Friday Open Thread
Looked like the word "boobies" will be used in a Supreme Court case over two girls, who in 2010 were then 12 and 13, who were trying to raise awareness for breast cancer. They violated their school's ban on bracelets and wore pink bracelets that said, "I heart Boobies!" A lower court said the district didn't prove the bracelets had disrupted learning. The district won't back down and has hinted it will take it all the way to the high court. (What's interesting is that the district sees this as interfering with their right to make policies about discipline versus the girls' belief in free speech.)
A new website about Native Americans called - what else - Native American News. Has news from around the country on a variety of topics including public education.
The Times got off a nice little shot of support for their favored School Board candidate in District IV. They had yet (another) editorial about PTAs sharing fundraising dollars. I thought it odd given they had written about this subject earlier in the year.
This one covered no new ground but did manage to sneak in a quote from Suzanne Dale Estey (she seems to think parents will be "motivated" to share their money and obviously hasn't read the comments here). But did they quote any current Board member? No. Did they quote Sue Peters? No. Did they ask Sue Peters? No. Has Dale Estey been on anyone's radar as an education leader you could quote before this race? No. That's the Times.
There are no Director Community meetings tomorrow.
What's on your mind?
A new website about Native Americans called - what else - Native American News. Has news from around the country on a variety of topics including public education.
The Times got off a nice little shot of support for their favored School Board candidate in District IV. They had yet (another) editorial about PTAs sharing fundraising dollars. I thought it odd given they had written about this subject earlier in the year.
This one covered no new ground but did manage to sneak in a quote from Suzanne Dale Estey (she seems to think parents will be "motivated" to share their money and obviously hasn't read the comments here). But did they quote any current Board member? No. Did they quote Sue Peters? No. Did they ask Sue Peters? No. Has Dale Estey been on anyone's radar as an education leader you could quote before this race? No. That's the Times.
There are no Director Community meetings tomorrow.
What's on your mind?
Comments
confused
Keep the pressure on, but don't expect the planning to happen this year. Unrealistic.
Project Planner
The big selling point for the MAP was quick results. This isn't fast enough to use for placement.
Teacher Jump-Start Turnaround at White Center Heights Elementary
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022125372_edlabwhitecenterxml.html
What this article fails to mention is that WCH started using Math In Focus: the Singapore Approach, last year. Too bad this is omitted. Before last year, the school was using Everyday Math.
Unfortunately, Enfield is quoted in the article saying,“It’s not about some whiz-bang new curriculum."
I know the curriculum alone is not the answer and there were other things involved, but it did have significant impact.
Ben
We had a private meeting with Dr. Enfield when she was Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction and asked her to enforce the the supplementation of Singapore Math. She told us there were no official supplemental curriculum, even though Carla Santorno got EDM approved by selling it to the board with a "promised" Singapore Math supplement to address the numeracy and fact fluency.
Here's the short list and I know I'm missing some. There was at least one school using Jump Math but I can't think of the name.
Alki - Singapore Math
Thurgood - Envision
Boren - Singapore Math
Schmitz Park - Singapore Math
Beacon Hill - teacher created Chinese Instructor taught in Chinese.
Thorton Creek - TERC (3rd or 4th year)
North Beach - Saxon (2002)
John Muir - ST Math (First year)
Montlake - Envision
Lincoln - My Math
Salmon Bay - TERC in some classrooms - I'm not sure about the entire school
In the SPS Distric Data Summary of 2011 African American children and youth are overrepresented in 2 SP. ED. catagories. ONE Intellectually challenged (mental Retardation and Emotional and Behavioral Disturbance)
Both listed in the DSM-IV the professional manual that defines mental health disorders. by law no one should be placed in Special Education without a Sp Ed. diagnosis. So in Seattle 1. 7% black students have been diagnosed with one of the following:
ADHD, Anorexia, Bulima, Bipolar, Tourette, SED, Schizophrenia, Autism, anxiety, Oppositonal Diorder, Conduct Disorder, etc. while whites students who make up the majority of SPS students(white students) only 0.4% have been diagnosed with a Emotional Disturbance Disturbance!
