Friday Open Thread

Image result for Fall illustrations Happy First Day of Fall!

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos just rescinded Obama era rules on sexual assault under Title IX.  More news to come.

Saw a familiar name in the staff list for new mayor, Tim Burgess.  His chief of staff is to be Holly Miller, who was the long-time head of the Office of Education.  When it changed to the Department of Education and Early Learning, she was out.  They also hired Eli Sanders, an editor at The Stranger, to be a deputy of Communications.  He plans on still doing a podcast and says he will write about the experience after he is done.


Advanced Learning parent referrals are due today.

Director Community meetings tomorrow (note: Director Harris was to have one last week but it got washed out by a leak in a room above the library):

Director Blanford - Douglass-Truth Library, 10-noon

Director Harris - Delridge Library, noon-2:30 pm

What's on your mind?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Does anybody know how to look into which schools will be affected by staffing adjustments?

-Clueless
Anonymous said…
Has anyone seen any enrollment numbers? Can anyone self report on how many are at your school? I have heard reports that Ingraham is really crowded.

HP
Anonymous said…
The Meany principal reported that Meany enrollment (~535) surpassed the March (465) and June (503) enrollment projections and that the next official count will be on October 1.

I also have a child at Garfield but haven't heard anything regarding enrollment other than the obvious installation of portables. The Latin teacher did report at orientation there would be 40 kids in the Latin 1 section. That worried me, my child previously had a max class size of 16 students (private), but my child says it is orderly in class and sees no problem with it.

FNH
Anonymous said…
Clueless, here's the district link to staffing adjustments:

https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=13110333


Flummoxed
Anonymous said…
Madison Middle School lost a position. The new Summit Atlas charter school just opened in West Seattle, and it has approximately 115 kids in 6th grade. I think they also have around 100 9th graders, and will add grades each year.

Some significant portion of the charter school 6th graders would have been zoned for Madison (and many of the others would have been zoned for Denny). I am sure that having the question mark of charter school enrollment didn't make it easy for planning at Madison or Denny.

West Seattle parent
I'll repeat this in my thread about this week's Board meeting but the Superintendent just brushed off charter school enrollment, saying it was mostly at high school and a couple of hundred.

I'm a little surprised at any shrug about charter enrollment especially for schools like Madison.
Anonymous said…
Based on the June enrollment projections, we were expecting 54,373 students (headcount) for our 2017-18 school year. By the fifth day of school, we had 53,259 students, which was 157 students above the official Oct. 1, 2016 headcount but below our June projections.

Schools receiving additional staffing budgets

Ballard High School +1.0
Coe Elementary School +1.0
Robert Eagle Staff Middle School +1.2
Emerson Elementary School +1.0
Gatewood Elementary School +1.0
Ingraham High School +1.0
Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School +1.0
Lawton Elementary School +1.0
Lowell Elementary School +1.0
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School +1.0
West Seattle Elementary School +1.0

Schools with reduced staffing budgets

Adams Elementary School -1.0
Jane Addams Middle School -1.0
Cleveland High School -1.0
Decatur Elementary School -1.0
Dunlap Elementary School -0.5
Eckstein Middle School -1.2
Garfield High School -1.0
Nathan Hale High School -1.0
Laurelhurst Elementary School -1.0
Leschi Elementary School -1.0
Madison Middle School -1.0
Olympic View Elementary School -1.0
Pathfinder K-8 School -1.0
Queen Anne Elementary School -1.0
Rainier View Elementary School -1.0
Roxhill Elementary School -1.0
Van Asselt Elementary School -1.0
West Woodland Elementary School -1.0

- ouch
Anonymous said…
Honestly, as a former data cruncher, the overall enrollment projections were pretty close, off by only 2%. Yes there are individual schools with greater variance. Urban districts have a much more challenging task predicting enrollment than suburban districts as urban mobility is so much greater, so that error rate strikes me as pretty small.

What is surprising (to me) is that budgets are drafted so narrowly as to move staff around in 0.2 FTE equivalents. I honestly don't know what the fraction is in the city we came from, where there was the same fall shuffling around of public schools staff once actual numbers were known, but 0.2 seems awfully tight.

