Friday Open Thread

Two Community meetings with Board directors tomorrow, Sat. the 6th (I note that Blanford's was likely added in the last couple of days.)  They are so spaced out, you could conceivable go to both.

Director Blanford, 10 am-11:30 am, Capital Hill Branch Library

Director Peaslee, 3:30-4:30 pm, Northgate Branch Library

A student at a Seattle public school in Wallingford was hit by a car this morning after the car ran a red light.  The boy was taken to Harborview with a cut to the head.  SPS is providing counseling at his school as several other students were with the victim at the time.

According to the Times, the state's GET plan (for parents to save money for their child's college education) is doing well and is "fully solvent" according to the State's Actuary, Matt Smith.  He's saying the uptick from the recession combined with a freeze on state tuition rates made it happen.  The program had not been expected to be solvent until 2021

The price now, per unit, is $172; this is the same rate as the last two years.  Enrollment opens in November.

Pre-k in NYC?  Not going so well. 

What's on your mind?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Re: Jet City Mom on another thread

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/09/boy-hit-by-car-in-wallingford/

Boy hit by car in Wallingford
Posted by Jennifer Sullivan

Update 10:04 a.m.:

Seattle police now say that a boy struck by a car in Wallingford Friday morning is 12.

According to police, the boy was walking north on Wallingford Avenue North with a group of older kids when a driver heading east struck him. The boy rolled onto the hood of the car and struck his head on the windshield; the driver stopped the car after hitting him, police said.

Seattle police spokesman Patrick Michaud said the boy suffered a cut to the head and was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

The department’s traffic collision unit is investigating as well as a drug recognition expert.

Police say Seattle Public Schools is making counselors available to students at the boy’s school.

Drive_w_care
Anonymous said…
I just posted a huge rant on the previous thread. Perhaps I should move it here?

Meantime, re: GET: I would love to have every one of this blog's readers email or mail a copy of the GET news to (resigned) state Sen. Rodney Tom who blatantly and callously tried to defund one of the most useful tools for the middle class to send their kids to college. He was not only morally wrong, he was factually wrong and I hope the public remembers.

EdVoter
BefuddledParent said…
The boy struck by the Honda Civic at N. 40th St and Wallingford Ave N is expected to survive, and better yet, be okay, thank goodness.

Nobody should drive faster than he or she can see, in fog, rain, snow or shine.
BefuddledParent said…
Eastbound at 7:30 am on sunny day at 47 degrees North latitude usually means sun glare. Yesterday I scraped a traffic half-circle jutting from the south side of a street I was driving eastbound on because the sun was in my eyes. I was going about 16 mph, recovering speed from a full stop I made at a stop sign 600 feet west of the half-circle.

The high grade of the street's elevation decline further east, plus the tall trees arching over the street, allowed me to see the traffic and other traffic calming half-circles and circles. :-)

Again, don't go faster than you can see, even if you're going 16 mph in residential areas.
DensmoreDave said…
Not going so well?

"The 45 programs cited on Tuesday by the city represent a small percentage of the roughly 1,100 private sites that are scheduled to open on Thursday."

I'd say that's impressive considering NYC's public schools host a population larger than most American cities. Unfair shot!

Anonymous said…
I have just finished reading the NYT Magazine's Education Issue and I highly recommend the entire group of articles to the readers of the blog.

Among the most interesting: A profile piece of Bill Gates trying to introduce a new curriculum that could replace the traditional high school World History course. It is written by fantastic reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin and touches on Gates' efforts at other areas of school reform, his personality, and specifically whether World History should be revised. Fascinating piece and whether you are pro or con "Gates" you will learn something.

Also in the issue is an argument that testing is an efficient way for the brain to retain information as well as a recap of the charter battles between DeBlasio and Moscovitz.

Enjoy your weekend reading!

EdVoter
Anonymous said…
I'm not a regular reader, but mayve someone can explain-do you oppose ANY city-run preschool effort, oppose preschool in general, mandatory preschool, or THIS city and THIS district running anything of the sort?