According to SPS data even mother nature has discriminated against black students by making 0.7% of these kids mentally retarded, while over 50% of SPS students (white students) have a rate of mental retardation at 0.2%.
Mental Retardation is define by low IQs, adaptive skills, and being under the age of 18years. Black children do not have a prevalence of DOWNS, FRAGILE X, Genetic disorders, or any other congenital, environmental, or biological reason for Mental Retardation. Some uneducated people will blame the drugs or poverty in the black community, but even in these 2 examples whites are still the majority and have the greater numbers poor and on drugs.
The Federal Government should come and shut this whole school system down, sue the SPS school board, fire the administrators and change the instructional staff that deny Equal Educational Opportunity to Black children and Youth. SPS has violated the civil rights of black children through racist educational practices (bias test, tracking, grouping, counseling, funding, etc), racist teachers who are first to administer the frontline tactics of low expectations, cultural incompetence, racial prejudice, 'stereotype threats', and harsh/cruel punishment; the ethnocentric curriculum and instruction methods of a nearly all white female teaching base subject 12 years of education on black children that consist of 90% white male canons.
SPS must be called accountable for misclassification of Black Children within these 2 Sp. Ed. catagories that changes the trajectory of their lives forever
For those who care about Black Children, IDEA, EQUALITY IN EDUCATION, Fairness in Discipline and Stopping the long and injurious abuse of BLACK CHILDREN in Seattle Schools, it is time to demand ENOUGH IS FINALLY ENOUGH!
-In a self-contained Spectrum classroom, the teacher decided to create an advanced math group, with the rest of the class at the "one year ahead core standards." The teacher said that kids would be placed in the advanced group based on state/district test scores, in-class assessments and "teacher observations."
-All but one of the APP-qualified kids in the class was placed in the advanced group. One APP-qualified kid, who scored a high 4 on the spring MSP and 97% on the spring MAP was not included.
If a differentiated curriculum is set up within a Spectrum classroom, should all APP-qualified kids be included in that advanced grouping, or is it solely at teacher discretion? Other thoughts on this scenario?
Thanks!
-SPS Parent
Transportation is already being completely re-worked. If we incorporate start time changes now, it can be done once instead of done now and done again later.
After-school jobs, extracurriculars, and athletics are issues that need to be addressed through community engagement. I am sure that they will negatively impact some families, but is that 5% or 30%? We won't know until we go out to families. School staff can help with athletics as well.
I'm not sure what issues school staff would have, but again, go out to the schools to find out. We already have a model to follow at Hale.
The path forward is out there. Once we start going down it, I am sure we will find that it isn't as bad as we thought. We just need to start. Like you said, this is about the same size of an issue as boundaries. Boundaries are on a 6-month timetable (start in June, finish in late November). If we start on start times now, 6 months puts us in May.
In Annon 11:17's post, he or she identifies a major issue with the overidentification of black children in special education, particularly the role of the most stigmatizing category, intellectual disability. Even more egregious is the fact that 30% of Native American Students are identified for special education. OSPI has found that bias in evaluations, and for some children the lack of sufficient evaluation was found to play a part in Seattle, and the district has had to perform tasks related to this issue for the last 3 years, but clearly needs to do more.
People should be outraged: the effects of being mis-identified as as intellectually disabled has a lifelong impact.
Similarly, over representation of black students occurs in other categories, such as emotional/behavioral or health impairment (ADHD). The district needs to do more in this department. Banda made a step in this direction when he hired someone with experience in this area as Executive Director of Special Education (Zakiyyah McWilliams). Whether she can make a dent in this problem remains to be seen.
I just finished filling out paperwork for the group health clinic at my child's school. It asks for a lot of very personal information and requires signatures re: FERPA and HIIPA. I have paid attention to the warnings folks have issued here about privacy rights for students. What risks are there in submitting this paperwork, with regard to privacy and my child's records?
Any thoughts on this are much appreciated.
uncertain
This story comes to mind:
In school clinic sets up teen abortion
another parent
You raise an important issue. The thing that I think everyone needs to know is that traditional "health records" become "educational records" when supplied to the school. This means that health records which would fall under a different standard of privacy under HIPPA in a clinic become subject only to the rules of FERPA in a school-based setting. For this reason, you may wish to be careful regarding family background, psychiatric issues, or stigmatizing issues, etc., that are not relevant to the issues served in that setting. I often take a black marker and redact records that may not be relevant to health care providers or educational service providers.
