Seattle Schools This Week
Monday, Nov. 9th
Washington State Charter Commission meeting from 10 am - 5 pm at the STAR Center in Tacoma.
Highlights of the agenda:
- State Supreme Court Ruling Calendar update
- First Place Scholars presentation/update (after which the Commission has an Executive Session)
Curriculum&Instruction Committee Meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE. Agenda
What a packed agenda and something for everyone. CTE, TPEP (Teacher Principal Evaluation Program), Special Ed MOU, MTSS, Native American Education Report, Highly Capable and Advanced Learning Update, Waiver of Instructional Materials, Program Evaluation&Assessment, Academic Assurances.
COW of Operations (Committee of the Whole) on the Student Assignment Plan from 6:30-7:30 pm at JSCEE. No presentation with agenda.
I suspect this will just be staff walking the Board thru what staff will be telling parents at the last-minute, we-really-don't-want-to-do-this Student Assignment Plan meetings this week.
It's a bit of a dilemma for me whether to go or not but I would like to hear what the Board asks them. With an hour, I suspect not much.
Get those e-mails into the Board with your thoughts and questions about how this is "just two things" - spsdirectors@seattleschools.org
Tuesday, Nov. 10th
Work Session - Annual Evaluation of Facilities, at JSCEE from 4:30-7:30 pm. Presentation
These items in the presentation stood out for me:
Slide 4:Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/Risks.
Weakness - low ratio of supervisors to staff: 1 to 50. Well then, take one of those people at the top and voila! Salary for two supervisors.
Weakness - "jurisdictional issues" with whom? the City?
Weakness - "employee morale" - I'd think that underfunding maintenance would be upsetting to people who want to keep the buildings in good working order but don't have the resources to do so.
Threats/Risks - "aging infrastructure/backlog of maintenance" - wait a minute, they constantly tell us how much that backlog is getting done, how can it be a problem? Oh right, they don't do basic maintenance on 97 buildings and you can see how it might pile up.
Threats/Risks - "loss of instructional time due to major system failure" uh oh
Threats/Risk "maintaining critical non-supported software systems" - It's pretty interesting how much money is being poured into technology but it never seems to be enough. I guess wireless in all the buildings (which the Superintendent touted in his State of the District speech) was more important. We all operate on budgets; sometimes you spend money on making sure all things run well (even if it means less for each) and sometimes you decide one area is more important than another.
Slide 8 - They are doing well in dropping that energy use level in schools as well as meeting their target for water and refuse per student.
Slide 10 has Benchmarking. This is an interesting slide but what I find most interesting is that it is noted that the funding comes from the state (which is true.) What the district doesn't say is that they make choices on what to spend the money on. Maintenance comes from the General Fund and I believe a lot more gets diverted to other issues and the choice is being made not to keep up the buildings.
Slide 11 is eye-opening. SPS doesn't staff for maintenance anywhere near the average by a trade association measure.
Slide 19 says it all to me (as someone who longs for better maintenance). That slide is Looking Forward/Next Steps and is it a call for better maintenance? No.
They reference two Board policies; one on Natural Resources Conservation and the other Donor Recognition. They mention "supporting our Capital Team in the construction of new schools" and they name those new school buildings.
Look, Capital has its OWN money and its OWN staff - shouldn't Maintenance and Facilities be worrying about the buildings already in operation?
Student Assignment Plan meeting at Ingraham from 6:30-8:00 pm.
There is an Ask the Governor event tonight at 6 pm at UW's Kane Hall. KCTS will be interviewing the Governor.
To submit a question for Gov. Inslee, please fill out the form below: http://kcts9.org/programs/webform/ask-governor-submit-question.
The group, Washington's Paramount Duty will host a "half-baked"bake sale at 5 pm on Red Square (which Kane Hall faces.) Here's a sample question from them:
"What will you do in the 2016 short session to ensure that Washington State meets its constitutional paramount duty to fully fund education and bring the state in compliance with the McCleary court orders?"
BRING SIGNS
Wear green! Please make and bring green signs (without sticks).
For kids: "I am your paramount duty."
For adults:
"Show me the money $$!"
