Tuesday Open Thread

Forgot to mention (but I've sure you've seen), Seattle Public libraries are closed this week as a cost-cutting measure.  A sure sign of back-to-school when the public library has to close. 

Free backpacks (while they last) at the district's enrollment day today before the furlough day tomorrow (the district will be closed Wednesday, August 29th).   No district or Board activities this week as they gear up for the opening of school next week.

What's on your mind?

Comments

Anonymous said…
SLP's are still awaiting their assignments and other related service staff (OT/PTs and psychologists) have very tentative assignments in place. Of greater concern, caseloads and service delivery will be challenging at best because the sped dept has not been given any more FTEs, despite the fact enrollment has increased and programs have been created. This comment from the SLP team leader:

"ESAs were sure we were going to get some additional help given all the new programs that have been added.  However, as of yet we are not getting additional FTE."

What's with that? Does the new special education director think this is OK? What about Banda? I find this practice unacceptable!!!!

Concerned parent of a special ed student
po3 said…
Would really like my transportation letter. There should be a policy that parents have them two weeks before school starts.
Anxious to hear said…
Does anyone know when the test scores for MSP for SPS will be released?
SeattleSped said…
The district was faulted by OSPI last year for delayed delivery of related-services. The district was required to issue written guidance to its principals and related service providers, and to ensure that IEP services be provided at the beginning of the school year.
SeattleSped said…
And Parents, here's something you may be interested in:

SUMMIT ON CYBER BULLYING SET FOR SEPTEMBER 13TH AT MICROSOFT; REGISTER NOW because space is limited

Washington State PTA is part of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Internet Safety which is hosting a summit on cyber bullying on September 13, 2012 at the Commons on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. According to the organizers, the summit will start at 9 a.m. and go until 3:30 with the goal of developing a youth cyber bullying prevention campaign. The agenda includes a review of best practices relating to community mobilization and social messaging aimed at reducing risky and unhealthy youth behaviors, and a discussion of other successful prevention campaigns aimed at school aged kids. The summit is open to the public so if you’re interested register here, but don’t delay because space is limited.
Lori said…
My RSS feed for this blog is just full of spam, 50-60 messages at a time, for the last week or so. Any thought to re-introduce the captcha for posters? It's hard to separate the real posts from the fake ones when reading via RSS. Surely there are other RSS readers out there experiencing the same thing?
Eric B said…
We aren't getting the final class assignments for our elementary school until the day before classes start. Even then, it'll be posted on the building door, not in a mailing. Apparently, there's some kind of massive classroom reshuffling going on.

The early projections did have some odd dips in population at a couple of grade levels, and maybe late enrollers/waitlisted students have shifted those levels enough that the whole system had to be changed. Still, kinda late and kinda weird.
Anonymous said…
Ithought they weren't allowed to post on the door anymore? For elementaries notifying by mail, how late can they wait to mail them? Wed? Thursday?
--cranium
Anonymous said…
I'm with po3. I want my transportation information like last week. This is ridiculous.

APP@Lincoln Mom
Rufus X said…
Curious about something in SPSLeaks' upgrades & promotions doc:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103599199/2011-2012-Non-rep-Upgrades-and-Promotions

On page 1, there's a $92k position of "School Business Officer, Hawthorne Elementary" listed. I'm curious about that. Is this position title district-speak for Asst Principal for a school w/ >450 enrollment? Just wondering.
mirmac1 said…
Well, according to this, you should already HAVE your transportation info...?
Benjamin Leis said…
I'm still waiting on the bus schedules as well. What a shock the administration missed its deadline.
Ben
Anonymous said…
They will be discussing Charter Schools on KUOW at noon today. Tune in if you can, or listen later via their podcasts.

Solvay Girl
mirmac1 said…
Any more word on building admin changes? I only see one AP posting on NEOGOV.
seattle citizen said…
"summit on cyber bullying on September 13, 2012 at the Commons on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. According to the organizers, the summit will start at 9 a.m. and go until 3:30 ..."