Although "another parent" raises the issue of teenage abortions without consent, the fact is that teenagers have that right no matter what and it doesn't have anything to do with FERPA or HIPPA. This can be a very upsetting topic for parents no matter what.
impatient
McGilvra is using Envision and Reflex Math (an online fact-practice game that builds automaticity).
Enivision is still a bit word-problem-heavy for my taste, but at least the word problems don't have confusing grammar that the college educated adults in the house can't figure out. My kid loves Reflex so far.
So far, we really appreciate the change!
Is this your child? Have you spoken to the teacher if you think the placement is not optimal?
Cal
Parents should stop and ponder, as you have, "why does a group health clinic have to access to my child's private health and educational information?" It seems to be de rigueur that someone's life story should be accessible at the stroke of a keyboard. With Data as God, providers and teachers are considered deficient if they can't regurgitate a kid's grades, MSP scores, and FRL status. Sometimes I wonder how my generation and the one before it managed to do so much without flaming out.
At least with respect to so-called School/Community Partners (like this clinic), parents wield the power of the pen. Just say no. If they refuse to serve your child, I would gladly file a discrimination suit on behalf of all children treated as data bytes.
Unfortunately, there are still "institutional" parties that can get massive amounts of data WITHOUT parent consent. And they are accountable to no one. The Fed Family Privacy Compliance Office is toothless and is just waiting for that pension. The district has no safeguards in place to ensure data is not misused or mishandled. Parents will never find out HOW or WHO has their child's data. Finally, who is liable when hackers inevitably access student records?
Just say NO
QA Mom
Lowell is also in year 2 of piloting "ST Math" as a supplement.
There is also a proposed tuition drop.
The 16 schools added for free K are: Alki, Arbor Heights, BF Day, Gatewood, Greenwood, Jane Addams K-8, K-5 STEM at Boren, Lowell, Olympic View, Orca K-8, Pathfinder K-8, John Rogers, Sand Point, Stevens, Tops K-8 and Viewlands.
-StepJ
Regarding math curriculum other than EDM. Jane Addams K-8 has switched to Envision math for K-5 this year. They are piloting the curriculum for the district, it is not PTSA funded. There are other schools participating in the pilot as well, but I'm not sure which ones.
While it's great that the kids are getting something other than EDM, I have to wonder why are we piloting math programs when the Elementary Math Adoption Committee has not even been picked or convened?
Who is making this decision?
The fix must be in for Envision or My Math. Members of this committee are not notified until November 15.
What's up with that?
1) did the principal say this was okay for this teacher to make this judgment call? Because this isn't her just rearranging kids; these kids are in specific programs.
2) do the parents all know this? Not that they necessarily have any input but yes, they should know what is happening in their child's class.
Uncertain, you have Hipaa on your side which is a good thing. But I think if your child was enrolled in a F/RL program (or other kind of tutoring program) that wanted info on your child, they might be able to access it via the health clinic. I honestly don't know for certain at this point. It's a good question and I will find out.
As for the teen having the abortion, I will have a thread this weekend on some of these teen issue.
But understand, when you give permission for your teen to access a school health clinic that means mental health (and the counselor does NOT have to tell you anything unless the child is a danger to him/herself or others).
A teen may access birth control including abortion and in this state, you do not have to be told.
This is all stated in the form you sign - maybe not this starkly - but it's what it means.
There are very good reasons for school nurses to have access to students' health records. Jeepers! I'm telling you that I as a nurse, I have seen scenarios at my kids' school where there was no medical information. It makes things very difficult in emergencies (like when a kid is having problems breathing--very scary!) The problem is when other groups, as you pointed out, think that they need that info, too, and even more so when they want personally identifiable information.
Our current math programs include Everyday Math from McGraw-Hill and CMP2 from Pearson. I wouldn't be surprised if these big publishers offered our district a "sweet" deal for these pilots.
Does anyone ever recall other school board candidates that utilized a PAC?
Two different things.
