Seattle Schools Meetings, September 6-10th, 2011
Tuesday, Sept. 6th
- West Seattle Elementary starts school
- Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Denny Int'l Middle School from 1- 2 p.m.
- Audit & Finance Committee Mtg. (Audit) from 4-6 p.m. This meeting's agenda reflects topics on the audit response to both the performance audit of capital and the RSBDP (better known as Pottergate). Perhaps this means the King County Prosecutor has something to report from their investigation. There's a report from the new Internal Auditor, Anthony Medina. Not wasting any time, there will be discussion of the Series 5000 policies of the Board policies which look like they cover HR. Also, a discussion of audits other than those done by the SAO or Internal Auditor - interesting.
- First Day of school for SPS (fyi, the Superintendent will be visiting the new Lowell at Lincoln school from about 9-10 am. She will also be having lunch at RBHS at noon.)
- School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m.
- Audit & Finance Committee Mtg. (Finance) from 4-6 p.m.
- Candidate forum at 7:30 p.m. at the Haller Lake Community Club, 12579 Densmore Ave. N.
- Community Meeting with Director Carr from 8:30- 10:00 am at Bethany Community Church (brick building), 8023 Green Lake Dr.
- Community Meeting with Director Sundquist from 11:00 am-12:30 pm at High Point Library, 3411 SW Raymond St.
- Monday, September 12th - School Board Candidate Forum put on by the 37th Dems at 7 p.m. at the Rainier Beach Cultural Center, 3515 Alaska St. (The forum is prior to their general endorsement meeting.) Note: this moved from September 10th.
- Wednesday, September 28th - The Stranger's School Board candidate debate at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m at Town Hall. This is the one of the few forum/debates for just School Board candidates so you would get the most information here.
- Tuesday, October 11th - North Seattle School Board Candidate Forum, Olympic View Elementary, 504 NE 95th St. from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Free childcare available.
- Tuesday, October 18th - School Board Candidates forum from 6:30-9 p.m. at Madison Middle Schoool at 3429 45th Ave. SW. This is hosted by several West Seattle PTAs including Alki, Madison Middle, West Seattle High, Lafayette Elementary, Schmitz Park and Gatewood. From 6:30-7:00 p.m., there will be a meet-and-greet with the forum to follow.
Comments
Anyways, Enfield seems to be letting schools make their own Spectrum delivery choice, at least school principal. Parents don't seem to have much say; I think Chris Cronas at Wedgwood also rammed his personal prejudice against gifted ed down the throats of his school's Spectrum parents just like at Lawton. At least Whittier is staying the course and they go on to explain how they deal with labeling and perception issues at their school on their website. They do have the problem of Spectrum qualified kids possibly languishing in gen-ed and need to find a way to fix that if it in fact happens. I have heard that they get all qualified kids in Spectrum classrooms every year. Maybe someone there can elucidate me. Too bad for the kids and parents at Wedgwood and Lawton who liked self-contained. Enfield apparently wouldn't listen to her own AL dept and went with her shiny new principals, Cronas and Helm, instead. I wonder what she expects in return?
Also, if the prosecutor had anything to say about the Pottergate issue they would do a press release on it instead of letting word of any action leak at a committee meeting. Don't count on anything at this meeting about the prosecutor.
I love the way it's said we need to give principals more autonomy and yet one place they do get it is in how they present a district program. It makes no sense. I'll have to ask Dr. Enfield about this issue.
I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. E this summer and her response to the autonomy issue was on the line of "damned if I do, damned if I don't". In other words she weaseled. She said, yes, there is a place for self-contained, but she would go back and forth with Bob V. about where that line was. I also asked her about lack of Spectrum seats in middle school and she said it was a capacity problem. She charmed the shirt off my back and I felt like I'd had a massage after I left, even though I got no real answers. She is a very personable woman and kinda reminds me of a very smart Sarah Palin. Dangerously smart.
Smarts and good judgment don't always go hand-in-hand, particularly when one is being guided by personal ambition, rather the the well-being of those being served.
--way more transparent than she intended
I really wish Susan Enfield would work harder to cut admin and direct what little budget we have toward students and teachers. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, maybe I don't understand the complexities, but it doesn't seem that hard to do the right thing.
Mr. Ed
Sen. Scott White will have an Education Centered Town Hall meeting
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Senator Scott White’s
3rd Annual Education Town Hall
With special guest panelists:
Randy Dorn, WA Supt. of Public Instruction
Susan Enfield, Interim Supt., Seattle Public Schools
Lauren McGuire, President, Seattle PTSA
Please join parents, teachers, and neighbors for a Town Hall discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing public education in Seattle, and across Washington.
Tuesday, September 13
6:00-8:00 pm
Nathan Hale High School
Performing Arts Center
10750 30 Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98125
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Here is a LINK .
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http://www.sdc.wa.gov/senators/white/education townhall.pdf"
Come on, motion sensors, in class rooms, gyms, locker rooms, hallways, etc, THIS IS A NO BRAINER.
Alan Lloyd
Sustainable Schools coalition