New Board Action Report

Have you noticed the new format of School Board Action Reports?

They have some new sections. Each Action Report now has a section for each of several basic bits of information. They are:

Date
From
Lead Staff
Strategic Theme/Focus Area
Title and brief description with introduction and action dates
Timeline for Implementation
Recommeded Motion
Issue
Best Practices
Research and Data Sources
Policy Implications
Fiscal Impact/Revenue Source
Community Engagement process
Conclusion/Recommendation
Attachments

This is TOTALLY COOL! We cannot make data-based decisions unless we bring the data to the decision point. If people are going to be held accountable for doing community engagement, then we need to document when and how it was done. These action reports are WAY better than what we had before. Congratulations to those who created the new format. Good job!!

Comments

Dan Dempsey said…
Charlie,

I agree Great Form -- now will it be followed?

I would love to see this filled out in regard to the Everyday Math adoption of May 2007.

Perhaps this can end some of the fraudulent practices.

Hopefully a wonderful step in the right direction.

Dan
9/14/07, 2:37 PM
Dan Dempsey said…
Charlie,

Now if the SPS would give some lead time on many of the issues rather than Introduction and Slam-Dunk Adoption 2 weeks later after ignoring public comments. This could really be an improvement.

It is the ignoring of relevant data that I find fraudulent. This outfit continues in this regard - watch the school board meetings. Things may be a bit better than under rogue Supt. Manhas but not much so far.

This could be a vast inprovement or just another smoke screen. Time will tell.

Dan
9/14/07, 3:39 PM
Charlie Mas said…
Dan, and like-minded others, I absolutely agree that documenting the data, research, best practices, and community engagement (or lack of them) doesn't guarantee that they will be used, but it does document their absence. You will note for a few of the items on the Board's agenda there either is no community engagement or really weak community engagement (along the lines of "our committee meetings on this topic have been open to the public"). I expect that people will be able to use the documented lack of community engagement (or data, or research) as part of their cogent and convincing arguments against the adoption of some action items.
9/14/07, 6:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

Seattle School Board Meeting, Wednesday, September 18,2024

Please let us know if you attend the rally before the meeting.  Seeing photos from Twitter; looks like a good crowd at the rally. The West Seattle Blog is there reporting.  I am going to attempt to live blog so you will see abbreviations, spelling/grammar errors, etc. I will clean it up but I think it is worth trying to do. I will be refreshing the page as I go.  I am sad to see that apparently President Liza Rankin is not even going to allow 10 people over the regular 20 to testify. Just five.  Also, right at the beginning, the Board has stuck in, after Board comments, a Progress Monitoring presentation. They could have put it at the end but they didn't. They think - in 45 minutes - they can do Superintendent comments, Board comments and this presentation. I doubt that public testimony will start on-time. Tone-deaf doesn't even cover it with Board leadership. To note, apparently the district scheduled the NE community meeting on closures on Rosh Hashanah which is October 2. I
Read more