My kids are way past preschool age, but I have a Seattle-area friend with a child who started kindergarten this week without benefit of preschool because she couldn't afford a private preschool but makes too much for a subsidized program. This child started at a disadvantage because the people in her life didn't know enough to teach her the things she should know by age 6. Wouldn't a "preschool for all" program only help children like this?

You folks seem almost gleeful when these programs don't go well. I don't understand.

Wondering
Unknown said…
Wondering,

Universal preschool is a wonderful idea, but the devil is in the details.

“Pre-School for All” in Seattle, student information sharing, Jump Start and more
I oppose a City effort that lacks clarity. I plan to write a lengthy article but the City keeps say "high-quality" without clearly defining it (nor does the union measure).

Wondering, I say good things about this district all the time and indeed, did so this morning.

You want to paint with a broad brush, that's your right. But it's disrespectful to say I am gleeful. I'm not. And I believe that we do a lot of things well in this district, mostly in the schools.

Yes, preschool is a good idea (and again, I've said that over and over.)

But as Carolyn points out, it's the details.
maple leaf mom said…
I am really glad the boy is going to recover. As the mom of 12 year old boy, that news was particularly upsetting.

What is even more upsetting is the number of people who have complained that the over-stuffing of schools have consequences. Hamilton was just not designed for the number of kids going there and there just isn't anything close to the infrastructure needed to support the number of kids getting there on foot.

There are many schools that are even worse. The traffic and safety nightmare that they are making by putting a 700 student K8 on a tiny traffic island like Pinehurst is a danger.

Plus all the construction on 35th is detouring the cars through the school zones.

Is there anyone at SPS in charge of the safety of getting to and from school?
Anonymous said…
I think you misunderstood me, Melissa. I do know that you point out the good as well as the bad, but I referring to the preschool issue only. You've posted links more than once about preschool programs elsewhere not doing so well, that's what I meant.

It seems like, to an uniformed reader like me, that universal preschools (if that's the right term?) are no good ANYWHERE. That there's a lit bit of "gotcha" in the headlines and links you put up about them. I did say "Almost" gleeful.

All I can tell you is that I know a little girl who is quite bright, but can't spell her last name, doesn't know all of her letters, and can count out loud but cannot write all of her numbers. But she can tell you the latest plots of her babysitter's favorite TV shows. Those kids NEED to be somewhere that even not ideal, is better than nothing.

Wondering
Benjamin Leis said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Benjamin Leis said…
Once upon a time, we didn't expect kindergarteners to do any of those skills. That was the point of kindergarten. And even earlier, kindergarten itself was play based and tasks like reading were left until first grade. Not that preschool isn't useful but I'd push back against the notion that 3, 4, or 5 years old primarily need earlier literacy training.
Anonymous said…
A National major award-winning journalist asked me today why the Garfield case is getting so much attention. I told him it’s because people get out to show the media their disgust, because this case is symbolic of a festering malaise.

Please come with a sign to counteract Seattle School Board President's misinformation campaign at her community meeting. Her discriminatory rhetoric is antithetical to students' rights /Title IX and has caused outrage in the media.

Northgate Library 10548 5th Ave NE 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM TOO ANGRY TO SPEAK? Then BRING SIGNS! Bring signs anyway! Send us photos for national media on the east coast.

Peaslee continues to be falsely fixated on the failure to prosecute as justification for the District's failure to act on the report of rape. Remember the District's strategy: if there was no rape, then the deplorable chaperoning was not an issue. No liability.

Peaslee again (below) distorts the information she has had for over a year:

Subject: re: update
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:30:00 -0700
From: Smith, Colin
To: REDACTED PARENTS

As I've said before, the US Attorney has not determined that no sexual assault occured [sic], but that we do not have a case that can be successfully prosecuted in court.

