Seattle Schools Community Forum

 In District 5, an open seat, Vivian van Gelder has dropped out. She said on Facebook that: After careful reflection, I've decided that now is not the right time for me to run, personally and professionally.  She has endorsed Janis White for the position.  To note, both The Stranger and The Times are rolling out their endorsements over a series of days. I cannot seem to find a link for The Stranger's school board endorsements. I confess to being a bit confused about the Washington Education's PAC endorsements and the Seattle Education Association's. According to the WEA-PAC, they endorse: District 2 - Kathleen Smith District 4 - Laura Marie Rivera and Joe Mizrahi District 5 - Vivian Song District 7 - Jen LaVallee  It appears that the SEA has endorsed Kathleen Smith, Joe Mizrahi, and Jen Lavallee. In endorsements for District 5, The Stranger has endorsed former board director, Vivian Song, while The Seattle Times has just announced their endorsement for Janis Whit...

Quite a lot happening so let's catch up. From the Times, news that the School Board is going to allow more time for input on the superintendent search. Good idea.  The School Board this week decided to leave open a survey until around mid-July and add more meetings for the community to give input on what they’d like to see in a new superintendent.   I mean, two in-person meetings in the SE really didn't cut it.  The recommendation came after Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the firm helping the board with the search, held nearly two dozen meetings and focus groups with parents, students, district staff and community-based organizations from the end of May through June.  While some had good attendance, others did not. An online session hosted by the Seattle Council PTSA on Monday night, for example, at one point had about 47 people, including interpreters, the HYA moderator and media. About 40 attended one in Cantonese. However, only one community member showe...

Update : I continue to have concerns. There’s another story in the Times about SPS and they again quote Mizrahi. I find it odd that it’s always President Topp or Director Mizrahi.  Here are the two new things that bother me.  1) Mizrahi went into The Stranger endorsement meeting knowing about the support his union was giving to this publication. I would assume most of The Stranger’s endorsement panel knew this as well. Know who didn’t know because neither side acknowledged it? The three other candidates in the race.  I just find it unseemly and sly to pretend everyone is started at the same start line.  2) If you listen to Mizrahi’s interview with the 36th Dems, he hammers his work with the union over and over. Interestingly, you never saw Director Brandon Hersey, who was a member of union and briefly worked for a union, go on and on about his union ties.  Generally, candidates talk about skills they have gained from work, not about the job they have.  Add...

 I'll let the Times give you the news: Money woes put Bellevue School District under state oversight Bellevue joins eight other districts across Washington that are also under state oversight, and it’s possible more could come. The announcement was made at Thursday’s school board meeting. The approximately 20,000-student district east of Lake Washington is home to some of the area’s wealthiest people. But in the last couple of years, the community has seen elementary schools close and more than a hundred teachers and staff let go to cut costs.     The landmark ruling McCleary v. State of Washington, which capped how much money districts could collect from local levies, hurt Bellevue. It’s a property-rich district that relied on local levy funds to provide high-quality teaching. For Bellevue, the cap meant that starting in 2019, the district couldn’t collect as much as it used to from its residents, meaning a loss of $15 million each year.    “There are so man...

Via Seattle Human Services: Free summer meals are back! This summer kids and teens ages 1-18 can receive a free meal at 40+ sites across Seattle, weekdays from June 25-August 22.  Visit bit.ly/3L5tEB0 to find a location near you. Please tell your communities about this.

Update: There's a blog called Post Millennial and local radio host, Ari Hoffman, wrote about the Hale issue. He got a copy of the compliant filed in King County Superior Court by the parents of the girl.  It is quite detailed. This girl was the only Jewish member of the softball team and started hearing antisemitic slurs after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.  Despite the family reporting this to Principal Jackson, the lawsuit claims the school took no meaningful action. Jackson allegedly acknowledged that the harassment was frequent and severe but failed to implement safety measures or disciplinary steps. Even requests to preserve hallway security footage from an incident where the student was spat on were ignored and the family believes the video was deleted. That last charge is pretty serious. If the school had video that the family requested in a timely manner and then the video is gone, that's not good. In one instance, a swastika was drawn on a bench ...