Seattle Schools Community Forum

Apparently this bill comes - in one form or another - every couple of years. That would be HJR 4216 to bring to a vote of the people a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (I have a call in to Reps. Sullivan and Lytton to ask why.)  OSPI had no comment except to say this has come up before.

The official joint statement from EEU and SPS: The Seattle Public Schools and the Experimental Education Unit had an extremely productive meeting about funding for the EEU kindergarten on Thursday, January 28th. With the help of the Washington Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds and OSPI we have reached a tentative agreement about a new structure for funding the EEU kindergarten program for the 2016-17 school year and beyond. SPS will be exploring, based upon the agreement currently in development, next steps for an appropriate enrollment process for enrolling students for the EEU kindergarten. We will continue to communicate updates in the days ahead.

Demographic Research Information Session Enrollment Planning is pleased to host our second Demographic Research Information Session on Friday, January 29, from 12-1 pm , at the John Stanford Center in room 2700.

Not from The Onion - Court rules Michigan has no responsibility to provide quality public education

The story from Phinneywood Blog : Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, Cascadia Elementary School (Advanced Placement Program) and Licton Springs K-8 will serve about 1,700 students total, including students from Greenwood and Phinney Ridge. Many students will have to cross major streets, including Aurora, 85th, I-5 and 105th/Northgate Way. The survey is being conducted by Licton-Haller Greenways , Greenwood-Phinney Greenways and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways . At the end of the survey, you can enter a drawing for raffle prizes for gift certificates from Woodlands Pizza, Fred Meyer and other local businesses. Take the survey here

WA GOP gut bipartisan education legislation RELEASE: Jan. 27, 2016  (this came via Senator John McCoy but I'm not sure of its origins) Senate Republicans gut bipartisan McCleary bill

Tacoma School District's Nate Bowling was recently selected as Washington State's Teacher of the Year.  Mr. Bowling teaches at Tacoma's Lincoln High (which is a success story unto itself.)  He teaches AP Government & Politics and AP Human Geography.  He is one of four finalists for the National Teacher of the Year.  That award will be announced in April. 

There's an article in the Times this morning about IB funding, particularly at Rainier Beach High School.  It reflects a pattern in Seattle Schools that truly has to be addressed.  That pattern is for the district - with a flourish and applause - likes to roll out new and "innovative" programs that are usually wildly popular.  And fund them with seed money and then expect them to continue on (finding the funding themselves.) I truly dislike that the district - and many school boards - like to start programs that they have no idea how to continually fund.  

From the West Seattle blog; Two eighth-grader girls from Denny International Middle School say older boys/men “grabbed and pushed” them on Monday. That’s according to this letter just sent to Denny and Chief Sealth International High School families by Denny principal Jeff Clark (who shared it with WSB) and Sealth principal Aida Fraser-Hammer :

MTSS - Multi Tiered Systems of Support - is a fancy way of describing this practice: Try the standard curriculum with the kids. It will work for most of them. Check to make sure. It won't work for some, so, just for them, try something else that's more their speed. Check to see if that works. If that doesn't work then try something more. Check to see if that works. So why is Seattle Public Schools having such a hard time implementing it?

Not often, but sometimes, newspapers allow their political reporters some free reign and here's one of the best on the current legislative session from reporter Melissa Santos of the News Tribune in Tacoma.   Pretty funny.  (And I'm going to miss Kyle Stokes of KPLU who has the funniest tweets ever. That traitor is moving to Southern California.) Also from the Tribune comes the story that their superintendent, former CAO for SPS, Carla Santorno , has been nominated for a top award, Women in School Leadership, from the American Association of School Administrators.

I know from the Soup for Teachers group that a couple of childcare groups are involved in the fight over the possible closure of up to 19 sites located at SPS sites.  But I have also heard from many concern parents especially around how late they are hearing about this issue, for both themselves and their childcare provider (the former to find childcare and the latter to relocate.)  I also know that there has been some outreach to members of the City Council.  Naturally, parents can reach out to whoever they feel might be able to help but the lines of governance and oversight are fairly clear here.  The City has nothing to do with this issue except, of course, that they, too, want SPS space.  Not exactly neutral parties. My suggestions are to: 1) Go to one of this week's district meetings (see Seattle Schools This Week thread) and hand Dr. Nyland a letter with your concerns.  2) Find like-minded parents at your school and get as many signatures on a...