We all hope we have raised young people who will come to us when they have a health issue, physical or mental. But we should also make sure our kids have access to trusted adults when they feel, for whatever reason, they cannot reach out to us. I view the high school health clinic as one such resource.
I am skeptical about the comment that because the clinic is in the school HIPAA doesn't apply. That's certainly not my understanding. Mary Griffin, do you have a source that supports you? Here's a somewhat old publication that suggests that health records from an on-school clinic (as opposed to a school nurse) are protected by HIPAA. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/doc/ferpa-hipaa-guidance.pdf
The comments regarding the provision of medical services by an outside provider that I made were incorrect.
If an outside provider, such as Group Health or Swedish, is providing services, then the clinic records are covered by HIPPA. HIPPA is generally thought to be a better privacy law, and as such the district would be unable to share your student's records, as would any outside entity.
There are very good reasons to have clinics in schools, and I think it is good to have them run by outside entities for several reasons, including privacy.
If the teacher is actually differentiating instruction and providing opportunities for some to work beyond the Spectrum "one year ahead" level, you would expect there to be a high degree of correlation with APP-qualification status (as was seen in the case you noted), but there may be exceptions in either direction (e.g., APP-qualified kids not making it into the highest math group, or Spectrum-qualified kids who do make it in). Assuming the teacher has based the placement on classroom-based assessment of students' capabilities rather than just using APP status as a proxy, it shouldn't be a problem.
That said, if the child seems to be inappropriately placed, I'd inquire with the teacher.
HIMSmom
-wondering
-StepJ
And APP in Eckstein and Whitman.
TC
Does anyone want to guess how much money this will plan all totalled will cost the District in the long run?
Hey, even better: does the District know how badly these gerrymandered boundaries are going to cost them/us?
Obviously not. It would be nice if the Board asked for that info. Not that they would get it, of course.
Kids really should walk or bike to school when ever possible. Helps their brain function, helps their body be 'school ready'. Helps classroom dynamics. And, helps test scores. Oh well. Not for this neighborhood.
I did think the Board's feedback was more priority to walking where possible. I wonder if the Board is going to try and push this, or, just roll over. I am betting the latter.
-bus 4ever
Northender
Check the individual elementary boundary maps for Wedgwood and Bryant to see the changes. The Middle School maps don't display as much detail.
There is a section south of 75th and west of Eckstein that was previously Bryant and is now Wedgwood.
Bus4Ever's situation makes another good point in favor of switching to Geo Zones vs. Feeder Schools for middle school.
-StepJ
AND Hamilton - at least for a couple of years according to the map.
3 way split. Really?
APP mom
- kitty
Kp
There is also a big push with the Pearson product to take the math tests "online" so you can have "instant data", plus "test prep" for those high stakes tests like PARCC that Pearson is a part of. Their multiple choice tests and test question bank has pre-prepared shallow questions, and where does that data go? I asked one time, and the rep quickly changed the subject.
With Pearson, you pay a lot, and get very little.
Sometimes the devil you know.....
Ugh, Pearson
I don't think there was one voice for APP, but I recall a fair amount of discussion around the fact that APP was suppose to be located where the students live and therefore, APP should be at Eckstein over Jane Addams. You are correct, I do not know that it was APP families that had that view point. BUT, I doubt the school district made that change out of the blue....
-kitty
Kitty- North AAP's position was to not split and to not to be put in neighborhood schools lest we get kicked out again. That said, yes, there are/were different viewpoints but the most vocal to have APP at Eckstein were those that I read on this blog from Charlie and a couple of other commenters. While I like this option personally, I would never advocate for it at the expense of my neighbors who will be assigned to JAMS if this current plan is approved. NE APP families may be OK with this decision (not necessarily thrilled as it still means a split), but I really don't think it was advocated heavily by those within APP. Maybe it's the district's way of making the split more palatable.
kp
shocked
I think it is outrageous that kids living across the street are drawn out of Eckstein.
At the same time every single APP family I know has campaigned hard to keep APP middle school kids out of the NE due to the severe overcrowding in the area.
I don't know of any APP parent in the NE that has pushed to keep their middle school kid in the NE. They have been pushing instead to keep a cohort together (not split 3 ways) until more information is known.
Outrage against APP will misdirect anger and allow the District to slide.
