Meetings Galore Today
Update 3: Summit Seattle #2 application was approved by the Washington State Charter Commission. They will open in Fall 2016. (There was some interesting discussion here that I will report on. I continue to be pleased by the thoughtfulness of both the Charter Commission members and staff.)
Update 2: SOAR charter in Tacoma is scheduled to open on Monday the 17th. However, SOAR's benchmarks not been satisfied. They include a lack of Sped policies and procedures, staff qualifications (4 of 7 don't have proper certification or emergency certification), child abuse/neglect training not done as well as other school safety/health. Staff says these items could get done in time but if not, SOAR will not open its doors.
Update 1: the Washington State Charter Commission unanimously approved the charter application for Willow School in Walla Walla. They will open in Fall 2016.
end of update
I'm at the Charter Commission meeting today as they vote on the final approval/disapproval of two charter applications - Willow and Summit (in Walla Walla and Seattle respectively). Summit will be the second charter in Seattle (in theID WestSeattle) and would share in any BTA IV levy dollars (along with First Place Scholars, if they stay in business) if BTA IV passes in Feb. 2016.
I'm also going to the Board's Executive Committee meeting this afternoon (I'd like to drop into the A&F Committee meeting but I think the Executive Committee meeting will take most of my focus).
FYI, on the A&F agenda, check out pages 16-27, wherein we find that the District wants to give all non-represented staff a raise. About 3% over the next couple of years and seemingly based on the fact that represented staff are getting a raise.
But...isn't that because represented staff got a raise (after years of not getting one) because of McCleary dollars? This raise for non-represented staff is going to cost the District nearly $1M.
But the information on those pages is VERY illuminating if you ever wondered who gets paid what. AND we finally know that JSCEE staff does NOT work on a full-year schedule. There are 260-day employees, 204-day employees and 223-day employees. Mystery solved about the powering down in the summer. (I will note that like school staff, many JSCEE staff work much longer than an 8-hour day most weeks during their work year.)
Update 2: SOAR charter in Tacoma is scheduled to open on Monday the 17th. However, SOAR's benchmarks not been satisfied. They include a lack of Sped policies and procedures, staff qualifications (4 of 7 don't have proper certification or emergency certification), child abuse/neglect training not done as well as other school safety/health. Staff says these items could get done in time but if not, SOAR will not open its doors.
end of update
I'm at the Charter Commission meeting today as they vote on the final approval/disapproval of two charter applications - Willow and Summit (in Walla Walla and Seattle respectively). Summit will be the second charter in Seattle (in the
I'm also going to the Board's Executive Committee meeting this afternoon (I'd like to drop into the A&F Committee meeting but I think the Executive Committee meeting will take most of my focus).
FYI, on the A&F agenda, check out pages 16-27, wherein we find that the District wants to give all non-represented staff a raise. About 3% over the next couple of years and seemingly based on the fact that represented staff are getting a raise.
But...isn't that because represented staff got a raise (after years of not getting one) because of McCleary dollars? This raise for non-represented staff is going to cost the District nearly $1M.
But the information on those pages is VERY illuminating if you ever wondered who gets paid what. AND we finally know that JSCEE staff does NOT work on a full-year schedule. There are 260-day employees, 204-day employees and 223-day employees. Mystery solved about the powering down in the summer. (I will note that like school staff, many JSCEE staff work much longer than an 8-hour day most weeks during their work year.)
Comments
L squared
Summit says that it is good with three but I'm sure if these go well, more will come. I note that they are doing a very heavy reachout in West Seattle as numerous people tell me they received robocalls and mailers.
CT