New Seattle School Board

2016 Board Officers:
  Director Patu - President
  Director Peters  - Vice President
  Director Harris - Member-at-Large

Please note that any director's direct e-mail address is:

first name.last name@seattleschools.org

To write to just the entire Board - SPSdirectors@seattleschools.org

To write to the Board plus senior leadership - schoolboard@seattleschools.org

This Board's first retreat is this Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm at JSCEE.  Agenda.  Lots of new member issues like "hopes and aspirations for the coming year," committee assignments (both within and outside of the district), and, as always, governance.

Dec 2015 Board Photo
SPS photo

Comments

David said…
Thanks for serving on the school board, all of you! It's a hard and important job. Make a difference!
12/3/15, 7:27 PM
mirmac1 said…
I'm hopeful that, five years after Goodloe-Johnson, we will finally have "systems in place" at SPS JSCEE. Then the cost$ spent downtown can go down and more sent to schools and classrooms.
12/4/15, 8:37 AM
Anonymous said…
That is a seriously bad photo - everyone is looking in different directions...lets hope that isn't portents of things to come ;o)

reader47
12/4/15, 9:13 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Reader 47, I think it was too many photographers. I wish they had allowed the person taking the official photo to go first.
12/4/15, 9:47 AM
Watching said…
Great to see fresh faces and new energy? Best wishes to a group of passionate and committed individuals that are willing to support our students.
12/4/15, 10:14 AM
Watching said…
Sorry for the typo!!!

I meant to say: Great to see fresh faces and new energy!!!
12/4/15, 10:15 AM
mirmac1 said…
S'funny to see this group at Saturday's retreat: at Leslie's suggestion use first names; and then, at every opportunity, call Rick Burke "Woodshop!" It's hard work, may as well have fun doing it.

Blanford seemed to want to talk the whole time, and mansplain the concept of a) ignoring "special interests" and holding to telling the unwashed what's good for 'em; and b) policy policy policy quit micromanaging. The WSSDA trainer (who did a good job of driving discussion) had her job cut out for her.

I thought I could retire from my job of eyerollin' and head-shakin', and for most part I have. Just not when Blanford has the microphone.
12/6/15, 1:49 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more