Seattle School Updates

I neglected to mention Director Patu has a Community Meeting from 10 am to noon today at Cafe Vita.

I read thru the general letter from SPS to families about NCLB.   As I previously noted, the Washington Policy Center is claiming 33 letters went out about different schools (I need to get confirmation from the district on this) but they also claim there isn't info on tutoring and/or changing schools.

Under NCLB, students at "failing" schools are offered free tutoring and/or the ability to change to another non-failing school.  The district has always made this option available as their legal obligation.

In addition to the notification, SPS Title I schools that did not meet AYP now must offer to move students to school that made AYP or is not in one of the Steps of Improvement required by the law. This is called Public School Choice. The law also includes free tutoring services in reading, language arts and/or math at schools that do not meet AYP. 

This time, though, if only 3% of the schools are "non-failing," it's ridiculous to say everyone can transfer.  It's not possible (and WPC knows this but wants to stir the pot).

The letter sent to elementary school families explained the option to change schools under Public School Choice.

The letter sent to middle schools and high schools explains that there is no school in the district that made AYP to 100 percent of students meeting standards. This means that there is no school available to transfer to under Public School Choice.

As for tutoring, the district says this:
Families at all affected schools at all grade levels will receive an information packet on tutoring in September.

A whole packet of information, not just a letter.

Here's the district's FAQs on "Public School Choice."

The district has a complete page on Volunteering in SPS.  Part of that list is the "Application for Overnight Chaperoning."   Looking it over gives me an idea as relates to the Garfield field trip rape.   At the bottom of the form:

Principals are responsible for ensuring that appropriate levels of supervision are provided, with required ratio of district employees and properly background checked volunteers to students. 
January 2014 <

Comments

Greeny said…
How can we find out which schools comprise the 3%? Are they listed in the letter we've not yet received?
8/24/14, 7:38 AM
Anonymous said…
The information about principals' responsibility and chaperoning is not new. It was there when our daughter was raped on the Garfield field trip in 2012. We gave this same information back to the District in our complaints because they deny the information in their own documents, and they deny having documents that they actual do have and gave us. Utterly corrupt. All this information can be seen in the links on our FB page stop sexual assault in high school

Mother
8/24/14, 10:58 PM
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