You know what's driving me crazy? Kids being marked absent when they are not, receiving alerts on every phone and email address on record, having to go through the process of getting it corrected. Four times already in two weeks! That can't be typical. We are new to public school and this obsession with attendance is freaking me out.

FNH

Anonymous said…
Also, where does the extra staff budget money go since staff increases are more than offset by staff decreases?

+11.2 FTE added, -17.7 FTE taken away = 6.5 FTE left over?

FNH
Anonymous said…
@ FNH I don't think it's really "left over," since if the overall enrollment is down we get less from the state.

As for how close the projection is, 2% variance doesn't sound quite as good when you think about the fact that SPS has enrollment data. They know how many we had last year, and who had enrolled for this year. It's not a huge mystery--or at least it shouldn't be. Why did they think we'd gain around 1200+ students this year, compared to the actual increase of less than 200 (at least based on current data)? If you think of it terms of predicting the change--which is the real question each year--they were pretty off.

It would probably help them make better predictions along those lines if they did some deep analysis of things like why people leave, how many kids are forced into or choose Running Start because they can't get the high school classes they want/need, etc.

messy
Ouch, thanks for this but next time, please cite the source. It sounds like the district but that would be helpful.

I'm going to have a thread about the SB meeting on Wednesday where this was briefly discussed but while the Superintendent did try to put a good face on it, he was clearly not happy. I think this may have bigger impacts and it's frustrating that the district can be so far off their projections.
Anonymous said…
@FNH, based on the district staffing adjustments, the 535 reported at Meany seems off. They are not on the list of schools to add or reduce staff so that means their enrollment should be close to their projections.

-CD Parent
Here's that link for staffing adjustments.

http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=13110333
kellie said…
@ FNH,

A 2% variance would be very good if we were discussing long term projections. For example if you were comparing the 2017 actual enrollment number to the 2012 projected enrollment number for 2017, then the 2% variation would be very close.

However, what is being measured here is the enrollment projection over three months, based on actual enrolled students. In this case the 2% variation is extremely large.

For a sense of scope, there has never been variation of this size in the last 20 years, either by percentage or by whole number, despite substantial change in Seattle.
Anonymous said…
I just don't understand how Garfield is going to lose 1 FTE, my child says there's no space for a needle in her classes. And those portables? Not ready yet. Classes are held in the library, etc.

-Garmama
Garmama, well you answered one question I asked the district. A couple of Board meetings back, they said they wanted to install 10 portables but had not yet been able to do so. I ask, "Where?" Apparently Garfield is one of them.
Anonymous said…
The portables are already in the parking lot, they are just not being used, apparently not "ready"

-Garmama
Anonymous said…
@Kellie--that's why I think the management of estimated enrollment and waitlists is Fishy. I think they manipulated the process to save jobs downtown. Shame on them.

Fix AL
One of the ten portables is for Green Lake. It's scheduled to be put in place tomorrow. They had to schedule a crane to lift it in. It was suppose to be put in a year ago, but was delayed over and over.
Anonymous said…
CD Parent, I agree. But I looked at my notes and that is what I wrote down. Surprised not to see Meany on the list getting a staff bump.

kellie, perhaps you're right. I don't have a historical perspective for comparing projections, and to me a 2% variance over the summer does not seem large for a dynamic city such as Seattle. Especially one in which the cost of living is reportedly forcing many families to leave for cheaper housing.

Garfield portables are next to the field behind the school. I was also surprised to see Garfield on the list of schools losing staff, but they were evidently prepared for Garfield's population swell, hence the portables.

Another interesting note from the Meany meeting: The principal's request for gym bleachers ran against permitting requirements linking the number of seats to the number of parking spaces. Meany of course has no room for a parking lot, so bleachers are on hold for now. This is one of those instances where I support the spirit of the law but good grief, even gym bleachers?

FNH

Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jet City mom said…
They installed a portable at Ballard over the summer, how long did they have to wait.
Anonymous said…
So what reason do they give now for not moving waitlists based on capacity this summer, now that we can see it's not preventing teacher adjustments?

-HS Parent
Eric B said…
HS Parent, 10:1 says that the explanation will be that the board forced waitlist moves in the July 5 board meeting, which threw things into disarray and messed everything up. If they hadn't done that, no teacher adjustments.

