Open Thread Friday
The blog may go off-line on Sunday afternoon as we will be working on a new look with (hopefully) useful-to-you features. Naturally, it'll be a work in progress.
What's on your mind?
What's on your mind?
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.)
Comments
Coming soon, to a charter school near you
[A&F:Audit] A good number of the missing CHS laptops have been found in a pawnshop.
[Executive] Michael DeBell reminded Steve Sundquist that priorities identified at the Retreat become the authority of the Executive Committee. Therefore the Executive Committee is responsible for ensuring that action happens This Year on Instructional Waivers.
[A&F:Finance] Duggan and Co did show up as promised with a preliminary report on the JSCEE bonds and the building sales. While I was disappointed in the depth of the report and the format -- a narrative format instead of a spreadsheet makes it harder to see all the holes in current knowledge -- they did fulfill their promise and the team has promised that a full forensic accounting of the funds is underway. Given how terribly poor the accounting has been over the years, I can sympathize with the amount of time will take to unravel and explain, even though I am also sympathetic with those who are impatient to get answers. But my bottom line is that doing a forensic audit on these funds is CRUCIAL work that cannot be rushed. A thorough examination of the Debt Service Fund, the Capital Eligible Fund and the Community Schools Fund (not a good name, imo, don't read anything into it) will reveal the extent of juggling that previous administrations have done with our taxpayer money.
Was it the same pawnshop? Because if that were the case, maybe some of them weren't lost. I'm sure this is a problem at every school that hands out laptops.
Good for Michael but we'll see.
- I could be wrong
I don't think so. Check the CBA, I have not seen anything to that effect. And I have read through the series 5000 policies and attended all the board discussion of same. Nothing about drug testing, mandatory or not, that I can recall. Those are the policies that would have mentioned such, I believe.
Those are good questions Dorothy.
I could be wrong- I don't think teachers undergo drug testing- & from what I have read in the papers about some teachers changing states/districts, records are not necessarily shared/updated.
I think random drug testing would be a civil rights issue. ( and a more common problem would probably be alcohol in the thermos anyway)
Seattle Schools - Intermediate Term Capital Planning
I was going to post this in the Open Tuesday thread as this speadsheet answers a lot of the questions that were posted there but that thread is getting pretty far down. (I love having two open threads per week, btw)
This capacity analysis is light years ahead of the hopelessly flawed and politically motivated one that was created by Brad Bernatek. There are a number of obvious errors on this report and I hope that a lot of parent eyeballs can point them out. But the framework is solid and the team put together by Doug Nichols actually understands best practices and is committed to transparency so I have some hope that we will have a good foundation document.
And just as Dorothy noted about the forensic audit. This work is crucial and must be done right. Without a solid and transparent capacity baseline all capacity conversations are hopeless.
It is not possible to form effective intermediate and long term plans without a transparent baseline that has numbers that look reasonable to parents, staff and the greater community.
Not to mention I'd rather not treat public school teachers as suspect.
What would be helpful knowing is whether columns J-M are worth a d*mn. If Tracy Libros came up with those numbers, than its GIGO.
The measurement of the utilization of the building, however, does depend on program. A classroom could be considered full with 30 general education students or with 6 students in an intensive self-contained program.
So, two different measures: capacity and utilization. One is independent of programming the other is influenced by it.
Yes, columns J-M are relatively solid. The methodology they are using for this is pretty good. It is not perfect but it is good enough.
That said, this chart was made on June 29th and it has not been updated with the Oct 1st numbers. As there were 1500 students over the projections, an updated version would look very different.
In many cases, this year's enrollment exceeds the 2015 number. The reason I say this is still solid is that by updating with the current enrollment numbers, then the adjustment in the projections should be reasonably adjusted and useful for projecting needed capacity solutions.
The biggest issue that I have with enrollment projections is not on this chart. With the NSAP, we are going to see significant and consistent (and predictable!) growth at high school. Right now, they are only using roll ups from middle school to predict for high school enrollment.
Both last year and this year, there were over 500 new high school students, coming into the system at all grades. I expect that trend to continue for a few more years at least.
The Washington State Constitution assures the privacy of citizens (and their bodies) more strongly than the US Constitution.
For this reason, drug testing of public employees has been held as unconstitutional.
However, that being said, if a district has CAUSE to suspect a public employee is "under the influence" on the job, they can require employees to be tested.
After the episode of drug dealing by a staff member of the General Counsel's office last year, they would obviously resist. To say nothing of the "Drug Counselor" at RB (Smitty) who is servng time now. Guess the powers the are, only notice such behaviors in others.
I am not fully confident about footnote 4 but my guess is that (based on footnote 2) they are doing a very simple roll up of currently enrolled APP students with zero growth.
For pure capacity analysis, students moving from an attendance area to APP are just "swirl." They are a transfer student and not an additional student.
For the purpose of capacity analysis, they would need to make an assumption about the attendance area school from which the new-to-app student was vacating their seat. That is a pretty challenging prediction.
While there is lots of anecdotal information about which attendance areas APP qualified students are more likely to vacate their seats, it is unlikely that this number is statistically significant for this type of analysis. Moreover, it would be troubling if an attendance area was getting a big deduction for APP that turned out to be not correct.
So, my bet is that this model reflect zero APP growth.
A way to fix this would be to include in the footnote, a more explicit comment that growth at Hamilton, Washington, TM and (North end APP??) is extremely likely to be greater than anticipated due to outreach efforts for APP enrollment.
