Tuesday Open Thread
Hearing that the Magnolia Community meeting held last night had someone handing out flyers for a charter school on Queen Anne. Anyone there who might tell us what it said? I have to say that if you tried to hand out flyers at a charter school meeting about regular public schools, you'd likely get asked to stop (or leave).
It's Pi day! And Albert Einstein's birthday!
Domino's is giving away a pizza when you buy one at menu price; at Pizza Hut and you can get a medium three-topping pizza for $6. Whole Foods is offering $3.14 off of any large pizza and Boston Market is offering a free chicken pot pie with a meal and drink purchase with this printable coupon. Great local deals via The Stranger like at any Pagliacci location you can get any two slices for $3.14.
The district is announcing the annual Seattle Public School Family Survey, scheduled to be distributed the week of April 17. They are asking that you make sure your contact info is up-to-date by the end of this week if you want to participate.
It's Pi day! And Albert Einstein's birthday!
Domino's is giving away a pizza when you buy one at menu price; at Pizza Hut and you can get a medium three-topping pizza for $6. Whole Foods is offering $3.14 off of any large pizza and Boston Market is offering a free chicken pot pie with a meal and drink purchase with this printable coupon. Great local deals via The Stranger like at any Pagliacci location you can get any two slices for $3.14.
The district is announcing the annual Seattle Public School Family Survey, scheduled to be distributed the week of April 17. They are asking that you make sure your contact info is up-to-date by the end of this week if you want to participate.
This survey provides an important opportunity to reflect on your child’s school and the district. Surveys are also administered each year to all school staff and students in grades 3 through 12. Results from these surveys will be used to guide improvements at the school and district level. Your responses on this survey are confidential.What's on your mind?
The survey will be distributed to families by email. To ensure everyone has an opportunity to respond, paper surveys will be sent to families without an email address on file and to families who do not have an English-speaking contact on file.
This page also includes the answers to frequently asked questions about the Family Survey, as well as a summary of the write-in feedback you gave last year regarding your child’s school and district engagement efforts.
Feel free to email research@seattleschools.org if you have any additional questions and thank you for your participation in the Family Survey.
Comments
The city of Seattle considers privatizing Green Lake and Lake City pools. If two pools are privatized, why wouldn't the city privatize all pools? Worth noting that Seattle voters just supported an enormous park levy.
Here is the story:
http://www.king5.com/news/local/seattle/city-considers-privatizing-green-lake-community-center/422279210
Please call Susan Golub at Seattle Parks & Rec @ (206) 684-7046 to tell her NO PRIVATIZATION OF EVANS POOL AND THE GREEN LAKE COMMUNITY CENTER!
You can follow this issue on SAVE Evans Pool and Green Lake facebook page.
I'm really curious where they might think they could put a charter school...
Eden
Ignore gifted kids' needs and they can end up in jail. 2E kids in particular. A surprising amount of inmates are highly capable. 2014 article, but still very relevant today.
Tax Credit Vouchers? Arizona shows what can go wrong.
Last week in NYT. If this one doesn't scare people away from the privatization of education, I'm not sure what will. A state senator is profiting financially all across the board, and in sleazy ways. I suspect this may be his undoing, if AZ voters are paying attention.
Creeping North
I find it shocking as well that the City can't find a way to fund the replacement of a park facility. This city is already "under-pooled" as is. Look at the waiting lists for the private clubs , Wedgwood (15 years ), Viewridge ( 20 years ), and the fact that the pools we have are in pretty sad shape coupled with the growth of this city shows that there is certainly demand for more pools.
There has been an effort to get a pool in at Magnuson Park on and off for years, but there have challenges with soil conditions and building rehab.
Pardon the rant
MeadowbrookSwimmer
I only knew it was a matter of time for Parks before something like this happened with the new Parks head. He and his wife (also employed by the City) scrubbed 10 years off their resumes about running charter schools that end up in failure. But I'm sure that privatization piece is part of his thinking.
Eden,facilities are a huge issue for charters (so much so that Bill Gates has a non-profit here in WA state just to help with that issue). No, that piece of the legislation - the charter takeover clause - was taken out of the current legislation. I think they knew it was illegal and not worth trying to keep in.
I don't think charter people understand what Cascade is. But I'd have to see a flyer to know what was said.