Colin Smith
Chief Ranger
Olympic National Park
360 565-3110

Local attorney who may be at the rally:
From: Theresa Schrempp [mailto:theresas@lawyerseattle.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2014 11:17 AM
To: 'SchoolBoard@seattleschools.org'
Subject: Peaslee Should Resign

For the welfare of Seattle students, Sharon Peaslee (and probably others) should resign. She has demonstrated what could be charitably called irresponsible leadership regarding the rape which occurred during a Garfield High School trip. The fact that no prosecution was pursued is irrelevant. The perpetrator was not exonerated. The entire event was covered up, and would have gone unnoticed had it not been for the courage of the child’s parents and a handful of others. Does Ms. Peaslee care nothing about the safety of her students? Apparently not.

Theresa Schrempp
Sonkin & Schrempp PLLC

Anonymous said…
To Wondering-

The pitch forks come out if there is even a hint that funds will be redirected away from current SPS students (immediate needs) towards longer term solutions that attempt solve underlying structural problems . Recently Pre-K, Charter Schools, Mayoral control of SPS, and attempts to fund longer term plans designed to meet the capacity needs of future students have all fallen into this category. I don’t necessarily support any of these, but I wish there was room on this blog for more balanced debate. At some point drastic changes are going to be needed to break the vicious cycle of short term fixes, leading to longer term issues, leading to more short term fixes, leading to longer term issues.

-Anonymous Today
Anonymous said…
Your "not going so well" link to the NYC Preschool article really isn't fair. I'd say a program that enrolls 50,000 preschoolers in the first year is doing great. Bravo to NYC.

And who do you all work for? That's rhetorical of course.

Kids, it was a silly one-off comment.
I do find it funny that wanting the State to fully fund education (which benefits all students, current and future. I don't like ideas that cut into the current funding ( especially charters which have not proven their worth).

I have never said I don't like preschool and trying to paint that way is wrong.
RosieReader said…
I am delighted to report the Friends of Ingraham received confirmation from the IRS that it is an exempt organization. This completes the process of disassociating from the WaPTSA that began in 2012.

Completing the paperwork was a bit of a drag, but PTO Today has an excellent resource that was incredibly helpful, and I would volunteer to help any other school that wanted to claim its independence.

For the curious, we bridged the gap using an Alliance account, which allowed us to take advantage of their tax exempt status. But which, in turn, did limit our flexibility.
Anonymous said…
Agree that bad preK is better than none. It can be fixed later. By the logic of some the district should close until there is a better plan for running it. Dare I guess that most of us had preK. I wasn't academic as I remember, more about projects and social stuff. Lots of reading to kids which is very good whether a child gets it home or not. I used city run preK and loved it. Seemed to work for mine but she didn't reads early- learned in 1st. But from good teachers at local learned enough for APP status in grade 6. Staying at neighborhood middle school, one more year and then high school. But it all started with high quality. well supervised, safe and diverse preK from the city.
I'm voting yes.
Jennifer
Anonymous said…
Lets get this district cut into manageable sizes. North end schools will align with shoreline district since this city completely neglects the north end just look at Aurora ave North 85th to 145th...disgusting.

Get Real
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
"Agree that bad preK is better than none."

That's not what the Mayor or the City have said. They have all said bad pre-K doesn't help.

"By the logic of some the district should close until there is a better plan for running it."

Who said that? No one here.

Nope, I didn't have pre-K (and I didn't finish kindergarten).

Eric B said…
Speaking of saying nice things, Principal Watters did an excellent job keeping parents informed about the child hit by a car. We received a phone message shortly after it happened, an email later in the day, and a letter home. It was emphasized that the child is recovering well and wasn't at fault in the incident, and some extra safety tips were given.