(and thanks for the compliment, notes like that keep me plugging away :)
I have to agree with Dorothy. Don't underestimate the complete loss of institutional memory to the equation. There are lots of good folks at the district and many of them are showing a very different picture without the micromanaging of Don Kennedy.
I often think about the Challenger disaster on this topic. Lots of folks at Nasa knew there were big issues. But nobody felt they had a way to daylight those issues. Nasa is a very different place after Challenger as they intentionally built transparency to prevent the obfuscation of known problems.
I mean obviously the city is going to set up some other method of getting to and from West Seattle but how will this impact those students?
You are correct and that is is one of the obvious problems I mentioned and we had discussed this at length during the task force.
Utilization analysis is supposed to be weighted to reflect programming. This spreadsheet uses a straight utilization ratio does not reflect any weighting for special programs.
I hope that future versions show weighted programming as it is not terribly challenging to add a few columns that reflect program weighting. That is why I continually refer to this as a solid analysis. Anything that can be fixed by updating numbers and adding a column or two is a very workable analysis.
Here are some examples:
Thornton Creek is listed as having 44 extra spaces and 89% utilization. However, they have three classrooms that are fully allocated to a 4(b) special ed program with a maximum of 8 students per classroom. Those 4(b) students should get a 3x multiplier for capacity purposes as each student is (appropriately!) utilizing the equivalent of 3 seats.
That weighting would add 48 seats to the utilization analysis. This weighted version would show that TC is over by 4 spaces not under by 44 and 101% utilized. (Technically, if you are using 25 per class as a base then the 3 and 1/8 but you get the general idea.)
Another example is Wedgwood. They have a special ed program (medically fragile) with two dedicated classrooms and 19 students. A 2.5 multiplier would get them close to the 50 students for those two rooms.
I do not know the ins and out of special eduction. Someone with a deep understanding of the categories and legalities and programming would need to develop appropriate multipliers. It is quite possible that medically fragile should have the same 3x multiplier and then you would be able to demonstrate that the program at Wedgwood is overloaded.
The bottom line is that it is very easy to reflect this actual utilization with an accurate multiplier and have a solid capacity number that doesn't change.
- What can a parent do when concerned about the performance of their child's teacher?
- How do you know that a principal is making true efforts to improve the situation?
- What offenses are considered fireable and what kind of discipline is imposed for other offenses?
- Can any parents share their thoughts on what to do when they find the situation untenable for their kids?
signed, parent
I'm a glass bone dry kinda gal.
On Cap Mgmt, given the recent promotion of L. Morello as Director of Capital Projects and Planning, I find it odd that consultant Doug Nichols has shifted from reformer of crappy capital projects mgmt to leading the capacity management effort. Again, his background is architecture and capital program and project management. He works with ESD 112's CSG, Construction Services Group. Like I said, I like the guy and his services are sorely needed in Capital Projects, but I see this as SPS winging it, once again.
Yes. And I look forward to Richard Staudt getting a more relevant role in the district. Risk analysis may finally be taken seriously.
I get it. I really do. I can do capacity planning in my sleep because I learned it in my work environment, a long time ago. It is not that hard, really.
Because it is not that challenging, I have always been mystified by SPS's insistence on inventing their own home-grown analysis, rather than using any generally accepted standards.
As I said, there are obvious errors in this plan. I agree with you completely that those errors are there because there is a capitol projects focus, rather than a capacity focus (or a student focus).
But that said, the last home grown version was done by Brad Bernatek and it was such a fundamentally flawed analysis in so many directions and dimensions that it needed to be tossed out.
This version isn't perfect but it is workable. But most importantly, it is an actual analysis, rather than a politically motivated artificial construction.
The difference is that (at least in any environment that I have ever worked) you always have multiple eyeballs on your analysis. Analysis always improves every time someone else looks at it and gives feedback. Analysis done by one person is never perfect because "you don't know what you don't know." Multiple reviews is a cornerstone of good analysis.
I first met Meg Diaz when I gave her feedback on her analysis during the closures. Meg's framework was brilliant - flexible and insightful. However, she didn't know a lot of the quirks of my part of town. After a little collaboration, it was simple to update her analysis to reflect those few things that she "knew now, that she didn't know before." That is just standard practice and it was easy for Meg and I to do this as we both know standard practice.
If Brad's spreadsheet had ever been made public, it would have been easy for the community to see the obvious errors and it would have been so much easier to stop the closures. But only the conclusions of the analysis were made public.
Doug may not be perfect but he is more than competent, completely transparent and he participates in the standard practice. I can work with that.
Document everything; if you have a verbal conversation follow up with email. Give principal deadlines to respond and when missed f/u with email.
If issue not addresed, begin to CC Education Director on emails.
Document everything; if you have a verbal conversation follow up with email. Give principal deadlines to respond and when missed f/u with email.
If issue not addresed, begin to CC Education Director on emails.
For me, the question should be approached from a direction that says: We have these children, in these neighborhoods with these needs. We have these buildings. How should be allocate the building resource to efficiently and effectively meet the demand?
To date, the question has been approached from a supply-driven perspective: we have these buildings, who can we put in them?
Ask Kate Martin. She took on Roosevelt because of a failng teacher and won a rare victory.
Another excellent reason to vote for her.
-JC.
I wondered about drug testing some admins after hearing so many stories about principals abusing their staff.
