Tuesday Open Thread
Superintendent Banda's contract now available; he will be making slightly more than Dr. Goodloe-Johnson did.
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
Seattle Public Schools has scheduled a second public hearing to accept comments on the Draft Environmental Impacts for the Building Excellence Program IV (BEX IV). The hearing will be held on Tue day, May 22, 5:00-6:00 p.m. at Roxhill Elementary School, located at 9430 30th Ave. SW in Seattle.
So if we ran each bus once, it would be at about 67% full. We're running most buses twice, so they're running right now at 33% full, assuming a full-size bus. That might be the best we can do for a 25-minute route, since it takes time to load kids.
Where I get really frustrated is when I look at the numbers and types of buses. The District said they thought that they would need about 110 smaller (Type A, 20-28 students) buses, and about 200 larger (Type C, 40-60 students depending on grade level) buses. First Student's proposal broke down the daily price of a bus based on the numbers for each type.
Clearly, if the average bus is running 33% full, we can run an awful lot of smaller buses. If we dropped to a 50-50 split between large and small, we'd save about $650K.
$650K. No change in start times. No change in ride length. No community uproar. $650K in savings. The optimization problem looked an awful lot like some my 8th grader has done in class this year. That's why I'm depressed this morning.
It ain't because they're not working. (They minimize route times, fill buses, and provide more safety measures at stops.) It's because Staff hadn't (and still hasn't) lifted a finger...not one finger...to do analysis on them. And the Board, having authorized the experiment, never bothered to ask for a follow-up report. Appalling.
Aghast Mom
Meanwhile the soon-to-be ex-interim Superintendent found her soulmates at Highline, but didn't they get the memo...?
Outside help may be needed to heal Highline board rift
. Or perhaps the board whisperers at Alliance have been chatting up Highline, in the hopes of opening an affiliate in Burien.
"The Times editorial team is seeking a shrewd and enterprising editorial writer to help lead critical conversations important to the Puget Sound region and Washington state. The editorial writer will serve as a member of the editorial board, researching and making policy recommendations and writing insightful, persuasive editorials on behalf of The Times editorial board and the occasional personal column.
This person should be skilled at understanding complex issues, seeing both the big picture and the nuance in search of the questions that really matter. The writer should be open-minded but super-resistant to spin from political operatives and special interests. The writer should be passionate and collegial in debating issues with colleagues and skilled at cultivating sources. This person will contribute to the editorial page's online presence through regular blogging and leveraging social media to engage readers and sources. This person will be skilled at writing on deadline, responding quickly to the news of the day and looking for opportunities to break news."
Gee, is Lynne being replaced for someone with the requisite skills?
Should the community care?
-skeptical-
What exactly is the purpose of the Alliance anyway? Who needs them?
If they were merely the earnest banker for our PTAs, that would be one thing, but the Alliance has its own political agenda as well, and no one elected them.
"Melissa Westbrook is not the enemy but is quite the opposite. Your attempt at divide and conquer has been the historical tool of those who seek to weaken the less powerful. "
You bet. The powers that be are finding this blog a threat - and that is a good thing. Afterall, we managed to get 2 incumbents out of office. Keep up the good work and keep on informing.
They are NOT just a supporting organization. They have a separate political agenda that does not always coincide with the Board's views, or District families' and voters' views (which are not monolithic in any case). They have "chosen" a political side -- which is ok, but only if it is on their dime, not mine (through taxes that the District gets -- and then spends on them without putting the contract out to bid).
I think the increase should be turned down, and either now or the NEXT time the contract comes up for renewal, it should be subject to the bidding process for public bids.
(Should the School District Be Allowed to Give Our Kids’ Phone numbers, Addresses and Photos to Every Tom, Dick and Pollster?)
The Alliance is not a neutral, benign organization, but an unelected enterprise with a political agenda and which also arguably serves as the money-launderer for the corporate ed reformers.
Oh, and the fee-charging banker for some SPS PTAs.
At a time when the district is trying to cut transportation costs, and find money for classroom essentials, this MOU from the Alliance asking for more money from the district for its dubious services strikes me as incredibly tone-deaf and smacks of petty greed.
If it's strapped for extra cash, maybe the Alliance should think twice before spending money on questionable items like that $14k NCTQ report.
counting cents
No, Joni Balter is being replaced.
How is that fair? So will everyone's waivers now be accepted?
At a loss
For example, 1st tier elementary schools (8:00am bus arrival time) have been removed entirely, and 1st tier Option K-8 listed for 15 min. later at 8:00am.
