Seattle Schools Community Forum

I posted this in a thread elsewhere but it may bear a more public notice. The agenda for the next Board meeting this Wednesday the 4th has been posted. Apparently it did have an item about bell times but it was removed ( and will reappear at another date this month). Normally, those who sign up to speak to either newly introduced items or action items get first preference on the list. But since there is currently only 1 item on the action list and 1 on the introductory list, well, you will definitely be able to speak on any subject and likely make the list of speakers. (They start taking e-mails/phone calls at 8 a.m.) I'm wondering, given the large number of posts about the APP elementary split (uniforms, bell times, name changes) if many APP parents will fill the list to let the Board know how they feel. With the bell times item being removed from the list unless it reappears between Monday morning and Wednesday night's meeting, then it will not be voted on until after the

The NY Times Sunday edition has a story about private school parents struggling with what to do for the coming school year. Deposit checks are late across the country as parents, who have cut out frills for their child's education, now worry about a possible job loss. Why this title? From the article: "Later, in an e-mail message, the therapist wrote that the family had decided to, as she put it, “commit financial suicide.”' Wow. To think that making the decision to put your child into private school puts you at the edge of financial disaster is very compelling. From the article: " This year’s hand-wringing over tuition might be dismissed as the latest hardship for the patrician class, which, like everyone else, can simply educate its young in the public system. But of the more than three million families with at least one child in private school, according to the 2005 census, almost two million of them have a household income of less than $100,000. According to

Here's the kind of news that I want to hear about from our district. It's about a new (and seemingly flourishing) program in sports medicine at 3 SPS high schools. From the PI story: "Ballard's sports medicine program and similar ones at Chief Sealth and West Seattle high schools are still in the early stages, but district officials hope to build a two-year track that will prepare students for sports medicine careers by studying subjects such as anatomy, medical terminology and injury prevention. Students can earn both high school and college credit for the courses, as well as pick up professional certifications and training in first aid, CPR and HIV/AIDS prevention. Real-world experiences like Palmesano is getting are also an important part of the curriculum, said Roxanne Trees, a Seattle Public Schools career and technical education specialist who is helping develop the district's sports medicine program." This is the kind of program that kids who lik

From the PI: "Be prepared for lightning bolts and bared fangs as teens square off to defend their literary faves March 21 in "The Great Debate: Harry Potter vs. Twilight." Co-sponsored by Seattle Public Library and TEAM READ, the free event is intended to settle (or not) the burning issue of which mega-selling fantasy series reigns supreme. As teen services librarian Jennifer Bisson put it, "Fans of the series should come watch some of Seattle's best and bright youth in a 'cage match' debate over which series is truly the best!" The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the central library's Microsoft Auditorium. Information: goto.seattlepi.com/r1992 ." Admission is free and snacks will be provided. Oh please...it's Harry Potter. Flame on.

So I watched Obama's speech and listened for what he might say on education. He had a fair amount to say. In his speech: He said there would be a $2500 college tuition tax credit. Great but here's this from MSN's Smart Money: "The Obamas -- who were still saddled with student loans well into their 30s -- are also likely to take a stab at whittling down college debt. Obama wants to more than double the $1,800-a-year tax credit for college tuition and fees, which would apply to families making up to about $115,000 a year. But "things are never as simple as they seem," notes Lauren Asher, the vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success . In the past, for-profit colleges have often either raised tuition or decreased their own student aid to offset such gains in federal aid. For now, most college funding advisers are assuming that strapped parents won't see much relief." Still, not everyone goes to a for-profit college so it may hel

Per a request, a thread of its own. (I don't think I'll start a separate thread for APP PCP time as Andrew S. has created a new Seattle APP Elementary School Discussion Blog, located at http://discussapp.blogspot.com/ . The only reason is just because it is discussion related to only one school. However, if enough people want it, I'll put it in later today.) (Don't we love snow days?!)