"Where is the $$?"
"Fund Education Now!" and
"Comply with the Court's Orders!"
Thursday, Nov. 12th
Audit&Finance Committee Meeting at JSCEE from 4:30-6:30 pm. Agenda not yet available. (I'm hoping with the new Board that this trend of NOT having the agenda available until 48-72 hours before the meeting ends. I have no problem with the agenda getting adjusted before the meeting but I'm pretty sure the staff knows a week before what they will talk about.)
Student Assignment Plan meeting at Washington Middle School Library from 6:30-8:00 pm.
Friday, Nov. 13th
BEX Oversight Committee meeting at JSCEE, Room 2750 from 8:30-10:30 am.
Here's another thing the new Board might take on - overhauling this Committee which is a great group of people who really have no power and are directed by staff. I'm not sure I really get how much their input is used.
Mayor Murray is also participating in an Ask the Mayor event on Friday, Nov. 20th. The deadline to submit a question is 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 13.
• E-mail askthemayor@seattle.gov.
• Comment on Facebook.
• Call Seattle Channel (206) 684-8821.
Saturday, Nov. 14th
Community Meeting with Director Carr at The Hearthstone at Green Lake from 8:30-10:00 am.
This is Director Carr's last Community meeting with SPS - she has serviced for eight long years and deserves a great deal of thanks.
Washington State Charter Commission meeting from 10 am - 5 pm at the STAR Center in Tacoma.
Highlights of the agenda:
- State Supreme Court Ruling Calendar update
- First Place Scholars presentation/update (after which the Commission has an Executive Session)
Curriculum&Instruction Committee Meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE. Agenda
What a packed agenda and something for everyone. CTE, TPEP (Teacher Principal Evaluation Program), Special Ed MOU, MTSS, Native American Education Report, Highly Capable and Advanced Learning Update, Waiver of Instructional Materials, Program Evaluation&Assessment, Academic Assurances.
COW of Operations (Committee of the Whole) on the Student Assignment Plan from 6:30-7:30 pm at JSCEE. No presentation with agenda.
I suspect this will just be staff walking the Board thru what staff will be telling parents at the last-minute, we-really-don't-want-to-do-this Student Assignment Plan meetings this week.
It's a bit of a dilemma for me whether to go or not but I would like to hear what the Board asks them. With an hour, I suspect not much.
Get those e-mails into the Board with your thoughts and questions about how this is "just two things" - spsdirectors@seattleschools.org
Tuesday, Nov. 10th
Work Session - Annual Evaluation of Facilities, at JSCEE from 4:30-7:30 pm. Presentation
These items in the presentation stood out for me:
Slide 4:Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/Risks.
Weakness - low ratio of supervisors to staff: 1 to 50. Well then, take one of those people at the top and voila! Salary for two supervisors.
Weakness - "jurisdictional issues" with whom? the City?
Weakness - "employee morale" - I'd think that underfunding maintenance would be upsetting to people who want to keep the buildings in good working order but don't have the resources to do so.
Threats/Risks - "aging infrastructure/backlog of maintenance" - wait a minute, they constantly tell us how much that backlog is getting done, how can it be a problem? Oh right, they don't do basic maintenance on 97 buildings and you can see how it might pile up.
Threats/Risks - "loss of instructional time due to major system failure" uh oh
Threats/Risk "maintaining critical non-supported software systems" - It's pretty interesting how much money is being poured into technology but it never seems to be enough. I guess wireless in all the buildings (which the Superintendent touted in his State of the District speech) was more important. We all operate on budgets; sometimes you spend money on making sure all things run well (even if it means less for each) and sometimes you decide one area is more important than another.
Slide 8 - They are doing well in dropping that energy use level in schools as well as meeting their target for water and refuse per student.
Slide 10 has Benchmarking. This is an interesting slide but what I find most interesting is that it is noted that the funding comes from the state (which is true.) What the district doesn't say is that they make choices on what to spend the money on. Maintenance comes from the General Fund and I believe a lot more gets diverted to other issues and the choice is being made not to keep up the buildings.
