Or Forever Hold Your Peace

Okay kids, this is it. Tell your friends at school that Wednesday is SAP day and if they do not read Part 1 of the SAP AND let the Board know what they want, then all bets and whining are off.

You MUST get up and do this. I noted yesterday at the SAP Q&A a few parents zoning out over the high school discussion. Folks, they haven't changed this plan in decades. Don't think high school is that far off and this is your one chance to influence the plan. Do it now.

BadgerGirl asked whose job it is to let parents know this plan is happening - it's the DISTRICT's job to get this out. The superintendent should be directing the principals to send out robocalls tomorrow about this plan. At least one time during this process ALL parents should be notified probably via kid mail with a robocall to tell parents to ask their child for it.

Will they? No, because it works in their favor the fewer people who know this is happening. I can't believe the Board thinks what has proceeded this is enough notification.

Comments

Unknown said…
i would guess that many pta's and/or parent leaders at schools have been getting this out via listservs and/or newsletters - mine has.

cpps and the seattle council have been communicating this for some time to their memberships - and combined, that is a lot of people. my guess is that other outreach groups have done similar work with their own constituencies

what are people supposed to protest about the boundary lines - high school or otherwise - that they can't express interest about over the summer? or is it that they're supposed to protest the conversion of choice to assignment?

i'm probably in the minority, but i think it's somewhat paternalistic to think that people can't be trusted to follow what's important to them unless they're held by the hand and/or beaten over the head.

also probably in the minority in thinking the district has done a reasonable job (given budget constraints) both to communicate and to seek input - community meetings through out the process, websites, a public hearing, etc.

unfortunately, what many people come away with is the conviction that it was someone else's responsibility to keep them informed - not an ideal frame of reference to take in life.
sixwrens said…
I have spoke with many well educated, active parents over the last few weeks who were surprised by aspects of the proposed plan. Regarding siblings, many said that "siblings are the #1 tiebreaker" and were shocked when I said, "yes, that means if there are any seats left after the attendance area".

The plan is long and in some places, as noted above, the language is confusing. Many people don't understand that their current reference school may not be their future attendance area school.

My family is pretty lucky. Under the proposed plan, we are in for a fair bit of inconvenience resulting in some stress over before and after school care as well as less time to contribute to the schools. But both our kids will be in good schools.

Many families with older sibs at the now-very-popular Beacon Hill elementary, or with children given the unwanted guarantee of Rainier Beach High School are going to be surprised to find them in a very bad place if this plan passes as is.
Sahila said…
I would disagree with Evan.... there has been little or no information coming from the District into our school as far as I can tell...

At AS#1 one of our parents tries to send out a weekly newsletter to our families (via unreliable kid mail and sporadically updated on our website)and I havent seen anything in that - we have published other information sent out by SPS previously as attachments to our newsletter and mentioned items within the newsletter itself...

I dont know how many of our community follow this blog - my main source of information, or are members of CPPS and the Seattle Council... we dont have a PTA so we dont get info coming down that channel...

And I dont know what has been covered at the last site council and BLT meetings... only a handful of people are involved on those bodies and I missed the last meeting of each because I chose to spend time with a daughter who was on a rare visit from overseas...

I'm a single parent and couldnt come to any of the community meetings, having already given my little spare (child free) time to attend rallies, board meetings and Alternative Schools' Coalition meetings, plus trying to support what is going on in my own school and watch over the Cooper law suit progress as I am a signatory to another of the three closure suits...

I know all of this sounds like blah, blah, blah excuses... I'm highlighting my/our school situation because I think many schools are in the same position, especially those whose communities face challenging social issues and problems around language and technology access...

Its not safe to assume the community has this information... additionally the timeline for the development, approval and implementation of this plan is very short...
Central Mom said…
I'm wondering whether the final (or at least recent in the past 2 weeks) draft has gone out to families for whom English isn't the primary language.
Anonymous said…
Evan said "i'm probably in the minority, but i think it's somewhat paternalistic to think that people can't be trusted to follow what's important to them unless they're held by the hand and/or beaten over the head."