Just last week Sarah Pritchett, principal, McClure, accused her entire teaching staff of being racist.
Who is watching for and monitoring such bizarre behavior?
-JC.
- I could be wrong
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Not that I know of.... for the SPS teachers.
When I taught at Lummi Nation School on the Lummi Rez in the 2008-2009 school year...
Everyone was drug tested on Day 1 and all were made aware that random testing could take place at anytime....... which was fine with everyone teaching there.
Document everything. Have a meeting with someone? E-mail them back your account of what was said.
Always cc a Board Director and/or Ex Director. Get that loop started early.
Be specific. Is this teacher behavior around adults? Kids? Abusive to kids? Teaching erratic or hard to follow? What is the issue? What does your child say?
Volunteer in the classroom. Look around at the kids. What is the atmosphere. Or, ask to sit in on the class.
Quietly ask other parents. Is your vibe correct?
You would know if the principal was making a true effort if things changed. Does your principal seem to understand what you are communicating? Don't be put off with "you're the first parent to tell me this." Not always true.
As for teacher offenses, you'd have to check the teachers' contract or ask the principal. I honestly don't know except that if you are found to have done a criminal act - against the school, a child or another adult - you will be fired.
If you believe your child is in danger, get out the class now. If you are just unhappy with the teaching, get specific with the principal. Ask if there is room in another class.
Respect what your gut says. You have instincts for a reason, especially paternal ones.
It sounds serious but I can only say that in terms of the teacher that Kate's child and mine shared, he was unlikeable person, treated the kids unfairly and was a poor teacher. I waited too long and then couldn't get him out of the class. I should have and just homeschooled him in that class.
QA parent of two
You can find out about our thinking on this matter HERE.
This appeal business is a bunch of work and $240 in filing fee to make this one happen. Your thoughts either "pro" or "con" will be appreciated.
We are really tired of the Directors ignoring legal requirements.
==============
Side note: Since MGJ's departure things are definitely improving in a variety of areas..... but in the instructional area ... unfortunately things remain largely the same.
Achievement Gap? For Maier a TOP Campaign priority ... so what!!
Earlier in the week on another thread, Jane said "It's interesting to me that McClure's numbers haven't increased more. I was thinking their enrollment would start to grow since QA families now have guaranteed access to a high school (Ballard)."
Not particular surprising to me, since one doesn't have to go to McClure to continue on to Ballard.
I too would like to hear more about the accusations directed toward staff by the principal.
Got it. And yes, Doug is a straight guy. I like Charlie's suggestion best of all though. Rather than think how cram kids into buildings, it should be how buildings should accomodate these kids....
The accusation was made at the staff meeting and was vauge and unsubstantiated. No specific incident wss given just an overall rant that the staff was racist.
This is why I say her behavior was bizaare - way more than just unprofessional.
I don't believe Pritchett was refering to Koreans or Somalians or Native Americans if you get my drift.
Teachers will not speak out since they have been effectively terrorized into silence. And how does one answer such a charge anyway - can't prove a negative.
What next? Take it up the line? I have no confidence in the district on this topic. But perhaps you do.
-JC.
- I could be wrong
I heard from a friend at Stanford that the new principal is bringing back saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Apparently it's Washington State law? I had no idea.
Does your child's school do the Pledge, and how do you feel about it?
inquired about: pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and Washington State law?
=====================
It sure has been State Law for a along time.
Kids are not required to say the pledge but they are required to maintain a respectful silence while it is said.
Here is a MAP.
ACLU on WA State
The RCW=28A. 230.140
The board of directors of every school district shall cause a United States flag being in good condition to be displayed during school hours upon or near every public school plant, except during inclement weather. They shall cause appropriate flag exercises to be held in each classroom at the beginning of the school day, and in every school at the opening of all school assemblies, at which exercises those pupils so desiring shall recite the following salute to the flag: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all". Students not reciting the pledge shall maintain a respectful silence. The salute to the flag or the national anthem shall be rendered immediately preceding interschool events when feasible.
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Is the Board not doing its job?
My recollection from elementary was maybe once a week in certain teachers' rooms. Occasionally at an assembly.
Middle School - never (maybe at 8th grade moving up ceremonies)
High School - never (except at the Veterans Day assembly)
Do they still play the national anthem at high school games like football and basketball?
They say the pledge at all Board meetings but you can say it or not (I generally leave out "under God" as do others).
What do you mean JC? It seems kind of weird that a black principal at McClure could or would accuse her entire staff of being racist? The principal, vice principal, and handful of teachers are all black. She is the one in power. What exactly did she say and when? More innuendo doesn't shed light, and is almost as bad as nebulous claims of "racism" you are claiming she said. (not that it is untrue - just that more details should be provided to prevent rumor-mongering)
Was she complaining about treatment of a black student (seems unlikely, since she is completely in control of that)? Or was she complaining about some sort of lack of respect given her by her staff? Given that the huge teacher turnover at McClure, she should be completely in control of who the staff are, as she has probably hired most of them by now, and whether or not any disrespectful staff have been hired? So, claims of racism indeed seem strange.
But yes. It does seem pretty bad that McClure has such low capture rate for its service area. The QA/Mag area elementary schools are packed to the gills - but few seem to continue on to McClure. The district hacked a teacher from the staff - leaving classes with 35+ students per class. Then, 2 weeks into school - classes were shifted around because 8th grade was WAY overbooked, and teachers reassigned. That is the worst thing about the school currently. Racial climate is small potatoes compared to that. If there is something to "escalate", it's that.