Patrick, I thinking Creeping North made that statement because the law favors charters who do serve low-income students and therefore, have a better chance with the Charter Commission. That said, the law does not prohibit any kind of charter from opening anywhere.
Right up there with the selling of Queen Anne HS.
Long range planning is pretty much non-existent in some areas of government.
Is Ron English in the pool planning business?
-- Dan Dempsey
North of 85th.
Hygiene Services
We have shower and restroom facilities available for Seattle Public School students and residents in need. Please see http://www.seattle.gov/homelessness for more information, times, and locations.
It's more than just a pool. Green Lake Elementary also partners with Evans pool to offer swimming instruction as part of their PE program.
neighbor
JJBies
Pool
More pools
"Many gifted students are impoverished, underperform due to distraction and boredom, or possess disabilities that most well-intentioned teachers are not trained to handle."
I see nothing about being "too brain damaged to be eligible for HCC/HC due to poverty" nor have I ever read that here. I certainly didn't ever say that.
I think some believe they can twist words and say whatever they want here. Not true.
About the pool, I don't want to open the door to privatization. It then becomes a tug over war of use and programs. It's a public pool and should stay that way.
http://www.solveforxschool.org/
QA parent
I heard that Solve for X middle school will close at the end of this year so couldn't be that.
Also, I've been using QA parent as my moniker on here for a really long time now - can you pick a different name? Thx!
QA Parent (2)
Interesting that you heard it will be closing; the website says they are enrolling students for the 17-18 school year.
QA reader
Good point, neighbor. I'd say the same to be true of Ballard HS and Ballard pool.
Someone questioned whether the city would want to extend public-private partnerships that involve tennis courts, too. I agree with Melissa's sentiments regarding the head of parks.
I'd like to know Matt Griffin's thoughts.
Central Office is not taking the cuts they should be. The Executive Directors are not being laid off. Their total compensation is around $170K per person. A teacher who has about 8 years experience and a Master's Degree makes roughly $64K, so firing all the Executive Directors would save as many as 10-12 teachers, perhaps more.
Could the extra 20 minutes in the school day be postponed and money saved there? Where are other savings?
It doesn't seem to me that SPS is all that interested in averting these cuts. They are now trying to get SCPTSA to help them sell this to an angry public. I am hopeful that SCPTSA will provide leadership and push back against this.
Everyone here should be up in arms about these ongoing cuts. The senior staff has failed you. The school board has failed you. Don't just go along quietly. Don't just believe there's no other choice. Demand better.
As a result of this decision, our children will have much larger classes next year and longer days. Do any parents recall being asked for input on these changes? I don't.
Not Okay
just tired
the worst part of that post was that the person claimed to advocate for the poor so they could get into hcc. not so. in fact that was the point of my repeated post against them was that their only focus was black students. then ell (thanks to reading my post) and now it is poor. and 2e. there is evolution here folks. now if they want to refute that how can she square that against all the post on race and race only.
not a racist.
no caps
The school board gave in too easily on the proposed cuts, and we need them to revisit this urgently. It would help to be able to provide an analysis to the school board that indicates whether the numbers shared by the senior staff are reliable.
Queen Anne Mom, also a gardener
brain dead. brain dead. brain dead. that is nothing to do with the negative affects of poverty on development. you think it does????
poverty = challenge = less likely to be hcc
poverty does not = brain dead
poverty = perhaps the next einstein
your model has nothing for those that are poor. again you are all about race. just like rainier scholars. oh but one i pay to teach kids in my district and the others the gates foundation pays to mentor. recent white immigrants to america and whites who are in transitional housing will never see the relief you propose. why isn't that racist??????
hcc is doing what it can for ell, 2e and frl kids. that is the right thing.
we should let fwi-n-w spew her hyperbole and then erase it from this blackboard of common sense. a teacher?!!?!?!
nocaps
That is a far cry from the $4 million cut to Central Offices they proposed for the $74 million dollar budget gap.
True leadership from the Central Offices would know that we need to do our best to shield our students from the budget gap and keep the schools running normally. Forcing the schools to absorb most of the cuts is ridiculous.
-NW Mom
I should also point out that not qualifying for HCC does not equate with being brain damaged. It should go without saying, but you seem to like to make leaps like that. Most kids, poor or not, have average sized brains and average range intelligence.
