Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting. In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance. - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
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It is do or die day. Will Washington have a charter school initiative on the ballot or not?
hmmm, do you think a little birdie told her something?
From that school's website: The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC), provides companies with a 75% tax credit for donations to a non-profit scholarship or educational improvement organization. The tax credit increases to 90% if the company commits to making the same donations for two consecutive years. A business paying taxes in Pennsylvania can receive up to $300,000 in tax credits annually. They collected over $200,000 in EITC money (about 450 kids in the school) last year.
It sounds like this method (stealth vouchers) is spreading through the country. Something we should be aware of.
Playground Curious
parent
Seattle Public Schools
I think if they don't have parent volunteers, teachers have to rotate playground duty.
Parent, as far as principal meetings, I'd suspect that it's one of two things.
One, they may perceive that your issue even if, say, about the same teacher, means different things to each of student involved.
Two, they don't have someone else to cover the meeting. Meaning, the principal would not have a private meeting with more than one parent without another teacher, counselor, or Ex director present. They need to cover themselves for what is said at the meeting.
Also, I understand that misuse of restricted funds for SpEd monies would fall under the "accountability" audit, due in June.
If so, am I correct in thinking that there is improvement -- at least on THIS audit?
The Special Education certificate signature matter seems like a minor "dot the i, cross the t" sort of thing.
The Native American Education issue, however persistent, is exclusively a problem with this one program.
A darn good audit for Seattle Public Schools.
Traffic Education discontinued for the Fall 2012
Seattle Public Schools to discontinue Traffic Education on Aug. 31. Starting in the fall, the District will no longer offer traffic education. During lean budget times, the District can no longer afford to offer this program, which is not a part of our core academic mission. Costs to maintain and insure a car fleet, as well as staffing costs, are not fully covered by student fees. In addition, the District is no longer able to offer competitive prices to families, so we are seeing dwindling enrollment in traffic education. However, Seattle Public Schools will still offer summer traffic education this year, before ending the program on Aug. 31, 2012.
Signed, confused parent
-in the NE
Some do, some don't.
Also in the N end
mirmac1: hmm. You have a point. When I read the District response, what they said (on the bigger, sped/title one compliance issue) is that they have STARTED a plan -- but haven't finished "rolling it out" by hooking up consequences, etc. -- BUT, they have specific dates in mind this year to get from where they are to where they need to be. I don't mean to be heaping praise on them here -- but it doesn't surprise me that with this District, putting the new system in place AND training everyone to do it right AND figuring out how to go out and reliably, systematically get the compliance data (or non-compliance data) AND follow through with consequences for non-reporters would take more than a year. I am not defending it -- but it is consistent with what I would expect, particularly since that issue seems to involve relatively more paperwork. But I am no champ at reading these reports. I am fully willing to concede I have this all wrong if the experts want to overrule me here
The members discuss draft legislation and then take the bills home to introduce them in their state legislatures.
The problem is that the draft legislation is basically written by the corporations and the laws are designed to benefit the corporation's narrow self-interest.
The problem is that many of the legislators don't pay much attention to the laws, but don't hesitate to introduce bills from ALEC in their state legislatures.
While this has resulted in some comical episodes (legislators introducing bills that have blank spaces for the local details or the local details of other states) it is, mostly a tragedy.
The former Executive Director of Special Education did not respond to repeated requests from Central Accounting to review and approve semi-annual time and effort certifications.
Title I
Staff responsible for certifying the time and effort did not respond to repeated requests from Central Accounting to review and approve semi-annual time and effort certifications.
Fund for the Improvement of Education
Principals responsible for certifying the time and effort of teachers in their schools did not respond to repeated requests from Central Accounting to review and approve time and effort certifications.
Education Technology State Grants Cluster
The Program Manager responsible for certifying the time and effort of teachers did not respond to repeated requests from Central Accounting to review and approve semi-annual time and effort certifications.
That sounds to me like eff you I don't have to do nothing. These individuals put our district at risk, should the feds say, okay, no money for you!
The district acts as though we could simply plug some other (higher-seniority) music teacher into the Hamilton slot and get the same results. I don't think so. I'm sad there has been so little outcry (at least that I have noticed) about the RIF because it is "small."
And YES, that is outrageous. Apostle did mention that he thought they would pick up most everyone again. Let's hope so.
Jan, the music parent group is already working on the issue with school and district officials. We are all hopeful for a good outcome! And the orchestra kids are circulating a petition among the student body. My child said that when the class was told they were all battling tears, even the ones who normally are too cool to emote.
We need a District mindset that treats schools more like families, or communities -- and less like "retail locations."
Did Sealth's community do anything to try and keep their counselor? Was that person replaced with someone more senior, or was the position left open? Note that IB doesn't begin until 11th grade so it is unlikely that the 9th grade counselor had to deal much with it.
The problem I have with this incidence is that it seems likely (3rd hand info-I could definitely be wrong)that this person will end up assigned to a school and that someone else will be assigned to her position at IHS. If that is true, it is not about keeping anyone in a job (SEA's issue I assume) but about placement.
I don't understand why you think SEA would be ok with advocating for a music teacher and not a counselor? Is it just because of the precedent of Sealth? I'm sure other school's have let music teachers go as well. Please be clearer.
Thanks for the advice to contact the union.
--singed McD parent
SPS highly recommends Gregory King
Erstwhile in Seattle