District Meetings on NSAP

Update: the district did final put out a press release.

The Regional Meetings are:

NW - Thursday, November 4th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Ballard HS
SE - Monday, November 8th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Rainier Beach HS
NE - Wednesday, November 10th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Roosevelt HS
Central - Monday, November 15th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Garfield HS
West Seattle - Tuesday, November 16th from 6:30-8 p.m. at West Seattle HS
No child care but there will be books and drawing materials provided. All Regional Meetings will be led by the Executive Director of that region.

Drop-in Sessions
Friday, October 29 from 3-5 p.m. at JSCEE, Room 2700
Saturday, November 6th from 10 a.m. to noon, JSCEE Auditorium
Thursday, November 18th from 1:30 -3:30 p.m., JSCEE, Room 2700
Tuesday, December 14th from 6-8 p.m. at JSCEE, Room 2750

Board Work Sessions
Wednesday, October 26th from 4-8 p.m. in JSCEE Auditorium (note: this Work Session also includes graduation topics)
Wednesday, November 3rd from 4-5:30 p.m. at JSCEE Auditorium
Wednesday, Dec. 1 from 4-8 p.m. at JSCEE Auditorium

School Board Meeting
Wednesday, January 5th at 6 p.m. - Introduction of Transition Plan
Wednesday, January 19th at 6 p.m. - Transition Plan vote
A district news release got sent to me (but has not yet appeared at the district website).

So the first opportunity you will have to see any staff-generated transition plan for the NSAP is this Friday, the 29th at one of the drop-in sessions. I do have a call in to see if any materials will be available in advance of that session.

End of update.

But, you know, in the spirit of early warning, be warned. The district will soon be starting a series of formal meetings, informal drop-in sessions and Board Work Sessions on the transition plan for the NSAP."

"At a series of formal meetings and informal drop-in sessions, staff will share data and information about enrollment trends, options to balance enrollment with capacity, and other information related to capacity management."

It appears they will have 5 meetings based on the new Executive Director Regions. It looks like the district will stick to its tried and true (and truly not useful) format of presentation,
Q&A, discussion and opportunity to report on feedback (and if there is feedback, then that means they will divide people into groups which many people avidly dislike). It tentatively looks like one of these will be next week.

I will check but just to put on your radar it appears there may be a drop-in meeting THIS Friday. The drop-in meetings will allow you to review information and ask questions and provide feedback.

I will check on the dates tomorrow morning.

First in the lineup is a Board work session this Wednesday from 4-8 p.m. on graduation requirements AND the NSAP.

It appears there will be several more Board work sessions before Christmas on the NSAP and the transition plan.

The Board appears to have introduction of the transition plan in early Jan. and a vote two weeks after that.

Yes, I know. All these meetings and work sessions will occur during the holiday session AND then right when school starts up again in 2011, the plan will be introduced at a Board meeting. I would suggest that you ask your PTA Board if they might find one person to be your point person in keeping up with the information presented, comments made at meetings and what staff presents at Work Sessions. Naturally, Charlie and I (and other usual suspects) will be attending most of these meetings but only you know your school and what its concerns with the transition plan may be.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If there is really a drop in meeting THIS friday, and they have not announced this first NSAP engagement opportunity publicly til 3 days prior to the event, then, well...we are not off to a very good start now are we?

Just noting it because Community Engagement is a Strategic Priority this year.

Right? Right!

-Skeptic-
ttln said…
thanks for the heads up. west seattle north people, game on!
dj said…
I assume based on the posting that one of the issues the Board is seeking to address is the overcrowding at some schools. What other issues are part of the "transition plan"?
Steve said…
I'm definitely one of the parents that doesn't like the "break out into groups and report back" format for these meetings. While it's hard to manage an information-gathering process with hundreds of people, I think this makes it harder for attendees to understand the depth and nature of the main concerns they share. Cynically, I think the district uses this format to ensure that we (parents) don't get a sense of what we are concerned about.

Two potential remedies to this, which will require organization:

1. We refuse. At the meetings, when they ask us to break into groups, we all say "No, we want to stay together, ask questions, and get answers." Then, we don't move. What can they do? Either cancel the meeting (not politically viable), or do what we ask.

2. We break into groups, but *every* group lists as its first "report back" item that "We do not feel this meeting format is conducive to gathering feedback from parents." (Something like that).

Other thoughts? It would be great to organize an idea like this online and make it happen in-person.
Anonymous said…
Wait!...Did they send you the press release because you're a member of the press??
~~CE
Steve, great idea.

CE, no, someone else passed the release onto me.

Still trying to find out about these dates.
dan dempsey said…
Judge Laura Inveen has just ruled the the New Student Assignment plan boundaries are just fine from a legal standpoint. Her Ruling
Anonymous said…
SPS just sent a link to a doc with dates, etc. via Twitter: @seapubschools
SPS families invited to comment on year 2 of Student Assignment Transition Plan during regional & drop-in meetings
http://bit.ly/9vQbLl

*Tara*
StepJ said…
The geographic zones for Option Schools (#2 tiebreaker for access) are slated to be decided this year.

Also likely would be rules to govern enrollment for 2011-2012. Things like who has guaranteed enrollment at their Attendance Area School? Last year it was entry grades of K, 6, and 9 only -- plus anyone who was new to the District. This year perhaps it will be that the first two-three grades of a school will have a guarantee?

Other than that pretty much anything could be on the table -- tiebreakers, percent of set-aside at high school, boundary changes, program changes. Will your school keep Spectrum, or might your neighboring school add Language Immersion?

From past experience silence is regarded as not caring, vs. happy with the way things are. I encourage all that are happy with the current boundaries, programs, and all at their school to speak up and state that as well.

Otherwise, a last moment change might be snuck in with the caveat that 'we didn't have any feedback on that topic.' (So we figured we could sneak it past you.)
wsnorth said…
Does this mean there will be geo zone tie breakers for "STEM@Cleveland, NOVA, The Center School and AS#1 high schools"...I could understand this for the middle and elementary schools, but not the high schools.
StepJ said…
According to the NSAP - yes. NOVA, Center School, and AS1 are all listed as those to have geographic zones.
h2o_girl said…
Since when is AS1 a high school? Crikey - those people cannot get a break from the Stanford Center, can they. I assume it was an honest mistake, but jeez - weren't people told a couple years ago that it was full when they were trying to sign up, and now it's listed as a high school?

That aside, it seems nuts to have the alt high schools have geographic zones.
SolvayGirl said…
Geographic Zones for the alt high schools are just plain wrong. It would be one thing if they were all similar, but they are certainly not. For example, a kid who needs NOVA would probably not thrive at Cleveland.

And since the District doesn't provide transportation, why would they care? Are the parents in a specific geographic area clamoring for exclusivity?

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