DisAPPointed
Was a little distressed to find out that there are no mitigation funds for opening of new schools. But hopefully we will have a large amount of parent support to help with the school opening.
Did anyone show up with flyers about a charter school in that region?
We're at the point where teaching Dickens (white male) is considered bad, even though his writings include themes of poverty, class and privilege. In a recent interview with Drego Little, a literature teacher working with Rainier Scholars, he remarked that Oliver Twist is "more about kids in the hood than it is about kids in privileged neighborhoods in North Seattle. But because it's Dickens and has 'fancy' vocabulary we tend to think it is not about the kids of color in South Seattle." His closing comment is we need teachers who can "acknowledge and celebrate deep human truths that exist in every culture." In an older radio segment, they check in with Little's class as they read Romeo and Juliet.
http://kuow.org/post/racial-literacy-gap-hurts-all-americans-black-teacher-says
http://kuow.org/post/kids-find-path-college-rainier-scholars
Without more clarity around what constitutes "ethnic studies" and how it is to be incorporated, how can the Board make an informed vote? As a previous poster asked, where are schools in incorporating "Since Time Immemorial" curriculum?
-info please
HCC mom
-Wondering about Wedgwood
The city of Seattle is considering a 21% tax on soda. The law would provide the city with $16M for EDUCATION. Another mechanism for the city to do an end-run around the school board, and to insert themselves into principal hires, data driven education policy etc.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/should-seattle-tax-sugary-drinks-heres-what-the-health-research-says-and-doesnt-say/
Also, there have been over 40 used hypodermic needles found in and around the RESMS site and Licton springs park in the past 2 weeks.
Not Good
'My kids needs a challenge too and they won't get it with normal, low income kids.'
you certainly don't get it do you. income, race, gender, home language and sped are all SLAMMED with high IQs just like brown or blue eyes. sps needs to serve them just as well as they do all the other students.
don't like it, go private. of course that is what i heard from you mct since the beginning. how is that advice working for you?
nocaps
i hate the hate that some posters have about certain programs. oddly none have stated that they have kids with those needs that they disparaging. having run the gamut of app/hcc for too long i can say that it could be a ton better. but so could all of what sps does.
not brain dead poor or a racist.
nocaps
overtaxed
Yes to postponing 20 minutes a day -- especially at HS level.
Makes more sense to roll that in with scheduling changes needed for 24 credits. Another small savings: At Ballard Ed Forum earlier this year, reps from 24 credit committee said that it could be delayed a year and it would be OK for students. Let's ask high school principals and see what they think.
Pre levy cliff extension, my school was going to lose 2 teachers, and my son was going to be in a 3rd grade class of 31 students. If SPS thinks they're STILL going to cut 2 teachers from our school, now that that extension has passed, and that my son is still going to be in a class of 31 kids, after everything we have done, they have another thing coming.
I made a list of what I did to fight the levy cliff. I encourage others to do the same, and to email the school board with your feelings.
1. Scheduled a budget & levy cliff presentation by Heidi Bennett at my school's January PTA meeting on 1/9/17
Coordinated a post card writing campaign to legislators urging them to extend the levy cliff following the presentation and mailed over 150 post cards to legislators
2. Took time off from work to testify to the Senate Ways & Means committee about the important of extending the levy cliff on 1/12/17
3. Attended the rally to fully fund education in Olympia on 1/16/17
4. Coordinated with several members of WA Paramount Duty & SCPTSA over how best to exert pressure regarding the levy cliff
5. Sent dozens of emails representatives from all over the state urging them to extend the levy cliff by voting on SHB 1059
6. Called dozens of representatives from all over the state urging them to extend the levy cliff by voting on SHB 1059
7. Tweeted dozens of representatives from all over the state urging them to extend the levy cliff by voting on SHB 1059
8. Called, emailed, and tweeted the Governor asking him not to sign any legislation until the levy cliff extension bill was passed
9. Posted weekly messages on my school's Facebook community page, with recommendations on specific actions that parents could take to pressure legislators regarding the levy cliff
10. Commented about the impact of the levy cliff on Seattle Times and KUOW posts on social media
Like I said, if SPS thinks parents did all of this so they could pass along 100% of the remaining budget deficit back to the schools, and not absorb the majority of the cuts at JSCEE, I think we need to prove them wrong.
