Eckstein Middle School

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Eckstein Middle School/Academics/Registrar

Registrar

Eckstein Registrar

Find information about announcements and news from the Registrar, Eckstein’s courses, electives, PE waivers, how to request records (outgoing students and private school requests), schedules, and course registration.

2025-2026

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9/2/25: Hold the Date for New Student Orientation (WEB Day)

Update on 5/28/25: WEB stands for “Where Everyone Belongs” and is an opportunity for incoming students to get familiar with the campus, meet our school staff, and meet other incoming new students. This is a student-only, in-person event. WEB Day details will be available later this summer once they are finalized but please hold the date!

Not Attending Next Year?

If your student is not attending Seattle Public Schools or Eckstein in 2025-2026, please email Ms. Tai jetai@seattleschools.org and fill out the SPS .SPS Not Attending Next Year (NANY) Form. Filling out the NANY Form ensures that SPS Enrollment receives official confirmation from the parent/guardian of your student’s plan to unenroll. Otherwise, you will continue to get communications from SPS and Eckstein.

Rising 6th Graders (current 5th graders) and New Rising 7th and 8th Grade Students

Update on 4/24/2025: Elective Requests

  • If your rising 6th grade student was assigned to Eckstein by 4/22/2025, you should have received an email on 4/22 from Ms. Tai, Registrar. This email includes details on how to request electives online. Please note that this first email was only sent to one parent/guardian due to limitations in our data, but subsequent emails will include both parents/guardians. Thank you for your patience!
  • Every week, Ms. Tai receives information on families who are newly assigned to Eckstein. Ms. Tai will contact newly assigned families and provide detailed instructions on how to request electives for your student. Please do not worry that you have missed an opportunity to request electives if you are assigned to Eckstein later this spring. We realize that some students are moving or changing schools and that registration is in flux. We will do our best to get your student’s requests in for their fall schedule.
  • All electives requests are submitted online. The online form is available in Ms. Tai’s email. The email will also include your student’s SPS Student ID number. Please include this number in your elective request submission online.
  • Tips and Tricks: You can read more about Eckstein’s electives on the Eckstein Registrar Courses and Electives website. Please bookmark the Eckstein Registrar’s site. Ms. Tai regularly posts information online.

Summer Music for Incoming 6th Graders

  • Eckstein Summer Music Camps (9 AM-12 PM, Thornton Creek Elementary): Your student can meet other incoming 6th graders who are taking music at Eckstein next year. It’s a great opportunity to get to know Mr. Escobedo, our band director, and Ms. Kong, our orchestra director. Be sure to check the email from Mr. Escobedo sent on 4/22 for more information.
    • Band and Jazz Band: June 23-July 11
    • Orchestra: June 23-July 3

All Rising 8th Graders must re-submit their Elective Requests by 3/3/2025 for the 2025-2026 school year due to revised guidance on the Fine Arts mandate from SPS

Update on 2/28/2025: We received updated guidance from SPS this week about the new Fine Arts mandate in 2025-2026. Fine Arts is no longer a required elective for rising 8th graders in 2025-2026.

  • Action Required by 3/3/2025: Please have your rising 8th grader re-submit their elective requests for 2025-2026. All rising 8th graders must re-submit their electives to ensure that we have the most accurate elective requests.
  • Your rising 8th grader can access the Rising 8th Grade Elective Request Form on the Library Schoology Page and Mr. Manzo’s Program Support Schoology Page. This is a new form that’s only available for rising 8th graders and must be accessed after student authenticates with their SPS email.
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Leadership B Interest Form for 2025-2026

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Background on the Fine Arts Requirement and Updated Guidance from SPS

  • Prior to this revised guidance, all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were to be enrolled in one (1) semester of a fine arts course in 2025-2026.
  • The revised guidance is that only rising 6th and 7th graders must take at least one (1) semester of a fine arts course in the 2025-2026 year.
  • This means that rising 8th graders are still able to take one (1) semester of a visual or performing art course in 2025-2026, but they are not mandated to do so.
  • This is a roll-up approach to mitigate disruption of 8th grade students’ course taking goals that preceded the state requirement.

Thank you for your patience

Thank you for your patience as we navigate through this update. It is a testament to our students and families that 90% of our students submitted their elective requests the first time around. We realize that this is double work for your student. It is our goal to share the latest information with you in full transparency and to ensure that our rising 8th graders can request the electives they wish for next year. Please note that placements and requests are not guaranteed due to class sizes, teacher availability, and FTE/budget constraints. This means that your student may still have a Fine Arts elective on their schedule next school year even if they do not request it.

Elective Requests for Current 6th and 7th Graders

2/7/2025: Current 6th and 7th graders can request electives for next school year (2025-2026). Requests must be submitted by February 14, 2025. Review the course catalog for descriptions and details.

