Upcoming Events
There are a number of upcoming events and community engagement opportunities for you to know about.
CAPACITY PLANNING
If you visit the District's Capacity Planning web site, you can provide feedback on a form. A School Board work session on this topic is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Board Work Sessions are open meetings and the public is welcome to attend, but the Board does not take testimony at a work session.
BILINGUAL REVIEW
On September 25 Veronica Maria Gallardo, Seattle Public Schools' Bilingual Program Manager, will share the findings from the Bilingual Peer Review with the community. The meeting will be held at Aki Kurose Middle School, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria. An informative presentation will be followed by small group discussions to provide additional information and to seek feedback. Additional meetings will be scheduled during October. For more information, call the Bilingual Family Center at (206) 252-7750. Simultaneous interpretation will be available.
2010 CAPITAL LEVY
The District is planning the next capital levy. Come observe and provide input. Here's where and how you can get early warnings about the Facilities Department's next public relations fiasco. All meetings are from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Date - Location
Monday, October 6, 2008 - Broadview-Thomson K-8 Library, 13052 Greenwood Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98133
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - Meany Middle School Library, 301 21st Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98112
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - Mercer Middle School Library, 1600 South Columbian Way
Seattle, WA 98108
Friday, October 10, 2008 - West Seattle High School Library, 4075 Southwest Stevens
Seattle, WA 98116
Future meetings and updates on the Capital Program Levy Planning will be posted on Seattle Public School's Facilities Web Site.
ENGAGEMENT PROTOCOLS
Each element of the Strategic Plan will be required to meet set standards for community engagement as the project manager and the team make progress. A draft version of those Engagement Protocols is available for review and comment. Although the protocols are described as "engagement" they are actually only "informing". In short, they are totally inadequate. Please comment on them at the email address provided.
PERFORMANCE AUDIT
The Board Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on the Performance Audit from 6:00pm to 6:30pm on Thursday, October 9. I'm not entirely sure what this is about, but it is related somehow to administration and overhead. Public Hearings include opportunities for public testimony. Perhaps more information about this will become available in advance of the event. Come early and you can sit in on the Finance Committee meeting.
STRATEGIC BUDGET INITIATIVES
The Board will have a Work Session (no public testimony) on Strategic Budget Initiatives on Wednesday, October 15. Again, I'm not entirely sure what this is about, but this may be where the first blow will fall against the Southeast Initiative. The Work Session will be from 4:00 to 5:30 followed by the Board's regular legislative meeting at 6:00.
STUDENT ASSIGNMENT
The Board will hold a Workshop (I don't know how this is different from a Work Session) on Student Assignment on Wednesday, October 29 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. I don't know anything about this Workshop. Although it appears on the Board calendar, there is no reference to it on the Student Assignment web page
That's all I can see in the near-term future. I don't see any movement on the adoption of a high school math curriculum. I haven't seen much movement on the strategic plan (despite a stated requirement to keep the public informed on plan activities). I see a lot of dithering and very little action on pretty much every topic. Who knows? Maybe they will suddenly snap into action - of course, there won't be any time to discuss any of their decisions with the public at that point.
CAPACITY PLANNING
If you visit the District's Capacity Planning web site, you can provide feedback on a form. A School Board work session on this topic is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Board Work Sessions are open meetings and the public is welcome to attend, but the Board does not take testimony at a work session.
BILINGUAL REVIEW
On September 25 Veronica Maria Gallardo, Seattle Public Schools' Bilingual Program Manager, will share the findings from the Bilingual Peer Review with the community. The meeting will be held at Aki Kurose Middle School, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria. An informative presentation will be followed by small group discussions to provide additional information and to seek feedback. Additional meetings will be scheduled during October. For more information, call the Bilingual Family Center at (206) 252-7750. Simultaneous interpretation will be available.