I am writing a separate post on the discussion about high school bell times from yesterday's meeting of the Board's Curriculum and Instruction Committee. First, Sherry asked Carla Santorno about the academic impacts as none were stated when this issue was brought up at the last Board meeting. Both Sherry and Harium seemed to think that just discussing it from an operations viewpoint was lacking. Carla basically said that this change would not affect academics one way or the other. (Interestingly, Carla was asked to present something at the next Board meeting about the academic use of a later start time. If she said there was none in this particular option being presented, I'll be interested to see what she says at the meeting.) Second, the issue of why some K-8s/high schools were not on the list was brought up. Michael Tolley, the high school director, said he wasn't sure why that happened for K-8s but that Nova and Center School were left off the list because the

I attended this afternoon's committee meeting for the Board's Curriculum & Instruction Policy Committee. The attendees were chair, Director Martin-Morris, Director Carr and Director Chow (who was late because Gary Locke is to be Commerce Secretary for the Obama administration and, as Cheryl put it, they needed a Chinese-American to talk to at KOMO) as well as High School Director, Michael Tolley, and CAO, Carla Santorno. The topics to be discussed were changes to the grading policy, promotion/non-promotion and bell times for middle/high schools. As usual, there was a lot of paperwork passed out. There was: a memo from Carla about the Steering Committee for High School Reform; Proposal to Changes to School Board Policies D46.01 andC15.02 (grading) the survey about these changes a draft of changes to the Board policies (which came from staff) 3 years worth of AP and IB information for the high schools that have it (very interesting but I haven't read it all (FYI, I err

From the Seattle Council PTA: HOW UP, noon on the Capitol steps in Olympia, THIS Thursday, Feb. 26. Our children are the future, and they need a financial commitment. Need a ride? If you haven’t signed up yet for the Seattle Council bus, email bus@SeattleCouncilPTSA.org ASAP with your name and school. We can also arrange some last minute car pools if needed. Rally bus check in 9:20 a.m. at the Calvary Christian Assembly, 6801 Roosevelt Way NE. Bus leaves promptly at 9:30 a.m. The bus will depart Olympia at 1:30 p.m. sharp and will return to Calvary Christian Assembly around 2:45 p.m. Bring a sack lunch and snacks. We will be making signs on the bus. WEAR BLUE and dress for the weather; most events are outside. Go virtually … Can’t attend the rally on Feb. 26? Send an email to your legislators via capwiz (they’ll know it’s from the PTA). Starting Feb. 25 and continuing through Feb. 26 all PTA members should visit http://capwiz.com/npta2/wa/home/

Eduwonk.com is hosting a contest to re-name No Child Left Behind. The contest was sparked by a comment from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that the act needs to be "re-branded." Yesterday's NY Times provides some additional background. There are some good ones on Eduwonk--both funny and sincere. (Mental Asset Recovery Plan (MARP) was suggested by Eduwonk reader John P.)

Let me see if I can keep all this straight. We have a number of balls in the air right now and I want to have a sense of what's going on with a diverse set of issues. Please remind me of anything I've left out. 1) Follow up and fall out from Capacity Management Plan A) Design Teams are meeting but their authority - relative to the principal's authority - remains unclear. In the absence of a clear sense of their authority, their purpose remains unclear. There's a rising concern that they have neither. B) Open Enrollment has been delayed and the School Fair has been cancelled. C) There is supposed to be a second phase of Capacity Management for high schools. But no one is talking about it, when it will start, or how it will work. D) The Capacity Management Plan was flawed in a number of ways, but there is no sign that anyone in the District leadership is interested in fixing those flaws. 2) Work on the new Student Assignment Plan continues. A) It has supposedly completed

This article , "Cloud hangs over 'sunshine' law" was in today's Times. Apparently the state legislature is considering a number of bills to limit access to public records because of the belief that a few people (inmates and a few public citizens) abuse the right. Some of the bills like the ones shielding disclosure of public employees birth dates and addresses seem fair to me. There is also the issue of the cost of having an employee go through a document and redact items. However, if you start charging more (one bill has the cost go from 15 cents a page to 25 cents a page) or allow the government to charge you for an entire document (even if you only want one page), then it seems to be a problem. Another bill would allow agencies to get a court injunction against people who make record requests with the intent of "annoying, tormenting or terrorizing" government employees. Those terms would have to be spelled out precisely or any government empl

