January 10, 2020
To Whom It May Concern:
As the rising generation faces climate change and a rapidly evolving economy, we, the undersigned, a diverse group of
industry, tribal, government, community, labor, education, and youth leaders, call for a new maritime and ocean sciences
high school to equip students who are furthest from economic opportunity and social justice for the climate-adaptive, new-
economy jobs in our region. Over the last year we validated the need for a new project-based high school embedded in our
thriving maritime ecosystem through a series of workshops, summits with key participants, advisory meetings, and
conversations, and confirmed the desire from students, business and labor leaders, and educators to advance this project.
Consider the following:
The maritime industry is a pillar of the state’s economy, but the workforce gap threatens the sector.
● The maritime sector continues to grow an average of 6.4% a year, buoyed by the latest technologies, and provides
jobs with substantially better pay than the average for all industries. To wit: over 830 maritime businesses in King
County provide 19,500 jobs that pay on average $82,800 per year, compared to Washington State’s average annual
salary of $52,000.
● The average age of the state’s maritime workforce is 54, the majority of whom are white males owing to structural
inequities that have kept women and people of color on the sidelines.
● Water transportation especially faces an impending mass retirement of almost a third of the workforce in the next ten
years. The maritime industry projects a job shortage of 150,000 mariners by 2025.
The global response to climate change will be waged on, in and around the ocean.
● Oceans have borne the brunt of the consequences of climate change. Already more than 90% of the excess heat is
stored within the world’s oceans, where it accumulates and causes increases in ocean temperature (Rhein et al.,
2013; Abram et al., 2019).
● Maritime industries will be essential in creating climate solutions, from sustainable fisheries, to efficient and clean
movement of goods and people over the water, to the development of offshore renewable energy sources.
● The United Nations reports that while 89% of youth say young people can make a difference on climate change, 84%
say they need more information to confront climate change.
Students of color make up more than 70% of students in the residential areas closest to our state’s maritime cluster.
● The financial gap between communities of color and white communities has increased during the current economic
expansion, with poverty rates increasing in many historically-impacted communities at a time when our region has
created more new wealth than any other metropolitan area.
● Students of color represent 79% of students in South Seattle, 78% in the Highline School District and 88% in Tukwila.
● With few career paths into maritime, these communities have not had fair access to family-wage waterfront jobs.
Now is the time to catalyze the energy of our diverse stakeholder group to expand opportunities, close workforce skill gaps,
address climate change, promote environmental justice, combat structural racism, and advance the next generation of
maritime leaders, scientists, and innovators.
Now is the time to turn the tide, dramatically, and for the better. It is time for a maritime and ocean sciences high school.
Item No. 7a_attach_2
Meeting Date: February 11, 2020
Mission
To deliver an extraordinary and relevant education through a community and youth-led maritime and ocean sciences
high school. We will empower students, combat structural racism, expand opportunities, close workforce skill gaps,
build prosperity in place and fight climate change through environmental justice.
Vision
A world-class education that advances the next generation of leaders, innovators, and marine professionals
in a community that faces economic, environmental and social injustices.
Guiding Principles
Equitable Access
Inclusive programs, policies, and practices ensure that maritime career opportunities are accessible to all.
Focused efforts are made to recruit, prepare, and empower students who are under-represented in maritime
and ocean science careers, emphasizing students of color, students with limited access to resources, and
girls. In partnership, we work with—not for—the communities we serve.
Quality Education
With pathways into the trades, college and professional degrees, the school provides opportunities to
engage in hands-on learning with experts in classrooms, in laboratories, on vessels, and in businesses.
Diving deep into real-world practices, students follow their interests to learn a trade, earn industry
certifications, and pursue the post-secondary path leading of their choosing, leading to careers on vessels,
in management, and across the range of careers in maritime. At the same time, the school collaborates with
employers to address skill gaps, employer readiness, and system barriers that constrain young and diverse
people.
Sustainability
Humanity faces a great and urgent challenge as we confront the devastating effects of climate change.
Students are well-poised to craft solutions with a multidisciplinary lens to address highly interdependent
environmental, social and economic elements of our region and the world. Leaders in safeguarding a
sustainable future, they are prepared to advance environmental justice and prioritize social cohesion for a
more responsible future for generations to come.
