School Board Meeting

Just to note, the district is taking a Community Input on Student Use of Information Technology survey. It asks about your child's usage at school and how much you know about it. Outside of knowing that my kids learned keyboarding and PowerPoint at school as well as some research skills, I have no idea what they have been taught. This is particularly true of ethical issues (which they ask about).

Also, the last School Board meeting for this school year is next Wednesday, the 7th. They will vote on adopting the new budgets.

As well the Board will be voting for the supplementary levy measure for $48.2M in November. The so-called "community engagement" process for this levy was a complete sham. They did not let parents and community know about this in any real way. But the Board doesn't care so I guess it really doesn't matter. I just wish they wouldn't even bother putting it on the motion.

As well there will be votes on a the renewal of the MAP contract as well as the Superintendent's contract and increasing her salary and giving her performance benefits (which they already said they were not doing).

Intro items include a name change not to reflect the Sealth/Denny co-join but to call both "international" schools.

The agenda notes that the directors will resume their district meetings in September with the next regular Board meeting on August 18th.

Comments

Charlie Mas said…
Note how few of the Board Action Reports mention any Community Engagement.

It seems to me that the Board should just reject out of hand any motion that doesn't have community engagement.

The Board is supposed to be the elected representatives of the public, but they don't represent the public at all. They don't advocate for the public perspective, and they don't advocate for a public voice.
And that is why there needs to be real challengers for the Fall of 2011. Either put real outcomes on phony engagement or give up the farce of phony engagement. That they do neither makes them suspect.
Sahila said…
I put up the Community Declaration of No Confidence on behalf of a group of parents, educators and community members not affiliated with any particular organisation but calling ourselves the Seattle Shadow School Board.

That name came out of a series of informal get togethers by various activists to discuss our concerns and what we were doing (mostly singly) in SPS, to give each other moral support and to have some fun!

The name came up with a great deal of hilarity and facetiousness/irony - you know, a bunch of us concerned about our kids education, watching the Board doing its incomprehensible, illogical thing seemingly unable to muster the spine to manage the Super and the District... there was us, a handful or two of grownups able to do the research, see what was going on, calling it for what it was, basically doing the Board's job for them...

We quite quickly became much more serious about using the name and the Supe's evaluation and contract extension option seemed to be a good time to take on something of a public persona...

Hence the Declaration, hence the letters to as many teachers/schools as we could reach, to as many individual school PTA office holders we had the time to cover (we got to 2/3 of elementary schools but didnt have time before the June 16th board meeting to cover middle and high schools) and to reach out to the media...

All very labourious work, combing through public websites and gathering email addresses... people were very gracious about being contacted by email letter - of the 2,000+ contacts we made, we only had a half dozen or so negative responses.

Why I am writing this today? Well, we have 379 signatures on the community declaration and 12 school staffs have carried out their own votes of no confidence; a Queen Anne & Magnolia blog straw poll has around 77% of responses saying the Super is doing a poor job and then we also have those two surveys (one done by CPPS) showing that the majority of the 600 respondents also are not happy with the Super...

So, I want to get the Community Declaration signatures up to 500+ before I close it on 7th July for presentation at the Board meeting and I need help to make that happen... I need people to pass the word to communities that might not yet have been contacted/responded, such as middle and high school PTA memberships, the Native American, African Anerican, SBOC and Latino communities etc...

We have a good coverage of the various schools within SPS but it could be better, so that the Board cannot say its just a group of whiney, white, middle classed, privileged parents bitching cos they cant get their kids into the schools they want...

Will you spread the word pleas - and this URL -

http://www.petitiononline.com/S3B62010/petition.html

to all your connections... Seattle residents with an interest in the public education of our children - aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbours, colleagues, church communities, bowling leagues, book clubs, wherever you hang out...

I dont expect the Board to buckle under the pressure, but what they are doing - in spite of our concerns - needs witnessing... so this effort in that sense, will not be a waste...

And if you could come to the Board meeting on July 7th and help us make our views clearly, unmistakably known, that would also be great...

Thank you

Sahila
Sahila said…
I put up the Community Declaration of No Confidence on behalf of a group of parents, educators and community members not affiliated with any particular organisation but calling ourselves the Seattle Shadow School Board.