From the district website: Curriculum & Instruction Policy Committee Meeting February 23, 2009 4:30 - 6:00 pm AGENDA 1. Grading Policy 2. Promotion/Non-Promotion Policy 3. Transportation/Bell Times Committee meetings do not include public input but you can hear how issues are presented to the Board by staff and glean some insight into Board feelings by the questions they ask. I e-mailed the Board and 4 (count 'em four) members wrote back. (I expressed my annoyance that every decision seems money-driven and if ever there was an academic benefit to be had, it's a later start for middle/high school and 15 minutes wasn't it). They seem to be going on what staff is saying is possible (they must have an hour and 15 minute turnaround). I felt their responses were thoughtful. Director Carr indicated that she would be asking some questions. I wrote back and told her of the discussions here. I mentioned that some here have asked about the multiple stops and might there n

Each year the Superintendent makes a number of program placement decisions. They start with proposals which are then brought to the Program Placement Committee and discussed. The Committee makes a recommendation to the Superintendent, and the Superintendent then makes a decision. These decisions are commonly reported to the Board, but the Board does not vote on them. The usual timeline requires the proposals to be submitted by November 1, the Committee discussions to be done by mid-December, and the Superintendent's decision by late December. This year, with the Capacity Management Plan in action, the timeline for Program Placement decisions was disrupted. I have an email from Courtney Cameron (nee Jones), the assistant to the CAO who acts as program placement coordinator, in which she says that the program placement decisions would be made in January. I submitted a proposal for the creation of a Spectrum program at Arbor Heights Elementary. There is no Spectrum program, nor any AL

I'm beginning to see a disturbing trend from the District leadership - big promises made in public with lots of fanfare that are unfulfilled in private without any notice. This is consistent with the District's historic record, but now we have all new performers giving us the same act. It doesn't seem to matter who is the Superintendent or on the Board or serving in the "C" level positions in academics or operations, it is the same old stuff as ever. The Superintendent promises accountability but doesn't deliver. Whom do we hold accountable for that? There are lots of big promises in the Strategic Plan, but the follow through has been lacking. The work deadlines are missed and no one talks about it. The promised community engagement and communications is totally absent, but that is swept under the rug as well. There were big promises made with the Capacity Management Plan around the Design Teams, but the follow through has been lacking. They were billed as sup

I just came across the Congressional Research Service breakdown of stimulus dollars by district. You can link to it here . Seattle shows up on page 256. It's late and I'm not a budget guru, but from the report it looks like our district could receive a little over $25 million this year (hey, isn't that our shortfall?), and another $13 million in 2010, split between Title I, construction and IDEA. But I'm not sure of the role the state plays in doling out dollars to districts, and the report intro says the figures are estimated grants. Regardless, it feels like a bit of good news.

Lowell parents today received an email from our principal letting us know that the design teams are busily working on various issues. One thing I found interesting was that the email indicated that according to her email, "The teams are working on uniting the schools and actually don’t have the power to determine program issues, curricular issues, and staffing. Those issues are made at the building level in conjunction with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) provisions. Each Building Leadership Team makes those decisions based on staff input." I don't have strong feelings about this one way or the other, but I didn't actually know that there was a Building Leadership Team or what its role might be. How are the design teams going for others? Anyone have information about Building Leadership Teams? (I admit freely that I am a first-grade parent and might simply be aware of SPS structures that others know well).

The Enrollment Guides for the 2009-2010 school year are now available online here . I couldn't help noticing that the Elementary Enrollment Guide has a rather full description of the new program at Jane Addams K-8. I also notice that Jane Addams will have a Spectrum program. That makes it the third Spectrum site in the Northeast Cluster. There are no elementary Spectrum sites in the West Seattle-South cluster. Nor are there any ALO's in the West Seattle-South cluster. Nor are there any ALOs in the West Seattle- North cluster. Apparently the District doesn't believe they have to serve any advanced learners in West Seattle-South and only Spectrum students anywhere in West Seattle. There will be a new ALO at Graham Hill in the Southeast cluster, along with the Spectrum program at Wing Luke. In the South cluster there is an ALO at Dearborn Park along with the Spectrum program at John Muir. West Seattle-North has Spectrum at Lafayette and the District continues to pretend that t