-McClure parent
I don't get why everyone up here loves John Hay and Coe (and all the other local elementaries, I assume) and then completely disappears/flees when it comes to McClure. It seems to me that the reason these elementaries are so successful (aside from the great staff) is in large part due to the incredibly supportive parents who raise funds, volunteer in the classrooms, and just generally make themselves available to their children and the other students at these schools. So it would stand to reason that if these same parents provided the same amount of support at McClure, it would be similarly successful (and be perceived as a "good" school).
But every time I ask someone on QA with middle school children where his/her kids are going, 9 times out of 10 it's private school. When I ask my friends what they plan to do when their young kids get to that point, 9 times out of 10 they talk about private school. Nobody can REALLY articulate what they are so worried about at McClure, but sometimes these vague stories come up about someone's friend's kids' experience, or this anecdote about the current principal calling the staff racist.
I'm not saying this didn't happen or that it shouldn't be addressed, but I'd like to a) hear some substantiation for this and other negative claims about McClure, b) hear some positive stories, and c) see more of my fellow QA parents with elementary-age kids pledge their support to this school and make it work. We're planning on sending our kids there (many, many years from now) and we intend to do all we can to make McClure a solid option for our kids and their peers.
Sorry for such a long post. I just don't get the problem with this school. And FWIW, I volunteered there last year and was impressed with the teachers and students. I'd be interested to hear what other members of the McClure community have to say about their school.
QA parent of two
"I would like to see the capacity management effort be demand-driven ...
To date, the question has been approached from a supply-driven perspective: we have these buildings, who can we put in them?"
Capacity conversations should (technically) be limited to number of seats and number of bodies that need seats. It is a demand-driven conversation. Frankly, watching paint dry should be more interesting than talking about capacity.
What happens in a building is about teaching and learning. That should be an interesting conversation. That is the supply side conversation. This is the conversation that is meaningful and important and a big deal.
The reason I have stayed involved in this as long as I have is because while the demand side of the equation is truly duller than rocks, it is the foundation of an effective supply side conversation.
To use an analogy. I actually like to do interesting things. I do not like to balance my checkbook. However, having a balanced checkbook makes it a lot easier for me to do interesting things as I know what is feasible and what is going to result in a bounced check.
The fact that capacity conversations in the last few years have had more twists and turns than your average hollywood blockbuster, is an indication that we were not having an effective capacity management conversation. "oh, it's Tuesday, the capacity of that building is now ...."
Simply put, if there had been a spreadsheet like this one, the closure process would never have happened. Moreover, the severe over-crowding in NE Seattle and North West Seattle would never have happened.
The ability to manipulate the capacity numbers at will enabled politically motivated decisions that would not have been possible if empirical numbers had been used. IMO, the first step to re-directing the conversation back to teaching and learning is to get capacity numbers nailed so that it is possible to have an effective conversation about teaching and learning.
-another QA/Mag parent
I have yet to tour McClure, but others have told me that its really depressing inside. It has got to me one of the district's ugliest buildings, and I guess that is also true for the inside.
-Another QA parent who is considering avoiding McClure
First off, Sara Prichett is NOT black. The vice-principal is but not Sara.
And JC: No, no one is watching. At the district, principals such as she are enabled not corrected. Its a version of the "Everybody is a winner" philosophy at SSD that allows bad apples to exist for years before action is taken, and then they just "resign" (like how MGJ retells history now).
Second; no one can blame Sara Pritchett's behavior on drugs. She has been absolutely insane since before coming to McClure and has gone downhill (unchecked) since.
Careful though, she's quick to threateh legal action against anyone who criticises. Easy to imagine how staff at McClure are terrified.
There may be drugs that account for Pritchett's behavior for all this time, the question is: Is she taking them as perscribed?
Others have witnessed her bizarre tantrums and wondered how she lasted this long.
It seems a cry for help.
Uh. Not any more. Haven't you heard of the NSAP? That's where you don't get a choice. No, you aren't going to get to choose Hamilton or Whitman. Maybe you can have Salmon Bay, but that's pretty unlikely too. Salmon Bay isn't the option school for QA/Mag at the middle school. In fact, QA/Mag is the ONLY service area without an alternative school at the middle school level. Blaine is a K-8, and an "option", but it is not an alternative. And, since it is the assignment school for the K-5 portion, it doesn't accept many new students at 6th.(eg. something like 5) Of course, you can choose private (maybe). But how many can the privates really absorb? They're already taking a lot for elementary. Are there really that many extra spots at the middle school level?
As to McClure "improving". They've been saying that for about 10 years now. With all that "improving" it must be Harvard by now. It's hard to get traction on the promise that "one day it's going to be good" because of the NSAP... as if the southend students were ever the problem. Nobody really wants to send their kid to a school that is "improving", they'd rather send their kids to something already improved.
I guess I wouldn't agree too much with the depressing interior comment. Sure it's no beauty, but it isn't about the buildings. Buildings can be made attractive - it really isn't the issue at all.
-McClure parent
McClure parent
Floor Pie, my understanding is that it is a principal's call.
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So much for the requirements of WA State Law in Seattle... There are a lot of school districts that follow RCWs .... Without enforcement apparently RCWs mean little in Seattle.