I wish important meetings like this would be held in the evening, or on the weekends. So only students whose schools arrange it can attend? So no educators can attend? Ach, we need wrap-around attention on some of these issues, and many are often left out.
seattle citizen said…
"summit on cyber bullying on September 13, 2012 at the Commons on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. According to the organizers, the summit will start at 9 a.m. and go until 3:30 ..."

I wish important meetings like this would be held in the evening, or on the weekends. So only students whose schools arrange it can attend? So no educators can attend? Ach, we need wrap-around attention on some of these issues, and many are often left out.
Janet said…
What I want to know is if the schools can send out mailings with teacher info, why can't that information be revealed on the Source?

I'd also like bus information. Last year, we received bus info on the Friday before school started. Since our mail doesn't arrive until 4 and transportation forgot about our alternative address, it meant that there was little time to try to get the error fixed. (And transportation didn't bother fixing it until after Christmas anyway, but that is a different story...)
Anonymous said…
School Business Officer is akin to a Dean, they handle all of the business aspects of running the scool with the exception that the cannot evaluate certificated staff.

SWWS
Dorothy Neville said…
Lori, me too. It's gotten so I am no longer keeping up with the blog. I wish we had captcha back. Everyone else has it and for good reason!

Anonymous said…
Re Lori and Dorothy - My RSS is Google Reader. I have had no spam issues. Just in case that's helpful.

Reader
Dorothy Neville said…
Reader, that's bizarre and I am jealous. I am using google reader as well and I know a third person using google reader who started getting the same problem with spam in this comments feed the same day I did, at least a week ago.

I would love to know what setting or something you have implemented differently.
Lori said…
Thanks, Dorothy and Reader. I'm using Google reader too. I thought about unsubscribing and then re-subscribing, as if that might do anything! Can't hurt. Interesting to know that not all Google Reader users are having the issue. Hmmm.
Dorothy Neville said…
Go to settings, details and statistics and I see that the number of items posted per day skyrocketed to over 200 (when the spam started) on August 16th.

There are 25 google readers who subscribe to the comments feed.
Anonymous said…
Sorry, I only RSS the blog posts, not the comments. I guess that's the difference.

Reader
Anonymous said…
Wha?! And not get all these erudite comments?!

commenter
Anonymous said…
Kids with special needs not being fully serviced in Seattle? No way! (ha) When I was in Seattle I had a kid with severe needs and the process to get him services started at the start of November and didn't finish up until mid-April...

-What a Joke.
Eric B said…
I dunno what's up with posting the rosters on the door. Seems weird, but there you go. Apparently, we're getting a new teacher (at 8 days before school starts!), so there's major reshuffling. In the long run, it'll be great to be on the lower end of the student-teacher ratio, but in the short term it'll be tough.
Anonymous said…
MSP scores typically come in in late September. Not sure if there is any reason to believe they will be earlier this year.

sps mom
Anonymous said…
Eric B,

It is even more fun when they add or move new teachers after the October counts & change everyone well into the school year.

-High school parent
Charlie Mas said…
My RSS feed is choked with spam as well. I also use Google Reader.
Steve said…
I only subscribe to the blog posts via Reader, and there is no spam. I just subscribed to the Comments via Reader, and it is full of spam. Oddly, the spam comments do not show up if you look at the comments in Blogger (i.e. not using the Reader Feed). Somehow, the spam comments are making it to Reader, but evidently being deleted from the actual comments posted on Blogger.
Lori said…
Got our Transportation letter today. It's dated August 22, arrived August 29! I guess it's a long way from downtown to NE Seattle via the US postal service.

TraceyS said…
We got our transportation letter today too.
Janet said…
We did, too, and they actually assigned my kids stops that make sense! This is a huge improvement over last year.
Anonymous said…
There is a job posting for the Math Program Manager. Is Mr. Gallagher leaving?

dj said…
No transportation letters here. Anyone else still waiting?
Anonymous said…
I am still waiting over here in West Seattle. Bet they mailed the bus notices late and in separate batches.

Evergreen

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