Last year the State of Washington re-wrote the state Math Standards and the Grade Level Expectations. You may remember that the State first released the revised standards and performance expectations for grades K through 8 (approved by the State Board of Education on April 28, 2008) and then, after some delay, the revised standards and expectations for high school on July 30. Seattle Public Schools delayed the adoption of high school math materials for the release of the new state standards. This delay was entirely unnecessary and now, over six months later, we still don't have a material adoption decision. But it's actually worse than that. Seattle Public Schools has yet to adopt a revised math curriculum. That's curriculum - not materials. Let's be very clear about this. The curriculum is the set of knowledge and skills that the teachers are supposed to teach and the students are supposed to learn. For example, in Grade 3, students are expected to be able to round who

So we find out that Michael Phelps does it. Heck, Rick Steves, the travel guru, does it as well. Statistics show just under a third of high school teens try/use pot in a year (about 18% in a month). Alcohol use is much higher at about 66% in the last year and 44% in the last month. When the Michael Phelps story came out, I wasn't particularly shocked in that he's very young and has been in a largely sheltered life of being an athlete. (Not that athletes aren't around drugs but if you are that high a caliber of athlete, you won't have time or desire to do drugs.) But just like our ol' pal Alex Rodriguez who recently admitted to taking some kind of performance-enhancing drug (but he says he just doesn't know what it was or what it did), it's hard to believe that Michael Phelps (when he was training) would put something in his body that might affect his abilities as an athlete. (C'mon A-Rod, someone gives you something to ingest and you have no ide

The BEX capital building program has an oversight committee which is volunteer and actually has some very knowledgeable folks serving on it. But naturally, if you only meet once a month and count on Facilities staff to give you information (both adequate and useful not to mention mostly true), good luck. So I hadn't gone in awhile and this is one of those meetings where not too many outsiders go so there was a lot of glancing in my direction. (One staff member asked me if I was at the right meeting.) A couple of committee members happen to remember me and told me (1) I should keep asking questions and (2) that historic rebuilds are killing the district. On the latter, this member said that either the state/city (whoever said a building is historic) should subsidize rebuilds if the building is to stay in use safely. The amount of problems that arise from these rebuilds (from surprises not in the original drawings/blueprints, if they even still exist) and their costs make for v

Thanks to Jason for the heads up on the new start times proposed by the transportation department at the last board meeting. This comment #42 on the list generated a lot of responses on the open thread so I figured I would give it a thread of its own. Transportation overview presented to School Board, February 11, 2009. From page 8: Assumptions: • All programs with middle school or older students will be considered as first tier programs when feasible. • Due to school closures, some elementary programs such as APP may be moved to first tier bell time for maximum efficiency. • Programs that draw from a large geographical area will have cluster-stop routing resulting in shorter ride times and fewer buses needed. • Bell time differential is currently proposed at one hour-fifteen minutes with additional work needed to verify if a one hour or shorter differential could be attained after cluster-stops and paired school splitting is accomplished. • Proposed bell times are 8:00 and 9:15

Thanks to Kellie La Rue for these Jane Addams K-8 Design Team updates: There are now two information nights for the new Jane Addams program > > March 5 and March 17 > 6:30 - 8:00 > > Opportunity to meet the principals, tour the building, view > instructional materials, get an overview of the program. > > The mission statement is: > "Jane Addams K-8, an environmental sciences school, empowering creative and critical thinkers who nurture themselves, their community and their environment." Also, I did attend the BEX Oversight Committee meeting this morning (more on that in another thread) but there was some information tied to the new K-8. Hale has a Horticulture program and has a large greenhouse some ways away from the building past the athletic field. The greenhouse sits on Seattle Public Utility land (there is no lease just some loose agreement from the '70s) but now the SPU wants the land back. There is not enough land by Hale itself

Update: 2/14: I found some Special Ed info in another thread and wanted to add it here for more visibility: Here is some information on upcoming meetings: Special Education Small Group Parent Meetings with Carla Santorno, Chief Academic Officer and Fred Row, Interim Special Education Director/Consultant Seattle Public Schools invites parents of children receiving special education services to attend a continuation of small group gatherings with Carla Santorno, Chief Academic Officer, and Fred Row, Interim Special Education Director/Consultant. The topic of the meetings will center around special education services for the 2009-2010 school year. The meetings will be held at the John Stanford Center, 2445 Third Avenue South on the following dates and times: February 24th 7:00 – 8:30 pm room 2010 February 25th 7:00 – 8:30 pm room 2750 March 10th 7:00 – 8:30 pm room 2010 March 11th 10:00 – 11:30 am room 2700 The meetings wil

