C & I Meeting on Monday, August 11

The agenda for the 8/11 Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee meeting has already been posted.

There's a lot there for folks interested in Special Education along with a couple of tasty items for those interested in high school graduation requirements, creative approach schools, Native American education, and discipline.

By the numbers:

a. Creative Approach Schools Update (Michael/Misa)
The last time the committee talked about Creative Approach Schools it was to learn that they were not being granted the freedoms they were promised and that no one in the JSCEE knew what they were or would cooperate with them. Let's see if any of that has been fixed. I wouldn't want to hear it from Michael Tolley; I would want to hear it from the CAS principals.

b. Policy 3201, Disciplinary Appeal Council (Pat/Ruth)
I could be wrong, but I believe this is a committee with a membership that's supposed to turnover, but either the committee has never met or its membership has never turned over. Something like that.

c. Assessment Framework Update (Eric)
Eric Anderson is a pathologically honest person swimming in sea of liars. No matter what he reports it's always refreshingly candid.

d. BAR for BEST Grant (Shauna/Chris)
Anyone know what this is?

e. BAR for Policy 6010, School Funding Model (Michael/Ken)
I wasn't aware that there was a plan to update this policy. I'm surprised that it didn't go before the Finance Committee instead. It's really all about money. The policy is one that is routinely violated. It requires a school funding model that:
"Result in a transparent school funding model that schools, families, and community members can understand"
As soon as anyone can explain the funding for the six high schools that aren't funded through the WSS we will be a step closer to this. It would be lovely if one of the Board Directors asked about that. At least The Center School, The NOVA Project, The World School, and South Lake should be put on the WSS. I'm sure it would result in more funding for each of them.

f.Community Engagement Discussion for:
 Policy 2151, Interscholastic Activities (Pegi/Erinn/Ronald/Eric)
 Policy 2420, High School Grade and Credit Marking (Michael/Shauna/Lesley)
 Policy 2415, High School Graduation Requirement (Michael/Shauna/Lesley)

What's interesting about this is that the discussion will not be about the decision, but how to present the decision to a public that is likely to object to it. A big part of the change will be the elimination of the GPA requirement. Before everyone - starting with the Seattle Times - goes wiggy about reducing rigor, it would be worth noting that of the 295 school districts in Washington State, only two have GPA requirements for graduation.

g.Update on Highly Capable Program iGrant Application (Shauna/Stephen)
Don't get excited. It's just an update on the grant. The application was due like on June 1st or so, but the OSPI hadn't posted the application form by then. Maybe they have by now. Being late on this grant application has never been an issue. Usually the delay is caused by the OSPI. They typically don't have the grant application form ready before the application deadline.

What you don't see is an Advanced Learning Policy. Still no policy while the work goes on without any guidance from the Board.

h. BAR for Instructional Materials CPR Action 14.12 (Shauna/Eric)
The CPR in this case is the annual audit by the OSPI called the Comprehensive Program Review.

i. Indigenous People of Washington State Curriculum (Michael/Shauna)
Native American education has historically been a challenge for Seattle Public Schools.

j. BAR for Birth-3 Contract (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
k.BAR for Revised C-CAP (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
l. BAR for NW Soil (Fairfax) Contract (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
m. BAR for Overlake Contract (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
n.BAR for Children’s Institute (CHILD) Contract (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
o. BAR for Seattle Children’s (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
p. BAR for Experimental Education Unit (U.W.) (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
Mixed in with all of these contracts to provide education services to hospital patients and annual renewals of some longtime special education programs, you will find the Revised Comprehensive Corrective Action Plan.

q. BAR for Accelify (TIERS) Consultant Contract (Zakiyyah/Michaela)
This contract apparently isn't ready to go. These were the fancy-schmancy consultants who would be the independent third party to monitor the implementation of the new Special Education delivery model. They ar the same folks who delivered this report. Whatever is causing the delay in inking this contract better get fixed soon. Tick-tock.

Comments

Can someone point me to where the BARs are or will be. I cannot find them posted yet.
"Native American education has historically been a challenge for Seattle Public Schools."

That's an understatement.

The TIERS item is one that I raised several questions on per reader queries.
Lynn said…
The Disciplinary Appeal Council was appointed in July 2011 to serve through August 31, 2014.

The BEST Grant provides support for new teachers.

I had some time on my hands today.
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mirmac1 said…
The parties at fault regarding TIERS and their friends at OSPI are Alan Coulter of TIERS, Robert Pasternak of Accelify, and the state regulator who is supposed to ensure IDEA enforcement Doug Gill. SPS staff, the board and some readers are just being manipulated by these fools.

Here Dr. Bob is whining to his buddy Gill because an SPS staffer is trying to follow their internal procedures:

Wah! See what we have to put up with!

