Really? Still Open Spots?
I called this morning to get on the Speakers List for the Public Hearing on the BTA III levy for Thursday. I also asked about the list for tonight's hearing for the SAP Boundaries. There is room on the BTA III one and there may still be a few spots for tonight's.
Call 252-0042 to get on the list (it's an automated call).
I am quite surprised that the Public Hearing for tonight wasn't full as of Friday afternoon. People had seemed so unhappy with the format for the Boundaries meetings that I thought some would take the opportunity to address the Board for 3 full minutes.
Also, you can write to
hearing@seattleschools.org
Your comments will be part of the official record of the public hearing you are addressing. These are hearings that the district is legally obligated to have and ANY input - via phone, e-mail, in person or snail mail - has to be put into the legal record (as opposed to any comments made at the feedback/informational meetings).
In fact, this business of public comment at hearings is at the crux of a lawsuit brought by a group of people over the last round of school closures. They are saying that not all the comments given at the hearing are in the public record. (I saw a recent story on it and cannot find it again. If someone has the link, please put it in your post.)
Call 252-0042 to get on the list (it's an automated call).
I am quite surprised that the Public Hearing for tonight wasn't full as of Friday afternoon. People had seemed so unhappy with the format for the Boundaries meetings that I thought some would take the opportunity to address the Board for 3 full minutes.
Also, you can write to
hearing@seattleschools.org
Your comments will be part of the official record of the public hearing you are addressing. These are hearings that the district is legally obligated to have and ANY input - via phone, e-mail, in person or snail mail - has to be put into the legal record (as opposed to any comments made at the feedback/informational meetings).
In fact, this business of public comment at hearings is at the crux of a lawsuit brought by a group of people over the last round of school closures. They are saying that not all the comments given at the hearing are in the public record. (I saw a recent story on it and cannot find it again. If someone has the link, please put it in your post.)
Comments
In this case, it appears the district regards ONLY the contents of the public hearing part of the public record. The judge disagreed. Still, tonight is the best way to make sure your comment is recorded for posterity.
BTW I got really alarmed that the 3-page of bullet points compiled by the district would be all that was recorded from all those public meetings for the current process. I have asked directors Maier and Martin-Morris to ensure that all emails sent to newassign@seattleschools.org are retained.
But the NOVA and TT Minor buildings were closed, are they not part of this suit? And at the moment, the Old Hay building is closed. Isn't on record that they moved out because the building condition?
SPSmom,
they did not join the lawsuit. Probably only because we didn't connect with anyone at those schools who wanted to join the lawsuit.
Nova is part of the joint appeal. TT Minor had filed a separate suit, which is now stalled. The judge found that the legislative requirements re: hearings for closed schools apply to school buildings, NOT schools. She was swayed by the "school property" line, and didn't consider school "programs" to be the property the law referred to. Both the Mann and TT Minor buildings had hearings, as did other closed buildings.
As has been mentioned elsewhere, the appeal continues as the judge can not make a ruling as to concerns that closures of buildings or programs were "arbitrary or capricious" because the district did not provide a complete record of the process. Judge Inveen said she was "quite frankly, flummoxed" by the district's belief that it could edit the record provided to the court and gave them 14 days to produce a complete record. She said this is especially important as "capacity management" is part of a 5 year plan, and needs to be considered in that light.
So- any reports on tonight's hearing?
What astonished me though were the statements in the article by Pegi McEvoy, manager of safety and security for the school district. McEvoy said that every school experiences the challenges of "kids sorting through the pecking order." Using steel shanks??? McEvoy also said, "it certainly was an extreme case we hadn't seen before" as well as "this was more dramatic absolutely, but we see it every place." Really? Which was it -- something you've never seen before or something you see in every school?
Perhaps we need a thread to discuss safety and security. As a Madrona resident, I was appalled to read the district response to this incident.
Considering that RBHS did not report either of the two rapes that happened on campus to the police, I am not surprised that this data is difficult to find, if it exists at all.
I am sure there is some degree of physical violence in every high school (and probably many middle schools) in the District. But, of course, making that information readily available would not be good PR.
I wonder if parents would have the same obligations? Could a parent could collate events on their own, using non-school sources (i.e. other parents, their own children) and then publish the information?
(not an endeavor, incidentally, that I'd want to see this site get into).
That does not add up.
There were two youth surveys done, one in 2002 and the other in 2004.
Every Seattle high school student was asked to participate.
The questions included:
Do you have a handgun?
Have you ever taken a handgun to school?
Have you ever attacked someone with the intention to harm them?
Have you ever been arrested?
Have you ever stolen a car?
Have you ever been suspended?
Have you ever sold drugs?
Have you taken drugs?
Which drugs have you taken?
It was eye opening to read the results. It was also alarming to see how much violence, drug and alcohol usage went up in two years (between 2002-2004). I sure wish the district would do another survey this year to see what's been happening since 2004.
Oddly, Summit had some of the highest drug and alcohol use rates in the district. Shockingly higher than most schools.
Here is the link to the survey:
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/ctc/survey/survey.htm
My that data is fascinating.
I don't see the Summit data that you're describing, though. When I look at the "factor prevalence, alcohol use, 30 day table", Summit (16%) is remarkably lower than Roosevelt (40%), which is quite similar to other schools (i.e. Franklin, Nathan Hale, Garfield). The response rate is lower for Garfield, though, so their data is less accurate.
Summit was higher than the district average in drugs and alcohol usage, but many schools were much higher than them.
Oh, no question about that. I've been emotionally unable to follow the details of that specific incident, but the way that the administrators convince themselves is that they think it's a "he-said/she said" and that they have an obligation to protect the "he". But, that's why we have to have laws that require them to report, even if they don't believe the girl (as with abuse). My suspicion is that such laws already exist. So, I'm no defending the behavior in the rape case (or any other case where the criminal concerns are raised). And, once it's reported to the police, there's no reason that the same report can't be made available to the public.
But reporting internal events (i.e. a kid punches another kid, . . .) becomes more complicated. And, what age should be publish this info? Should we get reports of the number of physical interactions that needed teacher intervention in Kindergarten? My kids go to a school not known at all for behavior problems, but there have been multiple Kindergarten incidents that needed teacher intervention (all of which I know about only peripherally, because my child is not directly involved).
No names. Just numbers
Example
RBHS
26 fights
4 fights involving a weapon
3 kids caught with a gun at school
12 kids selling drugs
14 kids robbed someone
9 kids committed a burglary
42 kids caught using drugs
47 kids caught using alcohol
2 kids threatened a teacher/admin
5 incidents reported to the police
This would give parents a good picture of what the environment is like in our schools. We should have this information.
Right now all we have is the number of kids suspended at a given school, and that's not very helpful.
I will delete my comment and re post it.
He also tells us that there is a lot of racial tension at his school. As a bi-racial family (black/white) one of things that we really value about Hale is it's ethnic and racial diversity. But according to our son (and this is just his perception and interpretation) the white kids are fairly accepting of everyone, and willing to hang out with anyone who befriends them regardless of race, but the black kids don't want to hang out with the white kids. He says they segregate themselves. And he says the black kids make offensive and inflamatory comments like "there's too many white folks in this school".