2010 CAPITAL LEVY
The District is planning the next capital levy. Come observe and provide input. Here's where and how you can get early warnings about the Facilities Department's next public relations fiasco. All meetings are from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Date - Location
Monday, October 6, 2008 - Broadview-Thomson K-8 Library, 13052 Greenwood Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98133
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - Meany Middle School Library, 301 21st Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98112
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - Mercer Middle School Library, 1600 South Columbian Way
Seattle, WA 98108
Friday, October 10, 2008 - West Seattle High School Library, 4075 Southwest Stevens
Seattle, WA 98116
Future meetings and updates on the Capital Program Levy Planning will be posted on Seattle Public School's Facilities Web Site.
ENGAGEMENT PROTOCOLS
Each element of the Strategic Plan will be required to meet set standards for community engagement as the project manager and the team make progress. A draft version of those Engagement Protocols is available for review and comment. Although the protocols are described as "engagement" they are actually only "informing". In short, they are totally inadequate. Please comment on them at the email address provided.
PERFORMANCE AUDIT
The Board Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on the Performance Audit from 6:00pm to 6:30pm on Thursday, October 9. I'm not entirely sure what this is about, but it is related somehow to administration and overhead. Public Hearings include opportunities for public testimony. Perhaps more information about this will become available in advance of the event. Come early and you can sit in on the Finance Committee meeting.
STRATEGIC BUDGET INITIATIVES
The Board will have a Work Session (no public testimony) on Strategic Budget Initiatives on Wednesday, October 15. Again, I'm not entirely sure what this is about, but this may be where the first blow will fall against the Southeast Initiative. The Work Session will be from 4:00 to 5:30 followed by the Board's regular legislative meeting at 6:00.
STUDENT ASSIGNMENT
The Board will hold a Workshop (I don't know how this is different from a Work Session) on Student Assignment on Wednesday, October 29 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. I don't know anything about this Workshop. Although it appears on the Board calendar, there is no reference to it on the Student Assignment web page
That's all I can see in the near-term future. I don't see any movement on the adoption of a high school math curriculum. I haven't seen much movement on the strategic plan (despite a stated requirement to keep the public informed on plan activities). I see a lot of dithering and very little action on pretty much every topic. Who knows? Maybe they will suddenly snap into action - of course, there won't be any time to discuss any of their decisions with the public at that point.
Comments
The Board Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on the Performance Audit from 6:00pm to 6:30pm on Thursday, October 9. I'm not entirely sure what this is about, but it is related somehow to administration and overhead. Public Hearings include opportunities for public testimony. Perhaps more information about this will become available in advance of the event. Come early and you can sit in on the Finance Committee meeting."
Charlie, the state auditor's office, using a contractor, conducted a performance audit of administration and overhead costs sometime between OCtober 2007 and March 2008. This must be the meeting required by I-900 after the performance audit is published. These meetings are required to be held within 30 days of the date of the published report. You should ask about the performance audit of K-12 Travel that should have been presented to the district Board and management recently.
I want to thank you for all the info. And also say thanks for being smart and humble enough for saying I don't know.
To bad other leaders in our Schools don't do that.
I read the public engagement protocol draft online. The spectrum, developed by the International Association for Public Participation that is sited, has actions to"inform, consult, invovle, collaborate & empower". Yet the measures on the SPS list that they commit to instituting are only to inform. Where are the measures that will "consult, involve, collaborate & empower" the community?
I did e-mail a comment in.
However, this levy has huge implications for several reasons.
1)Maintenance used to get 3-4% of the overall budget. That used to keep them on-track. However, somewhere in the last 10-12 years, it was changed to 2%. Because of that change, the Maintenance department has fallen further and further behind. It is why things like landscaping and maintaining school grounds are so low on the list. That's why, for example, Eckstein's PTA paid to recarpet the library several years back because it was torn and filthy and we just gave up waiting for it to be replaced.