Pretty clear from King County Superior Court Judges' failure to even mention violations of RCW 28A 645.020 in their decisions that RCWs are neglected regularly without consequences in Seattle.
Let us see what happens in WA appeals court Division I on 11-3-2011 in regard to RCW 28A 645.020.
-concerned reader
Charlie Mas pointed out
Results from McClure staff survey: Staff feeling positive about professional culture: 30% (District average 56%)
Staff feeling positive about school leadership: 32% (District average: 57%)
Conflict and dissension among the staff is resolved in a timely and effective manner: 15% (District average: 46%)
The principal encourages and supports open communication: 19% (District average: 61%)
The principal is an effective manager of school operations: 38% (District average: 67%)
These are not very good results. About half of the staff responded to the surveys.
The Executive Director of Schools for McClure is Nancy Coogan, a woman who has always impressed me as a straight-shooter. I would encourage folks to contact her about any school in her region.
And anon posted
Over 30 union complaints were filed against Sarah Pritchett, principal, McClure middle school last year. All but ONE teacher asked to be anonymous. Retaliation? Fear? Ya think?
I'd like to a) hear some substantiation for this and other negative claims about McClure
This parent can't substantiate negative claims about McClure by others. I have several friends who are involved, committed, and dedicated parents at McClure and I will not comment here or elsewhere in such a way that could be construed as derogatory toward their efforts or their school choice. I can only say that having toured McClure 4 years ago (during the principal's 1st year?) and again last winter, McClure was not a fit for the Rufus X family.
c) see more of my fellow QA parents with elementary-age kids pledge their support to this school and make it work. We're planning on sending our kids there (many, many years from now) and we intend to do all we can to make McClure a solid option for our kids and their peers.
See, that's an inherent problem with making a middle school a solid option - depending on your family situation, you may have 3 years tops to devote to such an effort and you hope the parents who are there now are helping to make a school an awesome school. I admire and revere my friends who are doing this at McClure (and other schools). Their efforts are noble, admirable, and with the help of supportive staff, will help make McClure a top middle school in Seattle. I am confident that elementary school parents within the boundaries are grateful for the paths being blazed. Part of me wishes I could be a part of that transformations. The selfish part of me recognizes that my kids can't wait. So we've chosen and were, by the luck of the NSAP draw, admitted to another school outside of our neighborhood boundaries. Part of me feels guilty about that - that we're not doing our part to make our neighborhood school the best it can be. And part of me is resentful that the district is not doing its part to make our neighborhood school the best it can be and is delegating that responsibility to the families it's forcing through NSAP into the school.
She was invited to work with staff during the day, and will lead a parent discussion in the evening on "more background on the cluster grouping model." I do not know if this meeting is open to families outside of Wedgwood, but I will try and publish some notes from the meeting for those who are interested in this.
I know this book was also used as a basis to change the Spectrum delivery model at Lawton, and there has been a lot of criticism that the model, as being implemented at these two schools, varies significantly from the one presented in the book or her research. It will be interesting to hear Dr. Brulles' take on it.
She was invited to work with staff during the day, and will lead a parent discussion in the evening on "more background on the cluster grouping model." I do not know if this meeting is open to families outside of Wedgwood, but I will try and publish some notes from the meeting for those who are interested in this.
I know this book was also used as a basis to change the Spectrum delivery model at Lawton, and there has been a lot of criticism that the model, as being implemented at these two schools, varies significantly from the one presented in the book or her research. It will be interesting to hear Dr. Brulles' take on it.
(earlier post disappeared, so sorry of this shows up as a duplicate).
"Susan Enfield is a soldier for the failed ed reform agenda that robs high achievers down to lowest alike with the bubble test prep script.
For goodness sakes, many classrooms don't even have books and teachers and parent volunteers have to break copyright to xerox pages by chapter which cost about 4x what actual books would cost. Meanwhile we're spending millions on bubble test prep and testing.
We are adding 1000 students a year. We can't staff with 3 year formulas.
She has surrounded herself with mediocre to inadequate talent in the way of regional executive directors, refuses to do a fact check of resumes of those folks she has hired and only holds principals "accountable" to bubble test bumping.
She fails to correct the curriculum inadequacies in any perceivable way and will never close the achievement gap, but will actually make it worse, because she buys the drill 'em for bubble test agenda.
We don't need bubble test bumpers.
We have money for real teaching, real learning and real conversations with families about how to supplement and navigate public education.
APP and Spectrum are not even the beginning of challenging students.
We must stop punishing families who prepare their students for school and who cultivate them each and every day of each and every year.
Remedial is one type of classroom. We don't need to dumb down every classroom with remedial. We can't shove all of our "average students" into that milieu.
Susan Enfield does not have a vision for the best schools in the nation - which is what Seattle should be shooting for - but instead she has another tired story about the achievement gap. Yuk.
I'm tired of students being held back by such programs that only deal with one segment of the student population. All students need attention and challenges. All student deserve inspiration. Many are bored out of their minds in these classrooms.
I would like a superintendent who is willing to recognize the individual needs of students and who understand the difference between standards and standardization."
DM
I wonder what McClure parents think of the principal.
I realize libel laws haven't caught up with blogs yet, but I expect more from Melissa and Charlie on this than crickets. This is a very nasty thread direction. If Ms. Prichett has problems, the blog owners keep saying it's easy to do-get rid of principals through a specific process. This kind of thing is the reason blogs aren't taken seriously and bloggers aren't always considered journalists.