From the City of Seattle via Catherine Weatbrook who sits on the steering committee for Youth Voice, Youth Choice. What would youth 11-25 do with $700,000 of the City's budget?  Youth Voice, Youth Choice is a new Participatory Budgeting (PB) Initiative from the City of Seattle. PB is a democratic process where community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget that focuses on engaging people who have not historically been involved in government, budget processes, or represent underserved communities. A new project from the City of Seattle called Youth Voice, Youth Choice, empowers youth ages 11 to 25 to share their ideas at one of six upcoming idea assemblies. From those assemblies, project delegates will be selected from the youth in attendance, and those youth all be coached into creating a high level project descriptions. City-wide, those project ideas will be voted on by the youth in our city. The top vote-getters w...

It's an interesting week at SPS. Monday, January 25th  Understanding the School Budget - presented by the finance team at SPS.  It's at JSCEE from 6-8 pm.  I hope people go to this event because the district is trying to help further understanding of this important subject.  They’ll share helpful information such as: When the 2016-17 school planning dates occur An overview of the budgeting process How funding is determined and schools are staffed, including understanding information around class sizes and the process for parent involvement Also, Elliott Bay Book Company is having an event about becoming an activist for any topic.  It's at 7 pm. Now in When We Fight, We Win : Twenty-First-Century Social Movements and the Activists That Are Transforming Our World (The New Press), longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte—a collective of artists and organizers—to capture the stories, philosophies, tactics, and art...

One of the best stories ever. Cop gets called to a neighborhood because of "noisy kids" in the street.  He shows what real community policing looks like and plays basketball with the kids.  Then, he just casually asks them to be respectful of their neighborhood.  Very classy. But he promises to come back for a rematch and he does, bringing back-up. It's a beautiful thing.

It's January again and therefore time for another annual report on Equitable Access . This report is required by Board Policy 2200 which delegates authority for program placement to the Superintendent, but sets the criteria for program placement and requires an annual report to allow the Board the opportunity to confirm that the Superintendent's program placement decisions are aligned with those criteria. The Superintendent submits quarterly reports throughout the year and an annual report in January. The reports are delivered in Friday Memos to the Board. Every quarterly report and every annual report is deficient in some important way. This year is no exception.

No, not ice skating but being on a glacier.  This opportunity crossed my desk. Girls on Ice Girls on Ice, a free wilderness education program, is accepting applications now through Jan. 29. Each year, two teams of nine teenage girls and three instructors spend 12 days exploring and learning about mountain glaciers and alpine landscapes in Alaska or Washington through scientific field studies with professional glaciologists, artists and mountaineers.

A number of events /reports have crossed my path in the last couple of weeks and I thought it worth a thread. Next Saturday, January 30th ,  there will be an Education Roundtable to discuss the impacts of student discipline on communities of color.   Among the groups involed there are The Washington State Commission on African American Affairs , Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs , and Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs , along with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders , and El Centro de la Raza.  The event will be held at El Centro's headquarters at 2524 16th Avenue S. from 1-3:30 pm. 

Break out those crayons/colored pencils/markers this weekend and work on your Color of Money McCleary coloring sheet.  It's a great way to get the attention of legislators (see previous thread for sheet.) Want to give input on what happens to the Roosevelt Reservoir (just down the street from Roosevelt High)?  There's a survey out about that.   Some of us in the neighborhood think best use might be a new elementary school while others think playfields would serve more people and there's even one person who wants a ice skating rink. Yet another petition - via NEA - on high stakes testing - if that's your concern, sign it.

Lori Dunn , Seattle Public Schools’ Physical Education and Health Literacy Program Manager, has been honored with SHAPE America’s top award for Physical Education administrators.

From TRAP (Teacher Retention Advocate Parents) : Is the Washington State Legislature REALLY planning to ignore the McCleary Ruling for another session? Is the House and Senate - once again - refusing to uphold their paramount duty to fully funding public education? Here at TRAP Headquarters, the Legislature's continued defiance of the Constitution makes our blood boil. In fact, we think it's a crime.   Funding public education should be JOB ONE this legislative session.

 Update: as of 12:04 pm, the shelter-in-place at Blaine has been lifted. end of update SPS Communications is reporting a shelter-in-place at Blaine K-8 as SPD investigates a bank robbery nearby. Meanwhile a judge has ruled that Tim Eyman's I-1366 that narrowly passed in November is unconstitutional.   Another huzzah (and a monkey off the backs of legislators.)

This Saturday, Jan. 23rd, will be the last time the old version of the SAT will be given. The newly redesigned SAT will be given for the first time in March.   That one will be the one now aligned to Common Core standards.  Test prep companies say yes - it's creating a lot of anxiety (which may help the folks that give the ACT.)

