Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Uptown Alliance invites you to its School Board Candidates Forum on Tuesday, October 10th from 7-9 pm at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 15 W Roy.   The August primary narrowed a field of candidates to six seeking three seats on the Seattle School Board of Directors. The finalists are: District 4: Herbert J. Camet Jr. and Eden Mack District 5: Zachary Pullin DeWolf and Omar Vasquez District 7: Chelsea Byers and Betty Patu If you have a question to submit, you may email it to uptownalliance@outlook.com with the Subject: Forum Question.

Apparently some school districts are forcing athletes and other high school students in clubs to stand for the anthem...or else.  In Louisiana, the head of Parkway High School wrote a letter on Thursday morning to parents and students vowing to suspend or remove from sports teams anyone who demonstrates while the national anthem is played. "Failure to comply will result in a loss of playing time and/or participation as directed by the head coach and principal. Continued failure to comply will result in removal from the team," principal Waylon Bates wrote. Cue the ACLU.

  Seahawks stepping up.

From SPS - apparently all families got this e-mail about ThoughtExchange: Dear SPS Staff, Families and Students, 

Join the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy , Class Size Matters and the NYS Allies for Public Education  for a brief webinar on Tuesday, October 3rd at 8:00pm Eastern. Registration is required so please sign up today here . If you can’t join us on Tuesday , don’t forget to check out and use the Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy , created by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy . I will just note that it may pay to ask your teacher about any cloud platforms that are being used in class and if your child has been signed up to one.  You have the right to at least be notified about this kind of action and what data has been used and who has access to it (including third-party vendors).

The PTSAs of Leschi, Lowell, Madrona, McGilvra, Montlake, and Stevens Elementary Schools invite you to join us for an evening of discussion, education policy, and free pizza. All six candidates for Seattle Public Schools’ Board of Directors will be there to present their platforms and answer your questions.  Thursday, October 12 at 6 PM - 8 PM at Madrona K-8, 1121 33rd Ave Childcare will be available courtesy of Launch. Please RSVP by October 10.

League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County and NAACP King County SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM Wed, Oct 4 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Centilia Cultural Center (at El Centro de la Raza) 1660 S Roberto Maest as Festival St 1 block from Beacon Hill light rail station Candidates for positions 4, 5, and 7 are scheduled to appear. We will not be serving refreshments but food and drink may be brought in. We encourage you to patronize the food trucks on the plaza right outside and other vendors nearby. All League forums are free and open to the public.

Update via Director Burke: A second meeting has been added because of clashes in schedules on Thursday, Oct 12th, at Hamilton MS from 6:30-8:00 pm. end of update Via district webpage:

BEX V? Sure, that's important but it is off in the more distance future. But the Student Assignment Plan is coming like a freight train and affects every single family in the district.  I urge you to pay attention AND ask your PTA to devote an early meeting to this topic. Rather than calling it a "new" SAP, they say they are making updates.  I suspect these will be sweeping so it's almost like a new plan.  The SAP would go into effect in 2018-2019 but not changes to high school boundaries or Advanced Learning.  (Editor's note: I'm seeking clarification on when the changes would go into effect for AL; I suspect the same time as the SAP since AL is part of it.) Here's how the district sees this work:

Update:   the district let me know that they are working to make sure that Garfield 10th graders can take the PSAT on the same day/time as juniors.  Not sure how PTA got info that it was going away (I suspect GHS administration) but the district is diligently trying to sustain PSAT testing for 10th graders at Garfield. End of update Garfield is now only allowing juniors to take the PSAT.

Tuesday, September 26th Board Work Session: BEX V Planning , 4:30-6:30 pm, JSCEE, Agenda I will be attending and taking notes.

I watched about half the Board meeting last night and it was worth it because of the interesting comments made, particularly by the Superintendent. I will highlight topics but there was some information on enrollment numbers as well as high schools that you might want to look for and read.

Desperation in some Kent schools - makes you wonder what legislators think Kent Schools should be spending their money on.

I see this from The Stranger on the process to become the next member of the City Council. After public calls for an open process, the Seattle City Council has announced it will accept applications for the seat vacated by Tim Burgess. After former mayor Ed Murray resigned, the council appointed Burgess mayor on Monday. His council seat is now vacant until November 28, when election results are certified and either Jon Grant or Teresa Mosqueda is sworn in. The council will take applications next week, then hold two community forums with the candidates. The full council will vote on who to appoint at a special council meeting on October 6.  I wonder if anyone from the current School Board will apply.

Fall Educator Preview: Andrew Wyeth

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 Happy First Day of Fall ! Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos just rescinded Obama era rules on sexual assault under Title IX .  More news to come. Saw a familiar name in the staff list for new mayor , Tim Burgess.  His chief of staff is to be Holly Miller, who was the long-time head of the Office of Education.  When it changed to the Department of Education and Early Learning, she was out.  They also hired Eli Sanders, an editor at The Stranger, to be a deputy of Communications.  He plans on still doing a podcast and says he will write about the experience after he is done.