It is not right to draw kids across the street from Eckstein out of boundary. Please advocate against an obvious injustice vs. the diversionary APP stuff.
-StepJ
Who do you think should be kicked out of Eckstein to correct that?
If I had to wildly speculate, I would say this has something to do with Sharon Peaslee's extreme vendetta against APP, and some horse trading with the other board members. If they had much input.
-sleeper
"The amount of money raised by PTAs at affluent schools doesn't come close to the additional funding provided to low income schools.
What equity goal does Mr. Martin have in mind? What is his definition of equity? Where is the finish line?"
The WSF (or whatever they call it these days) doesn't come close to addressing the needs of students in highly impacted schools. Any attempt to justify the inequities in PTA fundraising (by perpetuating the myth that SPS middle class families are funding allocation victims) demonstrates ignorance and insensitivity toward the needs of these students.
If you want to keep the money within the school that raised it, just say so! The fact is that high numbers of students living in poverty usually require more funding--it is cynical to use this as a rationalization for keeping the PTA money. The funding is a small attempt to level the playing field, after all. Isn't that what you have been calling for the past few days, Charlie?
--enough already
Good to know that many will be against this most recent plan. Hopefully that will bring back one of the other plans that was better...
-kitty
Alas, I have yet to see 'better plan'. The S/SE is still scrambled. Walk zones are still not maximized. And none of this can 'stick' because the District is trying to draw boundaries 6 years out for buildings that don't even exist, so obviously, those boundaries will fail, because the uncertainty is so great.
The 'plan' is an overreach that is trying to do too much all at once, and causing a lot of heart ache and misalignment in the meantime is very real.
-hoping for better
--equity ha
-sleeper
like it
Anyway, we are going to go see it, though my choice was Gravity, since I got out voted.
parent
One of my kids is boycotting the movie for that reason. It's killing him - he really enjoyed the book. He says the difference is Roald Dahl is dead and no longer profiting from his work.
I did say, strenuously, that compliance with the Board policy on program placement practically directs the superintendent to place NE middle school APP at Eckstein rather than JAMS.
Is that a good idea? Is it a bad idea? I have no opinion. It is, however, the only placement that complies with the Board's policy.
If the Board doesn't like it, then they should amend their policy, not just violate it.
I think it would be a good idea for Seattle Public Schools to act like an orderly institution that makes decisions which are in compliance with their own policies as well as state and federal laws. I think it would be a good idea for Seattle Public Schools to make decisions which are consistent with their stated values and core beliefs.
I didn't write the policies, the laws, the stated values, or the core beliefs. I just reminded people of them.
It is far in excess of the funds donated by PTAs.
I'm confused about something the district announced Friday. They are providing free all day kindergarten at 16 more schools than originally planned. The 27 schools already doing this receive extra funding from the district. These new schools are using LAP dollars to pay for it.
Are those LAP funds usuallly allocated to specific schools? What are they usually spent on? Lower class sizes? Tutors?
I am quite aware of LAP and Title I money. The Martin article said that there is district money allocated in addition to these funds, too.
Of course the money exceeds PTA donations, and it should! The funding is intended to help children who are living in poverty get some educational assistance that will help give them a chance to have better otucomes.
Like I stated before, this money does not begin to meet the needs of students in highly impacted schools, and research bears this out.
And your point is? What does this have to do with PTAs wanting to keep their money?
--enough already
Just keep moving the finish line or, if you can't move it, hide it.
I no longer work in SPS, so I was not aware if they include the LAP and Title I with the WSS (as I believe they once did) or figure it separately. Therefore, I called it all WSS in my first comment.
But the point remains the same: You tried to justify PTAs keeping their own money by saying that the lower income schools get so much more. I say that the money for schools with higher concentrations of poverty does not begin to meet their needs (which research confirms), but is a small effort at leveling the playing field.
It is cynical to use this money to rationalize not sharing fundraising monies (like they do in Portland and other places). If you and others think the PTAS should keep the money to themselves because they raise it,
then own that.
It has nothing to do with the funding that highly impacted schools desperately need.
--enough already
You can see the movie without worrying about him making any money off of it. The movie is a pretty good adaptation.
HP