This from the League of Education Voters: PTA Focus Day 2009 – Thursday, February 26th Activities begin at 9 AM Rally on the Capitol Steps from Noon to 1 PM Focus Day events conclude at 4 PM Detailed Agenda The time is now to fix our broken school finance system. The stakes could not be any higher for the future of our children. Policymakers are considering legislation that would redefine basic education and fund what our children really need. It is time to raise our voices to show how much we care about our kids and schools so: Every child is ready for kindergarten; Every child is able to read by third grade; Every child has an excellent teacher in the classroom; and Every child graduates from high school ready for college, work and life. We can change the outcome of children’s lives across our state by improving our education system. Let’s make sure our legislators hear how important it is to fulfill our state’s paramount duty. Register online to participate in the PTA’s Focus Da

I had heard about this brawl that occurred last week at a basketball game between Garfield players and Redmond players at Redmond. One Redmond student came out of the stands, went on the court and punched a Garfield player. It went from there as the Garfield players cleared the bench although it is highly likely that a lot went on before that student jumped onto the court. The Seattle PI published a front-page story today about the issue of racist behavior when some Seattle schools travel to the Eastside to play. From the article: "No one wants to talk about it, and we can deny it all we want, but there are misunderstandings and prejudgings on all sides going on before anyone even steps out the door," said Garfield Principal Ted Howard, spreading blame across the board. "We all have a part in this." Howard urges more regular mixing between city and suburban students at events other than highly charged sports contests, anything that might encourage teens from di

It is not without a sharp tang of irony that I note the approval of an additional $828,388 to Bassetti Architect’s for the additional services related to the Sealth High School renovations. Didn't the Board choose not to stop the co-location of Sealth and Denny primarily to save a reported $2 million? This amount of "savings" didn't count the $3 million spent in BTA projects that would be lost as that work is destroyed by the co-location project. I guess now the additional cost of following the public will is down to $1.2 million. The additional money isn't a result of inflation or higher costs of steel or concrete. It's for additional architectural services. And why are we building additional classrooms at a high school when we have over 3,000 excess high school seats? Oh! That's right! Because our Facilities Department is totally dysfunctional.

The Governor put out some suggestions today about saving money. One of her reforms? Consolidating smaller public schools. It doesn't say whether she is talking about all K-12 or elementary. This, of course, is music to the district's ears because if you read the Facilities Master Plan, that's the direction they are headed. For each new elementary they build, the buildings get bigger. I think it unlikely that they would build any new elementary for less than 400. Now, we have many smaller schools and they all can't get rebuilt at once so I don't think smaller schools will disappear overnight. However, with the Governor making this suggestion and the district's desire to have fewer schools but in better, larger buildings, we may see fewer and fewer small schools over the next 25 years. Naturally, there is nothing stopping consolidation with another program such as Nova/Secondary BOC so that you do keep Nova, a small school, small.

Update: the PI reports today that both Concord and Denny are becoming international schools. Here's a link to the district's webpage on International Education. I did not find any district news release. Checking in over at the West Seattle blog, I find that Denny is going to be the next "international" school following in JSIS and Hamilton and Beacon Hill. The blog says it is to be formally announced at tonight's Board meeting (although the agenda doesn't reflect that). From Principal Clark's letter to parents: "First, I am thrilled to announce that Denny Middle School is officially becoming an International School, starting next year. As an international school, we will be continuing to offer our students a rigorous academic education, coupled with a global perspective in all of our classes and new world language options, including a new dual language Spanish option." This is good news for the south end. More options for each area of th

Any burning issues? I just heard yesterday that the district has told schools they need to schedule another tour after Mid-Winter break (either the last week of Feb or the first week of March). Check with any schools that you are considering but haven't made it to yet.

