Seattle Schools This Week

Tuesday, May 28th
Charter Commission meeting from 10 am to 5 pm at TAF in White Center.  Agenda.   Updates on finances, the Ex Director search, bylaws, etc.  Public comment is at 11:24 am and you can sign up at the meeting. 

Wednesday, May 29th
Curriculum& Instruction Policy Committee of the Whole Meeting: Growth Boundaries from 4-6 p.m. The agenda is quite terse/vague so I'm not sure what they are really aiming for here.
This should be interesting as all the directors should be there and what they have to say about C&I vis a vis boundaries.

 Work Session: General Contractor/Construction Manager from 6-6:45 pm.
A head scratcher, this one.  A work session to discuss a construction hire?  The agenda says nothing and has no presentation attached.

Thursday, May 30th
Operations Committee Meeting from 4-6 p.m., no agenda yet available.

Saturday, June 1
Board retreat from 10 am to 5 pm at City University, 521 Wall Street.  No agenda yet available.
I'm hoping this is the last Board retreat to be overseen by the Alliance for Education. 

Comments

Disgusted said…
#11 Charter Commission Agenda refers to travel. Did the YES on 1240 campaign tell the public that there would be dollars for travel?

Who is keeping tabs?
5/26/13, 5:55 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Disgusted, yes, we did say that money would have to go to support the Charter Commission work.

I'm keeping tabs as well as others.
5/26/13, 8:29 PM
Trish Millines Dziko said…
I would encourage all the Seattle folks to attend this meeting and/or the June 20th meeting because they are the last ones in the Seattle Area for a while. We go to Tacoma in July, Everett in August and Spokane in September.
5/26/13, 8:54 PM
Hope Commission Can Sleep at Night said…
Our schools are underfunded, but we're paying to fly Commission Members around? Absolutely outrageous.

I'm hoping these folks are making sure charter schools accept and keep ALL children. Otherwise, they are doing our public schools a deep disservice.

They bought it; they own it.

Melissa, thanks for keeping an eye out.
5/26/13, 9:36 PM
Kathy S said…
Over the past 4 years, Seattle Public Schools has closed a funding gap of $125M. The district has used one time funds to close budget gaps, utility costs have gone up hundreds of thousands of dollars etc. During the 2013-2014 school year, SPS is facing a $22M funding gap. I"m certain state dollars will not close this gap.

Yet, the Charter Commission will be flying around? Very upsettng.

I will add, in the 3 years that I have attended SPS budget meetings, I have never seen those pushing charters in the meetings.
5/26/13, 9:44 PM
Trish Millines Dziko said…
And please, before you jump to any conclusions that we'll be "flying around", come to the meeting and hear the discussion we'll have around the travel policy among other things.

There is public testimony at the end of each meeting. I personally would like to hear from you.

Thanks!
5/26/13, 10:39 PM
Charlie Mas said…
The C & I Committee agenda has bullet points for Programs and Services.

I think the Board, rather than the superintendent, should define the terms "program" and "service". The superintendent has tried to do it and failed. It is a matter of policy, not administration.
5/27/13, 12:01 AM
Kathy S said…
Trish,

I am unable to attend the meeting. What is the best way to connect with you?
5/27/13, 8:32 AM
mirmac1 said…
I expect the Work session is on the pricey, dubiously advantageous GC/CM alternative contracting method. Its application on capital projects hit its nadir when the district used it on the $9M demo of Denny. It is supposed to be used for complex projects, not knocking over cinder block walls. Contractors make a nice premium, have minimal risk, and still pass through changes and claims. The ESD consultant that came after Fred Stephens and his replacement left, agreed that this was not the best use of limited capital dollars.
5/27/13, 8:44 AM
Anonymous said…
SHOULDN'T the charter commission meet in different parts of the state so that people can sit in on the public meetings and offer input? I'm not up on these things, but why wouldn't we pay for travel so that they can do their work in a manner that reaches out to many people in many areas?

If they only met in Olympia, wouldn't the complaint be that they were not offering equal access to their meetings? If I lived in Spokane I'd be pretty annoyed if that happened.

Willing to pay for travel to get it right
5/27/13, 9:02 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
To explain about the Charter Commission and travel.

Look, in order to be fair, they were selected from all parts of the state. The majority of them have other jobs and either they fly to meetings OR they have to drive over the day before and stay at a hotel. (and again, to be fair, meetings will primarily be in the Puget Sound region but yes, sometimes in the eastern part of the state).

So you either pay for a plane ticket or hotel (plus gas to get to the plane or hotel).

Like Board members, they aren't paid. So if we want decent oversight, we have to pay for it somehow.
5/27/13, 9:02 AM
Trish Millines Dziko said…
@Kathy, you can email me at trishmi@techaccess.org. I will make sure your comments get to the commission.
5/27/13, 9:19 AM
Anonymous said…
The C&I Committee Growth Boundaries Agenda now includes a link to the presentation with potential program placement scenarios.

Lynn
5/28/13, 8:26 PM
Lori said…
Lynn, or anyone, can you provide the link? The link in the email that families received tonight does not work (!), and I can't find it on the SPS website. My curiosity is piqued for sure. Thanks.
5/28/13, 8:30 PM
Anonymous said…
It's available from the agenda above! Good thing too - because my link wouldn't be pretty.

Lynn
5/28/13, 8:49 PM
Anonymous said…
WOW, thanks for the heads up, there are some major changes outlined in there. Dare I say, very little seemed non-sensical to me? There will be many communities in an uproar,no doubt, but when I look at it from the big picture, I have a new-found hope in Superintendent Banda. There may just be some equity in the near future for SPS.
TS
5/28/13, 9:01 PM
Jamie said…
Wow is right. Some great stuff here. Finally having John Stanford and the other international school becoming option schools is fantastic.
5/28/13, 9:59 PM
Anonymous said…
But so much for "walkability" and reduced transportation costs, however, when you take two adjacent international schools (McD and JSIS) and convert them both to option schools. Wallingford will no longer have a neighborhood school, and a whole lot of additional kids are going to need district-provided transportation. Incredibly poor planning on part of district to open these two schools right next to each other...

MEM
5/28/13, 10:21 PM
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