Slide 11 is eye-opening. SPS doesn't staff for maintenance anywhere near the average by a trade association measure.
Slide 19 says it all to me (as someone who longs for better maintenance). That slide is Looking Forward/Next Steps and is it a call for better maintenance? No.
They reference two Board policies; one on Natural Resources Conservation and the other Donor Recognition. They mention "supporting our Capital Team in the construction of new schools" and they name those new school buildings.
Look, Capital has its OWN money and its OWN staff - shouldn't Maintenance and Facilities be worrying about the buildings already in operation?
Student Assignment Plan meeting at Ingraham from 6:30-8:00 pm.
There is an Ask the Governor event tonight at 6 pm at UW's Kane Hall. KCTS will be interviewing the Governor.
To submit a question for Gov. Inslee, please fill out the form below: http://kcts9.org/programs/webform/ask-governor-submit-question.
The group, Washington's Paramount Duty will host a "half-baked"bake sale at 5 pm on Red Square (which Kane Hall faces.) Here's a sample question from them:
"What will you do in the 2016 short session to ensure that Washington State meets its constitutional paramount duty to fully fund education and bring the state in compliance with the McCleary court orders?"
BRING SIGNS
Wear green! Please make and bring green signs (without sticks).
For kids: "I am your paramount duty."
For adults:
"Show me the money $$!"
"Where is the $$?"
"Fund Education Now!" and
"Comply with the Court's Orders!"
Thursday, Nov. 12th
Audit&Finance Committee Meeting at JSCEE from 4:30-6:30 pm. Agenda not yet available. (I'm hoping with the new Board that this trend of NOT having the agenda available until 48-72 hours before the meeting ends. I have no problem with the agenda getting adjusted before the meeting but I'm pretty sure the staff knows a week before what they will talk about.)
Student Assignment Plan meeting at Washington Middle School Library from 6:30-8:00 pm.
Friday, Nov. 13th
BEX Oversight Committee meeting at JSCEE, Room 2750 from 8:30-10:30 am.
Here's another thing the new Board might take on - overhauling this Committee which is a great group of people who really have no power and are directed by staff. I'm not sure I really get how much their input is used.
Mayor Murray is also participating in an Ask the Mayor event on Friday, Nov. 20th. The deadline to submit a question is 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 13.
• E-mail askthemayor@seattle.gov.
• Comment on Facebook.
• Call Seattle Channel (206) 684-8821.
Saturday, Nov. 14th
Community Meeting with Director Carr at The Hearthstone at Green Lake from 8:30-10:00 am.
This is Director Carr's last Community meeting with SPS - she has serviced for eight long years and deserves a great deal of thanks.
Comments
See page 75 of the C&I meeting agenda - David Elliott was?/is? not on probation; or else he's removed from this report already, which is interesting in that the approved separation of him as a principal isn't until June 2016
- B
Seems community meetings where board can't hear feedback is crazy, though I will admit not to being a protocol/process expert here.
- B
I believe that C&I is made up of McLaren, Blanford, & Peters.
C&I might wish to look at CCSS as NAEP scores descended nation wide. Statistically significant declines occurred at grade 4 and grade 8 math same for grade 8 Reading.
Gates/Obama/Duncan are having difficulty spinning this. Clearly cutting back testing time a very small amount is not addressing the decline in any substantive way.
In WA state 8th grade reading dipped by 5 points.
-- Dan Dempsey
Let's avoid applying data selectively.
--- aka
I can remember when Board members attended community meetings. It has been a while, though.
-North-end Mom
"BAR for Policy 2255, Alternative Learning Experience (Tolley/Gonder/Andrews) 10 mins"
It is worth noting that Tolley has placed the Alternative Learning Experience policy on the agenda. Considering Tolley helped close Middle College...we would be smart to "watch" this issue.
Policy 2190 says there are pathways. Is removing pathway language from the associated procedures really consistent with policy?
HF
I'll be curious if there are any at these meetings.
What is the saying -- hoist on their own petards? Or something.
My request was for Dan, who I expect to be objective, to not fall into the same political trap. He challenges us all to look at the data and intelligently analyze it.
--- aka