Seattle Schools This Week

Monday, April 29th
Special meeting of Audit& Finance.  One single thing on the agenda - potential RIF presentation by HR head, Paul Apostle.

Also, if you wish to speak at the School Board meeting on Wednesday, you can start calling/writing at 8 am on Monday.

Tuesday, April 30th
Charter Commission Meeting in Bellevue from 10 am - 5 p.m. at the Bellevue Arts Museum.  Agenda.  Open to the public (and people do come and go).

They will be having an Executive Session first thing until 10:40 am.  They will then have a presentation about "charter school research findings" from the CRPE's Robin Lake.  (I have heard Ms. Lake speak before and she's a charter cheerleader. I'll be interested to see what the reaction is from the members.)

Public Comment is at noon.  They are electing officers and any bets that Steve Sundquist won't be chair? 

Mayoral forum from 6:30-9:00 pm at Garfield High School.  

Wednesday, May 1
Strategic Plan Task Force Meeting from 10 am to 2pm.  Well, that's a rather long meeting.  I don't know where it is to be held but I'll ask.

School Board Meeting, starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda.
Items of interest:
- two Action items around facilities (Boren and Fairmount Park).
The Boren one prompts me to go back and review BTA III (where the majority of funding is coming from).  I'm okay with that but I feel the BTA/BEX staff have a responsibility to be clear, on a regular basis, to tell the public what they are (and are not) doing with the money we voted in for projects.
(I also see they are putting in "plywood shear walls."  I checked and that's somewhat normal but Wiki says:

Plywood is the conventional material used in the construction of shear walls, but with advances in technology and modern building methods, there are other prefabricated options which have made it possible to inject shear assemblies into narrow walls that fall at either side of an opening in a shear wall. Sheet steel and steel-backed shear panels in the place of structural plywood in shear walls has proved to be far stronger in seismic resistance.

I get that Boren is a quasi-temporary building but it seems that if the absence of all other safety measures (except air), you might want to make sure buildings are really shored up. But I'm not a structural engineer.)

- the RIF resolution is also an Action item.

Intro items (partial)
- Agreement with the City (via the F&E levy) for summer learning programs at Roosevelt, Cleveland and Chief Sealth as well as Denny.  This will serve about 225 11/12th grade students.  I'm a bit puzzled by the Denny one which is only to serve West Seattle incoming 6th graders.  I'll have to ask why this is.
- agreement for parking management at Memorial Stadium.  According to the Action Report, the gross revenue is $1,757,000 and the management fee is $122k.  The district makes about $1.3M before taxes.
- another item is adding a lunchroom to Green Lake Elementary.  Again, I see the funding come from BEX funds (III and IV) and I'll have to check to see if this project ever appeared on those lists.  As well, there is a item for the work at World School at TT Minor for just over $1M and its funding comes from no less than four capital sources.  Hard to track the money when it gets done this way.
-intro of a Resolution from President Smith-Blum - "Sustainability and the Design and Construction of High Performance Schools."  There is no fiscal impact above current building budgets unless outside funding is found.

I am glad that Smith-Blum is pressing this issue and hope to have a thread about it soon.

UPDATE: Open Public Meeting to review draft application for SPS Title 7 Native American Program Grant for fiscal year 2013-2014.  This will be from 7-8:30 p.m. at JSCEE in Room 2700.  The application will be presented but Native American parents and other community members can also submit recommendations.  The deadline for the application is May 14th.  For information contact: Janine Tillotson, Intervention Specialist, Native American Education Program at jetillotson@seattleschools.org or call (206) 252-0061.

Thursday, May 2nd
Mayoral Forum at Hamilton Middle School at 6:30 pm.

Saturday, May 4th
Community Meeting with Director Smith-Blum from 10-11:30 am at the Capitol Hill library

Comments

Watching said…
From the Charter Commission agenda:

EXECUTIVE SESSION 10:10 a.m.
An executive session will be held for the following purpose:
RCW 42.30.110(1)(i) . . . to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency.


Who will be responsible for covering the costs legal expenses? This issue was never addressed during the campaign.
Charlie Mas said…
I have spoken with Robin Lake a few times and I would say that she is a cheerleader for good schools - be they public, charter, or private - and stands opposed to bad schools - be they public, charter, or private.
seattle citizen said…
Why do all sorts of important meetings about education take place during the day? Don't they want educator input?
What I meant is that Ms. Lake is going to say little that is bad about charters. The reason CRPE exists is to push charters - go check out their website to see what the majority of their work is about.

Anonymous said…
Still no calendar for next year? This is ridiculous, don't they realize how many other schools and businesses plan their calendars around the SPS calendar? Don't they realize most school districts plan their calendars at least 3 years in advance? It says everything about how things are managed, or should I not not-managed?
TS
mirmac1 said…
A good report on the legislative session by Brian Rosenthal. Remember, clear your cookies if you can't access the Times:

Lawmakers still have ‘a lot of work to do’ on education
Charlie Mas said…
I'm going to be speaking at the Board meeting about the highly capable policy.

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