This may only be a partial list of reasons; please, add anything else in the comments. The deadline to file to run for the Board is May 19th. Entire Board Majority NOT vetting the Superintendent in any way, shape or form. Even the Seattle Times thought that was wrong. It was just absolute hubris and it was wrong. For the second time in just over a year , board members voted to negotiate a superintendent contract during a special meeting with no opportunity for public comment. This time, they showed an even deeper disregard for their responsibilities as public servants: Aborting a national search for a new superintendent and denying Interim Superintendent Brent Jones a chance to show students, parents and taxpayers that, indeed, he is the best person for the job. Government bodies can’t fast-forward through transparent processes just because they think they know the right answer. One other odd thing about the hiring of Brent Jones - most permanent SPS superintendent contracts ar
Comments
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.