--disgusted
I agree that a lot of what was said here was troubling and frankly, not very nice. It does not sound personal; it sounds like people are worried about her professional behavior and how it affects their careers.
"If Ms. Prichett has problems, the blog owners keep saying it's easy to do-get rid of principals through a specific process."
Nope, never said that. What I said (and I'm pretty sure Charlie as well) is that there is a process to exit ineffective TEACHERS. I have never said that process is easy (if it was then more teachers would be exited). I have no idea what the process is to exit ineffective principals.
I cherish my 1st amendment rights. I take them seriously and I don't want to abuse those rights. The credence which I give to people is based on what they say and do. On blogs, I can't see what you do, so I pay attention to what you say and how you say it.
The other thing (and it's the analyst in me), I am cautious about what I read especially when we do allow anonymous postings (like mine). Most time on ths blog, people ask questions, other provide answers to the best of their knowledge, and most people discuss and debate away with great wit, verve, passion, and terrific analysis. I love that. I jog carefully around postings that are more innuendoes, full of many points that don't connect or don't make sense, are mean, and more troll like with a hidden agenda.
So I say again, please be careful what you post, be smart!
Concerned reader
Teachers yes...
Principals ????
http://vimeo.com/30595021
Yet another union complaint filed against Sarah Pritchett. This one concerns her instituting the seven period school day instead of the contract's six period school day over the staff vote for two years running.
Also, if parents want more info about Pritchett and her actions, why not call a meeting with her and her bosses?
If enough parents voice their concerns, perhaps "someone" will start watching.
-JC.
https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/defamation
I admit that I've wondered in the past about Dan's on-going comments about judges and lawyers ignoring the law and such, but his statements seem to be "hyperbole" according to the FAQ. So he's safe. But stating as fact that someone is a drug user, well, that's different. And I'm sure you know that there are certainly ways to find out the identity of "anonymous" commenters.
Regardless, it's unsavory, even if she IS the the worst principal in the history of SPS. There are better ways to deal with it than to make such comments. This blog is better than that.
--disgusted
--disgusted
In the case of a good principal, how can SPS ever justify sacrificing the education of hundreds of children by interfering with a good school? And in the case of a bad principal, how can SPS ever justify sacrificing the education of hundreds of children by putting the interests of that employee above them?
The real concern of SPS in these schools should always be the individual children.
Again, if you know something of merit about union complaints, or claims of racism at staff meetings - then share that. Because without details, it isn't much. Parents aren't going to be "up in arms" about either of the issues you raised because they are staff issues.
-McClure parent
Mr Ed
Here's the link, to the best of my ability:
https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/defamation
And I like Mr. Ed's idea. Getting someone's own words on tape would certainly help one's cause. And the media could always help with PROOF of drug use, for example, to get someone removed.
--still disgusted
My impression as to why screening is done on everyone instead of a " few".
Teachers are generally chaperones at these things is this correct?
Anyway- when you have a standard equally applied to everyone, it can be easier to administer, than if you make the teachers into detectives and expect them to be able to tell when someone is high.
the HS projections listed in the friday update don't match the budget projections. At all.
Almost uniformly, the stated projection in the update makes the actual projection error look muchsmaller than it was. Garfield's projection was low by 110 students; the Friday update adjusted the projection number so it looks like it was low by 12. Friday update says Ballard's projection was low by 49; it was low by 138.
Before putting on my tinfoil hat and going all conspiracy theory - I wonder if, at the high school level, projections were recalibrated with according staffing changes? I've heard that, for, say, Ingraham, recalibrations didn't come w/extra staff. Anyone know what the deal is?
In a 2008 WA Supreme Court ruling against suspicion-less drug testing of students, Justice Barbara Madsen had an interesting opinion, “ … suspicion-less drug testing jeopardizes other important educational objectives, including preparing students to become responsible citizens who share a common understanding and appreciation of our constitutional values.”
This is exactly what DJ wrote about- what is this teaching our kids about their rights and responsibilites as citizens?
BTW-The WA State constitution "may" prohibit suspicion-less drug tests, according to the ACLU of WA. Contact them for more info, but they have a great booklet online at www.aclu-wa.org, "Know your rights: A guide for public school students in WA".
Under School Searches chapter- "Individualized suspicion: If the teacher or the principal has a reasonable suspicion that someone (italics) has drugs or alcohol, that does not mean they can search everyone (italics). The must have "individualized suspicion" (italics)...For example, if a school official has information that some students are using drugs or drinking alcohol, it would not justify a search of all students in a class or at a game."
Under the chapter "Drug Tests and Dog Sniffs":
Generally, the Fourth Amendment protects people from "suspicion-less searches." A suspicion-less search is one conducted without any reason to suspect evidence of a crime. Doing the drug test of all students, or of all athletes, would mean conducting suspicion-less searches. But, in 2002...the U.S. Supreme Court said it was okay for schools to require all students in voluntary extracurricular activities to submit to drug-testing.
Still, the Washington State Constitution may prohibit suspicion-less drug tests in Washington public schools. The Washington Supreme Court has said that a school violated students’ rights by requiring all students to consent to have their bags searched for alcohol in order to
go on a school trip. Because that search was done without individualized suspicion, it violated our state constitution. The Washington Supreme Court has not yet decided whether the kind of drug testing approved by the U.S. Supreme Court would be
prohibited by our state constitution. Because states are free to give their citizens
greater protection, students in Washington could be protected from suspicion-less
drug testing."
