Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update The Seattle Times is not happy with D4 candidate, Laura Marie Rivera. Her campaign took an excerpt from their endorsement editorial for D4 and used it in a flyer. The Times took exception because the reference makes it sound like they endorsed her and they didn't.   In endorsing Mizrahi before the primary, we noted: “He has four opponents. Among them, Laura Marie Rivera is the strongest, and she clearly has a heart for kids. But her views on fiscal stewardship are not grounded in reality.” Rivera’s campaign extracted the middle sentence, slapped it onto a campaign flyer and printed the newspaper’s name underneath. It conveniently elided the remark about her lack of practicality on money matters and implied, inaccurately, that The Times has endorsed her candidacy. Is this wordsmithing illegal? No. Is it disingenuous? Less-than-forthright? Absolutely. Her political consultant apologized and complained, somewhat absurdly, that since Rivera  did so poorly  in the prima...

Wednesday, August 13th at Denny International Middle School from 6:30-8:00 pm. This is for the Native American community. Thursday, August 14th at Byrd Barr Place, 722 18th Avenue from 6:30-8:00 pm. This is for the Black community.  The District says: While the sessions will focus on communities we have not yet heard from, as with all Seattle Public School events,  anyone is welcome to attend. Food will be provided at in-person sessions. ASL interpretation will be available. 

Update: On the Ad Hoc Budget Committee meeting: - The members want to tie enrollment numbers to the budget (which goes without saying but it is very important). - Warth talked about asking other districts about their public engagement on budgeting.  - It appears that they will only meet once a month. - The biggest news - which I apologize for not putting in the original post - is this from Director Clark: I'm under doctor's orders to work remotely until I get an approval for in-person work. I am hoping to be cleared after that. Finally. She can keep her health issues private but she should have said this publicly earlier.  end of update Hey Kids, I'm back...from Seattle. Hilariously, I went to the first meeting of  the newly-formed Ad Hoc Committee on Budget. I was the only one there in person (save the Board administrator and doer of ALL that work, Julia Warth). I had thought maybe a couple of the Board directors would be there.  Director Sarah Clark is chair with m...

From The Seattle Times: (I’m doing this on my phone so a bit wonky.) https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-school-board-primary-whos-ahead-in-early-count/ Two races saw clear and dominant front runners while another is neck and neck. D2 is the close race between Director Sarah Clark and challenger, Kathleen Smith. Clark got 43.6% of the vote and Smith received 44.8. Eric Feeny received 11.1% of the vote. How Clark and Smith might split his 11% is anyone’s guess.  I eyeballed the vote count and this was the race with the most votes at about 16k.  In D4, incumbent Joe Mizrahi received 67.4% of the vote while second place went to Laura Marie Rivera at 18.4%. This was the race with the smallest vote count at 11k. In D5 , Vivian Song got a big 72.3% of the vote while second place went to Janis White at 16.4%. This race had about 14k votes.  I’m think the amount for each race might be based on the size of the director district. I do recall when they redrew...

The Board has created a new Ad Hoc Committee on the Budget and it will have its first meeting this Thursday, August 7th, in the Board conference room from 1:30-2:30pm. The Chair is Director Sarah Clark with Members Joe Mizrahi and Liza Rankin.  I would guess from that short timeframe, the time is going to be used to create an outline of the work. There is no agenda available yet.  The New York Times had a timely article this morning: I t’s Time for That Often-Dreaded Task: Buying Back-to-School Supplies Parents of children in kindergarten through high school are spending an average of $144, and that’s coming as families are feeling financial stress. That seems like a lot of money on top of maybe a new backpack, lunchbox, shoes, and clothes.  “I dread it,” said Rachael Rayes, a speech therapist and mother of two boys in Kenner, La., who wrote about school supply  shopping  on the New Orleans Mom website. “I hate it more than matching socks.” And teachers? Accord...

 From The NY Times (gifted article):  Democrats Disagree (Again). This Time, It’s About School Vouchers. A moderate group that has tried to rally Democrats around school choice faces divisions over private-school vouchers. Know who that "moderate group" is? DFER, Democrats for Education Reform, which I thought had mostly gone away.  D.F.E.R. has prominent allies, including Arne Duncan, Mr. Obama’s former secretary of education, who is working for the group as a consultant. But its new stance in favor of vouchers is provocative within the party — so much so that two former leaders of the organization have quit and are creating a rival group that will oppose vouchers, while supporting other forms of school choice. Mr. Trump’s private-school choice program is funded by a federal tax credit, and will offer families of most income levels scholarships that can be used for private-school tuition, tutoring or other education expenses. Arne Duncan, again? Nope. Drump wants to hel...