This history of North Beach Elementary School is taken from the second edition of Building for Learning: Seattle Public School Histories, which includes histories of every school building used by the district since its formation around 1862. The original essay was written for the 2002 first edition by Nile Thompson and Carolyn J. Marr, and updated for the 2024 edition by HistoryLink contributor Ryan Anthony Donaldson.
Golf Course
Before 1950, the Olympic Golf Course was located on a large tract of land north of NW 85th Street and west of 15th Avenue NW in the Crown Hill neighborhood. As Seattle’s population spread rapidly to outlying areas, pressure built to turn the golf course into a housing development. In May 1950, newspapers carried a story about the U.S. Army’s interest in taking over the course for gun emplacements. The following day the Seattle School Board announced it too was interested in land there. The Army eventually condemned part of the golf course and placed an anti-aircraft facility on the tract. Later, the Army sold land to the district with the agreement that 3.34 acres be leased back to them. The majority of the remaining golf course was sold to a real estate firm that developed it into Olympic Manor.
The district’s purchase was comprised of two parcels of land with an eastern parcel next to the park and a western parcel a few blocks away. In 1953, Northwest Elementary School was opened as an annex on the eastern parcel of land to handle the overflow of students at Crown Hill School. The portable annex closed in spring 1955. A few years later, the site for the permanent elementary school was shifted to the western parcel. The eastern parcel was later used for a junior high school. North Beach Elementary opened in 1958 to 446 pupils, many of whom had previously been at overcrowded Crown Hill and Loyal Heights.
Focus on Reading
In 1971, the library was enlarged by removing a wall between two classrooms. In fall 1974, North Beach adopted the Primer-Divided Day program to strengthen the reading program. Half of each class arrived an hour early each day and left an hour early. The teacher’s first and last hours were devoted to working with these smaller groups on reading. Reading has continued to be a focus at North Beach, with many innovative programs developed during the 1990s. Classes often paired with other grade levels for reading, writing, and other activities, giving students the opportunity for peer tutoring and partnership. There was also a Young Authors program and a classics reading and discussion series.
In 1999, an exchange teacher from Japan helped establish a Japanese language and culture program for a few years. This program was taught in all classrooms by native Japanese speakers with additional optional participation in an after-school club. North Beach students conversed in Japanese with students at their sister school in Kagoshima, Japan via a video conferencing system, and the Japanese students responded in English.
To accommodate increased enrollment, a portable building was added in 1994, with additional portables brought onsite, some newly installed, and others transferred from Columbia (2010), Hale (2011), Schmitz Park (2016), McGilvra (2017), Bagley and Roxhill (both 2019). In 2019, enrollment peaked at 389.
In the 2000s, the North Beach Communications initiative was launched, combining journalism, photography, and videography, including publication of the North Beach Chronicle, a school newspaper established in January 2001 by Principal Nakonia (Niki) Hayes.
History
North Beach Elementary School
Location: 9018 24th Avenue NW
Building: 15-room, 1-story wood frame with brick veneer
Architect: John Graham & Co.
Site: 6.89 acres
1958: Named on July 30; opened in September
North Beach Elementary in 2023
Enrollment: 357
Address: 9018 24th Avenue NW
Nickname: Seals
Configuration: K-5
Colors: Purple and gold