This could potentially be great news. At least someone is paying attention. Her book does not support the changes Chris Cronas instituted.
BIG QUESTION: Who invited her? Is the staff (and by staff I really mean Cronas) supportive of this meeting, or was it called by the parents?
You can see where I'm going with this. It's hard to imagine, based on her writings, that Chris would want her there talking about how Cluster Grouping is "for situations where self-contained classrooms are not an option" after he just killed self-contained classrooms, and implemented something that barely resembles her recommendations!
Does anyone know how this speaking engagement came about?
WV: teribbel
The perfect description of what happened at WW this year!
Chris sent/posted a letter about Dina Brulles coming to speak. I imagine this will be a very well-attended event.
Unless you have seen how unpleasant the dancing can get (and how many of the kids at the dance are uncomfortable and don't want to participate but the music choices make that hard), I have no problem with the dance rules. It is, I believe, a Board policy based on many parents complaints from different schools.
I understand completely about trusting kids but past experience has shown that kids won't stick to the guidelines. Believe me, the adults don't enjoy the enforcement at all.
Initially, it was a bit of a leap of faith for us to choose McClure as our neighborhood middle school. This was a couple of years before the NSAP and the school still had the reputation of being the place that kids got sent to if they were kicked out of another middle school. It wasn’t true any longer (if ever), but it is hard to live down a reputation. It was also a school that had guaranteed busing from South Seattle, and (preparing to be flamed now), some people in the neighborhood didn’t like “those kids” or “the riff-raff” element coming to McClure. Those are direct quotes, by the way. So go ahead and flame me, but I believe one reason that families in the neighborhood didn’t choose McClure has an uglier side.
Choose McClure we did, though. And we have been generally pleased with our children’s middle school experience there. Any problems we have had have stemmed from the teachers and not the administration
To put it bluntly, there have been a couple of train wrecks on staff there. By that I do not mean that there was a mere personality clash. By train wreck, I mean a teacher who did not have competency in the subject matter they were teaching, or a teacher who dissed their colleagues with their students (not the administration, mind you, but their fellow teachers), or a teacher who simply didn’t teach. There was a teacher who constantly lost student work – made the kids re-do it – and then lost that. There was a teacher who gave incorrect and possibly damaging information to students in the context of a sex ed class. By the way, these examples are of teachers my children had – this is not second-hand, or rumors. This is direct experience.
To my mind, it took far too long to exit these teachers. Most of them have been exited (or retired) though – which could be one reason that the staff is so unhappy with Ms. Pritchett.
I just spent a lot of real estate discussing train wrecks but I do want to say that my kids have also benefited from some amazingly talented and committed teachers at McClure. There is a teacher at the school who makes students truly excited about math. There are a number of cracker jack language arts teachers who push kids in all the right ways. There is an amazing woman who spearheads the entire musical each year. There are many teachers who not only “get” this age, but particularly enjoy them! On balance, our kids have experienced many, many more ups than downs at this school
I am not completely dismissing the staff survey results. Clearly the staff as a whole is not happy and that is a problem. However, look at the parent surveys and you will see a very different picture.
To anyone looking at this or any other school, I would just say that you shouldn’t take mine or any other person’s word for it. Please don’t go on the word of those who “have heard” something about the school or those who seem to delight in posting vindictive innuendo about the principal. Check under the hood for yourself.
--another McClure parent
I appreciate your honesty about your children's educational experience at the school. And as a teacher of over ten years myself at various schools and programs, I would just like to add that unprofessional, incompetent, lazy, or mean teachers exist at every sort of school (public and private) and in every kind of neighborhood. And great teachers are everywhere!
QA parent of two
SQ
warmed my heart! I agree; bless those who are middle-school teachers (and there are some really good ones at Eckstein).
Back to the drinking/drugs - no, I wouldn't like be tested every day at work but we're not talking about every day at school.
I'm not sure every kid gets the breath test but I think the staff looks over each kid and asks a couple of questions. (It may depend on the school.) If the kid cannot answer the questions clearly, then they get a test. You should ask at your school if this bothers you.
But in the end, wouldn't you like your child who might not be drinking but is in the car with someone who is, to be safe from that driver? The staff does not do this to embarrass or be punitive; it is to protect these students (some of them from each other).
"Remove them from the dance, ban them from future dances, call their parents, whatever."
Sure, you could do that but have you ever seen how these parents react?
"You dared to kick their child out? What about other kids who didn't get kicked out?"
As a former high school PTSA co-president, I've heard this stuff.
Call the parents? The police told us at the drug/drinking prevention meetings that sometimes parents wouldn't even show up to pick up their kid ("put him in jail for a night").
Whatever? You might also ask your principal how difficult it is to deal with parents who say "my kid, right or wrong" and will not accept sanctions for their child.
But the main reason we left was that the Spectrum classes were not full of Spectrum-qualified kids. Not even close -- so they took a whole bunch of higher-scoring kids out of general ed. That left general ed really, really dumbed down. I know it is common to fill those extra Spectrum seats with kids who "opt up" but I'm not sure most schools need to do it in such large numbers. It caused a huge imbalance -- and this was also before the NSAP, and very few of the bussed-in kids were opted up. I believe this also contributed to the poisoned, conflict-filled atmosphere. Not to mention those "ugly, underlying issues" AMP refers to. Additionally, the teachers refused to differentiate, including teachers I otherwise found admirable, so I figure they must have been too overwhelmed with discipline issues to manage more than basic teaching.