I hope I'm wrong.
Anonymous said…
I should have thought of that Eric B. Even though the forced moves don't mimic the list of adjustments.

-HS Parent
So the Times has a story about the incorrect enrollment numbers - http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/seattle-schools-enrollment-lower-than-expected-18-schools-will-lose-staff/

I think the Superintendent makes light of the issue of charter schools because most are high schools and the district may not care, at this point, if they lose some high school kids. While the charter movement is fairly slow at this point, when the pace picks up, the district will care.

And, given there appears to be some staffers working with charter schools internally, it could even be worse.
Another NW said…

Lets all hope they hire well for this job posted: Enrollment Planning Analyst

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/seattleschools/jobs/1737405/enrollment-planning-analyst-1-0-fte?keywords=enrollment&pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs
Anonymous said…
Planning meeting for Lincoln scheduled Oct. 3, 6:30-8:00, at HIMS (announcement addressed to north end families).

...Boundaries for Lincoln have not yet been finalized, but work is underway to "build an innovation high school."

Weren't parents previously told it would be a traditional high school? Google other "innovation" schools and it could mean anything but traditional. This is not an option school, but a neighborhood school. Many students will be on a traditional college prep pathway, and most likely will want to continue that pathway, not have their plans disrupted so SPS can experiment with some new program that they summarily let languish.

If others have more optimism and insight into what is planned, please share.

-very wary
Anonymous said…
@ very wary, I'm also wary. Not to mention the possibility that Lincoln becomes an HCC pathway, which will mean high demand for AP/IB classes--which don't seem to be a fit with the "innovation" school idea...
Anonymous said…
And yet, some of what they describe (video linked on the that that shall not be named blog) - deeper learning, individual investigations, and the importance of both oral and written communication - is how they sold IB. And how has that been supported by the district? Not to mention every student in the video seems to have laptop.

-very wary
Anonymous said…
As far as "Innovation high school" language, I have heard of Lincoln becoming a site for a dual language immersion program pathway high school. I believe a dual language program task force/committee & made that recommendation.https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/International%20Education/DLI_TaskForce/Intl-DLI_Task_Force_Recommendations_2016.08.10.pdf

@ anonymous 10:19AM-- Thus far I have heard nothing from the administration or board about Lincoln becoming an HCC pathway. It seems to be complete speculation between HCC parents, who as far as I can tell, have not been actively advocating for a north end pathway. In contrast, I don't think there is an active HCC program committee. There have been several vacant parent seats they have not filled in recent years. There seems to be no leadership.
-HG
Anonymous said…
Both Director Burke and Flip Herndon have both said they thought HCC would need to be split out of Garfield and placed into Lincoln, director Burke at one of his Lincoln planning meetings, Herndon at a meeting at Ballard high school. It's not speculation. It might not happen, especially if they just blow up the pathways, but that is where people are getting their ideas, I am guessing.

-sleeper
Another NW, ha!

On Lincoln, this is where I would push the issue of HCC. Ask staff how they can keep this "planning" up for a program that is adrift. It's bullshit.
Anonymous said…
Can we please find a superintendent who will be clear and transparent about plans for advanced learning, HCC and ideas to close the achievement gap by actually helping struggling students?

Vision Please
Anonymous said…
@sleeper-- Plans for Lincoln thus far (see HCC blog) seem to be a "project learning based" non-AP course neighborhood school and dual language program.

The district sent an email to HCC parents & will be asking for feedback this week. I suggest HCC parents advocate for the HCC north end pathway to be either Roosevelt or Ballard. Both schools already offer an array of AP courses. However, they would need to add lots of sections (for easy scheduling) to be on par with Garfield. It would likely need to be one school, not both, to ensure enough students to make schedules easy.

