Operations/Executive Committee of the Whole
Update: the Discipline Appeals Council has been set with a couple of issues.
One big one is that they did not get any volunteers to represent Sped. It was stated they asked internally but it was unclear to me if any Sped parent organizations were contacted. They would like a Sped teacher. Peaslee wants SPed in there. Peters said SPed is important because of disproportionality and Sped issues in discipline cases.
Two is that Director Carr is on this council. I was confused when I saw the name as she is listed as "community." I asked and according to the policy, she can be on the committee as a community member.
I personally think it is strange that a sitting board member could be on this council (or even want to).
Also, Memorial Stadium got new turf and Richard Best, head of Capital Projects, casually said that they are considering putting a new high school there AND it could be on BTA IV (which is becoming quite large just with this project and below, the downtown school).
End of update
Well, I hadn't thought the Operations Committee would be so interesting vis a vis the agenda but now I'm glad I came.
-one update - the district appears to be going to go ahead with applying to takeover the former Federal Reserve building for a downtown school. They have a lengthy review of three other schools - Bailey-Gatzert, Lowell and John Hay that might be considered for expansion for this purpose. They have quite a list of consultants so it appears they have done their due diligence.
Hey, no surprise, they appear to think it makes the MOST sense to get the Federal Reserve building.
How to fund this? Either through non-voted bonds (which I thought Director Carr said absolutely no) or put it in with BTA IV. That means that at least $48M (of the likely $50-53M) in BTA IV would be for one new building.
I have said before and I'll say it again - BTA was NEVER created for new buildings. This blurring of lines, mixing of capital dollars is wrong and I cannot believe it is now going to continue on.
Apparently so.
Update on downtown school. No time to put in the complete conversation but President Peaslee is pressing on hard on the "need" and costs. Joe Wolf explained that the entire north section of the district is worse off than Central and that really, they need more high school space.
Peaslee, again pushing hard, is asking questions on funding this downtown school. Staff says there BTA IV is too far out so they likely would have to get a loan for the funds and pay it back via the BTA IV.
Peaslee thinks this sounds pretty unfocused and wanted to know about the BTA IV planning.
So a $100M for a new high school plus $53M for the Federal Reserve bldg- there's $150M and the last BTA was $270M. (It was noted that the Education Department was asked if the Fed Reserve building could be used for any type of school, K-5, K-8 or 6-12.
One big one is that they did not get any volunteers to represent Sped. It was stated they asked internally but it was unclear to me if any Sped parent organizations were contacted. They would like a Sped teacher. Peaslee wants SPed in there. Peters said SPed is important because of disproportionality and Sped issues in discipline cases.
Two is that Director Carr is on this council. I was confused when I saw the name as she is listed as "community." I asked and according to the policy, she can be on the committee as a community member.
I personally think it is strange that a sitting board member could be on this council (or even want to).
Also, Memorial Stadium got new turf and Richard Best, head of Capital Projects, casually said that they are considering putting a new high school there AND it could be on BTA IV (which is becoming quite large just with this project and below, the downtown school).
End of update
Well, I hadn't thought the Operations Committee would be so interesting vis a vis the agenda but now I'm glad I came.
-one update - the district appears to be going to go ahead with applying to takeover the former Federal Reserve building for a downtown school. They have a lengthy review of three other schools - Bailey-Gatzert, Lowell and John Hay that might be considered for expansion for this purpose. They have quite a list of consultants so it appears they have done their due diligence.
Hey, no surprise, they appear to think it makes the MOST sense to get the Federal Reserve building.
How to fund this? Either through non-voted bonds (which I thought Director Carr said absolutely no) or put it in with BTA IV. That means that at least $48M (of the likely $50-53M) in BTA IV would be for one new building.
I have said before and I'll say it again - BTA was NEVER created for new buildings. This blurring of lines, mixing of capital dollars is wrong and I cannot believe it is now going to continue on.
Apparently so.
Update on downtown school. No time to put in the complete conversation but President Peaslee is pressing on hard on the "need" and costs. Joe Wolf explained that the entire north section of the district is worse off than Central and that really, they need more high school space.
Peaslee, again pushing hard, is asking questions on funding this downtown school. Staff says there BTA IV is too far out so they likely would have to get a loan for the funds and pay it back via the BTA IV.
Peaslee thinks this sounds pretty unfocused and wanted to know about the BTA IV planning.
So a $100M for a new high school plus $53M for the Federal Reserve bldg- there's $150M and the last BTA was $270M. (It was noted that the Education Department was asked if the Fed Reserve building could be used for any type of school, K-5, K-8 or 6-12.
Comments
Please, please continue to emphasize the need for additional high school capacity, particularly in the North end, and sooner rather than later.
7th/9thgrade parent
Chief Sealth is packed to the gills, with half its campus occupied by a middle school. Of course the genius who came up with this idea, and handing Boren over to K-5 soon to be K-8 is long gone. Oh wait, no, there are board members who championed this move.
WS is at least as screwed as the North end.
Idk...Queen Anne and Magnolia don't have a high school and enrollment is growing. Seems, if the dt bld is purchased..it would meet the needs of this community.
Mary, the district lawyer mentioned finding a Sped teacher to serve on Spec-specific cases so that there is representation there.
I'm with Concerned, I think Carr should not be on this committee. It seems like many conflicts there.
I can understand your concern, but in many instances, the school board would be the normal endpoint of a disciplinary appeal. In fact, the WAC referring to student disciplinary appeals refers to school boards or disciplinary appeals councils. In this instance, the DAC serves in the stead of the board. Please see WAC 392-400-315.
Agency filings affecting this section
Appeals—Hearing before school board or disciplinary appeal council—Procedures.
Based on the purpose of a DAC and the WAC pertaining to the DAC, I believe it is quite proper for Sherry Carr to serve in this capacity.
I think what most people don't get is that usually the disciplinary appeals council is used to appeal whether the district is following its own policies and procedures, NOT the facts of the case. So in most ordinary cases, the council is looking to see if the staff is following the playbook of the school board and the superintendent not whether the kid did the deed. This is just one reason why I think it is good to have school board members on the DAC.
This is also one of the reasons you would want someone from SPED there: to make sure that the rules regarding implementation of support plans and specific rules related to federal law were being followed by the staff.
I have asked the Office of Student Discipline manager for statistics to shed light on how many instances a DAC might have found in favor of the student making the appeal overriding the building administrator. My guess is that the answer is "practically never" but it's not a bad idea to see what the numbers really show. Unfortunately, that information is not available.
AnneS
Considering the fact that anyone who has reached the step II grievance level, and using only the suspension and expulsion statistics, only 2% of suspension/expulsion cases are appealed even to the step I level (the step I level is only a meeting with the principal.)
So even though it is highly recommended that there be a SpEd staff person at a DAC meeting, and even if this person was able to convince all the DAC members that procedures were not followed, that might amount to 3 overturned findings, which would not make a significant dent in the number of cases, but would make a dent in the fairness of hearings for those individuals.
It is a reminder how intense and intimidating it can be for families to initiate an appeals process. In my experience, a combination of intimidation, shame, not having access to the information in their own languages, and not knowing or understanding the process or their rights, keeps families from initiating an appeals process.
In my opinion, the system is pretty corrupt with few checks and balances. It would be better if any suspension or expulsion of a student with a disability would automatically trigger the same for the building administrator and staff and a performance improvement plan for those individuals.
AnneS