Many ex-McClure parents I've talked to noted the same issues. Plus the fact that those few amazingly bad teachers AMP mentioned often seemed to be switched around in the grades so kids would have to endure a second year with them. By the way, at least one was exited to a different Seattle public school (lovely.) I've always been sorry McClure couldn't seem to thrive. I don't know about the allegations against Sarah Pritchett, but personally I didn't find her very inspiring and that school needs a truly gifted leader to climb out of this hole.
I am surprised that Hale is using the breath test on all students. They didn't at Hale. It would seem appropriate for there to be a standard for all schools.
I belong to the ACLU; I understand what you are saying.
SQ, I agree about enforcing regulations and I know kids are ejected from dances. But some parents are very aggressive about suing the school over issues like this and I can only say that my experience is the schools (and district) are skittish about it.
There's what should happen and there's the reality of what does.
Does anyone have more info?
band parent
I don't mind them checking everyone- I would rather that be the case, than certain groups of students being passed through because " they never would be drinking".
Never- doesn't really apply to teens.
This was a homecoming dance. There were 6 security guards and police officers there, in addition to many parent chaperons, and the principal. One of the first things that a police officer is trained to do is to be able to identify people under the influence. A police officer and/or a security guard should be able to tell with little effort if a teen is intoxicated. By all means drug test those kids and take appropriate actions, but to subject every kid to a drug test????
Maybe it's just me? Maybe it's just my parenting style? I choose to trust my children- unless they prove to be untrustworthy. Does that mean that I am blind and believe my kids will never do anything wrong? Never lie? Never try alcohol? Or pot? Shoplift? I'd be a fool to think that my kids will never do anything wrong. They are teens. They will. And when they do I deal with it appropriately. But unless I have a reasonable suspicion I choose not to randomly (or preemptively) drug test my kids, search their rooms, or enact unreasonable rules....just in case.
SQ
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/no-excuses-can-charter-principles-work-in-traditional-schools/2011/10/15/gIQAJSGpoL_blog.html
Not surprising, but worth knowing about.
-ABC
It will be interesting to see the Oct 26 presentation, and if he has made any changes to his original plan based on his meeting with Dr. Brulles.
Where are the results of the most recent surveys and why aren't they posted to the district web site.
The folks in Evaluation Research and Assessment aren't much for providing public information, are they?
Still need the tinfoil?
There is a question about staffing adjustments, both up and down. For example, which teachers have left Rainier Beach high school now that the enrollment is 62 less than projected?
I hope parents ask lots of questions. I hope they think hard about what's happened to their school.
Here's a pre-made Brulles question for anyone planning to attend:
Why would a principal dismantle a strong, self-contained program that had been working for decades, to replace it with cluster grouping when your book states cluster grouping is "for situations where self-contained classrooms are not an option".
No, here's a better one: What's the best way to re-implement self-contained classrooms after a principal foolishly dismantles them?
Principals are essentially at-will employees. Unlike Teachers, who have union protection to oversee their due process rights, a superintendent could theoretically fire a principal for just about any reason. It is actually far easier to exit a bad principal than it is to exit a bad teacher. The problem is that a greater level of trust has been placed in principals, and it is often very hard for upper administration to see or believe that a principal needs to be exited.
I am more interested in asking her about her body of work and how it applies to our particular situation. From what I understand, her experience is primarily with small districts that do not have either enough money or enough students for a full-fledged AL program like we have here, and she presents an in-classroom alternative.
This is NOT to say that an integrated classroom is inferior, just that her solutions may be for a different problem. Right now, I am trying to read as much of her and Winebrenner's work as possible, so I can get a better handle on what her research says, and what problems her consulting practice typically focuses on.
RE: Dina Brulles visit.
She came to Lawton last spring too and I thought she was thorough presenter and an advocate for gifted ed.
Be forewarned though... In her cluster grouping model the gifted cluster is what SPS typically defines as APP designation (percentage wise anyway - ie the top 2% on CoGAT). So those students would be in "group 1" - but that can leave our Spectrum designated students in no mans land (between groups 1 and 2) Some Spectrum students test very high and some not so high, but the individual test scores are known to the AL department, but not the Principal or teachers (so it makes it hard to assign who's in 1 and who's in 2 going by a %age GoCAT score, because the people doing the cluster creation (principal and/or teachers) don't actually have the test result data) -or so we were told.
Since SPS has an established AL definition and designation for gifted, that includes Spectrum, Lawton designated all their Spectrum students Group 1. [Which I personally think was the right choice.] Naysayers say many of those children shouldn't be in Spectrum anyway (you know, the tried and true old "they're not really gifted/AL" argument) so therefore they shouldn't really be Group 1's.
Swapped one set of labels for another set.
--walked a mile in those shoes
Public school parent
I have no idea why it takes them so long to tally the results.
Our experience has been positive with a number of quality teachers, especially in the 2011-12 school year.
As neighborhood families continue to commit to sending their kids, and volunteer their time and talent, the school continues to improve - - perhaps the whole point of the Neighborhood Assignment Plan.
In all, having a middle school of only 500 kids, where the principal and nearly all teachers know my kid by name (in a postive way...) has been a good experience for him and our family so far.
McClure Mom