All told, one of the best SPS responses to an incident I've seen.
Mrs. Falbo said…
I don't think I want to be on a lynching mob with an anonymous person who uses an e-mail from an attorney who's contributed to anti-choice and anti-marriage equality state measures, and exclusively to Republican campaigns, calling for the head of someone who wasn't School Board President in 2012. No one who was chaperoning or staffing the Garfield High School field trip seems to be at risk of losing their job, why should someone who receives very little money, chosen by the electorate to oversee on a part-time basis the District that has been shamefully negligent and irresponsible about this, withdraw from Presiding? The School Board President, elected to that role by the school board directors, shouldn't have to resign. Maybe I didn't get the "gullibly following vocal, anonymous, emotional appeals" gene a lot of other people received in utero.

When I first read this, I thought the negligence was on the staffing and chaperoning side, and on the District for failing to accept responsibility and take any meaningful action. Am I not on the same page as everybody else? What's changed?
mirmac1 said…
I am not advocating for Peaslee to resign. I want the district to accept responsibility and finally learn and follow laws (English, that's you). Also, I wish Sharon Peaslee would reconsider her comments, in light of the district's failure to protect and support the victim. Yes, victim.

I view the district/board president's attempt to make this a semantical argument as further obfuscation of SPS' "business as usual" approach to Federal and State laws. Namely, deny deny deny until everyone goes away.

Not so sure that will happen this time...
mirmac1 said…
I would like to respectfully as that Melissa start a thread addressing FERPA rights. I received some interesting documents in the "first day packet" that appeared to be "opt-in", but was dismayed at the information they requested (my birthdate, migrant farmworker status) - these are all "flags" in OSPI's CEDARS database.

These documents were for a FEL funded Student Health Center at my daughter's school, and were optional. They made it clear (to me in English) that this was optional, that my child would still be eligible for treatment by the nurse.

Why does SPS want me to sign away my FERPA rights to the Source and automated data retrieval to ANY FEL-funded entity? Hell NO!
Mrs. Falbo, please tone down the rhetoric. Voters can ask for the resignation or launch a recall action if they want to. What you are suggesting is entirely different and not one person is speaking in that tone.

I think Peaslee has issues for some because she has been protecting the district rather than taking a balanced approach. It has not served her well, in my opinion.

I am not of the opinion that she should resign but she might want to consider the whole landscape and how her words come across.

Anonymous said…
I assume the mom who uses pseudonym "Mrs. Miller" posted the previous note about the attorney and the media. I have to let you know that not only was I a victim of rape as a college freshman, but that my child was physcially abused by teachers in SPS.

I have to agree with mirmac and Mrs. Falbo. I think your rage and your energy are legitimate but misplaced. If you really want to stop further sexual assaults and you really want to raise awareness about the obligations of that all school districts have around Title IX, you should stop using your venom on Sharon Peaslee. She's not your enemy. I would say that she could use some further education, but she's not the villian you are painting her as. Continuing your attacks on her makes you look immoderate.

If you want to get some action, I am willing to stand up and say that the district needs to go a lot further and that all districts need to pay attention to these issues. But I am not going to demand Sharon resign nor am I calling on the district to fire the principal of Garfield.

Have demonstrations around the issue that is important to you and you will get support. Look for people to join you on a witch hunt and you will fail.

I agree with mirmac1, that if anyone's head should roll, it should be legal, who does a lousy job informing the district of its obligations in the first place and then builds a defensive posture afterwards that prevents response in a compassionate and human way.

Seriously, think about it. And your attorney? You can do a lot better.

Ms. BeenThere
Anonymous said…
Anyone know what is happening with Zee McWilliams? Has she been fired?

NE Seattle Mom
Anonymous said…
1 I meant "we"' had preK for our kids
2 I meant by extending the logic , not that anyone wrote such an idea (it's called hyperbole)
3 I meant a roll out of preK that's less than perfect, like say NYC's

Jennifer
mirmac1 said…
I do not agree with Ms Falbo's comments.
Anonymous said…
NE Seattle Mom

She has been fired and lawyer-ed up.


