Seattle Schools This Week

Tuesday, April 26th
International School and Dual Language Immersion Programs Meeting
Chief Sealth International Schools from 6:00-7:30 pm
Seattle Public Schools invites families, community members and staff to share thoughts and ideas on our International School and Dual Language Immersion programs.
The district is examining these programs in order to make recommendations about potential changes in the 2017-18 school year.
Boundary Change Community Meeting
Roosevelt High School from 6:30-7:30 pm

Mayor's community conversation on education, hosted by SEA.  Van Asselt Community Center from 5:30-7:30 pm.

Mayor's community conversation on education, hosted by SEA.  Northgate Community Center from 5:30-7:30 pm.

 Wednesday, April 27th
 Oversight Work Session: Capital Projects, agenda
JSCEE from 4:30-6:00 pm

The presentation is 100+ pages so I'm guessing either they won't get thru it or are not anticipating many questions from directors. 

I also note for BEX IV, the district is committing nearly $5M to Ballard High and $1.3M to West Seattle High, both for "building systems."  And yet, both were built at nearly the same time (1999-2001.) Why does Ballard need so much more work.  (See page 34.)  

Page 40 starts the district's student enrollment projections.  I am having a hard time figuring out this chart (probably me) but I'll ask.


Work Session: Capital Projects Semi-Annual Report, agenda (starts on page 53)
 JSCEE from 6:00-7:00 pm

I have to smile because one slide shows Cedar Park as being "renovated."  I think the kinder word would be "updated."  As well, they took the time to try to make the portables "match the style of historica buildings." They still don't have bathrooms so what does it matter what the roof looks like?

Page 28 is interesting because, being a non-building, I don't know the term "detention vault" but apparently they have built a concrete on for Olympic Hills.  Good luck, kids.

Page 30 talks about Thornton Creek Elementary.  I'll have to ask BEX communications but this reference to "Old Decatur School" is puzzling.  I know there's a Decatur building but I didn't know there was a school.   As well, the presentation makes no reference to any building delays but I believe that is what was reported to the BEX Oversight Committee. 

Page 51 says Bailey Batzert is getting modifications for Early Learning.  I'll have to go back and check but I'm not sure that was on the original BEX IV (but they say the budget is coming from BTA III).  Ditto on Kimball. 

African American Male Scholars Initiative Community Meeting
Highpoint Neighborhood House from 6-7:30 pm

Thursday, April 28th
Work Group - Program Placement
JSCEE Board Conference room from 5:00-6:30 pm

Saturday, April 30th
Mayor's Education Summit
Garfield Community Center, 2323 E. Cherry St, starting at 9 am and ending at 3:30 pm.  Lunch will be provided.  RSVP  Survey
Mayor Edward B. Murray's Education Summit builds on the City's existing partnership with Seattle Public Schools to address the disparity in educational opportunity and outcomes that disproportionately impact students of color and those from lower-income families. Community voices and local leaders will share what's working well in our schools, where more support is needed, and what strategies the City should support to help all students succeed in Seattle's schools.  
After this event, the Education Summit Advisory Group, comprised of education and community advocates, educators, and business and philanthropic leaders, will help develop recommendations and action items about how the City can best align its resources and efforts around making education more equitable. 
I'll just note here that the Mayor did not initially invite the district into this effort.  It wasn't until the Superintendent/Board called that the Superintendent and President Patu were put on the committee.  As well, at least two City Council members say their offices were not invited to participate in this effort.  Due to the number of Board member community meetings on Saturday, it will be interesting to see who else from SPS shows up.

District Community meetings
Director Geary - Montlake Library, 11:00 am-1:00 pm
Director Burke - Fremont Library from 4:00-5:30 pm

Sunday, May 1st
Director Peters community meeting - Magnolia Library from 1:00-3:00 pm

Comments

Eric B said…
A detention vault sounds like a Dick Cheney lair, but I'm pretty sure it's a stormwater holding tank. Basically, when they gt a big rainstorm, the runoff gathers there and is slowly released to the storm drain system.
Anonymous said…
Regarding Cedar Park -

-They added 8 "modular" classrooms at Cedar Park, on permanent foundations, to increase the building's capacity, but did not increase the capacity of the restrooms, lunchroom, etc... In fact, I believe some of the original restroom stalls were lost to make ADA-compliant stalls.

-They went with more expensive "modular" classrooms with shed roofs and permanent foundations, because they coordinated better with the mid-century modern style of the building, and so that the Landmarks Preservation Board would approve their addition to the site (the Landmarks Board wasn't going to approve the basic gable-roofed portables).

-The 8 modular classrooms do not have plumbing (for anything other than fire sprinklers), so there are no classroom sinks or drinking fountains in these permanent (as opposed to portable/temporary) classrooms. Classroom sinks are specified in the generic ed specs for an elementary school, so if it was truly a renovation, they would have been included.

-There is no dedicated library space. They could have torn down an interior wall between two classrooms in order to make a reasonably-sized library (this would not have changed the exterior appearance of the building), but they did not. Olympic Hills is using one classroom as their library. It is way too small. Libraries are also part of the ed specs for an elementary school, and, if this was truly a "renovation" a library would have been included.

It will be interesting to see if the Magnolia, Webster, and Hughes building "renovations" include such things as classroom sinks and libraries.

A "detention vault" at Olympic Hills! Poor choice of terminology, but according to Wikipedia, A storm water detention vault is an underground structure designed to manage excess storm water runoff on a developed site, often in an urban setting. This type of best management practice may be selected when there is insufficient space on the site to infiltrate the runoff or build a surface facility such as a detention basin or retention basin. Perhaps they should clarify that it is a "storm water" detention vault?

- North-end Mom



Again, learning from my readers, thanks
Charlie Mas said…
The work group meeting on program placement on April 28 should be good.

We have all been waiting a very, very long time to hear the Superintendent describe the program placement decision process.
Charlie Mas said…
Does the African-American Male Scholars Advisory Committee publish the minutes of their meetings?

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