I'm not sure about paternalistic, but you are naive if you think the average parent spends time every week even trying to keep on up what's happening at their own school(s), let alone at the district level! Most people are truly going to be blindsided by what comes.

The fact that you read and participate on this blog puts you in a tiny minority indeed. You are apparently an advocate for your child, and perhaps like many of us, for all children in SPS. But never forget that we are a small minority. And many problems can find roots in the fact that most people don't know what's going on until too late, and then they blame others, and feelings of frustration and hostility escalate.

Evan continued: "unfortunately, what many people come away with is the conviction that it was someone else's responsibility to keep them informed - not an ideal frame of reference to take in life."

In some ways I actually agree with your general philosophy, but aren't we better off in these types of SPS decisions with more people participating in the discussions? With different points of view than what you or I or Melissa or any of the many knowledgeable folks on this blog would consider?
Sahila said…
On his blog, Harium just wrote the following:

"I am hearing that there will be an amendment to the plan on June 17th around Jane Addams to make sure that it is listed ias an option school which was originally what the board intended back in November. The middle school issue which is a capcity issue is being handled in a separate motion."

I wrote: Harium - in November the plan was that Thornton Creek (AE2) would be moved into JA and extended to a K-8... TC is an option school... JA was supposed to be a traditional K-8... what in its programme is 'option'?

Are we back to thinking about moving TC and/or merging AS#1 with TC (how else would you fill the building?) or are you suggesting that a new 'alternative/option' school/programme is going to be created in the N/NE?

And where are all the alternative high school seats for alternative kids coming out of the alternative elementaries and K-8s? Now that Summit is gone, Nova cant handle them all...."

I know that Harium's typing sometimes is slower than his thinking and he's pushed for time to keep his commitment to answering questions etc so his replies are sometimes a little puzzling...

Does anyone know anything about JA soon to be labelled an option school and why? I thought it was going to be a traditional K-8... and then a traditional middle school with the K-5 portion probably moved elsewhere...

If JA is an option school (where people cant be assigned?), how will it then be any help in solving the NE capacity issue - middle school or otherwise?
SolvayGirl said…
Evan is also forgetting about the hundreds of families in the District for whom English is a second language (many may speak English fairly well but cannot read it). Unless this info is going out in all languages, it is passing a lot of parents by.

This is especially important for all of the southend parents who have taken advantage of the (literally) free ride to Hamilton or McClure.

Or the low-income families who have opted for a school outside their reference area so their child could get off to school by 8AM via bus rather than having to stay home till 8:45 or so to make the walk to school, allowing the parents to get to the first of their two jobs on time.

It is the DISTRICT'S Responsibility to get information on a topic of this magnitude to ALL of the families in whatever language they need. I really don't think this is up for discussion.
adhoc said…
"Does anyone know anything about JA soon to be labelled an option school and why? "

Sahila, JA was originally proposed as an option school. It is true that it is a traditional school, however, it is not a traditional configuration, and the middle school is not a comprehensive middle school. They won't have electives, they won't have multiple foreign languages to choose from, they won't have int math I, II and II, they won't be able to compete in the MS sports programs (they will be part of a new, less competetive, K-8 league), etc. The MS will be very limited in it's offerings. It's the trade families make to get a small school.

In my opinion this SHOULD be a choice, not a mandatate.

And, let's not forget that "option" does not equate with alternative any more.
Sahila said…
But adhoc - isnt Broadview Thompson a K-8 and its not an option school... what's the difference here?
ParentofThree said…
Check out the agenda:

RFP 04948, Consulting Services for College Readiness Diagnosis: Approval of this item will approve the use of private funding granted to the district and award a contract to support high school curricula alignment work.

Voting for this will dismantle the LA offerings at all HS's and force them to only offer LA 9a, 9b 10a 10b 11a 11b 12a 12b

And...look at what buildings may be reopened if the board votes to:

Motion to direct the superintendent to evaluate all buildings in district inventory to address capacity issues: Approval of this item will look at the review of all buildings, including opening one or more schools (including Sand Point, McDonald, Viewlands and/or Old Hay) if necessary, to address capacity issues.

