Here's the agenda for tonight's Board meeting. I note that people can no longer sign up to speak at a Board meeting by phone. It is strictly by online sign-up. Not good. Public Testimony seems to cover two topics. Apparently, the Chinese program at West Seattle High School is in jeopardy and there are several speakers for that issue. The other issue is, of course, school closures. There are six people on the waitlist. Here's the latest from the Times which says that " Seattle Could Close about a quarter of its elementary schools." First, that would be a heck of a lot of schools (17) and two, only elementaries? My cynical side is that the district is throwing out a big number so they can "generously" only close 10-12. The article claims that the district is taking "$32M from its reserves" which is not true; they have no reserves. I think the reporter means capital reserves. I'll be tuning in with updates. 4:15 pm and has the 4:15
Comments
Such a inflated sense of self.
Bravo, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. Appearing in public and subjecting yourself to potential criticism was a risky move, and shows that you are trying to connect with the public!
And Bravo, also, for bringing along some of your assistants so that you could provide the public with the best possible answers to their questions!
I think the State-of-the-District public meeting is a great idea, and should perhaps be a mandatory part of the job for every SPS Superintendent. I do suggest that it's crucial (in a nearly 1 billion-dollar-a-year annual enterprise) that each yearly meeting begin with a review of the important achievements and goals set out at the PREVIOUS meeting.
I'm not trying to be uppity, and suggest how the Superintendent should do her job. I'm sure she knows better than me, and has a lot on her plate already. I salute her and her staff for all of her efforts on behalf of our children!
Institutional memory is problematic for all human institutions, and Seattle Public Schools may (and I'm not criticizing here, just including SPS in all human institutions) possibly have just a few issues with institutional memory of past promises made and forgotten.
I mean, everyone forgets, but we do have to try to remember and honor what we promised, don't we?