That name came out of a series of informal get togethers by various activists to discuss our concerns and what we were doing (mostly singly) in SPS, to give each other moral support and to have some fun!

The name came up with a great deal of hilarity and facetiousness/irony - you know, a bunch of us concerned about our kids education, watching the Board doing its incomprehensible, illogical thing seemingly unable to muster the spine to manage the Super and the District... there was us, a handful or two of grownups able to do the research, see what was going on, calling it for what it was, basically doing the Board's job for them...

We quite quickly became much more serious about using the name and the Supe's evaluation and contract extension option seemed to be a good time to take on something of a public persona...

Hence the Declaration, hence the letters to as many teachers/schools as we could reach, to as many individual school PTA office holders we had the time to cover (we got to 2/3 of elementary schools but didnt have time before the June 16th board meeting to cover middle and high schools) and to reach out to the media...

All very labourious work, combing through public websites and gathering email addresses... people were very gracious about being contacted by email letter - of the 2,000+ contacts we made, we only had a half dozen or so negative responses.

Why I am writing this today? Well, we have 379 signatures on the community declaration and 12 school staffs have carried out their own votes of no confidence; a Queen Anne & Magnolia blog straw poll has around 77% of responses saying the Super is doing a poor job and then we also have those two surveys (one done by CPPS) showing that the majority of the 600 respondents also are not happy with the Super...

So, I want to get the Community Declaration signatures up to 500+ before I close it on 7th July for presentation at the Board meeting and I need help to make that happen... I need people to pass the word to communities that might not yet have been contacted/responded, such as middle and high school PTA memberships, the Native American, African Anerican, SBOC and Latino communities etc...

We have a good coverage of the various schools within SPS but it could be better, so that the Board cannot say its just a group of whiney, white, middle classed, privileged parents bitching cos they cant get their kids into the schools they want...

Will you spread the word pleas - and this URL -

http://www.petitiononline.com/S3B62010/petition.html

to all your connections... Seattle residents with an interest in the public education of our children - aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbours, colleagues, church communities, bowling leagues, book clubs, wherever you hang out...

I dont expect the Board to buckle under the pressure, but what they are doing - in spite of our concerns - needs witnessing... so this effort in that sense, will not be a waste...

And if you could come to the Board meeting on July 7th and help us make our views clearly, unmistakably known, that would also be great...

Thank you

Sahila
Sahila said…
I have tried to post this three times, and it keeps disappearing... why is that?


I put up the Community Declaration of No Confidence on behalf of a group of parents, educators and community members not affiliated with any particular organisation but calling ourselves the Seattle Shadow School Board.

That name came out of a series of informal get togethers by various activists (many of whom post on this blog and are parents at/affiliated with SPS schools) to discuss our concerns and what we were doing (mostly singly) in SPS, to give each other moral support and to have some fun!

The name came up with a great deal of hilarity and facetiousness/irony - you know, a bunch of us concerned about our kids education, watching the Board doing its incomprehensible, seemingly illogical thing, apparently unable to muster the spine to manage the Super and the District... there were us, a handful or two of grownups able to do the research, see what was going on, calling it for what it was, basically doing the Board's job for them...

We quite quickly became much more serious about using the name and the upcoming Supe's evaluation and contract extension option seemed to be a good time to take on something of a public persona...

Hence the Declaration, hence the letters to as many teachers/schools as we could reach, to as many individual school PTA office holders we had the time to cover (we got to 2/3 of elementary PTAs but didnt have time before the June 16th board meeting to cover middle and high schools) and to reach out to the media...

All very labourious work, combing through public websites and gathering email addresses... people were very gracious about being contacted by email letter - of the 2,000+ contacts we made, we only had a half dozen or so negative responses.

Why I am writing this today? Well, we have 379 signatures on the community declaration and 12 school staffs have carried out their own votes of no confidence; a Queen Anne & Magnolia blog straw poll has around 77% of responses saying the Super is doing a poor job and then we also have those two surveys (one done by CPPS) showing that the majority of the 600 respondents also are not happy with the Super...

