Addressing Seattle Public Schools Concerns

On the Seattle School Board home page, there is now a Comments or Concerns link which displays a flow chart that includes contact information and guidelines about who to contact to "get help" with a concern.

According to the flow chart, if you have a classroom concern and have already spoken with both the teacher and the principal about your concern without resolution, you should contact one of the school supervisors:
  • Elementary Schools
    Michelle Corker-Curry..........252-0055
    Gloria Mitchell..................252-0399
    Patrick Johnson.................252-0397
    Pat Sander.......................252-0393

  • Middle Schools
    Ruth Medsker....................252-0398

  • High Schools
    Louis Martinez...................252-0395

A link to the Complaint Form is also provided from this page.

So everybody who has been unsuccessful in getting a serious concern about a teacher (When a Teacher Should Stop Teaching and A District without Spectrum?), a principal (Leadership in Seattle Public Schools) or other important issues that affect children resolved, try to work through official district channels and then report back on what happens.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lous Martinez is gone. Phil Brockman is now the High School Director.
Beth Bakeman said…
Then who is the principal at Ballard High School?

And when/why did the change happen?
Anonymous said…
Interesting. I see that Michelle Corker-Curry, who had at one time been overseeing highly capable/bilingual/special ed and then was deputy to the CAO, is now the elementary contact? That is an interesting change for her or maybe it's part of the deputy position.

I'm surprised this complaint/concern link isn't on the For Families page as well.

The district, when it redid the website, took all names off of the contact list and only lists departments. Not very handy if you want to speak to someone specifically. I e-mailed about this and the answer was...nothing. So if you just wanted to go to the list and see who works where, you wouldn't be able to do so.
Charlie Mas said…
I'm NOT surprised that the complaint information isn't on the For Families web pages.

The For Families pages have not been updated since Caprice Hollins was assigned responsibiility for family engagement. The pages still show Adie Simmons as the contact person.

I guess this is what you can expect when the person in charge of family engagement regards family engagement as a sign of White Privilege.
Anonymous said…
I have been very disappointed by Ms Hollins. Very short sighted.
Obviously very educated, from a family that values education as do many minority families in the district.
But what has she done besides run workshops for staff? Anything measurable?

There are clear standards that need to be in place for students to do well- parent/guardian involvement is #1- IMO.
What has been done to facilitate that?

District wide I don't think communication has improved overall in the 8 years we have had kids in the district.

while just like Seattle, Portland is finding that families are looking outside the city for affordable housing and neighborhood schools,the school district enrolls more children than Seattle- more than 85% of Portlands students attend public schools.

Real emphasis on communication can't be overlooked
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/
site/c.kjJXJ5MPIwE/b.1591967/k.26C0/
Portland_school_board_remains_resultsdriven.htm

Communication among board members was just as important as communication with the community. In 2004, during the superintendent recruitment, Brim-Edwards and Poe spent hours each day touching base with their colleagues, most of them new to the board. The board met with 70 community groups to hear what they wanted in a new superintendent. Then, working with a non-traditional recruiting firm, the board brought in a new superintendent, Vicki Phillips, who had a successful track record in school reform.

Once Phillips was in place, board members worked hard at making sure they respected the superintendent’s day-to-day management responsibilities, while the board focused on overall policy direction. “She’s the instructional leader,” says Brim-Edwards, “and the board’s role is evolving back to where it should be.”

“There used to be personal animosity among board members that was playing out publicly,” says parent Otto Schell, a state PTA vice-president. “Now the board is much better, and we have a superintendent broadly supported by the community.”

The problem with moving people around so much- is that critical information falls in the cracks.
Continuity is lost, information is lost & parents give up and go away.

I do believe that there are good intentions on the part of many in the district- but you know what they say about "good intentions".
Anonymous said…
Erm...how hard can it be to keep a directory of your top leaders accurate on the web?

Who is on first and who is doing what? And if the district can't keep something this simple straight, how can they be trusted to get the important things right?
Anonymous said…
Michele Corker Curry has only 2 or 3 elementary schools, I think - and she is still the deputy. Maybe she has a few elementary schools so she can stay in touch with the challenges they have and with what the director role requires; maybe it's because there are too many schools for the 3 directors; maybe it's because there are specific issues at those 2-3 schools. I think Carla is assigned a few elementaries, too.
Anonymous said…
Kim (AP) is the acting principal at Ballard while Phil is the interim HS director. Very, very recent development (i,e, this week). MCC is the Assistant CAO, not directly in charge of any elementary schools.

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