Dr. Goodloe-Johnson's First 100 Days in Seattle
Dr. Goodloe-Johnson's "Entry Plan" has been posted on the Seattle Times site so you can read the full list of tasks she wants to accomplish during her first 100 days in Seattle.
Comment on or add to that list. Which tasks do you think are top priorities? What would you like her to read or study? And what kind of community interaction would be most meaningful and useful?
I'll collect the comments and then send them to the superintendent feedback e-mail address.
Comment on or add to that list. Which tasks do you think are top priorities? What would you like her to read or study? And what kind of community interaction would be most meaningful and useful?
I'll collect the comments and then send them to the superintendent feedback e-mail address.
Comments
Did you not see it, or are you only posting links to stuff on the Times website?
I definitely post links to PI and Times and Weekly and whatever sources I can find.
She might also asked to be briefed on the school closure issue which is going to be a big deal almost right from the moment she starts. What's the plan for new families at consolidated schools, who is handling it, district or individual schools? What role does the PTA have? If it is not handled correctly, there will be a lot of unhappy parents who will be in the news. Not a good way to start her tenure here. (About a year ago I sent Director Butler-Wall a list of suggestions that I culled from the web about transitions. I hope it got passed on to someone on staff.)
Although the District believed that they had merged King with T T Minor, most of the King students went to Madrona - which is MUCH closer for them. Madrona became overcrowded and saw class sizes balloon. The entire mess was totally unmanaged and a number of Madrona students left the school. The influx of students as a result of the closure was gasoline on the smoldering culture conflicts in the Madrona building.
There's a lot of work on that list. Two suggestions that come to mind:
1. She might be able to save herself a lot of time navigating the state & local politics by approaching an experienced local superintendent like Dr. Mike Riley of Bellevue.
2. As far as I can tell, the district has done little or no research on why parents choose private instead of public. I've heard from a couple of different sources that next year might be particularly bad -- e.g. I was told that some private schools have claimed that private middle school applications were up over 50% this year! (I have no idea if that data is valid, but anecdotally, I know many active public schools families that have decided to go private... more than I've ever heard of before.) I think a little research in this area will turn up some very clear deficiencies in the system that can and should be addressed.
On number two, when the last Community Conversations was held two weeks ago, Michael deBell was asked, as Board members always are, why so many school-aged students go private. And, as usual, he said they have no way of tracking kids once they leave the system. Did they move? Did they go private? And, of course, why? The district has these people's phone numbers. They could do a survey (I think it would be legal) and ask. Then they would have a good idea if someone moved, why they moved (people talk a lot about moving for schools but I never know if that's a reality) or did they change to a Seattle private school.
The other part about this is the de facto manner in which the district accepts this. Staff has reported to the Board, countless times, that the private school rate has held steady for the last 20 years. And? So? That means that they accept that we have a private school rate higher than the national average? I honestly believe the district could get at least 5%+ back if they had a good marketing campaign. I'm not saying spend a lot of money but we need to get people when they start school (more likely to stay) and we need to get parents to look harder at the public school system.
Of course the district has a responsibility to the students already enrolled trying to meet their academic needs. But every student represents dollars and more students bring more dollars into the system.
In regards to why people go private, I am guessing that there are many reasons, but I will tell you our story. When our son went to kindergarten we lived in the Central area, and our neighborhood school was Leschi, which at that time was a dismal choice (for us). We liked Montlake, Stevens and McGilvra, but had heard that it was almost impossible to get your student into these schools if you didn't live in the neighborhood. In fact that year Stevens filled all of their kindergarten seats with sib's and were not able to take even one new family! We felt forced to either move to a different part of the city or go private. Though it was a hardship for us, and against what we believed in we went private for two years, until we moved to the NE part of Seattle, and transferred into public school. This year we applied for our son to go to Eckstein, our neighborhood middle school (2 miles away), and he didn't get in. He is on the waitlist. We don't think that Summit, AS1 or Hamilton are good fits for our son, and can't comfortably afford private. So, we enrolled him at Kellogg MS in Shoreline, they had space for us and we are not even in their district. They have 690 kids, rival Ecksteins academics (test scores), have a fabulous band, full year science at all grade levels, honors classes in all 4 core subjects (self elected), , and every student gets an ibook laptop. We were very impressed, and are taking full advantage. While I would not like to see choice go away, I do think that families need some type of predictability. We will probably have to stay in Shoreline for High school too. One of the reasons we chose this neihborhood was so our son could go to Eckstein and Roosevelt. We didn't get into Eckstein, and it looks like we won't be able to get into Roosevelt either. We live 2.18 miles away from Roosevelt, but according to enrollment services this year, you had to live within 1.81 miles of the building to get in. Our only other neighborhood HS is Hale, and they don't have a great band program (very important to my son), and no AP classes. So off to Shoreline we go, or private perhaps. Either way, Seattle has lost us. Deidre
Deidre
But the rub? The district has cut the IB funding at Ingraham (not sure by how much) to fund the new IB program at Sealth. Did Ingraham know this was going to happen so they could plan around it? No. If you duplicate a program, should that mean you cut the funding to the original program? I wish the district had a plan.
As a mom of young elementary, I only hear the stories. I've heard some scary/intimidating ones, but I've also heard very positive stories. Most of the positive stories come from parents of very social children. I know families who Eckstein fits for 1 of their children and not the other.
I know a number of families who went private for elementary school, not because they were unhappy with their neighborhood schools, but because they didn't want to worry about the Middle school issue because of stories they'd heard, and thus prefer the K-8 model. I plan to evaluate Eckstein for each of my 3 children when the time comes (we live .93 miles away, so I'm not worried about not getting in that one). I'm personally hoping there is change and improvement before then. I don't even want to think about the Roosevelt issue yet (if we can't get into a high school that we live 2 miles away from, there is an issue somewhere).
Are you sure that the funds are being cut for the IB program at Ingraham HS? Where did you hear this?
I spoke with a school board member about it yesterday, and she assured me that the IB program would remain funded, and that the district was committed to it's success. In fact she said they were so pleased that they are duplicating it at Sealth. She referred to it as the districts "shining star".
I'm concerned as this may be our only option for a Seattle HS.
Deidre
Deidre
I understand that last year this school had an excess of $150K and does have enough to continue funding IB within its school budget, as originally planned.
Not sure where all the mixed messages are coming from, but wanted to reassure people that this is a successful program with ongoing support.
My own daughter is in this program and I am delighted that it is being replicated at Sealth.