Seattle Schools Community Forum

 From KIRO TV , a story about not one but two elementary school principals in the Northshore School District who were caught at a QFC high on cocaine in late April. And with a loaded gun. Wonder if the Northshore School Board is gonna sit on their hands and say nothing to their superintendent. Just like the Seattle School Board would do. The incident has now led to two elementary school principals in the Northshore School District – husband and wife, Michael and Meghan Griffin – to be placed on administrative leave. Michael Griffin is the principal at Sunrise Elementary, while Meghan Griffin is the principal at Moorlands Elementary. She wrote in her opening line, “Our recreational drug use began about a year ago while on vacation. It increased recently.” She went on to detail her husband’s worsening paranoia. “Michael and I went to see our primary care doctor on March 22, 2023. The doctor told us we needed to stop the use of cocaine and that at the next check-up, the doctor w

Update 2: From the Times on Saturday, Garfield High School and Nova High School are to reopen on Monday. Both in-person classes and all after school activities will resume on Monday,   they  wrote. Seattle Public Schools has contracted for additional security to be outside both schools all week, the principals wrote, and there will be additional support from the district’s safety and security team. Seattle police will also be starting a patrol emphasis in the area to provide a police presence,  they wrote. Garfield will host a meeting about safety and security for students, families and staff on Monday evening at 7 p.m. Regarding school building security, Jones said that in addition to increased police patrols, the district will send added private security to Garfield and Nova over the next week.  If anyone attends the Garfield High safety meeting on Monday, do let us know how it goes.   Superintendent Jones: “Folks need to know that we are seeking help or seeking partnership to reall

It appears that Janai Ray, a candidate for District 2, is out of that race. From Ballotpedia: The primary election was canceled. Incumbent Lisa Rivera Smith and Christina Posten advanced from the primary for Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors District 2. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Janai Ray (Nonpartisan) That leaves incumbent Lisa Rivera Smith and former principal Christina Posten as the only two candidates , hence the cancellation of the primary for this race. Also, I have been unable to contact Evan Briggs in District 3 nor Maryanne Wood in the District 6.  If you know how to reach them, please let me know. Neither appear to have campaign websites yet.    

  As usual, when I go to the district website to look at one thing, I find something else interesting. As I mentioned in a previous post, the district has not seen fit to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of high school musicians and athletes from Garfield and Roosevelt as well as Lincoln, either at their website or on Twitter. So I went to look at the agenda for the School Board meeting, next Wednesday, June 7th to see if there might be a mention.  And look what I found under the "Personnel Report."  First, we already knew that Keisha Scarlett, the Chief Academic Officer, was leaving. She finally got a superintendent gig. (And I wonder if they will replace her any time soon, given the district's financial woes.) Then I see the head of Early Learning, Heather Brown, is leaving (although not until October which seems odd). As well, the Early Learning Coordinator, Mary Fickes, is leaving September 1. But then I see James Bush, Executive Director for the office of

 I'm baffled.  As you may recall from this post and this post, both musicians and athletes from three high schools in SPS, Lincoln, Garfield and Roosevelt , did wonderful things over the last month.  Has Seattle Schools acknowledged this at their website? Nope. On Twitter? Nope. Their Facebook page only reflects the Lincoln High School accomplishments.  So does a team or band have to win it all to get attention from the district? Because in the past, when the Roosevelt or Garfield Jazz Band came in first or second at the Essentially Ellington Competition, the district would always acknowledge it. I'll be interested to see if the Superintendent and/or the Board make an acknowledgement of these schools at next week's Board meeting. 

 I ask because I have four cities on my weather app on my phone and Seattle is one of them. There looks to be a spate of hot days in a week or so. I also saw that school doesn't get out until June 30! So that's plenty of time for hot weather to build up before the official summer start in Seattle of July 5th.  Does your child's school have fans and/or AC? Any complaints from your student about the temps being too high in class?