Sped Parent
Transparency Please said…
Anonymous Today,

During the Great Recession the district lost $125M per year. We've lost elementary school counselors from some funding formulas, drug and alcohol counselors etc. IF and when, the legislature decides to fund McCleary, we still will not have achieved pre-recession funding. Why would anyone want to take additional funding away from K-12 to support something that isn't funded by the state. To be clear: he city DOES have funding. Voters approved the biggest levy in history $232 to support low income students and part of these dollars are being reserved for pre-k efforts.

SPS staff DID present a funding formula to the city. Guess what? The city thought it was too high. Where was the board in all of this? Totally UNAWARE that staff was working with city on this initiative.

Wondering, I hear you. Be aware: There is nothing "universal" or pre-k for "all" in the city's proposition. The amount of slots available do not meet the needs of the city. As a matter of fact, it is quite possible that your friend could end-up subsidizing daycare and preschool for a family making $150K.

Let's remember: Full day K is not fully paid.

I also disagree that a "bad" school is better than none at all. IT is time to turn attention to I 107. There are 4500 caretakers taking care of children. These children are VERY vulnerable and educating these caretakers would prove beneficial.

I also have to question the city's assertion that educating 4500 caretakers costs $100M. Keep in mind- the public has not seen this document. The union claims cost of educating 4500 caretakers is somewhere around $1M-$2M. The city could use Family and Ed. dollars, if cost around $1-$2M. A very good investment..in my mind.

Transparency Please said…
I also support THIS district operating preschool. SPS already runs 60 preschool classrooms.

Wow said…
Taken from above article:

"Jump Start was created by Aaron Lieberman who also founded Acelero, a for-profit company that is taking over Head Start programs and is staffed with none other than Teach for America, Inc. recruits. See A for-profit approach to Head Start."

When is the city going to tell the public that they are working with the CEO of Acelero to lead the preschool initiative?
Anonymous said…
best line ever "When you have to shoot, shoot don't talk.

You are all being taken for a ride, what is he goal of Seattle? I think it to force everyone to move to shoreline. What a POOF.


PC BLOGGER
Gads said…
"The pitch forks come out if there is even a hint that funds will be redirected away from current SPS students (immediate needs) towards longer term solutions that attempt solve underlying structural problems "

Gads, Anonymous today. SPS's budget policy reflects needs for both immediate and long term needs. FWIW...the district is already funding long term needs such as the Urban Teaching Residency and each recruit costs $30K. We don't need to destroy our classrooms to fund many many long term solutions.
Unknown said…
Sped Parent,

Until we hear official news about the disposition of Ms. McWilliams, I think it's better to keep the rumors at a lower simmer. With the state of things in SPED, this is pretty difficult--we're all very frustrated--but it just doesn't do anybody any good to say that someone has been fired when there is no official word.
Anonymous said…
I don't like the prek idea. I think kids should spend time playing, learning about themselves, what kinds of thing they like to do, learning to respect and get along with others, not focusing on academic. Don't take their playing time from them. It seems to me that the prek idea was born out of fear- that academically we're falling behind China and other countries. But if you talk to students from those countries, you'll find out that yes they're better students but at the same time, they're miserable. For kid's well being, no prek.
KT
Anonymous said…
I am so glad she was fired. I feel sorry for her though, she was set up from the beginning. It was obvious to all around her that she could not dot the job.

NE Mom
Anonymous said…
The decision was made Aug 19th.
Check yourself.

Sped Parent
Unknown said…
Sped Parent, can you clarify if you have any news other than the news that she was put on administrative leave pending an investigation? Thanks!
mirmac1 said…
I hope McWilliams and the Garfield family sues the pants off SPS. It's about we expunged the stank from JSCEE.

I have heard no definitive word on her disposition (and I have fairly recent word as of Tuesday). NE Mom, you must have a greater insight because she had greater impact than any recent SpEd director in damn well ten years, but, y'know...
Joe Wolf said…
Just caught "Bad Teacher" on TBS. The nickname for the fictional John Adams Middle School is "JAMS". :)

http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/badteacher.html
Anonymous said…
McWilliams did not lawyer up to sue SPS it's the other way around.

