Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting. In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance. - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
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Did you also notice how all of the TfA alum addressed their remarks to the Directors, the superintendent and the Seattle Public Schools community?
They did look pretty good. ..... Hey! I'm offended! :)
They were very earnest. I was a lot like that before I had kids! Except I have never dressed very well.
As I've always said on this blog, Seattle is an anomaly in that it does not have ghettos—even the diverse Southend (a place I proudly call home) would not come close to identifying with the barrios and ghettos of major cities like Chicago, LA, Detroit, and even San Antonio (where I lived for 15 years).
The community at RBHS is working to attract back the 800+ kids who shunned the school (and those waiting in the wings). Those 800 kids represent the extreme diversity of the RBHS attendance area (everything from the über-wealthy to those that qualify for FRL). If they manage to attract even half of those kids back, do you think those families who fled for Sealth et al would be thrilled with TFA teachers? With 9-hr days, 1/2 day weekends and three weeks in summer?
We aren't Chicago, or Detroit or LA. I don't believe TFA is the program for Seattle.
What is the community doing? What can it do without (apparent) district support?
Before West Seattle got totally broadsided by NSAP, we worked really hard to get IB at Sealth, for instance, and that is going well.
What do YOU want at Rainier Beach High School?
This is a question that the District never asked and, frankly, refuses to ask. It is, however, the correct first step to attracting families and students to the school.
What would Rainier Beach have to offer for you to choose it for your child?
I could guess what people will say, but I'm ready to be corrected with the real answer from the people themselves.
My guess would be: a safe campus and an appropriate academic opportunity.
They may want some other stuff, but all of that other stuff is covered by the District's "academic assurances". What isn't getting assured and what people are missing is safety and an academic opportunity.