Seattle Public Education News
Tuesday the 21st sees the public forum for Summit Sierra charter school from 6-8 pm at Freedom Church, 9601 35th Ave. SW. Unfortunately, the Summit site gives no detail on the format of the evening nor does the Charter Commission site.
From my experience, you sign in if you want to speak and are given a lottery number. There are usually between 3-5 Charter Commission members there. After they are introduced, then Summit has about 10 minutes to flesh out what their school is and how they will operate.
Then, the public gets a chance to weigh in. Hopefully, the Charter Commission will not allow what happened in the past which is that the charter school gets supporters to come, each gets lottery number to speak. However, Green Dot had a staffer who collected all those numbers and Green Dot decided who would speak. I don't have a problem with any charter being able to bring in supporters but it seems like whoever has the number that is drawn should be the speaker.
Meaning, it should NOT be left to the charter group to decide who does and does not speak.
The Charter Commission will be voting on August 13th on whether the two charter applicants whose applications passed the first hurdle will be granted charters.
Seattle Schools has put up what is hoped is the final list of which kindergartens open in Monday, Sept. 14th. If your child's school is not on that list, that school's kindergarten opens on September 9th, with those kindergarteners getting more full days of school than those who start on the 14th.
The Times has a short article about other area districts looking at later school starts for high school students including:
- Bellevue and Mercer Island which are working together on a plan. Their committee recommended changing high school start times to 8:30 am.
- Northshore's School Board voted in Jan for a later start.
- Seattle's final task force recommendation is supposed to come out this week but question is, where and to whom? There are no meetings of the Board - in any form - until August 10th so I don't know how this will happen.
(Editor's note; This thread is about charters, kindergarten and high school bell times. I am increasingly finding that people are treating all threads as open threads which they are not. I would ask that you do not go off topic on threads.)
From my experience, you sign in if you want to speak and are given a lottery number. There are usually between 3-5 Charter Commission members there. After they are introduced, then Summit has about 10 minutes to flesh out what their school is and how they will operate.
Then, the public gets a chance to weigh in. Hopefully, the Charter Commission will not allow what happened in the past which is that the charter school gets supporters to come, each gets lottery number to speak. However, Green Dot had a staffer who collected all those numbers and Green Dot decided who would speak. I don't have a problem with any charter being able to bring in supporters but it seems like whoever has the number that is drawn should be the speaker.
Meaning, it should NOT be left to the charter group to decide who does and does not speak.
The Charter Commission will be voting on August 13th on whether the two charter applicants whose applications passed the first hurdle will be granted charters.
Seattle Schools has put up what is hoped is the final list of which kindergartens open in Monday, Sept. 14th. If your child's school is not on that list, that school's kindergarten opens on September 9th, with those kindergarteners getting more full days of school than those who start on the 14th.
The Times has a short article about other area districts looking at later school starts for high school students including:
- Bellevue and Mercer Island which are working together on a plan. Their committee recommended changing high school start times to 8:30 am.
- Northshore's School Board voted in Jan for a later start.
- Seattle's final task force recommendation is supposed to come out this week but question is, where and to whom? There are no meetings of the Board - in any form - until August 10th so I don't know how this will happen.
(Editor's note; This thread is about charters, kindergarten and high school bell times. I am increasingly finding that people are treating all threads as open threads which they are not. I would ask that you do not go off topic on threads.)
Comments
https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/a-checklist-for-parents-considering-summit-charter-school-in-seatte
In an effort to get students to enroll in Summit, individuals are knocking on doors, making phone calls etc.
Best for parebts to wait and see whether or not Summit stands-up to their claims.
From the Bell Times Analysis Task Force charter: The primary purpose of the Bell Time Analysis Task Force is to prepare a report to the Superintendent of Schools regarding the impacts, risks and benefits for adjusting bell times for students. The Superintendent will use this report, along with other important data in making recommendations to the School Board for potential changes in the 2016-17 school year. The report should include:
A. Analysis of sleep research, operational impacts in other districts and potential impacts to Seattle Public Schools, and recommendations on the options presented to the community for consideration (including minority reports from task force members, if any); and
B. Recommendations to the Superintendent on district strategies to promote school schedules that support student learning, school engagement and health.
Summit called during open enrollment asking if I had any questions on the newest "public school" choice, no mention of charter schools. I let them know that they really should tell people that they are in fact a charter school. Then I said we were in the HC program and wondered if they have comparable offering. Of course they did, with a combination of online training they could certainly meet our child's needs. When I pushed on any other aspects to the program their was no mention of cohort or social support; Perhaps the largest benefit of SPS' HC HS program.
-No Thanks!
http://westseattleblog.com/2015/07/happening-now-official-state-hearing-for-what-would-be-west-seattles-first-charter-school/
CT