So, I want to get the Community Declaration signatures up to 500+ before I close it on 7th July for presentation at the Board meeting and I need help to make that happen...

I need people to pass the word to communities that might not yet have been contacted/responded, such as middle and high school PTA memberships, the Native American, African Anerican, SBOC and Latino communities etc...

If you look at the signatures on the Declaration (and the comments!), we have a good coverage of the various schools within SPS but it could be better, so that the Board cannot say its just a group of whiney, white, middle classed, privileged parents bitching cos they cant get their kids into the schools they want...

Will you spread the word please - and this URL -

http://www.petitiononline.com/S3B62010/petition.html

to all your connections... Seattle residents with an interest in the public education of our children - aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbours, colleagues, church communities, bowling leagues, book clubs, wherever you hang out...

I dont expect the Board to buckle under the pressure, but what they are doing - in spite of our concerns - needs witnessing... so this effort in that sense, will not be a waste...

And if you could come to the Board meeting on July 7th and help us make our views clearly, unmistakably known, that would also be great...

Thank you

Sahila
Sahila said…
Lets see if this stays up this time - third time is the charm, right?


I put up the Community Declaration of No Confidence on behalf of a group of parents, educators and community members not affiliated with any particular organisation but calling ourselves the Seattle Shadow School Board.

That name came out of a series of informal get togethers by various activists (many of whom post on this blog and are parents at/affiliated with SPS schools) to discuss our concerns and what we were doing (mostly singly) in SPS, to give each other moral support and to have some fun!

The name came up with a great deal of hilarity and facetiousness/irony - you know, a bunch of us concerned about our kids education, watching the Board doing its incomprehensible, seemingly illogical thing, apparently unable to muster the spine to manage the Super and the District... there were us, a handful or two of grownups able to do the research, see what was going on, calling it for what it was, basically doing the Board's job for them...

We quite quickly became much more serious about using the name and the upcoming Supe's evaluation and contract extension option seemed to be a good time to take on something of a public persona...

Hence the Declaration, hence the letters to as many teachers/schools as we could reach, to as many individual school PTA office holders we had the time to cover (we got to 2/3 of elementary PTAs but didnt have time before the June 16th board meeting to cover middle and high schools) and to reach out to the media...

All very labourious work, combing through public websites and gathering email addresses... people were very gracious about being contacted by email letter - of the 2,000+ contacts we made, we only had a half dozen or so negative responses.

Why I am writing this today? Well, we have 379 signatures on the community declaration and 12 school staffs have carried out their own votes of no confidence; a Queen Anne & Magnolia blog straw poll has around 77% of responses saying the Super is doing a poor job and then we also have those two surveys (one done by CPPS) showing that the majority of the 600 respondents also are not happy with the Super...

So, I want to get the Community Declaration signatures up to 500+ before I close it on 7th July for presentation at the Board meeting and I need help to make that happen...

I need people to pass the word to communities that might not yet have been contacted/responded, such as middle and high school PTA memberships, the Native American, African Anerican, SBOC and Latino communities etc...

If you look at the signatures on the Declaration (and the comments!), we have a good coverage of the various schools within SPS but it could be better, so that the Board cannot say its just a group of whiney, white, middle classed, privileged parents bitching cos they cant get their kids into the schools they want...

Will you spread the word please - and this URL -

http://www.petitiononline.com/S3B62010/petition.html

to all your connections... Seattle residents with an interest in the public education of our children - aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbours, colleagues, church communities, bowling leagues, book clubs, wherever you hang out...

I dont expect the Board to buckle under the pressure, but what they are doing - in spite of our concerns - needs witnessing... so this effort in that sense, will not be a waste...

And if you could come to the Board meeting on July 7th and help us make our views clearly, unmistakably known, that would also be great...

Thank you

Sahila
Hélène said…
I'd love to know what the use of technology survey finds. In my experience a a computer science teacher, the district is technology rich but curriculum poor. Students have access to a lot of computers but web design and business apps classes are generally an embarrassment and not much is offered beyond that. In my classes, I'm always amazed by the lack of skills and knowledge about computing.

Of course, some individual teachers make great use of the resources they have but it's very spotty.

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