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Ari Robin McKenna on Muck Rack

Ari Robin McKenna

(He/Him)
Seattle
As seen in: South Seattle Emerald, South Seattle Emerald.org, Seattle's Child
Covers:  K-12 Education in South Seattle, Seattle and Southwest King County
Writes about education for the @SoSeaEmerald. Returned traveler railing at a broken culture. He/Him

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Ari Robin McKenna’s Biography

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Ari Robin McKenna worked as an educator and curriculum developer in Brooklyn, New York; Douala, Cameroon; Busan, South Korea; Quito, Ecuador; and Seattle, Washington, before setting roots in the South End. He has a creative writing degree from Eugene Lang College @ The New School, and a master's in teaching from Brooklyn College.

Ari Robin McKenna’s Journalist Portfolio

Freed Black Prisoners' Caucus Members Have Answers for the Rest of Us | South Seattle Emerald

Freed Black Prisoners' Caucus Members Have Answers for the Rest of Us | South Seattle Emerald

by Ari Robin McKenna Last spring, during Nova High School's Racial Justice Day, Melissa Park's ethnic studies…

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Striking Rainier Valley Educators Describe Special Education, Multilingual Learner Challenges | S...

Striking Rainier Valley Educators Describe Special Education, Multilingual Learner Challenges | S...

by Ari Robin McKenna On either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, Sept. 7-9, Seattleites wouldn't have had to go…

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How SPS' Equity Tiers Are Used to Address Educational Debt | South Seattle Emerald

How SPS' Equity Tiers Are Used to Address Educational Debt | South Seattle Emerald

by Ari Robin McKenna There has been a series of historically cascading phrases to describe racial inequity in…

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Slim Gains for South End Educators Echo After Weeklong Strike | South Seattle Emerald

Slim Gains for South End Educators Echo After Weeklong Strike | South Seattle Emerald

by Ari Robin McKenna For the next three years, the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) ratified by the Seat…

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What Led to an Impending Hutchinson Park Overhaul: An Advocacy Story | South Seattle Emerald

What Led to an Impending Hutchinson Park Overhaul: An Advocacy Story | South Seattle Emerald

by Ari Robin McKenna Following an early afternoon shooting in October 2020, where almost 70 shots were fired …

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Durkan and School Board Directors at Odds Over Bitter Lake Encampment | South Seattle Emerald

Durkan and School Board Directors at Odds Over Bitter Lake Encampment | South Seattle Emerald

by Ari Robin McKenna Trigger warning: Threats of violence, profanity. This article contains actual threats ma…

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Articles

Hitting the bag, hitting the books

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By Ari Robin McKenna
| Seattle's Child Verified
South End fifth graders Christian “The Spider” Dobbins and Dre’Vonn “Deuce the Truth” Kelley Jr. have taken local amateur boxing by storm. Champions of their respective weight classes in the Northwest region in early 2024 and ranked third and second in the nation, respectively, they are just getting started. Their meteoric rise in the sport nicknamed the “sweet science” has everything to do with talent, focus, and parental support.
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MENA-X After-School Program Empowers Students by Blending Middle Eastern and Northern African Culture with STEAM

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By Ari Robin McKenna
| South Seattle Emerald.org
by Ari Robin McKenna At Beacon Hill International Elementary School (BHIS), Helin (Helîn) Taskesen and fellow mentor Helina Takele lead an icebreaker in late 2023 on the first day of MENA-X, a much-anticipated afters-chool mentoring and enrichment program with a 15-person waitlist. A first grader calls out, “Who can do a handstand?” A nearby fifth grader responds, “Me!” And they huddle together in case they can help each other with any unchecked squares on their bingo cards.
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BREAKING: Seattle Educators Overwhelmingly Vote ‘No Confidence’ in Superintendent and Administration

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By Ari Robin McKenna
| South Seattle Emerald.org
by Ari Robin McKenna Yesterday evening, in a resounding show of solidarity, 95% of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) teachers who were present at a Special Representative Assembly cast votes of no confidence in Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Superintendent Denise Juneau, Chief Human Resources Officer and Lead Negotiator Clover Codd, and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Negotiator JoLynn Berge for, “attempting to unilaterally impose new working conditions upon SEA members without...
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