Seattle Schools Education Updates

Thank you to my readers; I can't be everywhere and these are important updates all parents should know.

First,
Ingraham staff just voted down their budget, 58-1 and released the following statement: " We reject the budget on the grounds that it forces us to compromise basic student and staff safety, requires us to compromise building and community standards for a comprehensive high school and reflects the wrong priorities for Seattle Public Schools and its students."

I am unclear about the ramifications of this vote-down.  I believe that the district will wait and then if no budget is forthcoming, will figure a budget on their own.  I have to think that this will, in turn, cause a great rift between schools and the district.  I will ask what comes next.

Update from SEA Facebook page:

As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, 25 Seattle schools have voted to reject budgets for next year. Seattle schools cannot take any more cuts! NO CUTS TO SCHOOL BUDGETS! Educators need more supports, not fewer. More schools will be voting this week with the remainder early next week.


From My Northwest on the NW Center/Cascade housing issue filed on today's date:

And Tuesday he told KIRO Radio the district doesn't have to do a thing for Northwest Center.
"Let me make it real clear, we are not agents for the Northwest Center, so we're not out there actually seeking real estate for them, that's their responsibility," he said. 

If we're following the timeline, Superintendent Banda went from, "We want to help Northwest Center in any way we can, we want to be good neighbors," to "We are not agents for Northwest Center," they need to find a new building on their own. 

However, he did make an offer to have Northwest Center combine with Cascade at the soon-to-be demolished Wilson-Pacific building in Greenwood. 

A building that Cascade's principal told me is swept weekly for drug needles, feces and has no healthy drinking water. 

"I'm not familiar about the drinking water, that's the first time I've heard (that)," said Banda. 

So I am completely perplexed by Banda.  Because he seems to have vasilated all over the place only to land at "I didn't know."  I asked, when I was at Cascade at Wilson-Pacific at the same time he was, at the first five minutes in the building, about the water.  And Banda didn't know or wasn't told?  It's hard to believe.

I understand the stance, somewhat, of "we're just the landlords" but it's a little late in the game (and a big switch from "we're doing everything we can") for that attitude.  

Comments

Anonymous said…
Vasilated? Tsk tsk. :-)

-- Ivan Weiss
Anonymous said…
> "I'm not familiar about the
> drinking water, that's the first
> time I've heard (that)," said
> Banda.

He also proposed that they remain there during demolition and "asbestos abatement" procedures. Almost certainly condemning some of them to death by Mesothelioma cancer 30 years later. That isn't just incompetent, it is outright evil.

What parent would choose that risk for their child?

-- Unforgivable
Anonymous said…
Banda: A true poliician

Kelly Aramaki for superintendent!

CCA
I wish I shared your enthusiasm for Mr. Aramaki but I find that he seems like more of a cheerleader than a leader. (I was very disappointed in what he told the Board yesterday at the Work Session on data privacy. More on that to come.)

He is a very nice man, though.
RosieReader said…
I've been told that when a school rejects a proposed budget, the District must negotiate with the school. Not sure what form this negotiation takes, or who is at the table. Can anyone else explain the process?

I am stunned (in a good way) at the number of schools that have done this. These educators need the strong support of the parents as this continues to unfold.
Anonymous said…
Posted today: http://mynorthwest.com/11/2474937/Seattle-Superintendent-has-little-knowledge-of-charitable-project-done-at-districtowned-school

"While Superintendent Banda doesn't know what improvements were made to the school it was quite easy for KIRO Radio to obtain a list of every single thing that was done by the construction company. A list that was sent to the school district and included the removal of lead-based paint at Northwest Center."

Parent
Thanks Parent. I do not understand what Banda is doing (and this could be his undoing if he isn't careful as NW Center has a lot of political support).

Why is he saying the district didn't know these things? I can't believe anyone would advise him to say these things, knowing public disclosure would reveal the truth.
Robin said…
I am shocked that the news of all these schools rejecting the budget isn't in the Seattle Times today. The District cannot start new initiatives and continue funding ANY that do not directly benefit kids in the classrooms. Who do we write to help support the schools and our kids? The Board?
Stop Spinning said…
That article in mynorthwest is really, really, really loaded. It takes some things he said in the past like he just said them, and other things out of context and twists them. I'm not surprised; so far the reporting from that writer has been extremely biased, sensational and just plain wrong. Inflammatory and false. Not one single article I've read from her has been accurate. It's like reading an editorial from a lobbyist.

I mean, for one thing, all the groups involved just had a sit-down meeting to find solutions. District officials, Seattle city council members, Cascade and NW Center met to discuss options. Mr. Banda brought real estate options to the table, as did the council. They were discussing with NW Center what options they could find for real estate. It boggles my mind that NW Center is claiming otherwise. They even have another meeting coming up to see if the solutions are workable.

At the meeting and elsewhere, NW Center has stated that it has located real estate and it even has an interim option for June. The only way that Banda could have given NW Center more time is if they could have found a suitable interim for Cascade or if Cascade had accepted the idea of staying on campus, both ideas were deemed unworkable. Because there is no way to give Cascade another building or another interim option, the June move-out date stands firm. It has to do with the WP demolition, chiefly.

So knowing they couldn't house Cascade elsewhere, even in the interim, they looked into options for NW Center. Banda didn't do an 'about face', he is still trying to help them and support them. His first priority is to house his public school, and once the options for that were exhausted, he has no wiggle room to do anything else.

No one is suggesting that they be housed during demoliton, but one of the buildings (one of the nicer buildings I might add) at Wilson Pacific is used right now for developmental preschool intake. It WAS a developmental preschool. It's already compliant. The idea was to house them in that building over the summer so they could get their permanent solution managed, because it was one location versus two locations. The interim location NW Center has on standby is actually two locations, because neither one is big enough to handle the whole program. They are next to each other but it's still not ideal.

Further, if it's good enough to the NW Center for Cascade to remain there, I'm sure it will be good enough for their own kids. ;)
Wondering said…
@Stop Spinning: Out of curiosity, were you at this meeting? You speak with a lot of certainty about the details of what was said and discussed.

I agree that the article you are referencing is only giving one perspective.

One thing I have not seen answered is why it is not possible for Northwest Center to stay a few months longer in the school. The Wilson Pacific demolition is starting in April, right? So is there a reason why would it not work for Northwest Center to stay until the fall, then have the necessary updates to the site for Cascade to move in during March?
Concerned parent said…
QA has a lot of work to be done to bring it up to code before Cascade can move into it. Cascade will not relocate until Feb 2015, but SPS will begin work on QA in June so that it is move in ready by Feb.
Another Cascadeparent said…
I am a Cascade Parent of one disabled child.

Personally, I would love it if NWC would share with us for the first part of next year.

The site is authorized or accredited or whatever the vocabulary is. My kids will be at WP anyway until we move in the second semester.

This whole media roller coaster has been so destructive, this option seems like a chance for both communities to heal and come together.

Especially since there is some cross over. Some of the current Cascade students were at NWC - so I would expect that potential for the future.

If WP is good enough for my child, then why wouldn't it be good enough for NWC's children? Granted, I bring water and my own dishes. I wash our fruit at home - but it is still a viable and valued space for us.
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