Sped Parent
Joe Wolf said…
Response to Maple Leaf Mom:

Below FYI is a link to SPS' 2014-15 Transportation Standards. Middle and high school students must live more than 2.0 miles (by the street grid, not as the crow flies) from their school to qualify for transportation - yellow bus to attendance area/linked school, ORCA card otherwise.

http://hamiltonms.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/transportation/2014-15%20service%20standards.pdf?sessionid=ccfb6a6a382ccea9a0b771fe63aa20c9

If you look at the Hamilton boundary here - http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Maps/boundarymaps/pdfs/AA_MS_Hamilton.pdf?sessionid=b3123432c52bcec30530d99bad9f5c3e - about 80% of it is in its walk zone. Shrinking Hamilton to 800 or so students is what we need to work to but it isn't going to shrink the walking cohort.
Joe Wolf said…
NYC Public Schools Enrollment/Demographic History and Projections -
http://www.nycsca.org/Community/CapitalPlanManagementReportsData/Demographics/2012-2021StatisticalForecastingReport.pdf

A buddy of mine teaches middle school math in the Bronx. Schools enrolled to 125-150% of what we would call "right-sized" capacity are very common.
mirmac1 said…
The district lawyering up? What else is new. There is no shortage of district money for useless litigation. Just WHO does it help? What it does do is keep English employed.
Anonymous said…
can anyone tell me how to interpret my child's eoc score for Algebra? She passed, but there is a raw score number that I don't know how to interpret.

Algebra mom
Anonymous said…
@Algebra mom

I searched for that info, too, and found it here:

http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/statetesting/ScaleScores.aspx

-North-end Mom
otr said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said…
Two pieces of information may be of interest to parents trying to interpret EOC scores:

1) OSPI publishes testing statistics for all state tests (2104 statistics have yet to be posted, so just check out the 2013 results). You can look up the scale score and translate it to a percentile ranking.

OSPI testing statistics

2) The Washington State Report Card links to a graph showing the breakdown of scores for a particular test/grade/school. You can look up your child's school, click on the specific test, and see how your child scored in comparison to other students that took the test. The following link shows the Algebra EOC score distribution for all Seattle Public School students:

Algebra EOC scale report

fyi
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know where SPS Enrollment data for 2014-15 can be found? I'm looking for the numbers for enrollment by school and grade, not just the total district-wide head count. On a related question, does anyone know why the SPS website only has P223 Reports through the 2012-2013 school year?

Thanks,
MMVM
Unknown said…
MMVM,

I don't know where you can find enrollment for this year. Given the data difficulties at SPS this past year, I have better luck getting data from OSPI. The P223's for last year are available on their website at http://www.k12.wa.us/safs/rep/enr/1314/17001h.pdf.
ballard mom said…
Do anyone know if the high school wait lists are going to move? In particular, I am hoping to find out if my child has a chance at getting into Ingraham this year.
Anonymous said…
Ms. Been there and others:

Ms. Schrempp is NOT the family's attorney. She wrote the school district and STOP SEXUAL ASSAULT in HIGH SCHOOL.

Here is the same opinion from the chief ranger associated with the investigation.
Subject: re: update
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 07:30:00 -0700
From: Smith, Colin
To: REDACTED PARENTS

XXXXXREDACTED

As I've said before, the US Attorney has not determined that no sexual assault occured [sic], but that we do not have a case that can be successfully prosecuted in court.

Colin Smith
Chief Ranger
Olympic National Park
360 565-3110

mother
Anonymous said…
Ms. BEEN THERE, VICTIMS OF ASSAULT

One more thing. Two distinguished journalists, one an awarding winning national reporter, is interested in speaking with parents and victims of school assaults. If you are interested, please message stopsexualassaultinhighschool on FB and we will connect you or others. You don't have to give your name to us or the journalist. This is all to benefit exposing the tremendous deficits that have taken down lives.

mrs. miller
Ballard Mom, not sure what the waitlist policy is but I know they will throw them out probably at the end of September.