No idea will be 100% popular. However, it seems to me that there are other plans for Lincoln. In addition, it seems more intuitive that expanding sections at an established, north end, familiar, existing school in their neighborhood already offering AP courses might be idea parents will prefer.
- a parent
Anonymous said…
I cannot imagine how small the zones around Ballard and Roosevelt would need to be to accommodate an HCC pathway. I also remember what happened when the board briefly placed the HCC NE middle school cohort at Eckstein- howls. The FRL rate would be so low, and neighborhood families couldn't stand losing their place in a desirable school(this bothers people less when the school is new/undesirable). No way. Plus the district likes to seed new schools with an HCC cohort- higher achieving, engaged families who will start the booster clubs, etc, and draw other families to the school. They seem to like this formula so much I'd be surprised if they changed it, unless it was to entirely rid themselves of the HC pathway at high school. I agree the planning principal is not a great fit for a school that staff and board have both said (no, never in writing, because then you can be held to it) they intend to place HC students, who disproportionately need advanced work and classes, at. And I agree for all the reasons mentioned on the app blog that project based learning is extremely problematic at the high school level, and I would not want to subject my children to the SPS version of it. We tried it in elementary school, and it was a really negative experience, for reasons that are unlikely to be improved in high school. But the planning and now principal for RESMS also has been on record as disliking separate classes and acceleration, and that didn't stop the district from placing HCC there (and to be fair that appears to be going well). They may not be crafting the HC pathway we would like at Lincoln, but that does not mean they are not crafting an HC pathway there.

-sleeper
Anonymous said…
@parent, not gonna happen, for the reasons sleeper detailed. It goes against the district MO. As families lose faith in pathway schools to serve their students academically, Ballard and Roosevelt may by default become the best schools for advanced students. They may be the only schools willing and able to offer enough sections of AP courses (and perhaps won't openly express disdain for the students they are serving).

Energy would best be spent advocating for a clear academic pathway for those wanting to continue with advanced/AP coursework - either those split from BHS and RHS, or those not wanting to be forced into a PBL program. Go to the Lincoln planning meeting!

realist
Anonymous said…
@Realist & Sleeper-- Well maybe so...but....if we shoot down the idea before it is even heard it is guaranteed not to happen. I suggest parents at least start with an idea they think would be best and makes sense. Roosevelt or Ballard expanding AP intentionally might be an attractive option to the district from an economic perspective. We have no idea.I also agree there may be all sorts of issues, including pulling enough students into Lincoln, boundaries etc. But is good to talk about ideas. It seems if they are already proposing a project based learning, dual language etc focus, they have alreayd made the decision it will not offer HCC pathway AP classes. In addition, Garfield will still be offering AP & lots of sections for easy scheduling to south end & w seattle students. If the north end does not offer same (or add enough sections to either Ballard or Roosevelt) , will not be equitable. If they make Ingraham & IB the north end pathway is another option, but IB not same for many kids as AP. This essentially gives north and south end very different pathway programs.
-a parent
A Parent, I would not be sure what Garfield is doing or planning for AL students. So lots of AP? I would not count on it.
Anonymous said…
@ a parent, turning Ballard or Roosevelt into the north end HCC pathway would mean kicking out a lot of neighborhood kids from those schools, redirecting them to Lincoln--not only further away, but new, unproven, and possibly lacking in AP opportunities. I don't see any possible chance that would happen...and frankly, it doesn't sound fair anyway, since the whole premise for doing it is that those schools offer more opportunities than Lincoln.

Garfield does not seem to be offering sufficient numbers of AP classes, and seems to be moving in the wrong direction. Splitting the pathway will further decrease demand for AP classes, so that trend seems likely to continue.

As to what would be attractive to SPS admin, I think we DO have some idea...and I don't think expanding AP at Ballard or RHS is it. Have you looked at the district's materials on this, such as the recent Power Point presentation that is so focused on HCC and equity and next steps re: AP class availability and numbers at each high school? All their research and questions suggest that's where they want to go. Increasing AP classes at ONE high school to accommodate HC students is not likely to fit with their hyper-focus on equity.

DisAPPointed
Anonymous said…
Do you think it is a coincidence that the Lincoln meeting is on the same day as the curriculum night for JAMS and Eckstein?

-Clueless
Anonymous said…
https://southseattleemerald.com/2017/09/25/when-does-rainier-beach-high-school-get-its-turn/

Something I have wondered too. If they want more kids to want to go to Rainier Beach, then they need to remodel it so it is attractive.

HP

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