Update: one reader asked about the costs and here's the link to the fiscal note .  Quite eye-opening and fyi, according to the note there are just about 840 students, not 1,000.  That's what happens when charters are forced to tell the truth instead of throw numbers around in ads. The bill requires OSPI to reimburse charter schools for any loss in state funding directly resulting from the state Supreme Court decision.  Also, Senator Ann Rivers from R-La Center had this to say about McCleary in The Columbian : “I’m sick to death of talking about McCleary, and a lot of other people are, too,” Rivers said of the court case that resulted in an order that lawmakers must fulfill their paramount duty under the state constitution and adequately fund the state’s public schools. But tackling more specifics in the 60-day legislative session, Rivers said, “wasn’t in the cards.” This is the same Senator Rivers who left work group Town Halls right on the ending ...

Update:  the BAR on capacity management has been amended to a vote for a "preliminary approval of potential list" of 19 childcare classrooms that would be converted to "K-5" homerooms (meaning the Board is only giving tentative approval to this AND if classrooms are converted they are for K-5 uses.)  Huzzah! As well, the Superintendent has asked for a postponement of the ORCA card program vote.

The minutes from the last Operations Committee meeting shed some light (if somewhat dimly.) From the December 17, 2015 minutes: FACMAC:   Resurrecting FACMAC was discussed. Dr. Herndon explained that the FACMAC was a superintendent advisory committee working on the operational side which is different than the BEX Oversight Committee, is a professional advisory board appointed by the Board of Directors. The committee expressed concerns that the former FACMAC had been primarily run by two people and did not represent the school district equally. Dr. Herndon will be discussing the committee with the superintendent in the next few months when current workloads have lessened. 1) Which "committee" expressed these concerns - BEX Oversight or FACMAC?  2) Who were the two people?  (I have my own thoughts but I don't really know.) 3) Finally, it would be GREAT to see FACMAC back but that "discussing in next few months after workload lessens" doesn't exactl...

Just saw this at the district website but I don't have time to check what may have changed (but it was just posted today): The following revised school calendar dates were finalized with our SEA partners,  and approved on October 7 by the SPS Board of Directors. Please mark your home and school calendars accordingly. School Year Calendar Changes

State Superintendent Randy Dorn continues to speak out against the "kick the can down the road" methodology of the Legislature to enact McCleary. Here's his latest press release (and please e-mail your reps and tell them NO:)

Update: the BAR has been amended to a vote for a "preliminary approval of potential list" of 19 childcare classrooms that would be converted to "K-5" homerooms (meaning the Board is only giving tentative approval.)  Huzzah! end of update

From the great West Seattle Blog , a comprehensive wrap-up of the discussion at Director Harris' community meeting.  I was in Olympia yesterday to work with Washington's Paramount Duty, visiting legislators.  Boy, that place was hopping.  You'll be glad to know that nearly all the legislators we visited are just flummoxed by trying to figure out how to fund McCleary.  But no one particularly wants to worry about it this session.

Once again, the words of Dr. King ring true, today more than ever.  It's amazing how he seemed to forecast what looks to be happening today in public education.   The Purpose Of Education by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse College Student Paper, The Maroon Tiger, in 1947

The Times has an article about the district's move to shore up learning specifically for African-American boys.  One thing I didn't realize that's right in the headline is the district is considering a whole office/department for this effort.  (I also didn't know the district was piloting a program towards this effort at Aki Kurose.) 

But this time next year, we will have a new president and if it's not a Democrat, a Republican would probably flip the table on the Department of Education.  It would be hard to know how far-reaching a Republican president would go in revamping public education but you'd notice the change.  But Republicans love charters and vouchers and, naturally, the wealthy. So in the Who's Who of billionaires who care and non-educators who think they know it all, let's add two more names. 

Here's a link to the district's Spring Bell Time Adjustment Volunteer List Survey.   Several schools have indicated that they have been having ongoing conversations about participating in a Spring Bell Time Adjustment Volunteer List, with some having already coalesced around a preference. Other schools have asked for additional support to make this decision including an online survey. This survey is available from January 6, 2016 to January 22, 2016 for parents and staff to provide feedback on whether there is a preference for an earlier tier, or to remain in the 3rd tier. If you are a 3rd Tier School (List the schools) Please take a few minutes to complete the following questions on your preference for your school start time.

