Posts

This and That

One item to throw out there is that while I did listen into the Board's discussion of criteria/selection and community meeting for the two new Board members, I didn't listen to the Work Session that followed on public engagement. I have been told there were concerning statements made by some directors so I will follow up on that soon. According to the district the next budget update will come at the Board meeting on March 20th. It is getting closer and closer to the time when the "central office leadership team" will have to reveal their plans around school closures.    I note that there was a story in the Seattle Times that Interagency would be closed but that was swiftly denied by the district . But I have to wonder if staff at Interagency were worried about what they were hearing and leaked it.  As the fentanyl crisis claims the lives of more and more teens each year — three times as many Washington teens died in 2022 relative to 2019 — advocates say Interagency

Garfield High School Scandal Revealed By Girl Assaulted by Two Different Coaches

 From KUOW, a sorry story: Two former coaches from Garfield High School in Seattle have been accused of sexually assaulting a girl who played on the school’s basketball team. One assaulted the girl when she was 13 in 2013, the other coach in 2017 when she was 17.  The first coach is Walter Junior Jones and the other is Marvin Wayne Hall. A Seattle Public Schools investigation found Hall committed sexual misconduct and boundary violations with students, including telling another girl he had a “crush” on her. That girl reportedly told her father, an assistant coach on the team. Hall has not been charged with a crime. Tomás Gahan, the personal attorney for the now 24-year-old woman, called the school’s athletic department a “predatory environment,” and said that the woman is only now grappling with the toll it took on her childhood. “Her middle school and high school experience was defined by serial molestation, or serial rape, by people in author

Garfield Student Shot Across the Street From Garfield High School

President Liza Rankin just announced this at the Special Meeting for selection of board directors. Here is the info from SPD: As of 4:14 pm Seattle police are investigating a shooting at a bus stop in the 400 block of 23 rd Avenue near Garfield High School. Officers were called to the scene at 2:40 p.m. on March 13. It was reported shots were fired from an SUV as it traveled southbound on 23 rd Avenue and turned onto East Jefferson Street. Investigators learned that a female juvenile was struck in the right leg. Seattle fire crews arrived to the scene and provided first aid. The victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. After the shots were fired, nearby schools including Garfield High School, went into a shelter-in-place. The scene was secured. Right now, there is no clear suspect information available. No one else was injured in the shooting. Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to call the SP

On Wednesday, March 13th, the Board Will Select Candidates to Move Forward in Appointment Process

 Update 3: I am looking for confirmation on these four applicants that appear to be the Board's top choices for the District 2 spot. They are: Carol Thompson, Sarah Clark, Shawn Sullivan and Danielle Gahl.  I had picked Thompson and Clark but didn't think Sullivan and Gahl would make the cut.  As previously stated, the candidates from District 4 - all four of them - will go on in the selection process. They are: Gabby Gonzalez, Joe Mizrahi, Rachelle C. Olden and Laura Marie Rivera.  Next up in the process is the public forum on March 27th at Lincoln High School. Details as they become available.  end of update Update 2: The Board started their Special Meeting to decide on the 4 candidates out of 11 for the District 2 vacancy (while the 4 candidates for District 4 will move on).  It was mentioned that the meeting is being recorded. President Rankin mentioned the news of a shooting across the street from Garfield High that happened around 4:15 pm where a female student was shot i

Want to See What Your Child Said if They Took the MIddle School Mental Health Screener?

Here’s how to request your student’s records. You can obtain student records in several ways: Directly through the school by contacting the school’s administration;  Through Special Education Records via email at  spedrecords@seattleschools.org  where a student is a Special Education student;  Through the General Counsel’s Office by contacting employee Ayrian Hastings via email at  alhastings@seattleschools.org ; or  Online at the District’s Student Archives site for students that have been out of the District for more than two years. The easiest/quickest way would be to go through your principal. They are required to acknowledge your request within five days. That’s acknowledge, NOT fulfill. They usually give you a date; it could be a month or months.    Use narrow language - “I would like to see the results from my child taking any survey/assessment/testing around student mental health through the use of SBIRT and/or the Check Yourself mental health screener from X date to X date.” 

Did You Know?

 I have been monitoring the SPS webpage on the selection for two empty Board seats.  However, I persuing the home page and found this from late February of this year: New Tool for Classrooms at Seattle Public Schools    Okay, what might that be? For the 2024-25 school year, Seattle Public Schools will be launching a tool to help teachers guide students in their lessons and keep them focused on the task at hand during class time. This system allows teachers to manage student devices and share content quickly and easily.  The new tool will be installed on SPS Devices and will enable our educators build positive learning environment during their classes. The new tools will enable educators to do the following: View of student screens while in-person during class time. Help refocus students on classroom instruction, rather than digital distractions.  Block or allow websites for each class session.  Digitally interact with students through teacher-to-student messaging.  Imp