The list is endless and each of you can probably think of something you would like for your school. I know I can; I'd like for Roosevelt to have security cameras like every other comprehensive high school in this district. It sure would have cost less to do it when Roosevelt was being built (a la Ballard, Garfield, etc.) because to put them in now means tearing open walls to access the wiring. Being the biggest high school in Seattle and having a nice new building and yet no security cameras to guard this building and its inhabitants seems ridiculous but there it is.
But your need may be just as important to your community. How will this get prioritized? We have seen from BEX III that waiting for a long time and/or having a safety issue still isn't enough to put you at the top of the list.
2)at the recent meeting about capacity issues in the north end, the solutions offered nearly all involved needing money to enact them. If they use portables, money. If they reopen a closed building, money. If they decided to co-house a school with Summit, money. I honestly don't know where the money would come from except from this levy. Projects that might have been on this levy may get bumped because of this capacity need. The Board has already allowed the reserve to get drained down for BEX III.
If you can't go to a meeting, go to the Facilities website and see what the list contains and let the Board know what you think.
However, this levy has huge implications for several reasons.
1)Maintenance used to get 3-4% of the overall budget. That used to keep them on-track. However, somewhere in the last 10-12 years, it was changed to 2%. Because of that change, the Maintenance department has fallen further and further behind. It is why things like landscaping and maintaining school grounds are so low on the list. That's why, for example, Eckstein's PTA paid to recarpet the library several years back because it was torn and filthy and we just gave up waiting for it to be replaced.
The list is endless and each of you can probably think of something you would like for your school. I know I can; I'd like for Roosevelt to have security cameras like every other comprehensive high school in this district. It sure would have cost less to do it when Roosevelt was being built (a la Ballard, Garfield, etc.) because to put them in now means tearing open walls to access the wiring. Being the biggest high school in Seattle and having a nice new building and yet no security cameras to guard this building and its inhabitants seems ridiculous but there it is.
But your need may be just as important to your community. How will this get prioritized? We have seen from BEX III that waiting for a long time and/or having a safety issue still isn't enough to put you at the top of the list.
2)at the recent meeting about capacity issues in the north end, the solutions offered nearly all involved needing money to enact them. If they use portables, money. If they reopen a closed building, money. If they decided to co-house a school with Summit, money. I honestly don't know where the money would come from except from this levy. Projects that might have been on this levy may get bumped because of this capacity need. The Board has already allowed the reserve to get drained down for BEX III.
If you can't go to a meeting, go to the Facilities website and see what the list contains and let the Board know what you think.
However, this levy has huge implications for several reasons.
1)Maintenance used to get 3-4% of the overall budget. That used to keep them on-track. However, somewhere in the last 10-12 years, it was changed to 2%. Because of that change, the Maintenance department has fallen further and further behind. It is why things like landscaping and maintaining school grounds are so low on the list. That's why, for example, Eckstein's PTA paid to recarpet the library several years back because it was torn and filthy and we just gave up waiting for it to be replaced.
The list is endless and each of you can probably think of something you would like for your school. I know I can; I'd like for Roosevelt to have security cameras like every other comprehensive high school in this district. It sure would have cost less to do it when Roosevelt was being built (a la Ballard, Garfield, etc.) because to put them in now means tearing open walls to access the wiring. Being the biggest high school in Seattle and having a nice new building and yet no security cameras to guard this building and its inhabitants seems ridiculous but there it is.
But your need may be just as important to your community. How will this get prioritized? We have seen from BEX III that waiting for a long time and/or having a safety issue still isn't enough to put you at the top of the list.
2)at the recent meeting about capacity issues in the north end, the solutions offered nearly all involved needing money to enact them. If they use portables, money. If they reopen a closed building, money. If they decided to co-house a school with Summit, money. I honestly don't know where the money would come from except from this levy. Projects that might have been on this levy may get bumped because of this capacity need. The Board has already allowed the reserve to get drained down for BEX III.
If you can't go to a meeting, go to the Facilities website and see what the list contains and let the Board know what you think.