Here TIERS and their real client talk about, maybe, ginning up a phony work product to show for their time and billings Yeah, I guess we'll slap something together so that John Higgins can act like he knows what he's talking about, and use it to support the latest Times hit job, I mean, news reporting. This was the crappy "report" that said a whole lot about nothing, used no data, had no bonafide, measurable recommendations and pissed off community members who gave their time to discuss local issues.

Finally, when the shizz gets stirred up and bubbly, Gill gets nervous and tells his friends, uh, you better cough up something to show for the $150K you got for 4 trips to Seattle, a doodle poll, and some interviews...

I know that Gill just happened to suggest Dr. Bob to SPS, and held 15% of Fed IDEA funds to make it happen. What will Seattle parents end up with after these snake oil salesmen go on to their next gig? We may lose the ONE improvement in the seven years I've tracked SpEd: the implementation of a true continuum of services based on a cluster model, called Access. These clowns better not screw that up.

I expect the school board will be interested to know what is really behind the odd relationship between SPS, their "external consultant" (a term I've never heard before, but now I see denotes that the consultant works for/answers to an "external" party), and the man behind the curtain - the ineffectual regulator himself, Doug Gill. He's managed to do more for his friends in four months, than he's done for SPS students with disabilities in 10 years.

BTW, as someone familiar with contract law, procurement processes, and solicitations, I read 6220SP.D as allowing for a fast-tracked hiring of a seemingly qualified firm when under tight time constraints and with little rationale for cost competition:

Sole Source Items: Justification Required. Competition is not required for contracts for unique items, or sole source services (services for which it is not practicable to obtain competition, or the services of a specific individual who has specialized skills or where time limitations make it impractical to obtain competition).
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Anonymous said…
Collusion is in full effect.

Feds are here, don't worry.

For sure the Exec SPED Director going down. Gill wants her gone and she stepped right in it.

Her biggest mistake was not knowing we could get her personal emails.

She should have known better than to use her personal account for SPS business.

follow themoney
mirmac1 said…
I have Susan Enfield's personal email address. She used it to talk to her TFA friends. I've also seen board director personal emails from time to time. Use of personal email is not a crime. It's just dumb.
Patrick said…
Follow the money, so what's the context of these payments? Remember, your reader does not know the background.
Lynn said…
mirmac1,

Could you contact me at SPS.Lynn @ gmail.com? I have a question about FERPA.

Thanks!
Anonymous said…
Why is "follow the money" posting the amount of these payments? The district sometimes has to pay for residential placements for students (which of course are expensive). That is true for every district. So why are we supposed to be concerned? Frankly, given the size of the district and the state sped is in, I would have expected to see more. (But please don't post more! They are so annoying to scroll through.)

Confused

Somehow my comment didn't register but again, if context is not provided for the comments with payments, I will delete them.

Do not use this blog to fight your battles unless you explain what it is that you are doing.
reader47 said…
@followthemoney
You are doing yourself a disservice by these out-of-context posts. Start your own blog if you have some kind of battle to fight - get a scribd account like Mirmac uses and post pdfs of emails there but seriously, these are not doing what you think they are doing. You just end up looking a person on a long and inexplicable rant, which I don't believe is your end goal.
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mirmac1 said…
Amen reader47
Anonymous said…
Melissa, if you do delete follow the money's posts, please feel free to delete mine above. I would delete it myself if I could.

Confused
Ragweed said…
The Indigenous People's of Washington State Curriculum most likely refers to the State of WA Tribal Soverignty Curriculum.

A brief overview of the project by Shana Brown and CHiXapkaid (Michael Pavel) can be found here http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/IASEC/docs/BrownCHiXapkaid.pdf

A more exstensive analysis of the scope of the problem and the goals for creating the curriculum is found in the report From Where the Sun Rises, Addressing the Educational Achievement of Native Americans in Washington State http://goia.wa.gov/Links-Resources/NativeAmericanAchievementReport.pdf

From the report:
Vision

Indian education dates back to a time when all children were identified as gifted and talented. Each child had a skill and ability that would contribute to the health and vitality of the community. Everyone in the community was expected and trained to be a teacher to identify and cultivate these skills and abilities. The elders were entrusted to oversee this sacred act of knowledge being shared. That is our vision for Indian education today.
P. 3.

This achievement gap is merely a symptom of an entire system that needs deep evolution. We all want this achievement gap to close. We all want to see consistencies among the variety of people and cultures in WASL scores, graduation rates and college graduations. But we will not make significant changes to these "concrete indicators". unless a much deeper system change occurs. It may be that as we make these critical changes to the foundations of our education systems, we may find the importance of "concrete indicators" will fall away, revealing the nature of the success we are seeking has to do with engagement, participation and following a more ancient protocol. These are essential pieces for true evaluation of achievement.

The full Tribal Soverignty Curriculum can be found here:
http://tribalsov.ospi.k12.wa.us/

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