Seattle Schools This Week
It would have been a quiet week for SPS except for the new issue of Superintendent Banda wanting to leave. As well, there are a couple of events that will impact our district.Monday, June 23rd
Seattle City Council will vote on their Preschool for All bill at 2 pm in City Council chambers. They do take public comment but I note it comes after presentations (which means you get to sit through a lot before you can speak).
This is important because it involves our district. I cannot support any measure that puts a burden of time and resources on our district. It is not the district's core mission nor do our facilities in any way support this use of space.
Wednesday, June 25th
I see that the previous Work Session on the Superintendent's evaluation has been pulled.
Public Hearing on the 2014-2015 Budget from 4-4:15 pm. You are allowed two minutes to give your input on next year's budget. I believe you can submit a written statement via e-mail to go into the public record but I will check. Sadly, the agenda gives no information on how to give input.
Work Session: Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act Training from 4:30-5:30 pm. Powerpoint presentation.
Thursday, June 26th
March and rally to protest the Gates Foundation involvement in public education sponsored by Save Our Schools and BATS (Badass Teachers Assocation) from 5-7 pm. They will march from Westlake Park to the Gates Foundation (at 5th and Mercer/500 5th Ave N).
Speakers include Anthony Cody, Kshama Sawant, Wayne Au & Morna McDermott. We would love you to join our flash mob and sing with our amazing chorus. You will also have an opportunity to vocally demand that public education be revitalized as the foundation to a free society that it should be.
Saturday, June 28th
Community Meeting with Director Patu from 10 am to noon at Caffe Vita.
Comments
I share Melissa's concerns. Seattle voters were generous and supported the Family and Education Levy which is funded at $235M.
SPS facility dept. has the burden of extra work and they are looking for funding to support additional pre K classrooms.
In essence, the city is sitting on $235M. Has the city provided the district with adequate resources to cover administrative costs related to this project? Will the city loosen purse strings on these dollars to support SPS?
Speak up for better conditions at Eckstein
Eckstein needs our help. Below is a letter that from a Laurelhurst parent and Eckstein teacher outlining the deplorable building conditions at Eckstein. Staff, students and parents have reached their breaking point.
The Eckstein staff, students and their families have asked for our support. Please email the contacts listed below and urge them to address these issues that pose health and safety concerns for everyone in the building immediately. In its current condition, Eckstein does not provide a quality teaching or learning environment. We need the district to remedy these issues ASAP.
Letter from Eckstein Staff, Students, and Parents
June 19, 2014
Dear Assistant Superintendent Herndon and Executive Director Whitworth:
The staff of Eckstein Middle School has reached the breaking point in tolerating the deplorable physical condition of our school. We are unaware of any reasonable plan to address the physical plant at Eckstein and we would appreciate it if you could look into this over the summer. Additionally, we would like to hold a meeting with you to hear our concerns and to begin addressing them when we return in late August, prior to the start of the next school year. It is too much to ask of staff and students to work in the current environment which is far from conducive to learning.
Here are just a few of our concerns:
* Unbearable heat in our classrooms fluctuating between extreme heat (regularly in the 80's and 90's in all south facing rooms) and extreme cold (in the 50's and low 60's).
* A stove in a portable which requires inserting your arm into a hole with a lit match (asthmatic children should not be in there, but really no-one should be in there)
* Heat issues ruining orchestral equipment
* Vermin including rats and ant infestations
* Mold and asbestos
* A crazy quilt of portables and driving lanes making it unsafe for students and staff to move around the campus
* A tennis court filled with garbage and broken materials
* Improper drainage causing sinkholes in our parking lot
* Abnormal amounts of dust throughout the school and rooms even after sweeping and dusting
* Ceiling, dirt, and particles falling from the ceiling onto desks
* Missing, moldy, or ruined ceiling tiles
* Lighting issues making it hard to see the projector screen
* Extremely old, unstable, covered in carvings and graffiti desks, tables and chairs
* Severe noise issues in the rooms with warehouse furnaces and in the "port-o-lux" and in rooms facing south when we need all windows and fans on during warm days
* A library where our entire staff cannot come together and all see the screen nor speaker
* Lack of printers-many of us have to walk to the main office where they are already picked up in a stack by someone else. This is a huge problem in an English class where students need to print one paper.
* Lack of 1:1 computers. With online testing, writing, and our Strategic Plan stating we will produce 21st Century skills, students need access to reliable computers daily.
cont'd...
NEP
* Electrical issues with blowing fuses when we plug in the laptop cart into our rooms to do MAP testing, among other activities
* Sinks for hand washing that say "Do Not Drink Water"
* Bathroom water faucets that cannot maintain a temperature safe for children
* No access to drinking water that we feel is safe to drink (some staff pool money for a water cooler-this is a 1st world country, shouldn't we have water provided at our work?)
* Leaking toilets
* Toilets that splash back upon flushing
* Only one staff bathroom in the building which is very far away for many to access (.07 miles from the south wing taking a solid two minutes to walk each direction)
* No bathroom for transgendered students or staff
* An overall feeling from the students that we have been forgotten and are not valued
* Many technological, temperature, and charging issues during state and MAP testing creating a hostile testing environment
Sincerely,
The Staff, Parents, and Students of Eckstein
--NEP
Second, yes, who did write this? Does it include the principal, staff leadership and PTA leadership? If so, why is it not signed?
