SPS Receives Big Award for Family Engagement

From SPS Communications:

Seattle Public Schools has been awarded a 2012 Partnership District Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University.  SPS was honored for making excellent progress in developing its leadership on partnerships and for guiding schools to develop goal-oriented programs of school, family and community partnerships.

“Seattle Public Schools is demonstrating that research-based approaches can be used to make every school a welcoming place and to improve student attendance, behavior, achievement, and high school graduation rates,” said Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, Director of NNPS.

Seattle Public Schools, a member of NNPS, received the award after providing detailed descriptions and evidence of specific strategies for helping schools improve their partnership programs to support school improvement goals.  Essential elements of district leadership on partnerships include teamwork, systemic approach, leadership, and Family Engagement Action Team goal-linked plans for action, innovation, implementation, facilitation, evaluation and network connections.

“Parent and family involvement play a key role in our efforts to ensure that all Seattle Public Schools students succeed in school and life,” said Seattle Public  Schools Superintendent José Banda.  “One of my top priorities is working to build stronger relationships with our families and the greater Seattle community, and this award indicates that we are making significant progress in that effort.”

Bernardo Ruiz, who oversees the District’s School Family Partnerships effort, said: “It is with great honor and humility that we accept the prestigious NNPS 2012 Partnership District Award from Johns Hopkins University. This recognition motivates us to continue improving and innovating our School Family Partnerships program so that we can more meaningfully assist our diverse families and our schools in increasing the academic achievement of our students.”

 Congrats to all the staff for this award but a huge shout-out to Bernardo Ruiz who works so very hard and always has a smile on his face.  He's one of the unsung heroes of our district.

Comments

mirmac1 said…
In my book Mr. Ruiz has been chameleon with situational ethics.
9/10/12, 4:35 PM
Anonymous said…
Oh, this really is ridiculous. At the various family engagement performances special needs families are constantly informed of this new change or that. All those translators standing by. All that earnest "listening."

But there is never any change at the building level. Ever.

Fed up
9/10/12, 10:14 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