715 N 70th Street
Seattle, WA 98103

Because it is such a small school, especially in middle school everybody knows everyone because the in only 1 class per grade and the biggest class in middle school in 7th grade (20 people). That being said, if you don't like one person in your class you don't have them for just Math or something, no you see them all day every day. Most of the teachers are great (in middle school at least) I don't think that one person dislikes the Social Studies/Drama teacher or the ELA teacher and her Intern. The only people I have a problem with are the Math teacher and the Librarian, now I know because I put myself as a current student you will think I'm dramatic but NO! I'm not kidding when I say not one person out of all of middle school likes the math teacher and the Librarian, I mean it. But other than that, I have no complaints really about the school.

The principal is hostile towards the kids and their parents, instead of focusing on the kids learning and fostering an inclusive environment he goes on crusades to ban backpacks, he punishes kids for having panic attacks, he gets rid of fun things that were brought in to get the kids engaged and playing with each other. He doesn’t respond to parent emails. Does your kid have a 504 plan? You’ll never hear a word from the 504 coordinator, and you have to contact each teacher individually to communicate what your child’s 504 plan entails. If you have a choice in which school to send your kid to. Don’t choose Hamilton.

We have been really impressed with West Woodland. There are great teachers, caring support staff, and the principal Dr. Vancil is a good leader. There is a strong community of dedicated parent volunteers and lots of extracurricular activities and ways to get involved. Our child is in Kindergarten but so far we are very happy with the academics and social learning. Consider West Woodland for your child.

Very impressed with the teachers and staff. This school seems to have a very welcoming culture and a lot of options for AP courses and high level-math courses. It is a project based school, and students are encouraged to demonstrate their learning through a proejct, which preapres them for the future outside of just exams and essays. While the teachers are supportive, I find the grading and standards to be fairly stringent. That being said, they seem to genuinly want to help kids improve and often allow opportunities to revise assignemts after they recieve feedback, so good grades are a realistic possibility for any student who is willing to work hard and be open to feedback.