News to Watch and Meetings This Week
Seattle Channel did a fine piece on the financial crisis and its outcomes with Steve Sundquist, Kay Smith-Blum and Betty Patu along with Susan Enfield in the studio interviews.
Also, apparently Governor Gregoire is having a video teleconference with Education Secretary Arne Duncan tomorrow, Monday the 14th, to discuss "education governance" and "leadership in education." This from Publicola. It is to start at noon in Senate Hearing Room#4 in Olympia. TVW (channel 23) will stream the conference.
Thank you to to Public School Parent for these updates.
Also, from SPS Parent this information:
You are cordially invited to
COFFEE WITH SUPERINTENDENT ENFIELD
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
8:00 – 9:00am
Central Library
1000 Fourth Avenue
10th floor - Betty Jane Narver Reading Room
Parking entrance on Spring Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.
Please extend this invitation to others who may be interested.
Kindly reply on or before March 22nd to marleen@alliance4ed.org
Meetings This Week
There's a Board Work Session on Capacity Management on Wednesday the 16th from 4-5:30 p.m.
After that is the regularly scheduled Board meeting from 6-9:00 p.m. which has a very light agenda. This will however be the first appearance of Susan Enfield as Superintendent, Robert Boesche as interim CFO and Pegi McEvoy as interim COO.
Thursday is the Operations Committee meeting from 4-6:00 p.m. Here's the agenda.
Also, apparently Governor Gregoire is having a video teleconference with Education Secretary Arne Duncan tomorrow, Monday the 14th, to discuss "education governance" and "leadership in education." This from Publicola. It is to start at noon in Senate Hearing Room#4 in Olympia. TVW (channel 23) will stream the conference.
Thank you to to Public School Parent for these updates.
Also, from SPS Parent this information:
You are cordially invited to
COFFEE WITH SUPERINTENDENT ENFIELD
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
8:00 – 9:00am
Central Library
1000 Fourth Avenue
10th floor - Betty Jane Narver Reading Room
Parking entrance on Spring Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.
Please extend this invitation to others who may be interested.
Kindly reply on or before March 22nd to marleen@alliance4ed.org
Meetings This Week
There's a Board Work Session on Capacity Management on Wednesday the 16th from 4-5:30 p.m.
After that is the regularly scheduled Board meeting from 6-9:00 p.m. which has a very light agenda. This will however be the first appearance of Susan Enfield as Superintendent, Robert Boesche as interim CFO and Pegi McEvoy as interim COO.
Thursday is the Operations Committee meeting from 4-6:00 p.m. Here's the agenda.
Comments
Dear Susan Enfield PhD,
Hope Springs Eternal: as such I wish you success...for our children's sake. I respectfully offer you the same thoughts that I gave Maria Goodloe-Johnson PhD when she arrived 3 1/2 years ago. No matter how compelling the strategy you plan to bring to make all Seattle Schools " World Class Hallways of Learning" you will not succeed without winning the "hearts and minds" of the rank and file--us, the educators in the trenches.
Are you aware that some of your statements or actions as CAO under Goodloe-Johnson have unsettled a significant number of teachers:
1.) "Anything we can do to broaden our applicant pool, we should do," said Susan Enfield, chief academic officer for Seattle Public Schools.
What's particularly exciting, she said, is that all Teach For America recruits are strongly committed to closing the achievement gap among ethnic groups.
"I'm not saying that only Teach For America candidates have that," she said, "but you know that these people are coming from that space." From what space are the large pool of RIF'd Cert's coming from, who by and large exceed TFA's criteria for the "Best & Brightest?" Time for damage control!
2.) Showing up with an Exu-Director to criticize the performance of several teachers, based on one short observation, and then have the Exu-Director read the riot act to the principal that MAP trends from Fall to Winter look bad, which looks bad for MSP...Please, come to ask how you can support us, you'll be embraced with open arms; come to criticize our efforts, please don't bother. I speak for myself; but, it's a deep feeling shared by most staff in this District who are "in the trenches."
3.) "...serious questions about our financial stewardship..." If you're focusing on the Silas Potter Scandal as to where you should be addressing questions about financial stewardship you've missed the bus. Opaque, useless budget presentations by the former CFO (transparent line-item budgets from now on!), school support being held downtown and often allocated to new Central Ofc supervisory/support positions, MAP and MAP IT upgrades, the SE strategic plan (a failure on the District's own scorecard)...The 1.8 million lost in Potter-Gate is chump change compared to what has been wasted on unenlightened academic achievement strategies.
4.) S360..(?..!): the NCTQ push-poll, OurSchoolsCoalition: Bill Gates funded debunked ed/de-form! The sooner the District disconnects with S360 the sooner the District and Board heals the serious rift with Seattle educators.
ken berry
They should take Strategies 360 with them and clear out. Enough Gates manipulation of our district. As Mr. Berry points out, in order to build "trust," she will have to sever the ties with these puppetmasters. Why would I trust someone who is being managed by the Gates and Broad Foundations?
What I found interesting is the set of initial questions the district had on its RFP for TIF evaluation contact (document sent to companies interested in bidding). These are the initial questions the district would like answered for our $350,000:
Overall Impact of SPS’ Performance-based Compensation System on Student Academic Achievement:
1. What district-wide trends describe student achievement on standardized state test scores in
reading and mathematics before and after implementation of the principal and teacher performance-based evaluation and compensation system?
a. How does this compare to student achievement trends at the state level?
b. To what degree might changes in district-wide trends be associated with the performance-based compensation system?
2. What beliefs and attitudes do principals and teachers hold about performance-based compensation plans in general and the district’s plan in particular, and to what extent do these
beliefs and attitudes change over time?
3. To what extent do principals and teachers believe the district’s performance-based
compensation plan has the ability to increase student achievement?
Principal and Teacher Attitudes and Behaviors and Instructional Practice:
1. To what extent do principals and teachers report improvements in instructional practice,
career satisfaction, and aligned professional development opportunities in years 2 - 5?
2. Do attitudes and behaviors of principals and teachers differ across educator characteristics
and over time?
Recruitment and Retention of High Quality Talent:
1. To what degree does the composition the applicant pool differ before, during, and after
implementation of the performance-based compensation system?
2. To what degree does the composition of Seattle Public School’s principal and teacher
workforce differ before, during and after implementation of the performance-based
compensation system?
a. To what degree might the performance-based compensation system account for any
differences present?
3. To what degree do consistent high performing teachers report a change in motivation to
pursue career ladder opportunities offered through the performance-based compensation
system?
4. To what degree do newly hired teachers report that career ladder opportunities influenced
their decision to accept a position within Seattle Public Schools?
It feels like the superintendent is the twirling ballerina in a pre-schooler's jewelry box and she is being displayed by her owner, the Alliance.
Want to restore trust, Dr. Enfield? Disassociate yourself from the Alliance.
Sincerely,
Parent Looking for Credits for My Child