Following State Law and School Board Policy

From the Seattle Times of 21 October 2011:

School Board President Steve Sundquist said he plans to talk with interim Superintendent Susan Enfield about enforcement of the pledge policy.
"The School Board's policy is clear. State law is clear. And our job is to follow the state law and to follow our policy, so I'm firmly in the camp that says we need to be doing this," Sundquist said.
 All of a sudden, Director Sundquist believes that his job is to follow the state law and to follow the school board policy.


Wonderful.


I bet we can think of some state laws and school board policies he can start following right away.


How about the state law on conditional teacher certification?


How about the board policy on program placement?


Others?

Comments

Anonymous said…
about time! we need loyalty oaths so those commie teachers and pinko administrators are pledged to uphold truth, justice and the amerikun way!

Go Steve! Fortunately Steve

HasNoShame
10/22/11, 3:02 PM
seattle citizen said…
Following other threads, is there a law on public publishing or accessibiliy of BLT and sub-committee minutes, and is there a policy on the depth and breadth of those minutes? THERE is a place for transparency: These deliberative bodies decide how to spend out money.
10/22/11, 3:31 PM
dan dempsey said…
Oh yes about that Teacher Conditional Certification

Appeal and Dorn Recall

So if the Board wants to follow RCWs and WACs ... as well as save money on legal fees ... this one is a no brainer.

Give TFA the 6 months notice that the SPS is withdrawing from the November 2010 agreement.

The last year of TFA in Seattle needs to be 2011-2012.
10/22/11, 6:37 PM
SeattleTeach said…
Has no one questioned the interpretation of the pledge policy? It says it must be recited at the beginning of the day. But it does not say EVERY day.
10/22/11, 7:00 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
SeattleTeach, according to the principal, JSIS will say it at the Monday announcements and then each morning, the individual classes will say it. So, they will say it every school day.
10/23/11, 9:06 AM
dan dempsey said…
SeattleTeach,

The RCW states:
They shall cause appropriate flag exercises to be held in each classroom at the beginning of the school day,

It seems that Board President Sundquist has decided to follow this law as he sees it and he sees this as every school day.

The legislature inadequately funds a 180 day school year. It is really clear to me what beginning of the school day means and Sundquist is correct. If you think otherwise, testify at a school board meeting, and then if the school board fails to act commence legal action.

Given that RCW 28A.230.140
states: Students not reciting the pledge shall maintain a respectful silence.

I fail to see why anyone would pursue action to take issue with "at the beginning of the school day" meaning anything other than each school day. It certainly has a historical record as to meaning each school day.
10/23/11, 9:30 AM
SP said…
To me, this is a reminder that ALL of the school board directors are at fault by letting state law AND board policy/procedure be ignored by the district on a daily basis. In fact, Harium Martin-Morris commented on this one time at a meeting several years ago, that he thought the "Majority" of policies were not being followed!

What appalls me is when the directors & district leaders hear testimony at the board meetings from community members pointing this out, that they have the gall to go ahead that same evening and vote for something which is clearly against laws and policies. EVERY single board member is guilty of this on a regular basis.
10/23/11, 9:42 AM
dan dempsey said…
In honor of Don Alexander's "Liberty and Justice for All"

Consider this in regard to

Liberty and justice for All ..... in the Seattle Public Schools.

Persistent consistent achievment gaps indicate something other than Liberty and Justice for all. The Seattle School Board has a record of failing to intelligently apply the relevant data in a way to reduce these achievment gaps.

=============

Until the public resist the actions of the 4 incumbent directors running for reelection by electing the challengers ... there will be little if any progress on the "Liberty and Justice for All" front. This front needs to be a major battle front .... Lip service is intolerable.
10/23/11, 10:52 AM
Tired of the Bullshit said…
According to publicly available records, SPS recently hired a Teach for America "teacher" with a 2.93 GPA and a recent arrest for breaking a window at a bar.

Is this part of the "carefully considered strategy" required by the WACs and RCWs for closing the achievement gap that is the rationale for the district's decision to bring in TFA?

WV says we should "verate" (verbally berate?) the Interim Superintendent for this bu!!$#!t.
10/23/11, 1:58 PM
Jack Whelan said…
Sundquist very likely chose to focus on this particular issue at this particular time because the ballots just arrived. He gets depicted in the Times as someone who is properly patriotic and sensible, and that's not a message that will hurt him with undecided, uninformed voters He's probably also hoping to get some radio time on shows like Dori Monson's to get even more exposure on this issue. It's a smart political move by a beleaguered candidate.
10/23/11, 2:34 PM
dan dempsey said…
If Steve gets on KIRO with Dori Monson it will be time to call in.

Please have Steve explain his support for
RCW 28A 230.140 on the pledge

..... while rejecting the requirements of WAC 181-79A-231 in regard to requesting Conditional Certificates for Teach for America corps members.
10/23/11, 2:57 PM
Anonymous said…
maybe all the old people remember the presidential election of 1988?

remember around labor day weekend, when dukakis was up 15% or so in the polls from vice president george bush senior?

remember gwb sr. calling dukakis a card carrying liberal?

remember gwb sr. attacking dukakis by painting him as unpatriotic, and gwb sr. holding 'campaign' events which were nothing more than saying the pledge of allegiance in front of a bunch of flags? (it made great t.v. soundbites, for those too busy too pay attention to the t.v. wars.)

remember gwb sr.'s campaign guru was a guy named lee atewater, a guy who learned his craft from roger ailes - and did you know a guy named karl rove learned from atewater and ailes?

did you know ailes runs fox news? remember ailes running reagan's campaigns of 1980 & '84?

did you ever google "lee atewater and ____ger, ___ger, ___ger" and check out lee's insights on the using the race card?

while I doubt spin-a-second-steve is calling roger ailes or rove for advice (atwater is dead), coming to the defense of flag waving sure has a sordid past.

if seattle voters want to give honey instead of vinegar to spin-a-second-steve, seattle voters deserve this kind of despicable behavior.
10/23/11, 4:49 PM
Anonymous said…
I forgot to sign at 4:49 -

remember ailes worked with nixon?

IAmNotACrook
10/23/11, 4:51 PM
D Magill said…
I am constantly fascinated by the things that make headlines in the education world.

Is this what Sundquist means when he says in his voter's pamphlet statement that he bases all his decisions on what's in "the best interests of the students"?

I've got a post on my blog about this overused cliche, and why it disqualifies Sundquist from this office. www.edu-truth.com
10/23/11, 5:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more