Thank you to Kellie LaRue for the alert that this news release about principal appointments was made today by the district. I didn't see any new appointments just the ones discussed previously. The release does outline each principal's academic background. Update: I forgot to put in the information about the new K-8 school that was part of the news release. Here it is: "The new program will include advanced learning, a K-8 world language emphasis, a strong arts program and integrated services for special education that serve as a model for the entire district." This is broad information but it does seem like the district is leaning towards Spectrum and dual languages.

The 43rd Dems will be hosting a meeting with a panel discussion about the impending sale of the PI with reps from the local media, government and advocacy groups. It's Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.at the University Heights Community Center. Prior to the panel discussion, Director Sherry Carr is to update the group about the decision to close schools.

At the Roosevelt Choices night last week, it was announced that the process for setting up class schedules has changed (at least at RHS for this year). Normally, most schools send counselors out to middle schools and walk students through the process. However, RHS is going send out registration materials as always but instead of going to the schools will be having a registration night in June. (And a letter will be in the registration materials explaining this.) The rationale for this is that the assignments are coming so late that the counselors were worried about getting out to all the middle schools (because going to just a few sends the wrong message) AND getting all the seniors out the door. In some ways this may be better because the middle school visits were during the day and some parents were unhappy that they weren't there with their kids to work on registration. Our head counselor thinks the other high schools may be staying on course for how they register freshman bu

There was an op-ed piece in the Times today by Jesse Hagopian and Andre Helmstetter about the unfairness of the school closures. They truly believe it is racist and directed against children of color. Additionally, they point out that the cost savings (to them) is small and may be counteracted by students who may leave as happened last time (and the dollars that follow them). They mention the rainy day fund and the possible funds from the stimulus package. Well, the district says over and over they will not go to the rainy day fund. And the money for education in the stimulus package is, to my understanding, directed towards renovating schools AND the Reps. are trying to cut it from the package anyway. They vow to fight on. I received a forward of an e-mail from people within the NAACP. They say: They are planning a rally with ESP people and NAACP possibly at the Dept of Education office in downtown Seattle. That the national NAACP is coming in with support. (They didn't def

Thanks to Dorothy for the link to a Washington Post article (and follow-up letter ) on parent activities and their growing clout (at least for the parents in this article). I thought it deserved its own thread. From the article: "For a new generation of well-wired activists in the Washington region, it's not enough to speak at Parent-Teacher Association or late-night school board meetings. They are going head-to-head with superintendents through e-mail blitzes, social networking Web sites, online petitions, partnerships with business and student groups, and research that mines a mountain of electronic data on school performance." This reporter, Michael Chandler, then refers to these parents as "parent insurgents". Hey! Victories? "In recent weeks, parent-led campaigns helped bring down a long-established grading policy in Fairfax County and scale back the unpopular practice of charging fees for courses in Montgomery County. They have also stoked debate

Most schools have added school tour dates that extend through March. For the latest list go to the School Tours and Open Houses page on the district website. Also, the district is hosting open enrollment nights at libraries around the city. Apparently they have done this before, but I've never heard about it so I want to help spread the word. And finally, a shameless plug for my kids' school: Pathfinder K-8 . For families looking for experiential hands-on learning, some of the best teachers in the city, a supportive and friendly community, and a commitment to student growth (academic, emotional and social), there is no better place. To learn more about expeditionary learning, our Native American focus, and what makes Pathfinder so special, read a Welcome from our School Principal . Because of my work schedule, I probably won't be participating in any of the school tours, but I am happy to talk with any interested parent. Just e-mail me and I'll set up time to either a

There are all kinds of imprudent instructions available online. How to hack, how to phreak, how to build a pipe, how to disappear and assume a new identity, etc. So it is in that tradition that I offer this sketch of instruction on how to sue the School District to stop the closures. It may be irresponsible of me to provide this information. It may also be pointless to offer the instruction because the chances for success are so poor. So there is no need to write a comment to advise me of either of these two points. I am already well aware of them, thank you. I'm providing the information so that people will have the facts while a tornado of misinformation swirls around them. Information wants to be free. Knowledge is power and this blog is about empowering people with knowledge. So spare me, please, the rants about how I am either irresponsible or foolish. The best chance to blocking the closures will only delay them, not really stop them. And the only ones that I think can be del