  • Elective Requests for Current 6th and 7th Graders: This process is only for current 6th and 7th grade students to request electives for next year when they are in 7th or 8th grade.
  • The Elective Request Form is available on the Library Schoology Page and Counselors’ Schoology Page:
    • Students must log into Schoology and submit their requests in this form after authenticating with their SPS district email address.
    • The elective request form will be available on Ms. Sterling’s Library Schoology page.
    • Students can also access the form on their grade-level Counselor’s Schoology page (usually called “Program Support A”). Current 6th grade counselor is Ms. Reema Ziadeh; current 7th grade counselor is Mr. Bryan Manzo. We encourage parents/guardians to review elective choices with their student.
  • Save a Copy of Responses: Students are encouraged to save a copy of their responses so they can have a record of what they requested for next year. There is an option in the Form to save responses. Parents/guardians can review electives choices with their student prior to submission.
  • Fine Arts Required Next Year: In 2025-2026, every student will be required to take at least one (1) semester of fine arts each year in middle school. This is a WA State Requirement. Music (band, choir, orchestra, guitar), theater, visual arts, and ceramics are considered fine arts.
  • Music Placements: Music level placements are not done through this form. You will simply select band, orchestra, jazz band, choir, vocal jazz on this form to request music for next year. More specific information will be provided by Spring 2025 about music course selections.
  • Student Government B: Student Government B will also be available as a semester-long elective in addition to a year-long option. Students must have completed Student Government A and an interest form to be considered. More information about the interest form and process will be available in Spring 2025.
  • Elective Choices Matter: Elective requests submitted by students are all options that may be on their schedule. We do our best to honor student preferences but due to our complex master schedule, FTE/budget constraints, and class sizes, students may not get their top elective choice.
  • Alternate Elective Choices Matter Too: Students should select different Alternate electives than their primary requests. Requesting the same elective multiple times does not increase their chances of getting that elective.
  • French 1 & 2 & Hale: For students planning on attending Nathan Hale, please note that they are not offering French 1, French 2, and French 3. Students are able to fulfill their 2-year requirement for a world language for many colleges by taking French 1 and French 2 at Eckstein. For the University of Washington and other schools that want 3-4 years of language, Hale offers Spanish and Japanese.
  • Math: Every student will be enrolled into one math class, which will be their next math course in sequence. Geometry will only be an option for students whose next math course in sequence is geometry. Students will not be able to take Algebra and Geometry concurrently. There may be opportunities in high school to take two math courses at once. Please check with the high school(s) on their current policies.
  • Information about TA (Teacher Assistants): TA positions are limited and require an application, which will be available in Spring 2025.
  • PE Waivers for 2025-2026: PE Waivers will be available in Fall of 2025 and due in early December 2025.

Incoming 6th Graders and Electives:

Current 5th graders attending Eckstein in 2025-2026 will receive more detailed instructions on how to request electives by April/early May 2025 from Ms. Tai, Registrar.

2024-2025

Schedule Changes

Fall 2024

  • Sept. 4-6, 2024: During the first week of school, we are only processing schedule changes for students who do not have a full schedule (e.g. missing a class) and have mistakes in their core classes (e.g. student is in 8th grade and is registered for a 7th grade math course).
  • Sept. 9-11, 2024: Starting the second week of school, we will be taking requests for elective changes. Please note that we will not take schedule change requests for the following reasons: wanting a class with a friend, desiring a different lunch, wanting to switch teachers, not liking the electives you were scheduled into. Elective change requests are not guaranteed due to availability and class sizes. If an elective change requires a core class change, we will not process your request.

Important Notes

  1. Spanish 1 – Not all students who prioritized Spanish 1 during Spring 2024 elective registration were scheduled into the course.  Spanish 1 and 2 are currently at full capacity.  If your student did not get scheduled into Spanish 1 in 7th grade, they will be prioritized into the course in 8th grade. Students will be able to make it through the full progression of SPS Spanish offerings if they start World Language in 8th grade.
  2. Schedules will be in flux through September 3rd, so please note that schedules may change between when students check the Source on September 3rd and when they arrive to Home Room on September 4.
  3. If you know that your student will not be attending Eckstein, please let Ms. Tai know as soon as possible by emailing her at jetai@seattleschools.org so that we can process unenrollment. 

2024-2025 Elective Change Requests

Fall 2024: Electives Change Form for Semester 1

  • Opened 9/9/24, due Wednesday, 9/11, 4 PM.
  • Requests after this deadline will not be considered.
  • All changes previously submitted by email must be requested through the elective change request form.

Winter 2024: Elective Change Form for Semester 2

  • Opened 12/11/24, due Wednesday, 12/13/24.

Please review these important notes about student schedules:

  • Eckstein’s master schedule is very complex and elective choices are not guaranteed. 
  • Every attempt has been made to honor students’ elective request forms submitted in Spring of 2024.
  • It is not always possible to schedule students in their requested electives due to class sizes, availability, and other variables. 
  • We prioritize the scheduling of core academic classes to ensure that all students are in the appropriate required courses. Students may be placed in electives that were not requested due to these reasons.
  • We cannot accommodate teacher preference, changing electives to move to a different lunch, or to be with friends. These types of requests will be denied and not considered.
  • Please be patient with your request. We will notify you if we are able to make the change. Submitting a request does not mean a change will be made.
  • Incomplete requests will not be processed.

How is a Student Schedule Made?

Think of a student schedule as a simple math problem. There are 6.0 worth of credits:

  • Core classes make up 4.0 credits (Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science).
  • Electives make up 2.0 credits (year-long and semester-long, including PE)
    • Students can take 2 year-long electives (example: band, world language), waive PE
    • Students can take PE (0.5), 3 semester-long electives (0.5 x 3) = 2.0 credits
    • Students can take 4 semester-long electives (0.5 x 4), waive PE = 2.0 credits

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