~Alex
"I asked if Central Offices constitutes 20% of the SPS operating budget, why weren't they absorbing 20% of the cuts. That would be 14.8 million dollars prior to the levy cliff legislation, but is still at $6 million with our current shortfall."
And this is what JoLynn Berge, head of Finance, said:
"Your question is a good one, and one we asked ourselves as we went through our budget cutting exercises.
When we looked at Central Office, we identified many areas that couldn’t take any cuts, for example, utility costs, insurance costs, and requirements for collective bargaining. We also couldn’t cut the federal, state, or local grant positions that are included in Central Office, but aren’t funded with general fund dollars.
In the end the board determined $4m as the amount of cuts for Central Office. We too want every dollar possible to go to the classroom, but we are operating a $1 billion per year business, which must operate according to federal and state laws.
I hope this provides some insight into our process.
As you likely know, the legislature passed the levy cliff bill today, which will provide some relief to our budget deficit.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us."
My comment is that I don't believe there aren't more places they could cut. They just don't want to.
my thought to all hcc parents. demand that they dismantle the hcc program and insist they provide those services at your local school. my kids have moved on. i have done the 1 hour round trip to drop my kid when they have missed the bus. i have spoken to the board about the need of this program. but now i am tired of being called an elitist or a racist. 'screw you' i would say, if i could do it all over again. i would go back to my neighborhood school and demand the services the state says they need to provide. when my kid went to lowell that was the best choice then. now i wouldn't bother. there is no there, there folks. k-12 there is no acceleration and no depth. it is just warehousing thanks to tolley now make his little plan succeed in failure. rise up. be heard.
no caps
Demanding "those services" at the local school is meaningless when "those services" aren't defined. In your scenario, an HC-identified student might receive extra worksheets (at the same level) and the school could call it "deeper," or they might get to sit in the corner and read more advanced books on their own, with the school calling it "acceleration." They might be lucky enough to get some walk-to-math, but it might still be below their level (and it will likely move at too slow a pace). They may or may not have any other HC students to talk to.
The state doesn't prescribe certain services--they give you general categories to check off. A lot of things can fit in those categories, and there's nothing that says how often they need to occur, either. Occasional acceleration opportunities allow you to check the acceleration box. Curriculum compacting of one unit allows you to check off the compacting box. Pretty much anything allows you to check "differentiation" or "flexible grouping." Heck, just putting an HC student in a GE class could be "flexible grouping"! "Independent projects," "pacing," "enrichment," etc....not that hard to check off those boxes, without JSCEE even having any clue what happens at schools. I'm sure every teacher could come up with something to "justify" a checkmark, even if it's a meaningless checkmark from that standpoint of HC students' actual needs.
DisAPPointed
AL needs some authority in oversight of AL programs. The system we have now - individual schools deciding how to provide HCC services - is not serving students. It's unrealistic to think they could serve students if returned to neighborhood schools.
jt
Pretty sure the Executive Directors aren't required under federal and state laws.
But more importantly: *schools are not a business.* That's an appalling statement.
The board made a big mistake in just taking senior staff's word on this. The board needs to tell the staff to go back and prepare a budget that doesn't result in classroom cuts. Just to see what it looks like. Figure out the absolute bare minimum staffing required at Central Office by those bargaining agreements, federal and state laws, and grant agreements, and fire everyone else.
Because as it stands right now, teachers are going to be fired in order to protect Central Office bureaucrats, and the school board has said they're fine with that. It's not fine. We need to let the school board know they screwed up here and that we expect them to admit a mistake and correct it.
Don't forget to lean on the WA House of Reps from the other side of the Cascades, as well as Congress members in other states, to try to limit the damage. It's a bloodbath as proposed.
EdVoter
This could be a good idea.
"The executive order says this move is "intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch."
How about something similar in large school districts to improve both efficiency and morale?
Among many teachers, there is an issue that contributes to the demoralization of teachers. "Salary Inequity (and accompanying power inequity) when comparing teacher's salaries to the many, many lucrative administrative positions found in school buildings all the way up to the Dept. of Educ. Will this terrible adverse inequity ever be remedied?
Look at the superfluous structural layering of bureaucracy above the level of "teacher". .... The intrusive counterproductive nature of existing district, state and federal bureaucracy is unacceptable.