Update: here's a bit of the discussion from the last Board meeting on EEU where Director Peters asks a very direct question to Sped head, Wyeth Jessee. End of update Via the Support Big K Facebook page: I'm very sad to report the below update on EEU -  "I'm in disbelief that we are asking people to join us again (at the next School Board meeting.) Despite all of your incredible support at our last meeting, the powerful moving testimony, the passion, and the unanimous support of the school board- no solution has been reached. The Executive Director and Director of Special Education stated at a Special Education PTSA meeting 'no solution will be reached by open enrollment.'

As I mentioned in another thread, Seattle Channel has one episode of City Inside/Out about this short legislative session with Rep. Reuven Carlyle, Rep. Gael Tarleton, Rep Eric Pettigrew and Senator Jamie Pedersen.  Highlights

From the Arizona Republic (another state that underfunds public education): Why didn't GE choose Arizona as its new HQ? 

A tough week in celebrity loss - Alan Rickman, Professor Snape from the Harry Potter films , died this week.  One of the last uses of his many talents was doing a voiceover for a viral video to raise money for refugees (and all you have to do is watch the video.) 

Update: 30 min. ago, Lifted: Shelter-in-place at Denny & Sealth. @ seattlepd deemed the rumor of violence on shared campus as non-credible.

Two great stories about public education and expectations for kids.

Union City, NJ versus Newark - How to Fix the Country’s Failing Schools.  And How Not To

New federal dietary guidelines for men and boys and less sugar for all of us. Despite those warnings, the guidelines were also notable for what they did not say. While draft recommendations had suggested all Americans adopt more environmentally-sustainable eating habits by cutting back on meat, that advice was dropped from the final guidelines.

I was interviewed last Friday for a KUOW story by Ann Dornfeld on the legislative efforts to save the (former) charter schools.  It played today.  Astonishing.

School Board meeting highlights (thru Board comments).  Here's the full video :

One of the charms that ed reformers like to dangle before public school parents is choice.  It's quite the appealing siren call because 1) we're Americans and we love choices (even when they can overwhelm and even paralyze us) and 2) the idea that "wealthy people have choices when it comes to their children's schooling and so should you." Number two is false on so many levels.  Wealthy people have many more choices period.  Houses, cars, vacations, clothes, colleges, you name it - wealthy people have so many more choices.  What's interesting is that the schools in our district are - almost to a school - full.  Now is that because there are more people in our city? Maybe but the private schools are full as well.  (Imagine if even half those private school parents came back.) Here's a great essay by Chicago Schools' parent, Julie Vassilatos, The Frightening Implications of School Choice (bold hers, red highlight mine.) Because "choice" of...

It's a fairly busy week in the district. Monday, Jan. 11th Curriculum&Instruction meeting , 4:30-6:30 pm, JSCEE.   Agenda Start of the Washington State legislative session. Special Education PTSA meeting , 7-9 pm, JSCEE Update on EEU situation among topics. District staff will be on hand to give updates and answer questions. Tuesday, Jan. 12th Special Education Advisory and Advocacy Council Meeting , 5:30-7:30 pm, JSCEE 2765 Highlights of agenda include discussion of Sped issues(including restraint and isolation), CTE, annual report on Equitable Access and Instructional Philosphy .  They will also be discussing what the committee's workplan and goals are for the year. Thursday, Jan. 14th Audit&Finance Committee , 4:30-6:30 pm, JSCEE.  Agenda not yet available. Transition Workshop for Sped Parents , 6-8 pm at Old Van Asselt building, 7201 Beacon Ave. S. This workshop will focus on helping families of children who receive Special Education Services...

Update : interesting comment thread from the Community Forum for HCC (APP).

You could call it a soap opera or use another, more colorful, word (but this is - mostly - a family blog.)

The Washington state legislature is committed to taking bold action on funding public education... next year. State lawmakers’ proposal to fix school funding calls for more study I guess some things just don't change. It's always "next year" for these people. Don't they know that we were here last year? Do they think we can't figure out that this year is the "next year" in their promises last year? Once again, their plan for this year is to work on a plan for next year. You might wonder what happened to the plan they made last year to work on a plan for this year. Yeah, that didn't work out. It was a total failure, so their bright idea is to do it again without any changes.

Update : I left out that the one community meeting on Saturday is with Director Sue Peters at the Queen Anne Library from 11am-1 pm.  end of update   Did you get the latest oversized " save our charters "ad?  I think more than one reader has pointed out that the money going to save this lousy law could probably help these kids a lot more.  I also don't like the name of the group, "Act Now for Washington Students" because I think most people would think it's a group supporting all public school students, not a small group of them. Here's a thought - via Representative Gerry Pollet - to fund McCleary , close some tax loopholes.