I also know that more people want to get into Franklin but are being told no (in order to fill RBHS).
Joe Wolf said…
Official enrollment is recorded October 1 by state law.

Enrollment Planning is your resource for all data of this type. Ask for Brent Kroon, Natasha Rivers or Jay Freistadt.
Anonymous said…
North-end mom and fyi, thank you for the EOC score resources.

Algebra mom
Anonymous said…
Mirmac, you lose credibility when you talk about the impact of the last executive sped director. (you know, the one whose status at SPS is in question.) Her impact was practically nothing. You can say without a doubt though, the underlings she promoted and left behind are a zillion times worse. So, it might be worth keeping McWilliams - only because of all her pitiful underlings who are salivating for her job, not to mention the cipher they hired to be the new "interim executive director" who hopes he can keep it long enough to "earn" a real "executive directorship", or assistant superintendent job. Hey, it's worked before.

Whatever happened to the C-CAP? It was such a burning issue - not getting it done for a year and a half, that they've decided to leave it off all agenda for another 18 months while they bother to hire somebody - anybody, or rehire/retain somebody- anybody.

Imagine that they keep McWilliams. How in the heck would that work? Would anybody work for her, or do what she wanted, or anything? How can you lead a whole department, when everybody either wants you gone, or wants your job.

Sped reader
Anonymous said…
Thank you, Sped reader. It sometimes sounds like mirmac thinks she or he speaks for everybody. Or has the only voice that matters.

Another sped reader
mirmac1 said…
No one's telling you what to think or say. And with your tremendous credibility, by all means bring about positive change. I'll wait.
Anonymous said…
Not only did McWilliams get fired for cause. She is being investigated for possible criminal activities.

She bad mouthed her boss , Dr Gill and others to the head of the TIERS group then attempted to influence the TIERS proposal to include favors to her.

She openly passed on internal information to TIERS group giving them an advantage in the bidding process.

She never disclosed a personal relationship with TIERS group staff to her employer SPS.

She asked staff and TIERS group to use private email services in order to avoid public disclosure laws.

In conclusion McWilliams acted unprofessional and unethical.

New SPED
Charlie Mas said…
Oh dear. I fear Ms McWilliams read this blog and came to believe that no rules are ever enforced in Seattle Public Schools.

Actually some rules are enforced sometimes against some people and some rules are actually enforced all the time.

You can screw over the students, the families, the communities, and the front-line staff pretty much all you want, but don't mess with contracts unless you have powerful friends and never mess with money.
mirmac1 said…
If the district abides by it's hollow ethics policy - which requires an employee to have a "financial interest" - then McWilliams should get a promotion, raise or contract extension like MGJ after the MAP debacle.

As for deliberately evading public disclosure, she should be exalted like DeBell and Enfield.

Messing with money? She should get words of solace and support from the board like McEvoy after messing with $500K of fed funds.

McWilliams grossly mishandled a procurement, not to enrich herself, but to get the district out of level 4 status with OSPI and the feds.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
With regard to Ms. McWilliams, I can't condone the behavior of someone who made mistakes in the awarding of a contract by comparing it with the behavior of others who also made mistakes. The "well, she or he did it, too," defense held no water when my kids used it on me, and it holds even less water with an adult who should know better.

The associated defense of "this is purely political," might ring more true if there wasn't the proof of behavior that seems intended to dodge laws around ethics.

Mirmac1, while I have great sympathy for the teachers and the parents as it seems that the constant turnover of directors leads to churn and chaos, I can't stomach the thought of having someone in that position who seems to have such disdain for parents as well as ethics. It's such a shame.
mirmac1 said…
My point is to illustrate Charlie's comment that "some rules are enforced sometimes against some people."
Anonymous said…
Shuffle off back to Compton hopefully a little wiser and a lot more humble.

New Sped

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