Friday Open Thread
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.
The proposal would do away with the following giveaways:
Heating chicken houses when some schools can't get comfortable heating? Hmm.
Reminding you of the SPS event, Understanding the School Budget, on January 25th at JSCEE from 6-8 pm, I now see another SPS event on the calendar that might interest you.
It's the Option School Admission Fair on Saturday, January 30th from 10 am to 2 pm at Mercer Middle School. Further details here.
Former City Councilman Nick Licata has a good piece over at Crosscut about ALEC and its legislative agenda for every single state. (I weighed in on how the now-defunct Washington state charter school law was practically lifted from their charter school law template.) FYI, he is speaking at Town Hall on January 19th in support of his book, Becoming a Citizen Activist.
Wondering how you can support education? Here five education activist tips that I endorse (especially picking one thing you are passionate about.)
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.
The proposal would do away with the following giveaways:
- $120 million for the next biennium for fuel used by agribusiness on farms, heating chicken houses, and farm machinery replacement;
- Nearly $50 million for interest on real estate loans for some banks
Heating chicken houses when some schools can't get comfortable heating? Hmm.
Reminding you of the SPS event, Understanding the School Budget, on January 25th at JSCEE from 6-8 pm, I now see another SPS event on the calendar that might interest you.
It's the Option School Admission Fair on Saturday, January 30th from 10 am to 2 pm at Mercer Middle School. Further details here.
Former City Councilman Nick Licata has a good piece over at Crosscut about ALEC and its legislative agenda for every single state. (I weighed in on how the now-defunct Washington state charter school law was practically lifted from their charter school law template.) FYI, he is speaking at Town Hall on January 19th in support of his book, Becoming a Citizen Activist.
Wondering how you can support education? Here five education activist tips that I endorse (especially picking one thing you are passionate about.)
Figure out what you can do. For some people it’s cyberactivism, such as sending a letter to an elected official, signing on to a petition and sharing it on social media, or writing a letter to the editor of their local newspaper. For others it might be phone banking, door-to-door canvassing, attending meetings and rallies, or face-to-face conversations with members of your community. Whether big or small, inside your school or outside your home, every action counts. And remember to rest and recharge.What's on your mind?
Comments
I'm failing in my activism. I'm sure I have blind spots in my pattern which goes something like this:
Situation Representation: School of which I'm a member of parent community has neither fiscal support from JSCEE, local admin exhausted funding retaining one FTE, PTSA is doing fundraising but reported only 30% of families participating (I was one of those, haven't seen a receipt yet). Staff post on DonorsChoose.org if they want their projects funded. I post on Twitter, I engage local forums and group (I need to find more, don't know how) and DonorsChoose. I ask for help promoting the projects.
In fall 2015 I had this problem with an earlier DonorsChoose project from a teacher I wanted to see fulfilled. She's the most responsive and active teacher I've met at the school, so I was passionate to have this fulfilled as a sign of my appreciation for her work.
blog post with a few paragraphs of what I'd post here if not for character-length constraints.
I feel that I went to the appropriate online areas, but those appropriate areas are not populated with people richer than I, who care as much as I about this project.
Because I have no interest in having a Facebook account, I can’t even get people in a community of “let’s support our teachers!” to contribute to a project that wouldn’t even go to DonorsChoose.org if the school district hadn’t made staffing budget cuts, if the state legislature fully funded state education.
I've sent letters to State Legislators. Only one State Representative in my district responded. I've sent letters to city council members. One did not answer my letter, yet ten days later invited me to an inauguration.
I choose my words carefully, present only facts, write in a respectful tone. I am sure to show the benefits or harm of proposed policy. I feel people like me need a resource to organize and strengthen a populace of common and shared passions and opinions so we as taxpayers and donors can collectively do good for our schools.
Maybe there's a city groups and local cultural organizations or underserved populations resource guide I don't know about. Is it worth writing to the cultural groups in other clusters to get projects relevant to their mission or vision promoted?
If the Seattle Public Library can tweet about how "diverse books" are needed, and promote Kevin Powell's presentation at the Central Branch, why can't a request for African-American literature get funded at a northeast Seattle School? An acquaintance, whose partner has kids at the school my kid's at, commiserated with me about how the cluster seems to be affluent, but we wouldn't know it by the teachers' requests that are fulfilled only because Google or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supply 98% of the funding if they're fulfilled at all, nor by the 30% participation of a PTSA drive.
See how each paragraph has facts? You see where I've identified some setbacks when I've tried suggested roads of activism? If you know of avenues of support I don't, it's worth sharing. I am not the only hand-wringing, frustrated SPS parent out there. I don't write letters this long either, I usually make them three to five paragraphs.
This is a long vent, but it's relevant to the topic and I hope people will connect with me, even if it is only to suggest abandonment of this cycle of failure and to offer direction on how better to help a near-penniless school. I'll even entertain serious FTE job offers to steadily donate 5% of my net salary to the school my kid attends.
http://www.friendsofspl.org
I don't know if KCLS operates similar thing, but contact them to ask.
reader
Reader, thank you for that input.
The article ended like this:
"Now, with a seeming commitment of support from the Seattle School Board and district, it appears that the EEU is situated to find a solution. Schwartz is hopeful that fresh thinking on funding may allow them to 'think bigger' about the kindergarten and its future.
"But other challenges remain. Moving forward there will need to be efforts to rebuild trust between the program and the district. It is still unclear who made the decision to cut the kindergarten in the first place.
"'And we may not ever know,' Schwartz says."
That's a pretty poor assessment of the level of transparency and accountability at Seattle Public Schools. The answer, of course, is that the Superintendent, Dr. Nyland, is responsible for the decision. He is the only person who can be held accountable for it.
Same old
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-McClureWatcher
I am sympathetic that those classrooms belong to students first, but it would seem that most elementary schools should be able to manage a system where afterschool programs could share some school space or something. Honestly I don't know what I would do without the before and afterschool resources that we have at our school.
Here is the letter text I got from KidsCo:
"Seattle Public Schools' School Board Members will be reviewing a proposal to cut 19 on-site child care centers for the 2016-2017 school year. We need your help.
Last October we learned that the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) might take over the space Kids Co. uses in schools throughout the city. Kids Co. along with several other on-site providers have been meeting, in good faith, with SPS staff to find creative solutions to the space needs so that parents will not lose their on-site child care.
Today we found out that at tomorrow's school board meeting (time/place) there will be a proposal introduced to re-purpose 19 child care spaces for the 2016-2017 school year to homerooms in order to support the mandate to reduce K-3rd grade class sizes amongst other recommendations as part of this plan. The school board will vote on this proposal on January 20, 2016.
We need your help to make sure that this doesn't happen because, if it does, we will have as little as 90 days to find a new location."
Has anyone else heard about this?
Offer no help toward finding other solutions or suggesting in-building innovative solutions. (See EEU, rinse, repeat.) Don't give the community any notice whatsoever as to exactly which schools will be affected. Don't give school principals the information either. Wait to be skewered in press and in parent community. Oh, and don't offer a cogent breakdown of how the space grab will solve any of the enrollment issues that just keep coming. Hey, how's that high school capacity issue coming?
Meet 2016, same as 2015, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, big zero.
DistrictWatcher
And if you think SPS will be helping school site staff come up with other ways to serve their kids' needs in this critical arena, a place where kids are safe, warm, fed, taught, engaged, I've got a nice Green Lake shores, complete with territorial views, school building site to sell you. But hey - no doubt Kids Co, CCA and the others will have the deep pockets to procure space nearby these buildings and keep taking care of their 1000s of kids. Or to work through the SPS bureaucracy to share space within the buildings. Because SPS always alleviates roadblocks to serving our community's children!
DistrictWatcher
I do see that this will create a problem for many families but I don't think it's reasonable to expect the district to provide dedicated space for child care providers. Planning for dedicated storage space makes more sense and allowing use of common spaces in the buildings seems reasonable,
The city could solve this problem. Community centers should have space for preschool programs that could then be used for after school care for nearby elementary schools. This would remove the cost of providing child care space from the district budget.
NE MOM
Same old, my Tennessee granny taught me that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I'm seeing great movement in the right direction.
Cascadia Mom, this was indeed discussed this week at both the Board meeting and Ex Ctm mtg. They say they need the space and I hope it's not a ploy to get pre-k space since the order of importance for space is classroom, pre-k and before/after. It may not be 19, they just aren't certain but they want to give providers and parents time to consider options.
NE Mom, I don't think the list is yet available.
HF
Just wanted to vent since once again, I have the uncomfortable feeling that decisions are being made that will affect my kids and their well being, and made in a manner that allows for very little planning, input, or reasonable consideration of the costs and benefits.
It must be an SPS dream to know that just by yanking aftercare they can make 19 classrooms appear overnight. But, as DistrictWatcher noted, it would be a lot more work to come up with a plan that could actually meet needs in a proactive manner.
CascadiaMom
CascadiaMom, you must be channeling Directors Peters and Harris because both expressed concern that this info get out early so that people are prepared to find other options. Peters, mentioning the NW Center, said she hoped there would be "sound rationale" for these changes and Director Harris asked if any of the spaces were being taken by pre-ks and Herdon said, "Not that I know of." Harris said that would be important to let people know that the before/after care was not being pushed out for another program.
Nyland said, "Everyone wants answers and advance notice and we can't tell in every classroom and every building in advance" what the enrollment will look like and the needs for each school.
- North-end Mom
reader
22,000 people moved to Seattle last year - has anyone considered where their kids will go to school?
This blog is the only place I hear about capacity issues being addressed.
CascadiaMom
They're offering a summer program for high school students with disabilities, see info here: http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/01/06/do-it-looking-for-high-school-student-scholars/.
Do-It's website is here: http://www.washington.edu/doit/. They also have resources for teachers working with students with disabilities. Many of our SPS teachers could learn from their tips and best practices.
A remarkable UW Bothell student with a disability, who also worked at DO-IT, told her story in this oral history archived in the UW Libraries digital collections: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/uwb4/id/310
Hope this will inspire many of you, as it has inspired me!
All Students
Wyeth lied that there was an "audit" problem with the EEU - NPR interviewed the state auditor who said there was never an audit problems at EEU. He lied when he stated that there were special inequities at EEU - the district assigns all the students to the EEU so the only "inequity" is of the district's own creation. He lied when he told them there was a special "autism" favoritism in the EEU kindergarten. He knows darn well that the EEU preschool has the autism programs, not the kindergarten. Wyeth Jessee knows all this BECAUSE HE WORKED AT EEU!!!!! I guess once he got his training - it's time to close the door, and start climbing the career ladder - on the backs of disabled families footing his ascent.
The thing Wyeth hates the most - good service to families with students with disabilities. Wouldn't want them to start expecting anything good out of SPS. That's what the EEU represents: hope. And that's what he wants to kill.
Now, he's lost all credibility with the board. The EEU petition had over 2,000 signatures in about a week. You don't take on that kind of wave. He should be fired.
Offwith Hishead
It seems that "liar" is a qualification for HQ jobs.
Community: 2,000
Wyeth Jessee: 0
Offwith
Time for the civil rights officer to earn her pay check!
STOP HIB
Hoping
TS
While it seems true the EEU won their small battle, it's a pretty dismal story after that!
Hopefully we can continue the wave.
Offwith
I support before and after childcare services within our schools. In doing so, young children do not have to endure multiple transfers each day. For years, at least one elementary school has set-up before and after school childcare in the cafeteria. The space is large and pleasant.
Kids Co. is a private provider. Kids Co. also provides prek services and they are connected with the city's prek program.
Our schools are over=crowded and the district must provide space to Seattle's K-12 students-first. Before and after care child services can be set-up in cafeteria space etc.
The timing of the BAR and when we have the best data to make final new-homerooms-by-school recommedations do not match. The BAR needs approval by the second Board meeting in January; the best data comes after the close of Open Enrollment in early March.
The "65 new homerooms" called out in the BAR is based on the current homeroom-by-school projections from Enrollment Planning. After Open Enrollment closes my team will work with Enrollment Planning to determine what revisions are needed to the initial new-homerooms-by-school list.
The fact that the list used to craft the BAR is, by definition tentative is the reason it isn't shared.
Of the projected need of 65 new homerooms, 27 are related to enrollment growth and 38 to class size reduction. Taking CSR out of the mix our projected need is lower than it has been in recent years.
You can review the BAR here.
http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/15-16agendas/01062016agenda/20160106_Action_Report_Capacity_Mgmt_2016-17.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/01/09/scores-for-new-psat-are-finally-out-what-to-know-about-them-and-what-they-mean-for-redesigned-sat/
fyi
While I understand how, from the District's perspective, it's a bad idea to communicate anything "tentative" it is exactly that attitude that precludes the desired level of transparency.
The District is always coming to the public saying "Here's the solution" and deeply invested in that solution. Consequently, the community is surprised, feels imposed upon, feels locked out, and any feedback from the community comes as complaints.
It would be better if the District came to the public and said "Here's the problem. Let's work on a solution." The community feels like the process was open and they feel like they have been heard. Then, even if the solution is the same, the public can see why that is the solution and they feel invested in it as well.
The community is going to say what they are going to say. If they say it before the decision, then it is input. If they say it after the decision then its complaints. The District gets to choose whether they get input or complaints by deciding when to allow the community a say.
The question, of course, is how this sort of open work slows down the decision process. People say that it does, but it doesn't have to.
Thank you for your response. 20 "support" classrooms are slated to be re-purposed as homerooms. Do you have any details as far as how these classrooms are currently being used? Also, which new BEXIV buildings will have support classrooms re-purposed?
Thank you,
North-end Mom