Again, the outcomes of a growing district. Eckstein would have probably been #1 on BEX IV if all had gone according to plan.
Happy summer to all! Yes, school is out and I was really hoping we could all rest. But, Eckstein needs our help. Attached is a letter that I received from a Laurelhurst parent and Eckstein teacher outlining the deplorable building conditions at Eckstein. Last time I checked, Eckstein had a maintenance backlog estimated at $23.6 million . Staff, students and parents have reached their breaking point.
The Eckstein staff, students and their families have asked for our support. Please email the contacts listed below and urge them to address these issues that pose health and safety concerns for everyone in the building immediately. In its current condition, Eckstein does not provide a quality teaching or learning environment. We need the district to remedy these issues ASAP.
In addition, please forward this request to anyone who shares these concerns regarding Eckstein.
Please feel free to email with any questions. Many thanks for your support.
Alli Sweet
VNESS Co-Chair
Email Contacts
Kim Whitworth
kdwhitworth@seattleschools.org
Flip Herndon
ltherndon@seattleschools
Jose Banda
superintendent@seattleschools.org
Sharon Peaslee sharon.peaslee@seattleschools.org
Sherry Carr sherry.carr@seattleschools.org
Harium Martin-Morris harium.martin-morris@seattleschools.org
Stephan Blanford stephan.blanford@seattleschools.org
Sue Peters sue.peters@seattleschools.org
Marty Mclaren marty.mclaren@seattleschools.org
Betty Patu betty.patu@seattleschools.org
Sen. David Frockt
david.frockt@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Jessyn Farrell
jessyn.farrell@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Gerry Pollet
gerry.pollet@leg.wa.gov
Mayor Ed Murray
edward.murray@seattle.gov
Thomas Whittemore
thomas.whittemore@seattle.gov
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 9:44 AM
To: Whitworth, Kim; Banda, Jose L; Herndon, Flip; Patu, Betty; Martin-Morris, Harium
Subject: Eckstein Middle School Conditions
Please read the attached letter from Eckstein staff, parents, and students. We are very concerned that this school cannot sustain 5-9 more years of use before a remodel (on BEX V, supposedly, which is still dependent upon voter approval). The facility at Eckstein does not provide a “quality teaching and learning environment for students and staff” (Banda email 6/18/14).
Thank you for your swift attention to this urgent matter.
Best,
Joia Poort (educator & future parent) on behalf of staff, students, and parents of Eckstein Middle School
~ for transparency
Anyway, it's not a contest or anything, but severe issues like this should get addressed promptly. Eckstein's portable maze should be mitigated somewhat by the split with JAMS over the summer, so that should address a few items on their list.
But I do think the Eckstein has real problems but unless there are BTA dollars to address them, I don't know how they will get fixed.
Weirdness
"As part of the BTA III Capital Levy approved in 2009, mechanical upgrades, waterline
replacement, and new fire sprinkler installation was identified to be completed at Eckstein Middle School. Additionally, in the BEX IV Capital Levy approved in 2013, partial new roofing
was identified under the infrastructure improvements to be completed at Eckstein Middle School.
The design will incorporate these infrastructure renovations to improve air and water quality,
reduce maintenance, and increase building safety."
Looks like some of the issues mentioned in the letter will be addressed using a combination of BTAIII and BEXIV funds.
- North-end Mom
John Rogers has one of those, too. I think it dates back to the 1950s? It had what sounds like the same type of oil heater inside the portable. The heater was enclosed by a chain link fence (inside the portable!) to keep the kiddos out.
Our principal begged for the old portable to be replaced last summer, when plans were made to add a new double portable at John Rogers, but instead of removing the old portable, they did some cosmetic work and replaced the oil heater with an electric baseboard heater. It is now used as our music room.
We had previously gone through several years of having no music room or PCP space other than the gym, so the old portable is better than nothing.
They DID, however, tow away the icky moldy RV on blocks that served as a resource room (thank God!).
It would seem as though, with the 300-400 geo-split enrollment reduction at Eckstein,they should be able to remove some of the old portables...though I suppose it is possible that they will just get spruced up a bit, like the one at John Rogers.
I've heard that one of the newer double portables is being moved from Eckstein to Hale.
- North-end Mom
The others, including the accusation of infestation (to quote Frank Costanza 'I will not tolerate infestation') need to be addressed ASAP.
Unfortunately, long laundry list complaints such as this tend to be summarily dismissed.
northwesterner
Interesting that it is about the staff not having water they feel is safe to drink - is the health of students not equally important??
- All portables aside from the six-classroom modular will be either demolished or removed this summer.
- The classrooms in the modular building will receive the following upgrades this summer:
- New carpeting.
- The lights are receiving new lenses to improve light spectrum/quality.
-KMG-365
I will do my best to get that iasue resolved.
So let it be written;
So let it be done.
-KMG-365