Seattle Schools This Week

Monday, November 4th
Curriculum&Instruction Board committee meeting from 4-6 p.m.   Agenda.  Items of note: Policy 2200, Equitable Access to Programs and Services, Special Education Comprehensive Correction Action Plan, CTE, Student Assignment, Math Adoption Progress Report

Tuesday, November 5th
Election Day - get those ballots postmarked today!

Road Map to College: application event for seniors.  From 2:45-6:00p.m. at Garfield High School.

SEEAC (Special Education Advisory and Advocacy Council) meeting from 6:30-9:30 pm at JSCEE.

Wednesday, November 6th
School Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm at JSCEE.  Agenda
Among the items on the agenda:
- presentation about Alternative Learning Experience School Plans
- approval of the Superintendent Evaluation Instrument and Board Self-Evaluation Instrument
- Approval (?!) of Columbia Annex and Mann Portable Lease Agreements.  To be posted by today by 3 p.m.)
- Intro of closure of Pinehurst Program  (:
- Intro of Intermediate Capacity Management Plan to Support Implementation of Growth Boundaries and BEX IV
- Intro of Growth Boundaries Plan #3
- Intro of approval of CSIPs for each school
- Intro of Legislative agenda which includes:

The 2013-14 proposed legislative agenda is focused on three main areas:
  • Operating Budget Funding-Provide funding to enable school districts to provide a high quality education for all students
  • Capital Fund Funding -Ensure districts can provide the facilities necessary for 21stCentury education and community participation
  • Education Policy -Continue to work with the Legislature to provide measures to allow districts increased ability to close the achievement gap among all students
- Hiring of Meng Anaylsis to do survey of Facilities Condition Assessment.  (Required by OSPI.)

My one comment is that the Board has no business putting the Columbia Annex/Mann Portable up for Action without Intro.  I doubt the real agreement will be ready today and that's just one more reason to not vote on this action.  The parties in Mann have dragged their feet and now need to go thru the same process as any other group seeking a partnership with the district.  Likewise, the district has dragged its feet.  This "hurry up and vote" should not fly.

Thursday, November 7th
Road Map to College: application event for seniors.  From 2:30-6:00p.m. at Roosevelt High School.

Friday, November 8th
BEX Oversight Committee Meeting from 8:30-10:30 am. at JSCEE.  Should be interesting to hear if the Committee is being briefed on the delays because of the Mann building situation.

National College Fair from 9 am to noon at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Saturday, November 9th
National College Fair from noon to 4 pm at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Community Meeting with Director Smith-Blum from 10 am to noon at Capitol Hill Library.

Community Meeting with Director Carr from 8:30 am to 10:30 am at Bethany Community Church (enter off the playground).

Comments

yourefired said…
Is this your response to a community member requesting posting of your notes from the Africatown Center for Education and Innovation Press Conference at the Mann building which you attended yesterday. Since you left early and missed the majority of the press conference, it is clear why your opinion has no factual supprt. If you had bothered to stay for the majority of press conference, you might have heard more real facts and perhaps you would have gained an understanding of the 'urgency' of the approval for black children and youth. Perhaps you would have heard the many ways it would be mutually benefical for the Seattle School District, teachers, and all students and the overall City of Seattle.

Not that we disagree with you about the vote of approval for the Columbia Annex, because the consortium of parents, teachers, professors, community members, students and graduates should not be confined to 2 rooms at Mann, 2 mobiles, or 2 anything. Both the District and the community are working towards a solution to continue the educational enhancement services that will give black children and youth a fighting chance this year against institutionalized abuse and it appears that a small faction of the white community is invested in maintaining this injustice as long as they can. Some say your opinions on this blog are influential, others say they are detrimental, after yesterday it is appears that they are simply one lady's opinion, nothing more.
Anonymous said…
Melissa posts a weekly "Seattle Schools this week", which I appreciate. My take is that this is not in response to anything in particular.

-uncertain.
English Teacher said…
Dear Uncertain;

"My one comment is that the Board has no business putting the Columbia Annex/Mann Portable up for Action without Intro. I doubt the real agreement will be ready today and that's just one more reason to not vote on this action. The parties in Mann have dragged their feet and now need to go thru the same process as any other group seeking a partnership with the district. Likewise, the district has dragged its feet. This "hurry up and vote" should not fly."

This response was to something very specific!


Charlie Mas said…
The Board should only introduce and take action on a motion at the same meeting when it is a matter of grave urgency. Doing so short-circuits the opportunity for public input which is valued by the public and valuable to the Board. In such cases, the Board should make an extra effort to inform the public about the motion, the background, the data, and the rationale for the urgency.

In this case the Board has not provided the public with even the usual scant information about the motion and no rationale for the urgency.
Charlie Mas said…
The Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee continues to refuse to address itself to an advanced learning policy. Decisions are being made in advanced learning and they are being made without policy guidance from the Board. This is very bad.

The Board should state - as a matter of policy - why we need advanced learning programs and what sort of students they are for. Then the Superintendent can implement that policy and determine student identification procedures and program delivery models.

In the absence of that policy guidance the superintendent makes the policy by default. He should not make policy; the Board should do that.
Yourefired, I received no request. I am not not writing about the "press conference" because it wasn't one. It was more of an Open House. I have been to many press conferences and this was not one of them. There was no press handout even to clearly identify the speakers so I could get their names and identities correct.

To this date, there has been nothing written on any plan or proposal that anyone can read.

I am not paid for this work and the "press conference" started a half-hour late without apology or explanation. I came at the correct time, waited, stayed as long as I could and then left. I note that virtually no other media came (I am thinking the editors of the Seattle Medium and Central Area blog may have been there but I do not know them on sight.)

yourefired said…
Melissa,
You evidently make a lot of assumptions on this blog.

First, yesterday's Press Conference at Horace Mann was not an Open House, the "State Of Emergency for our children" is too important to the Community and the School District for anyone to think of it as a casual event.

Second, if you had stayed long enough, you would have heard the apology that the power outage caused the delay in starting the Press Conference.

Third, if you had stayed, you would have heard the moderator introduce each and every speaker .

Fourth, since you actually are not The Press, perhaps that was the reason you didn't receive or recognize the press package.

Fifth, perhaps the plans and proposals are only given to appropriate officials that actually have a role in the negotiations rather than random individuals.

Finally, the Press Conference was standing room only and we would guess that most of the people in the room weren't paid either but stayed because they actually cared about "The State Of Emergency".

Hope your Sunday went better than Saturday.

yourefired
Anonymous said…
You're Fired-
If you don't like Melissa as press, be your own. There has been support for and questions of More for Mann/AIC on this blog. You can just share directly with readers, then you don't have to even involve Melissa. Not everyone can attend a press conference or other events onsite. Maybe you can just let us know what's going on? Or where we can read a press release?
Allyn
There is no press release. I did hear the intros of the speakers but again, if you have a press release, you can make sure to get every name spelled correctly and title right.

There is no plan or proposal (see the Board Action Report on this issue). And if there were, anyone could request it via public disclosure.

I was there to report and not to attend as a participant. There is a difference; I'm sorry you don't understand that.

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