(the 5/15/12 revision):
"The bus arrival/departure time windows shall be:
High School & Middle Schools between 7:30 a.m. – 2:35 p.m.
First Tier Option K-8 Schools between 8:00 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Third Tier Option K-8 Schools between 9:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Second Tier Elementary Schools between 8:35 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
Third Tier Elementary Schools between 9:10 a.m. – 3:45 p.m."
Note- This schedule above is what the Board will vote on tomorrow, but Bob Westgard has added that at a later date, 6-10 elementary schools will be moved to the later tier, but that will be a separate Board vote later on.
So folks, you now have 24 hours for your "Community input" before the final vote!
In addition, bus ride times will now be 45 minutes.
For the HS & MS start of 7:30 a.m.
students will be be dropped off at school by 7:20, after a 45 minute bus ride, which by my estimate is a 6:40 AM pick up.
And all the email responses I have gotten from board directors indicate that this is fine and dandy.
Well, that's also good news, as far as I'm concerned. Never cared for her work.
Helen Schinske
in the know
The Board is EQUALLY at fault. They should quit acting like the Queen of Hearts.
All to save $200K-$500K and we know it won't be anyhere near $500K.
They best vote no tomorrow; no change. (which is not all that great anyway!)
SolvayGirl
Seriously, do they think this nomenclature is helpful or clear to parents? For example, how can there be 2nd and 3rd tier elementary schools but no 1st tier elementaries? As with everything else, even the names for the tiers are rushed and nonsensical.
High School & Middle Schools between 7:30 a.m. – 2:35 p.m.
First Tier Option K-8 Schools between 8:00 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Third Tier Option K-8 Schools between 9:00 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Second Tier Elementary Schools between 8:35 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.
Third Tier Elementary Schools between 9:10 a.m. – 3:45 p.m."
Good morning,
Due to ongoing budget limitations, the School Board on May 2 authorized a very limited Reduction in Force this year. Given our growing enrollment and our priority to protect funding that directly affects our classrooms, we have worked hard to ensure we maintain and retain the backbone of our District – our employees.
Unfortunately it is necessary for us to reduce our staffing in a few areas by up to 45 positions, including 17 Classified and 28 Certificated staff, primarily in the areas of counseling, Physical Education, Music, Career Technical Education and English Language Learners. Affected staff members in these positions were notified during the past several days about this RIF. In total, we also eliminated 11 Central Office positions.
Although this is a limited Reduction in Force compared to previous years, it is not easy and has a tremendous impact on those employees who will lose their position. I want to thank those staff members for their service to Seattle Public Schools and our students. Our Employee Assistance Program, together with the Seattle Education Association and Human Resources, are offering a resource program for Classified and Certificated staff on May 23. This program will include information about unemployment, benefits, job search resources, as well as the Right to Return process.
I want to thank our Budget team and our Human Resources Department for their work this spring. It is our goal to present the Board a balanced budget by June 20th, and our Budget team is working hard on finding ways to protect classroom funding in these challenging budget times.
Sincerely,
Susan
Susan Enfield, Ed.D.
Interim Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools
Counseling is the only position not capitalized in the letter, a reflection of the devaluing of socioemotional and guidance needs of students in the district. One third of the cuts to certs were to counselors. This is after two previous years of taking the deepest cuts in the district.
Counselors are disappearing in the N, E, S and W. and for all the wrong reasons. All over the city school communities are finding their counselors are gone and boxes of test packets fill the space where they once stood.
embarrassedbysps
Jane
The district should not change anything from this year unless it's clearly an improvement. This clearly isn't.
Otherwise, a district-wide protest in the fall in which all SPS middle and high schoolers show up to school in their pajamas might attract some national media attention to this farce.
A Pajama Protest at tomorrow's school board meeting could be compelling too.
Agreed. Based on past results, we should assume $200k savings, if that. Remember how well the previous estimate worked out.
Here's some perspective. All they'd need to do is lose 2 headcount downtown to save the same amount of money. But instead they'd rather spend hundreds of person-hours diddling with the existing plan, ultimately affecting 10s of thousands of kids.
Just leave things as they are this year unless there is a very, very clear path to savings without messing with families. Something like Eric B's changes from larger to smaller buses.
Another thought is that often big changes like this take time to get the details ironed out. It's possible that this year's transportation plan, with a few tweaks for next year (not substantive system-wide changes) could end up with the same amount of savings, which is a relatively small percentage.
And remember folks...I'm outta here!
-Sue in Zen Field
Is that in the revised plan posted online? Can you point me to a citation for that b/c I'd like to use it in my letter to the board.
Thanks
KM