Yes, the Old Hay (SBOC)....
adhoc said…
Hi again Sahila,

There really is no difference between Broadview Thompson and JA. Personally I don't think either should be assignment schools.

Parents should have the right to decide if they want their kids in a large comprehensive middle school with a vast array of offerings (sports, after school activities, multitude of electives, several foreign languages, advance math, etc) or a small K-8 with a 100 kid middle school (1 language, no electives, no competetive sports, small band, no advanced math).

And for elementary, many families do not want to send their 5 year old kindergartener off to school and on the bus with 14 year old middle school students. Whether we agree with that or not, we should respect that choice.
ParentofThree said…
Blaine K-8 and Madrona K-8 are not option schools either. In the SAP, I think these schools will have "mandatory" assignments through the "feeder path" So if you live across the street from either one of these schools, that is where you get assigned, correct?
If the district did not once have a broad edit for principals to notify parents that the assignment plan was changing, then they didn't do their job. To the best of my knowledge, this was not done.
Sahila said…
Given Broadview Thompson, Madrona and Blaine all being K-8s which have assignment status, why is JA being listed as an option school?
zb said…
I thought they were clear that one would not be assigned to MS in a K-8 school. Am I wrong? Although I think Madrona should be an option school because of its program, I don't think all K-8's need to be options for K-5, only for K-8.

Is there something out there that says that if you get a mandatory assignment to a K-8 in K, you won't have an attendance area comprehensive middle school? Is the non-assignment only for kids who aren't already in the K-8?
Sahila said…
I think its discriminatory to say that if you move you will loose your space in a non-choice school...

Most people who own their own homes stay put there for many years... this will affect only a small portion of families in that demographic...

However, many people are not home owners and have to move often, many times not out of choice... their children are being punished for circumstances that are beyond their choice or control...

In unstable times and environments, children need stability... for many children school is the only stable influence in their lives and here we go again, making already disadvantaged kids carry the burden for changes that are being dictated by money....
Roy Smith said…
You know, I wrote at length on this blog quite a while ago about how the push for more K-8s (because they were "popular with parents" - a line of thought that apparently missed the fact that dissatisfaction with most of the middle schools in Seattle is (or at least, was) a huge issue) was likely to create at least as many problems as it solved. And now, here we are.

Should K-8s be option schools or assignment schools? How do they fit into the assignment plan? What if my family doesn't want one, but we live in the assignment area? Or vice versa?

Having K-5s, K-8s, and comprehensive middle schools all defined as attendance area schools seems, at best, like a recipe for confusion and dissatisfaction with the outcomes.
The district has been using "non-traditional" to describe K-8s that aren't alternative. So I see that you are either now going to be option or attendance. So that makes it trickier to figure out assignment.
dj said…
I just got a robo-call from the district reminding me that Friday is the last day of school and that it is early release.

Evidently the district can communicate when it wants to.
North End Mom said…
There are a few new items that have been added to the June 17th meeting agenda, 1a and 4a, both from Sherry Carr, deal with the SAP and the capacity motion, respectively:

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/08-09agendas/061709agenda/061709agenda.pdf

1a: (action item) sibling grandfathering text amendment (see above link for full text)


4a: (introduction item) Adds Wilson-Pacific and John Marshall to the list of buildings to be evaluated for capacity. Text of the motion:

"I move that the Superintendent be directed to evaluate elementary and middle school capacity and to make recommendations to add capacity, including opening one or more schools (including at least Wilson-Pacific, John Marshall, Sand Point, McDonald, Viewlands and/or Old Hay) if necessary. This evaluation would be complete in time for dissemination of information prior to open enrollment for 2010—11 school year, It would include proposed locations for the K-8 program currently housed at Jane Addams in the event that the building is needed for an attendance area middle school if a feasible solution is available."

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