 4-5 teachers, rather than 2, and that encouraged team teaching, better grade level planning, and increased productivity. Sunset remained a 4-6 school for a number of years.
In 1982, Sunset gained two special education classes and a gifted class, again because of District-wide declining enrollment and the closure of other schools.
1984 brought plans for a remodel to the Sunset building. In 1985, the building was closed for that construction, and the students moved for one year to the Cordell Hull Intermediate School. This one-year move necessitated bussing, but it was temporary.
The following year, Sunset added third grade, becoming a 3-6 school, and Highland Terrace became a K-2 primary school. In 1987, Fircrest had two classes at Sunset also. By 1988, Sunset was operating with three gifted classes, two Maxin (Fircrest) classes, an ESL (English as a Second Language) class, and a resource room.
In 1994, the Sunset Site Council lead the State-mandated Self Study program, which required all schools to re-examine all aspects of the school every seven years. As a result of the goals set by the Self Study, the PTA began "Family Fun Nights" which were evening events designed to bring the entire family into the school. They were considered very successful.
Sunset soon became an ELL (English Language Learner) site, and welcomed more than 20 languages into the school. This new diversity lead the way to a new family event: International Night.
And changes kept coming to the building: two new classrooms in 1998, new wiring in 1994, new video equipment in 1998 because of the Technology Bond - which lead to the weekly broadcast of Channel 3 Kid News, laptop computers in 2003...
In 2001, planning was underway for a new playground at Sunset. And at the same time, the 4th graders installed a garden of exclusively Washington-native plants. By 2002, $50,000 had been raised for the new playground.
In November 2004, the Sunset Community experienced the tragic loss of two of our students. In April 2005, a beautiful Memorial garden was dedicated in their memory, which sits at the front of the school overlooking the Sound.
Sunset Elementary was known for our tremendous support of the arts and enrichment opportunities for the students. The PTA-funded Arts Smarts program brought in Artists-in-Residence yearly to teach various art projects and design principles to every student in the school. In addition, the PTA stocked art kits, which contained all the materials for oil pastel projects, papermaking, mask making, clay, book making, and metal tooling. We had a very active kiln, which fired over 600 pieces of clay in the 2005/06 school year. Pieces from all of these artistic forays were often on display or auctioned off for the Sunset Art Walk in the spring.
Sunset's Math Olympiad program, which was open to any willing students in grades 4-6, consistently won the participation award at the Shoreline Math Olympiad competition.
Because of the teachers and volunteers running these enriching activities for the students, many kids came away with horizons that were broadened far beyond what a simple school community can often supply.
Sunset Elementary had seven Principals in the years that it was open:
Dorothy Revelle, 1957-1969
Bernard Hansen, 1969-1982
Nancy McMann, 1982-1988
Mary Koontz (Petra), 1988-1992
Leslie Winstead, 1992-1994
Kathryn Noble (Ernst), 1994-2005
Diane Goodwin, 2005-2007
Sunset Elementary was closed after the 2006-07 school year, because of declining enrollments and the School District's financial situation. Although the building has been closed and the population dispersed to neighboring elementary schools, the community and spirit associated with Sunset remains strong. It is because of the closeness of this "family" that Friends of Sunset Park believe that the next use for the site should honor not only the neighborhood that it sits in, but also the families that used to consider it "home."
We hope that, having read the history of Sunset, you too will be moved to envision a new life for this space; whether that looks like a park, trails, fields, or something entirely different.