Enjoy this video of the Sept. 17, 2015, opening ceremony for Schmitz Park Elementary School, featuring speakers Gerrit Kischner and Vicki Schmitz-Block.
Fifty-third (and last) ceremony opens school at Schmitz Park
With a record number of students, the largest of any elementary school on the Duwamish peninsula, Schmitz Park Elementary School, with its 660 students along with all staff and hundreds of parents, celebrated the opening of school on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015.
The ceremony was more than a week late due to the Seattle teachers strike, the first in 30 years. Settlement of the contract came Tuesday.
Speaking at the flag ceremony was Gerrit Kischner, principal, who noted that it was the 53rd in a row and will be the last such ceremony given the expected opening next year of the new (as yet unnamed) elementary school on the former Genesee Hill site to the south.
Also speaking was Vicki Schmitz-Block, the most prominent Schmitz family member in West Seattle, who emphasized the family’s legacy of education, hard work and public service. The Schmitz family donated the land upon which the school sits.
