Center School Update
From SPS Communications:
At Seattle Public Schools, it is our top priority to make sure each and every student is safe. When we have an incident like we did on Oct. 27, where a Center School student brought an incendiary device to school, it is important that we take the time to review how school and district staff respond to these incidents. While we conducted this review, we did place Principal Oksana Britsova on paid administrative leave. The review is now complete and concluded that there were no issues with how Principal Britsova handled the situation. She has returned to school today.
Districtwide, all principals on Tuesday attended a training session, held in conjunction with the Seattle Police Department, to review threat management, security protocols and crisis communications. Again, keeping our students safe is a top priority, and we appreciate our ongoing partnership with the Seattle Police Department in working with our schools and staff.
Finally, thank you to BiHoa Caldwell, who helped serve in a leadership role at the Center School during the interim. We look forward to continuing to work with Center School staff, students and families on making sure our community is safe.
I can only say, after hearing from a few Center School folks, that this matter may have been resolved but that there continue to be issues around Britsova's leadership there.
At Seattle Public Schools, it is our top priority to make sure each and every student is safe. When we have an incident like we did on Oct. 27, where a Center School student brought an incendiary device to school, it is important that we take the time to review how school and district staff respond to these incidents. While we conducted this review, we did place Principal Oksana Britsova on paid administrative leave. The review is now complete and concluded that there were no issues with how Principal Britsova handled the situation. She has returned to school today.
However,
our review led us to take a deeper look at our procedures and we are
working on making some additional improvements in our security
communications. Center School staff members have
spent time debriefing the incident, and the school’s building
leadership team met on Tuesday
afternoon to revise the shelter-in-place protocol. Staff will be
looking at other emergency protocols in the near future as well.
Districtwide, all principals on Tuesday attended a training session, held in conjunction with the Seattle Police Department, to review threat management, security protocols and crisis communications. Again, keeping our students safe is a top priority, and we appreciate our ongoing partnership with the Seattle Police Department in working with our schools and staff.
Finally, thank you to BiHoa Caldwell, who helped serve in a leadership role at the Center School during the interim. We look forward to continuing to work with Center School staff, students and families on making sure our community is safe.
I can only say, after hearing from a few Center School folks, that this matter may have been resolved but that there continue to be issues around Britsova's leadership there.
Comments
Under 300 is what The Center School's enrollment has been since its founding. The Center School was founded as a specialized "Arts centered" academically rigorous, college preparatory, small high school. Test scores are only higher at Garfield. Garfield is/was the high school for all the APP students with an all city draw for high achieving students.
The waiting list to get into Center school grows every year.
I don't know anything about TCS. (Maybe a large number of their students graduate early or do early admission at the UW?) I just think that's something to include in a discussion of how well the school is doing.
Garfield and TCS are entirely different schools. If you wanted to compare them though - for the same four years, the senior classes averaged 441 and the corresponding freshman classes averaged 446.
Here are recent reported enrollment numbers for The Center School:
2009: 290
2010: 299
2011: 278
2012: 285
Here's a link to the Center School climate survey. Note the changes in the staff survey results.
There's a 22 percentage point drop in those who agree that "The principal treats all faculty members fairly"
and a 25 percentage point drop in the number who agree that "I receive the support I need to address student behavior and discipline problems"
A lot of the private high school kids see the Center School and NOVA as places to go if you get kicked out of your current school unfortunately. I don't think the rigorous nature of the curriculum is communicated very well to the public at large.
HP
It appears the school is now led by a principal who is not supported. I hope this wonderful school gets the leadership it deserves.
S parent
Seems to me they made the best decision for the principal, not the students.
So did they review the staff response on that day only, or did they also look at how the principal (and any other staff) handled the reported threats that preceded the "incident"?
HIMSmom
Pretty cut and dry.