State of the District

 Update: here's the Powerpoint for the Superintendent's speech.

Update: readers, I was blogging on the fly so it's a choppy account.  I'll have some analysis tomorrow.

end of update.

City Hall space starting to fill for the Superintendent's State of the District speech.  Lots of top SPS staff here.  John Rogers Elementary choir warmed up; they sound great and look adorable.

I see Sharon Peaslee, (saw Bruce Harrell but he seemed to know nothing although Communications tells me they e-mailed City Councilpersons twice this morning).  I see Directors Blanford and McLaren.  Looks like President Carr is unavailable.  I see Board-elect Rick Burke.  Sue Peters is here as well.

Program:
- Welcome from VP Peaslee
- John Rogers Otters Choir
- Every Student, Every Classroom, Every Day - speech by Superintendent Nyland
- Kent Koth, Center for Community Engagement and Seattle University Youth Initiative on Community Partnerships
- Closing - First Seatle Youth Poet Laureate, Leija Farr from Cleveland High School
Peaslee thanked the City for the space and said it was good to have it downtown where people can get to it (hmm).

She mentioned the Pre-K program and Families and Ed levy and said there needs to be more.

She also mentioned leaving the Board and hoping to continue her work on this partnership with the City (double hmmm).

John Rogers choir hits it out of the park with their patriotic song (a new one to me) about America.

Superintendent Nyland's Speech (introduced by Peaslee as our fabulous and distinguished superintendent.)
- reporting on year past and year to come
- referenced growing up here and going to schools in SPS, 50th anniversary of graduating from Roosevelt
- highlight of week is to be out in schools and he has gone to all of them now
- "the work our educators do stands up to any other system"
- used to teach social studies
- "what are the headlines for our district"

• student growth
• wireless technology
• "encouraging SBAC scores"
• "significant improvement in Sped"
• Pre-K coming in and we will look back in 15-20 years at this effort (boy, I hope it doesn't take that long to figure out)
• went thru district stats

- premier partner is City of Seattle and puts $34M into district and now the Pre-K with $14M

(Editor's note: not sure the City feels the same way.  There may be reps from offices of council members/Mayor but not a single City Council member is here nor is the Mayor.  I'm not sure what to make of what the Superintendent says versus who is here to support the district.)

Goals

- excellence and equity 

- system wide supports

- family and community engagement

SBAC is "harder" test because of higher standards for college and career (he said the old one was just 10th grade level.)  Didn't see a big drop and he called the drop "slight."  We outperformed the state even more than in past years. 8% in reading and 10% in math, outperformed state.

Special Ed got called out by Office of Education. Thanked Sped Department and educators "lots of heavy lifting" all 40 requirements met and not on high-risk lists. He says there are good teachers (filled 97% of Sped teacher slots) in front of "all our students."

Talked about new district website without mentioning that they had to do that thru a protracted argument with the vendor.

Thanked the Seattle Legislative delegation for support and money to reopen two new schools.

Trying to improve customer service and answer "typical questions" at website.

Bell Times was mentioned as year-long process.  Said when "we talk to one part of the community, we can sometimes create anxiety for other communities."

John Hopkins Award for family engagement

Thanked PTAs and noted SCPTA President in attendance.  Partnering with schools for a "backpack weekend" for food for needy students.

"Challenges = Opportunities"

Highlighted good things but got to opportunity gap for low-income students as well as students of color.  (He, like everyone else, is "passionate" about this issue.  This seems to be some key word to use.)

Also talked about disproportionate discipline.  Using RULER in elementary schools to help students with emotions.  Talked about ending elementary suspensions.

Talked about not being in the "in crowd" at Roosevelt and how he visited Ballard and finding name tags on desks and Linked Crew work (older kids mentoring younger students.)

Part of closing gap is two-fold; academics and relationships.  (No argument there but I would love to see more resources in the form of counselors and intervention specialists.)

Says they spend 6% on adm which is lower than region at 7%.

Goal 2 - Bell times, ELL, Office of Civil Rights, Technology and levies.  (He didn't mention that the district was forced by OSPI to provide ELL services in all schools.)  Who knew? Charles Wright was leading the Office of Civil Rights work.

He said the Operations levy was about "maintenance and operations" which is pretty much a lie unless you count emergency maintenance.

"We can't do everything."

Goal 2 - School Supports and Systems -  a laundry list of items under Instruction, Capacity, Systems (did include two-tier busing on Systems.)  Says he meets with people weekly that say "if we just had a $1M ..."

Was frank about not fulfilling promises made to Advanced Learning, IB, International schools but no specifics.

Hoping for State Legislature to fulfill McCleary.

Goal 3 - Families and Community Engagement

Frank about communications issues around bell times and student assignment plan - letting parents know and making parents more of decision-making process (some applause). He said they were issues of "perceptions."

Mentioned RBHS principal Dwane Chappelle and his work (and him leaving.)

Talked about Seattle University and their efforts at Central Area schools.

Showed a video about this work, stressing the high poverty of the area these schools are in.  Featured  one of my favorite principals, Greg Imel, at Bailey-Gatzert (he was principal at Whittier when my kids were there.)

(Editor's note; man, this thing is running long.  We're at 2 pm and still have one more speech and a poem.)

Kent Koth about "Our Kids" book by Putnam about how American kids may not get to equality in U.S. If you are low-income, that fact gets stacked against you from start of life.  "While schools are important, they can't do it alone."

He mentioned that Principal Imel, when he came to B-G in 2009, ended ALL suspensions in the school.  Koth called Imel "ahead of his time."  Talked about extended learning program with full-time Seattle U person at B-G.

Leija Farr talked about race and equity and being an African-American female and the struggle for African-American males.  Her poem was on this theme and to keep hanging on.  It was a lovely poem about boys who have feelings.  She was frank about them maybe not getting what they need from their moms.

She received a standing ovation.