Teachers have been crowded out from being THE frontline decision makers of education policy and classroom instruction (free of threat from top down bureaucracy, unions, universities, associations, all of it) for far too long. Will this issue ever be addressed? Can Professional Development become something other than top-down indoctrination?
It is absurd that administrators with inflated salaries are telling teachers how and what to teach, when these administrators have no record of accomplishment. Successful teachers are ordered to fall in line with the program. The program is follow the leader, so popular among lemmings.
The district operates in a centralized top-down fashion (similar to the not very successful Soviet Union) as a result big expenditures are needed to maintain "services and control". Cutting more places is not in the cards.
At one time there was a poorly implemented desire for "Building-Based" operation. In such a plan, power to make important decisions is moved to the buildings. Today's technological advances makes this a feasible mode of operation. It needs to be given serious consideration.
In the recent past during the Elementary Math instructional materials adoption, a counter-revolution broke out and needed to be quelled. As supposedly all teachers are presenting material to bring students to mastery of the Common Core State standards, why are individual buildings not allowed to choose materials with an OK approval from the school board? --- The answer is because the Central Office believes the PD it provides is extremely valuable and cannot be provided for more than one set of materials. ((been to any of those PD presentations?))
I am for a major dismantling of the powerful current too expensive top-down model.
This might even work out better than Russian Glasnost or Perestroika.
Glasnost = openess; Perestrioka = restructuring.
Let teachers teach and monitor school effectiveness. Monitoring Central Office effectiveness and efficiency has apparently always been avoided. Technological advancements make monitoring easier and much more cost effective than previously possible. --- tools for improvement rather than centralized control.
-sleeper
What a disaster. Will someone run who want's to get JSCEE spending under control?
Same old
The scientists behind these brain studies agree their work tends to be oversimplified in mass media articles and even research abstracts. “For example, they imply causality when we really only have correlational evidence at this point,” says Columbia University neuroscientist Kimberly Noble, who led the Nature Neuroscience study. “Portraying the findings this way often misrepresents the science. The brain is not destiny. I can't predict with any accuracy what a particular child's brain size will be based on their family income.”
“We run the risk of these findings becoming fodder for a nouveau eugenics movement,” says Matthew Hughey, associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. “The easily dispensed adage that ‘the poor’s brains are different’ is an all-too-easy, scary and simply wrong-headed approach.”
http://europe.newsweek.com/how-poverty-affects-brains-493239?rm=eu
FWIW
fwinw, i have said repeatedly that frl should be accommodated to get into the program. and that assistance is not because they have different brain morphology but because of the inherent challenges of poverty. i also believe that there should be (and there are) accommodations for sped and ell as well. looks like you have found another straw horse to flog. silly and sad.
no caps
Change in Immunization Record System
How is this allowed? This clearly isn't "for educational purposes", it's medical data, so no FERPA loophole.
My kids are fully immunized, but I declined to sign the agreement with our medical provider to send this information to WA State Authorized Record Access System. I don't want them "registered" in yet another state database, there are already too many databases tracking our kids around as it is. Is this something we can opt out of?
But you should know that HIPAA and FERPA do NOT overlap. If the medical records are created at school, they fall under FERPA. If what you say is happening in the district, I suspect they consider the immunization record a part of FERPA.
On this page: https://wa.myir.net/privacy
The MyIR web site has a whole bunch of legal stuff you have to sign before you're allowed to create an account, basically signing away your rights and indemnifying "STC, Washington DOH", the company that runs this site/service.
For example:
1. You, the USER, releases STC, Washington DOH, and all participating Washington health care providers (PROVIDERS) who report immunization information to theWashington State Immunization Information System (WAIIS) from any and all liability for the accuracy of the information you receive through MyIR.net™ and any actions based on the information received that may be taken by the you, the USER. Actions include, but are not limited to.... etc.
2. You, the USER agrees to hold harmless all of the above named parties in conjunction with any failure to receive the immunization information that is being requested, any delays in its receipt, and any deviation of the contents of the information received from the immunization records associated in MyIR.net™ with you, the USER, from that contained in records of any health care PROVIDER or WAIIS.
There are 11 items, and you are required to agree to these terms before creating an account.
My question is, how does this work if a parent purposely does NOT create an account? Is the school district really creating records on our behalf without parents agreeing to the legal terms? Clearly the company is concerned about their liability, otherwise this Waiver of Liability page wouldn't exist.
Same old