This and That

To note for tonight's Board meeting agenda; the Jane Addams Middle School BEX IV construction item has been moved to the May 7th Board meeting by the Superintendent.  No explanation given. 

The Superintendent has also asked to remove the Reduction in Force (RIF) item from the agenda.   I confirmed that this is because there will be no RIFs sent out. 

As well, the bill to fix facade restoration at Franklin is - gulp - nearly $1M (coming from BEX III and good thing the money is there).  (When part of the facade fell, it was great luck no one was standing underneath it.)  Along with the backflow item at Jane Addams that had to be replaced recently (and I'm not sure how much that cost), we see that our buildings have a near-constant need for maintenance and emergencies fixes.  This is why the maintenance budget needs to be upped or we will likely pay more in the long term. 

There are only five people signed up to speak so if you wanted to speak up about, well, anything - Wilson-Pacific, later start times, Advanced Learning, Special Ed, disproportionality in discipline - now's the time to get down there. 

My Northwest is reporting the latest on Northwest Center, currently sited at the Queen Anne building. 

At about 90 days into the crisis, we've been able to identify a couple of options. One of which is a building that we would be interested in purchasing as a permanent home for Northwest Center kids for the next 50 years," said Everill. 

Whether Northwest Center purchases or leases their next home, one thing that hasn't changed is that they need more time. Everill said they've asked the district to give them until November 1 to move out of their north Queen Anne site - a lease extension of four months. 

"The scope of the problem has shrunk considerably, we know Seattle Public Schools needs their building back and we know they have a very complex schedule but we need to work together and, in fact we are. [Banda] reached out to me, we have a meeting scheduled for a week from Monday, on April 28th, to work on the issue, I feel like we're making good progress," said Everill. 

I will be taking a little break this week (but I will put up the Friday Open Thread).  I am pondering this blog and considering its direction after Charlie's departure.   It will not be going away anytime in the near future.  But, I could certainly use help in covering committee meetings as well as other issues.  If you are interested in writing for the blog - either periodically or weekly - let me know your thoughts at

sss.westbrook@gmail.com

Thanks.

Comments

Joe Wolf said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Wolf said…
Melissa: Wishing you the best re. getting support for the blog. The other large districts I have worked for - San Diego Unified, Douglas County CO - did not have a commumnity/activist-based watchdog, engagement point like the one you provide. And it would have made my work at both places more constructive.
Thanks, Joe. I appreciate the kind words.
mirmac1 said…
Melissa, you have earned a break. Take it easy. We need your brains and stamina.
Greg Linden said…
I, and I'm sure many others, appreciate the work you do here, Melissa. There is very little other press coverage of the district, and your efforts to provide transparency are valuable and useful. I'm sure it's difficult and time-consuming work to attend all the meetings you do and maintain this blog. I hope it helps to know many very much appreciate what you are doing.

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