Tweet from SPS: Transportation Preparation Alert: Drivers to start early tomorrow afternoon for time to navigate potential traffic delays w/Clinton visit. That would be former president, Bill Clinton, who is stumping for his wife, Hillary Clinton, in support of her run to the White House.  Tomorrow, Friday the 8th, he will be at the Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill from 12:30-2:30 pm.  

I call them "former charter schools" because, according to OSPI, that's what they are.  They are "contractors" fulfilling a program formulated by OSPI for their students. My reading of all that is going on comes to two conclusions. One, the current charter school law is dead.  Two Eastern Washington legislators, Senator Andy Billig and Senator Michael Baumgartner, are introducing a rather hacked-up bill (it's formatted using the old law to show the changes) - SB 6163 .  It's what Charlie calls "charter-lite" and it's nonsense.  It would allow any school board in a district to become  an authorizer of a charter.  (The previous law made the district the authorizer with the school board having true role.)  It is a vague mess that would put both districts and school boards in uncharted waters without a map. Two, there is no frankensteining these former charter schools back to life.  They have passed from being charter schools to being ...

Naturally, there is activity everywhere in the country but there is one national article you should read by noted ed blogger Edushyster - Are Charter Schools the New Subprime Mortgages?     She interviews one of the authors of a new study published at Social Science Research Network called " Are We Heading Towards a Charter School 'Bubble'?: Lessons from the Subprime Mortgage Crisis.

I was listening to the NPR show, The Takeaway, and they had a conversation with former Attorney General, Eric Holder.   It was a somewhat wide-ranging conversation and it included discussion of Sandy Hook. Holder: And I met with the first responders and the crime scene search officers and they took me around, I looked at the pictures. If the American people had access to those pictures, if the American people had seen those pictures, the calls for reasonable gun safety measures would have been passed.

Another former staffer comes back to the fold and two switch roles. Superintendent Nyland's Announcement

This just got put on the agenda for tonight's Board meeting (thanks to reader Lynn for the heads up): Motion to Amend the Agenda – Superintendent Nyland has requested that a motion to amend the agenda be made to add an introduction item to accept a grant from the City of Seattle in the amount of $510,017.58, in the form of a Memorandum of Agreement, and to amend the 2015-16 Transportation Service Standards, to implement the ORCA Card Passport Program Enhancement for Free and Reduced Lunch Secondary students for the 2015-16 school year.  Given the time sensitivity of this item, the motion to amend would include a waiver, for the purposes of this motion only, from the requirements that the item be posted to the district’s website at least three days in advance of the meeting, as discussed in Policy No. 1420.

From SPS Communications: Seattle Public Schools would like to invite all seniors to attend one of the many College Goal Washington Financial Aid Nights happening in January.

I have many public ed stories that have piled up on my computer so here goes.   (There won't be any charter school stories because there are so many of those, I'll be giving them a separate thread.  The news is not good.)

Update: Seattle Opt-Out is having a showing of Beyond Measure on Thursday (Jan. 28th) at 6:30 pm at Garfield High School.  (SORRY - I missed that this is Thursday, Jan. 28th and NOT tomorrow, Jan. 7th.) end of update So Seattle Schools had this retweet yesterday (from someone named Julia Kass who I can't publicly identify from her Twitter account): Identifying high priority leadership practices with @ seapubschools principal professional development committee. 

A couple of items to consider. Update 2: SPS teacher (and parent and activist) Jesse Hagopian's essay on why he is opting his 1st grader out of MAP testing.

I'll start with what I think is coming next.  A big fat fight in the legislature - one that will take time and energy away from the work of McCleary.  (Despite what Republicans think, a one-pager to the Supreme Court with some dates and thoughts on funding are unlikely to change minds on the court.)  The legislature starts its short two-month session on Monday, Jan. 11th. I think there will be at least one charter school bill in the legislature (I'm hearing there may be two which would make it interesting.  I'm also betting one of them will have Rep. Eric Pettigrew's name on it.)  Now, there are three major issues with the current law that would need to be fixed, two of them constitutional, and I think those two come with so much baggage, that a bill can't be created, vetted by both legislators and the public, amended and then passed.   It could happen but I think that's not likely. I think the charter schools will be opening their doors after the ho...

This week sees the reopening of schools after the holiday break. This week is a big work week for many who will be attending and closely watching what happens when the Legislature starts its short session on Jan. 11th.   Updated: see Thursday for details. Wednesday, Jan. 6th School Board meeting , at JSCEE starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda