Loyal Heights Parents Fired Up Over Staffing
As I previously reported, Loyal Heights is roiling over staffing uncertainty and on Saturday packed Director Pinkham's community meeting. Here's what appeared in the parent newsletter:
One parent is Anna Rogzski who, along with her husband, Brian Jones, organized the rally. (It was not PTA-sponsored.) It was interesting to speak with Anna because she and Brian are the people who donated $70K last year to Alki Elementary because that school was losing a teacher. (They did not have a child at Alki but now have a first grader at LH.) Mr. Jones said last year that he was donating the money to:
“shame the administration and the legislature and the mayor, for the fact that a private citizen and parents are putting up money to support children, because they’re doing nothing,” according to KIRO News."
And now this issue has come to their child's school and no, they are not putting up the money again (on principle.)
I have to say that on top of being in an interim building clear across town that currently has no security system (see photo below) and at least one bus has been late every day since school opened (with one pulling up with kids as young as kindergarten on it more than 45 minutes late when I was there), asking every classroom to split seems like a lot. Not to mention the fact that the teachers did not even have time to prepare for this event. It sounds like a recipe for a lot of confusion and lost learning time.
Here's another interesting fact - the district's enrollment number on Loyal Heights was nearly right on. BUT, that's only because 4th and 5th grade was underenrolled while kindergarten was overenrolled. So why so many students leaving the upper grades? Parents I spoke to said that they believed it was the crosstown commute coupled with some degree of chaos over the last few years that sent other parents to private schools.
But if those 4th/5th graders hadn't left? The school would get a new teacher.
The principal did come out and talk to the meeting as well as Mr. Halfaker. Mr. Jones tried to ask Halfaker a question as the media got settled and Halfaker refused to answer and we were told the media has deadlines. (Later on, Halfaker did take questions from parents.)
Mr. Halfaker did make the statement about the district's projected number for LH being almost right on and noted that the district only has 140 students than they had projected (also very close.)
He said it was a challenge for a public school system because they have to take everyone who comes thru the door and it can't be predicted. Except that Michael Tolley said this to LH kindergarten parents on Sep 6th:
He said that headquarters staff would be making the staffing decisions this Friday, the 23rd, and sending that decision to principals on Monday, the 26th.
I asked about mitigation funds, given LH's situation at John Marshall but he said those funds are not built in.
He went on to say that there are other schools in the system also affected and that they have an "equity toolkit" lens that they view all of this thru. I asked him if LH was a Title One school, would this kind of drastic schoolwide impact be happening. He didn't quite answer my question but said that staffing considerations happen at all schools.
I reminded him of the $2M left over from last spring's budgeting that was still being talked about as late as the last Board retreat a couple of weeks ago. He said he didn't know. Halfaker conceded the Board did have to power to decide how to use that money.
One parent said she was considering a private school and this whole thing "felt like this is being done to me."
I did get to speak to PTA president, Julie Giebel, who let me know that the PTA funds a half-time counselor and school secretary.
I attended a rally this morning at the John Marshall building where Loyal Heights is being housed as their new school gets built. There were at least 40 parents marching. When I arrived, the PTA president, Julie Giebel, was in a meeting with LH principal, Wayne Floyd, as well as Jon Halfaker, the Executive Director for the region and SPS Communications' Luke Ducey. So I spoke with some parents.As you may know, kindergarten classes are overcrowded with 31, 29 and 28 students per classroom (the new state recommendation is not to exceed 22). The district is considering not meeting our staffing needs based on our overall school enrollment and funding. Instead, the district may ask us to "absorb" the additional kindergarten students by creating multiple split classes throughout the entire school. This will impact every student and staff member at Loyal Heights. There would be a split class at every grade level and many students would be reassigned to a new classroom.
“shame the administration and the legislature and the mayor, for the fact that a private citizen and parents are putting up money to support children, because they’re doing nothing,” according to KIRO News."
And now this issue has come to their child's school and no, they are not putting up the money again (on principle.)
I have to say that on top of being in an interim building clear across town that currently has no security system (see photo below) and at least one bus has been late every day since school opened (with one pulling up with kids as young as kindergarten on it more than 45 minutes late when I was there), asking every classroom to split seems like a lot. Not to mention the fact that the teachers did not even have time to prepare for this event. It sounds like a recipe for a lot of confusion and lost learning time.
Here's another interesting fact - the district's enrollment number on Loyal Heights was nearly right on. BUT, that's only because 4th and 5th grade was underenrolled while kindergarten was overenrolled. So why so many students leaving the upper grades? Parents I spoke to said that they believed it was the crosstown commute coupled with some degree of chaos over the last few years that sent other parents to private schools.
But if those 4th/5th graders hadn't left? The school would get a new teacher.
The principal did come out and talk to the meeting as well as Mr. Halfaker. Mr. Jones tried to ask Halfaker a question as the media got settled and Halfaker refused to answer and we were told the media has deadlines. (Later on, Halfaker did take questions from parents.)
Mr. Halfaker did make the statement about the district's projected number for LH being almost right on and noted that the district only has 140 students than they had projected (also very close.)
He said it was a challenge for a public school system because they have to take everyone who comes thru the door and it can't be predicted. Except that Michael Tolley said this to LH kindergarten parents on Sep 6th:
"On paper we have up to 30 students signed up for each class. Not all will be in class on the first day but all have a space reserved at this time. I am working hard to get these numbers in the proper range." If the numbers stay where they are, he goes onto say he "hopes" to hire a 4th kindergarten teacher "ASAP."I'm guessing they didn't know the 4th/5th grade would be underenrolled but it seems wrong to tell parents one thing and do something else.
He said that headquarters staff would be making the staffing decisions this Friday, the 23rd, and sending that decision to principals on Monday, the 26th.
I asked about mitigation funds, given LH's situation at John Marshall but he said those funds are not built in.
He went on to say that there are other schools in the system also affected and that they have an "equity toolkit" lens that they view all of this thru. I asked him if LH was a Title One school, would this kind of drastic schoolwide impact be happening. He didn't quite answer my question but said that staffing considerations happen at all schools.
I reminded him of the $2M left over from last spring's budgeting that was still being talked about as late as the last Board retreat a couple of weeks ago. He said he didn't know. Halfaker conceded the Board did have to power to decide how to use that money.
One parent said she was considering a private school and this whole thing "felt like this is being done to me."
I did get to speak to PTA president, Julie Giebel, who let me know that the PTA funds a half-time counselor and school secretary.
Comments
Stay safe everyone!
-SPSParent
It is simply inappropriate to disrupt an entire school. Inappropriate expectations are being placed on teachers. Teachers need time to prepare for split classrooms. Loyal Heights should absolutely receive mitigation funds.
-North-end Mom
-another ballardite
BAMN TIME
Ensuring every child has a small class size should be a top priority for SPS leadership.
It also feels to me like there is a LOT more activism this fall around the usual SPS mismanagement problems. I think that's a good thing. SPS should view parents as partners in addressing ongoing issues, such as staffing and capacity. It does nobody any good to try and push parents aside, as the senior staff at the JSCEE often attempt to do. Seattle is blessed with a community that cares deeply about every child getting a good education. SPS staff need to embrace that, rather than insisting on an "our way or the highway" approach.
Splits Happen
-another ballardite
BAMN TIME
The principal did know of the 4th/5th enrollment issues. We entered the year with a 4/5 split. He also knew of the K numbers. He tried to hire a teacher. SPS told him there was a process and he had to wait. He tried to hire a substitute to at least start a classroom while we waited for a new teacher. Only then were we told we that we didn't qualify for a new kindergarten teacher. Splits are an answer, but splitting multiple classrooms one month after school has already started is less than ideal.
I wish I had a school district that viewed my kindergartner as a small human being rather than a pawn to be used for more funding.
LHE Parent
Nowadays, the District dictates most everything. How many classrooms per grade level, how many teachers overall. They even dictate where there will be splits such as your school will have a 4th/5th split. The only input the pricipal has is which teachers will lead which classroom - nothing else. Funding is by overall school enrollment, not on an enrollment by grade basis.
-StepJ
Splits Happen
LHE Parent
Nope, because many people don't withdraw from the district so no one would know how many are leaving.
Yes, there are splits in schools throughout SPS but every single classroom in the school except K? Not that I know of.
Michael Tolley said they would get a new kindergarten teacher if the K numbers held but didn't go on to explain what that would mean.
Then at the end of the year, there was massive underspend mostly from the teaching and learning budget.
This cycle needs to be broken. There is a WSS for a reason and the WSS is supposed to be the guaranteed floor on staffing.
Muffin
-another ballardite
What are "PTA basics"? Can Title 1 and other restricted use funding be used for PTA basics? Pray tell.
Wants to know
Another parent
You speak for many (including me).
Jan
Muffin
You apparently don't understand the situation; every single classroom except K will split. I don't think any parent at any school would want this. Especially weeks into the school year AND when teachers had no opportunity to prepare.
Oh split!
Montessori Fan
Read all about it "Loyal Heights Parents Fired Up Over Staffing".
Fired up are your words not mine.
fire up. 1. Inflame with enthusiasm, anger, or another strong emotion
I'm thinking you meant anger, yes? Ok then, I'm right on point then. It appears the Ballard hipsters are "fired up" because the students at LH might get a little taste of some of the treatment others have experienced and so the parents want a RED ALERT with people email bombing the board. Apparently they do not trust in giving their elected school board director time to attempt to work it out. Mr. Pinkham do you understand who you are dealing with here? These parents can slap you on the face with $70 grand anytime they choose!
Apparently they didn't like Mr. Pinkham's demeanor for not also getting "fired up" or just maybe they wanted an old school style Sue Peters blown horn tantrum?
Come on you have to admit it all comes off with a "White privilege" smell, yes?
Muffin
I completely agree that there are lots of benefits to multi-age classes. But there is a big difference between a thoughtfully planned intentional multi-age program and suddenly having to rearrange a whole school into split classes where teachers abruptly find themselves faced with teaching two grades at once.
Green Lake Parent
Reality bites
I don't buy that and neither should anyone else.
Every time a specific issue is discussed on this blog, someone has to chime in about how another issue deserves even MORE attention, or "what about the white kids?" or whatever. Why do we play this game? It just divides us and distracts us from the bigger issue, which is that the district needs to be held to higher standards and pushed to make KIDS a priority. All kinds of kids: SPED, HCC, failing, thriving, white, black, Asian, you name it. We should be thrilled that there are so many parents focusing on their kids' needs, whatever they are.
And FWIW, plenty of privileged folks lay it on the line for kids far needier than their own. Probably not enough, but it does happen. That Loyal Heights dad didn't write a 70K check to his own school (and as far as I know, that wasn't a "racial" issue, but a school that desperately needed a teacher).
Again, I would say this about ANY school this might happen to. Green Lake Parent nailed it:
ut there is a big difference between a thoughtfully planned intentional multi-age program and suddenly having to rearrange a whole school into split classes where teachers abruptly find themselves faced with teaching two grades at once.
My understanding is for K-3, the class size should be 22.
Reality Bites, I think that, overall, there certainly are more high level problems like poverty, disabilities, etc. But I'm not going to negate other issues as if they don't matter. Charlie and I have consistently spoken out on the high level issues but they are larger than just within the school system (especially poverty.)
I also am not buying into this "equity lens" thing that the district is now using to dismiss any issue they don't want to deal with. Equity is important but the district would have to prove to me how dealing with other issues makes for less equity.
Good thoughts, Stronger Together. The district needs to know that parents, in every corner of this district across a variety of issues, will be rising up to advocate.
another ballardite
"So we have this thing now, whereby some folks dismiss all complaints - other than those about disproportionate academic outcomes for minority students from low income households - as "White privilege". According to these folks, there is one, and only one, legitimate complaint allowed and all other complaints are just the whining of spoiled babies.I don't buy that and neither should anyone else."
Well said Charlie. Muffin, how about caring about crappy situations that affect all kids like most of us posting on this thread?
-another ballardite
maisy
Reality bites
If Loyal Heights has almost exactly the number of kids expected, but w/ fewer 4th & 5th and more K, it does seem like Loyal Heights should probably be getting MORE teachers, not the same or less; K staffing ratios in non-poverty schools are supposed to be 22:1, compared to 27:1 for 4 and 5. And SPS supposedly has a policy of rounding UP to the nearest 1.0.
These ratios are not just state recommendations - they are part of SPS's weighted staffing standard models.
Btw, for non-poverty schools, the WSS ratios are: K = 22:1, 1 = 24:1, 2=25:1, 3=25:1, 4=27:1, 5=27:1
It seems like it's pretty reasonable for the school community to advocate for their students in this case. In the case of Loyal Heights, it looks a lot like SPS administrators are refusing to provide the school with adequate staff - using the guidelines THEY THEMSELVES set as a staffing minimum.
Are there other schools getting kicked around, maybe even harder? Yes. It sucks. And the Loyal Heights students should still receive the minimum staffing level set by the district.
Reality bites
1) apparently the donors thought last year was an one-off crisis. now they are SPS parents and recognize it as systemic and needing change at that level.
2) split-classrooms are difficult and suboptimal unless done intentionally (Montessori) with smaller classes and committed, trained teachers. The district never liked them until they became necessary.
3) the super-annoying thing about this is that splits usually happen when you have LESS than a whole class of extra student. Here, there are more than enough extra students for a whole classroom. And the district strung the principal along.
If the district acquiesces to the LH parents it's going to start similar demands at other schools and the appearance of privilege for LH if other school are not treated similarly.
2Cents
I think it shameful that instead, we live in a district that the central admin nickels and dimes the schools rather than does its best to give every student what he/she needs to achieve his/her best potential. And the only way the district will reconsider its decision is when there is a loud, organized uprising that screams at the school board and media. Wouldn't it be nice if we could simply appeal a decision, meet with a representative, present a reasonable case and be heard?
LHE parent
-another ballardite
I don't want this situation for ANY school. It is not possible to put out all fires but when it's one that's on the district, I think they should provide the water.
LHEparent, I agree. I wish there were a better way.
I would also add in that having a parent with the financial capacity to give $70K to help out another school is striking and extremely rare. It's also interesting that a mere 1.7 miles away is one of the poorest schools in district 1 with a 45% low income population vs LH's 6.4% While Northgate, Olympic Hills have even higher rates >70% FRL they are not geographically close to LH.
From the outside LH seems to sit in a pocket of affluence with this protest giving off the appearance of a White Privilege.
Hipster parade
Oh Split!
-Specious
Wow, I can be shamed for only $500, where do I go to pick up my cash?
LOL
door
But you want to turn it into another issue. BTW there are MANY parents struggling to make it who do not make the FRL cutoff. Have you heard about the disappearance of the middle class? What makes you think all these parents are affluent? I am not & I had a kid at the school. And so all the working class & middle class kids in our country in public schools should suffer because only certain kids and only one issue matters? I don't think that is very good for our society & think that view is not representative of America.
-another ballardite.
Never Enough
Between them they had splits as !st graders with Kinders, 2nd-3rd splits as 2nd graders, class size of 33 in 5th, yet nobody picketed.
The parents and staff worked together to make it work and it worked.
In many ways I think it brought the school community closer and the kids saw that parents could transcend their urge to advocate for their own. The kids were brought together in a way that wouldn't have happened in a well-funded tidy system and the effects on those kids was positive. They learned about human nature, about selfishness vs. selflessness. About adults, about staff, about being a real community, not a fake one. They saw the rich parents working with poor ones to make the school work for all the kids. Life lessons they will use forever.
Good citizenship is about how we act towards each other in adversity.
All this picketing stuff started when that field trip was canceled and that incident was, again, predominantly whitish parents, teaching their kids about flexing the privilege muscle.
When mistreated SpEd, ELL, FRL, and homeless parents have the time, money and energy to picket, we will have an equitable system.
Until then, protest like the LHE parents are staging ring as hollow as Bertha's tunnel.
Green Lake
AH! So now we have a new test for who has a right to complain. If you have the leisure time to protest, then you have it too good to protest. Of course, by that reckoning, there can never be any protest.
I believe that the families at Loyal Heights are advocating for their entire community, not just for their individual children. You can say that they aren't acting for all children in the district, but that finish line has no end. If they were acting for all children in the district someone else would say that they aren't acting for all children in the state, in the country, in the world.
News Flash! People will protest what they want to protest in the way they want to protest. They will sit or kneel at the national anthem if that's their choice. They will march or picket if that's their choice. Here's another news flash: you are not their intended audience, so no one cares what you think of their protest. Rings hollow for you? So what. Your whining is empty of everything but mean-spiritedness.
If your response to getting shafted by the District is to just suck it up and suffer, then you will always get shafted by the District. If your response is to come back to the District and demand better, then you just might get better.
You write that good citizenship is about how we act towards each other in adversity. Well these folks are experiencing adversity and look how you are acting. I guess that means you're not a very good citizen. Also I notice that when your kids were in split classes you and your school community only worked for yourselves, not for the whole district. How selfish.
For example, they will assault others, destroy private property, destroy public property and disrupt innocent peoples lives and livelihoods.
In contrast, I welcome pickets and emails.
--North End
Go LH!
And they did this at your school right after it started with no prep time for teachers?
Also, I'm not having personal attacks on people or their personal lives,so that needs to stop. It has nothing to do with what we are discussing.
Mike
"You write that good citizenship is about how we act towards each other in adversity. Well these folks are experiencing adversity and look how you are acting. I guess that means you're not a very good citizen. Also I notice that when your kids were in split classes you and your school community only worked for yourselves, not for the whole district. How selfish."
Seriously, for those of us who have fought for change, we have always thought that deficiencies or policy violations we point out at our schools would automatically be subject to corrective action district wide.
I think we all known this rarely happens if ever. The point of having a large centralized administration is to have the bandwidth to equally and fairly enforce district polices at each and every building. What we have in SPS is arbitrary and capricious application and or enforcement of policies.
I believe it's time to turn the model on its head and give back more autonomy to our buildings and teachers with vigilante accountability.
But again, a reader can make a point of comparison but make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Of course, there are splits all over the district but did they happen school-wide two weeks into the year? I'm just asking a question.
Also, please readers, if you are referencing a comment, then speak to that person because the rest of us don't know who you are speaking to.
GoodFight, what is "vigilante accountability?"
Mike
Total Chaos
I believe when a building is enforcing good policies or driving change then the need for vigilance is minimized or hopefully eliminated. Do we want to count how many examples of a building wanting to follow policy and do right by it's students only to be stepped on by JSCEE administrators?
When school principles and staff are free to do what's best and have the funding to do so then I believe we will see better outcomes for everyone.
Oh, the shortfall of profiling. The pesky details. Pickets and emails, knee bending and sitting it out and violence taking over the coverage. Fascinating how news media and people respond to each act of protest.
News Reader
Priorities
apple pie
Seattle should have a student bill of rights because without it, the district will run over any child in their way.
-Hit and Run
It's something else for Green Lake to call them selfish in a illogical, self-contradictory, and sneering comment that offered only contempt for all advocacy. It's something else for Green Lake to say that anyone with the time to make a protest has it too easy to have anything to protest about. It's something else for Green Lake to characterize not just the Loyal Heights community as privileged, but all who advocate for their children as privileged. In this context "privileged" means "undeserving, pampered, and spoiled".
And Mike, if you think Green Lake was "ridiculed and belittled", then I suggest you re-read what Green Lake wrote. If Green Lake can dish it out, then Green Lake can take it. Sometimes things are mocked because they are mock-worthy. I didn't have to belittle Green Lake's comment, I only had to point out how little it was to begin with.
- Laugher
To those criticizing the LH families, take in that statement written by Charlie. The LH situation is NOT an "act of god," something that came from nowhere. This is a human-created problem, the kind of which happens over and over and over in this district.
The lack of money from the state, coupled with the poor decisions of JSCEE, creates situations like this all the time. It does not have to be this way, and we shouldn't be resigned to it.
-catfood
I have to wonder at readers who make everything personal. We can all benefit from being careful in our responses but if you have nothing more to add than to attack me or Charlie, I have to wonder.
Priorities, again, did you work in a school where every single classroom, save kindergarten, was split 3 weeks into the school year? You have no sympathy for the work that the teachers will now have to double-time to do in order to teach that split class? It's just that easy to walk in and start?
No one is saying it cannot be done. I'm sure LH teachers are professionals. But it does not serve the teachers, the school or the community to do it in this slap-dash manner and I think it will likely slow learning down.
The ire should be directed at the district, not the school.
Me too
NWmom
Reality Bites
JJ
I reread my post and it's a little salty and trolly but the point is accurate.
Here's my logic on protests:
Only some schools will have a group like LHE to protest. Should LHE have an advantage in fund allocation?
It's analogous to the siting of the Interagency school in the QA high school gym. Some heavy hitters weighed in and tried to stop the district or complain about the process.
It's like being able to afford lawyers, good expensive lawyers to try and move the needle.
LHE parents aren't that privileged, but it's the same concept.
If any kid's parents can't or won't protest it shouldn't affect the child one way or the other.
So the protesters are flexing the privilege they possess, and they should stop.
Green Lake
I agree that our current system is too politicized. I don't think we always end up with fair results- the JAMS opening and the start times from 2014 are great examples of the system not working. I would prefer a more bureaucratic system, which uses data and numbers and treats schools and families fairly. But we really don't have that. What we have is quite broken, privileges downtown staff and consultants over children, and lets its own arbitrary rules wreck the education of hundreds of kids at a swoop. I think people have to speak up. I wish they didn't, but I really think in our current district things would be even worse if nobody spoke up. I am hoping someday we can get to the point where you are right, and it would be better if we just trusted the district professionals to do right by kids. I think that would be better, but I don't think we can get there by just putting up and shutting up right now.
-sleeper
You do see how it plays into their hands, right? And if you believe in institutional racism, that does exist at the hands of the people who run the district?
You can come at change from many directions but shutting down voices that could help prevent this kind of thing from happening at other schools is not the way to do it.
Quite the characterization of SPS. Didn't the district say before the protest even started that staffing corrections were going to be announced today?
The LHE parents could have waited to see what happens. They are trying to put their finger on the scale and other kids' parents can't or won't, but are equally deserving of district resources.
I love protests but not for scarce financial resources in a zero sum situation like this. If LHE gets extra money as a result of their protest it comes at the expense of students at other schools.
Even if the LHE parents don't get any extra, they cost the district money and hurt students by taking up staff and board time.
bottom line
Also, there is no one, under our Constitution, who gets to decide who gets to speak up. Again, trying to shame others for free speech is wrong.
The bureaucracy is being ruthless, though, because there are other places the money can come from that aren't such a heavy cost to student education. LHE does not have to be taking away money from another school. SPS will tell you it is so because they don't want to fire a principal coach or new communications middle manager to spend even another dollar in the classroom, but we don't actually need to be budgeting teaching staff so close to the bone that an entire school needs to reshuffle every classroom in the building over a couple missing 4th graders. If we are staffing so leanly that that is the case, then we are staffing too leanly. Get rid of an executive director. Heck the board just arbitrarily decided to give 2 million for middle school math- use some of that.
-sleeper
In the immortal words of NOMAD, the hybrid deep space probe,
"Non sequitur"
As for your argument, sleeper, if the money is available, why shouldn't some other school with parents who can't and/or won't protest get it?
T'Pring
Sleeper
T'Pring
-sleeper
Do any other schools need the money? I'd say they could all use more money and it would help the students.
For example, I don't think Special Education kids who could do better with higher staffing levels are imaginary.
T'Pring
-sleeper