From King County 211 :

There are so many people suffering in recent weeks from natural disasters.  Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the earthquake in and around Mexico City.  It's almost hard to grasp the magnitude of so many lives upended and so much continued suffering. Please send out good karma and prayers to all these people.  If you can, donate money to organizations that are helping those in need.

This blog endorses Cary Moon for Mayor of Seattle. Why Moon over her opponent, Jenny Durkan?

To all our Jewish readers and their families celebrating this week.

    FOR ANY ACCESS REQUESTS, please email deafthrive@gmail.com ASAP.

Hispanic Heritage Month started on September 15th and ends on October 15th.

Let's do some Seattle Schools This Week: Wednesday, the 20th  School Board meeting. Agenda Highlights: - Intro item to spend over $600K over three years for college/career technology for 8-12th graders, starting this school year. Funding would include one more FTE at JSCEE and "school leads" at each school (presumably a counselor or teacher who takes the training to use the technology) - Into - Adopting new School Board Policy No.4218 , Speakers of Diverse Languages.  Twenty-five percent of students in SPS speak a language other than English at home. - Intro - One-year extension o f Strategic Plan.  This is something of a gap filler between the end of the cycle for the current Strategic Plan and the possible exit of Superintendent Nyland plus the election of new Board members.  Seems like a good idea given all those changes. - Intro - Approval of property sales of 315 square feet for the South Lander Street Grade Separation Right of Way to the City fo...

From a reader (thanks!), news from the U.S. Department of Education via ADDitude website: The Trump administration is planning to rescind a key civil rights protection for students with ADHD. Contact the U.S. Department of Education by September 20 to explain why our children need the “ADHD Guidance Letter” to remain in place.

Not sure what to make of this story in the Seattle Times this morning about a new group in our region created to incubate new types of schools.  Apparently the entire system of public education is "broken" and needs to be "blown up."  (Just to note, I think in this day and age, we might not ever use the term "blown up" about schools). I have to smile.  This is the same ed reform party line that's been going on for years.  So what's this, a repackaging?

Requested by Kellie L: If you measure on a per year basis, this two year program is the LARGEST SPS high school at the moment and it is not part of the high school boundary conversation or any of the capacity conversations. I have done a little more research and there are a few more dynamics at play, the community college enrollment includes Running Start as well as a variety of CTE programs and a few program geared towards dropout prevention. This is a huge aspect of the high school conversation. I wish I had time to flesh out this thread more but I don't except to add a couple of links.

Several of you posted elsewhere about this sad and tragic occurence.  From the Seattle Times:

It was quite the waiting game but I would suppose having five people accuse you of molestation might cause you to act. It did for Mayor Ed Murray.

What's on your mind? (Fair warning, I'm a little tired of this emphasis on HCC and I think others are as well.  This thread is NOT open to that dicussion.  I'll delete any comments on that subject.)

Over at the Facebook page for the Seattle Schools Special Education parent group, one parent posted this form about riding on the bus. 

Editor's note:   I see that staff is starting to post agendas earlier; that's good.  However, the supporting materials are not attached until 24 hours before the meeting.  Not so helpful and with the scant info on the agendas, leaves what will be discussed something of a mystery. I will be on a hiatus this week but, naturally, monitoring events as they happen as well as posting the Tuesday/Friday Open Threads.

As I previously reported, the Board has one of its retreats tomorrow.  The agenda is chockful of interesting items.

Thank you for bringing the error to our attention, I have contacted Omar Vasquez about the violation of the inaccurate C-3 report and informed the campaign to correct the discrepancy.  Omar Vasquez agreed to resolve the issue.  Micaiah Titus Ragins Compliance Coordinator Washington Public Disclosure Commission Advanced Learning referral window is open until September 22nd . A great story from SPS about a five-decade(!) volunteer, LouAnne Rundall, who worked in the Highland Park Elementary library.

In tragic news, a soon-to-be Chief Sealth sophomore, Derek Juarez-Lopez, was stabbed as he made his way thru a park in West Seattle.  He phoned his sister, saying he had been "jumped" and begged her to come and get him.  By the time she got there, he had been taken to the hospital where his family was able to say their goodbyes before he passed away.

Schools within SPS (and agencies serving those schools) will be receiving grants from King County's Best Starts for Kids levy.  You can see the list for Seattle Schools at the link, pages 8-9.  I also note a grant to the Washington State Charter Schools Association. King County Executive Dow Constantine today launched two new Best Starts for Kids initiatives that will help schools and their partners better address the impacts of trauma, and promote resilience so that children and youth can bounce back after experiencing adversity. The combined $1.46 million in funding will provide 98 partners in 14 school districts with tools and training to support children and young people through experiences of childhood trauma and adversity, and expand mental-health support in 56 King County middle schools. Interesting language in SPS' flyer on "Parent/Guardian & Volunteer Code of Conduct 2017-2018."

Where's the line between getting some technology freebies in the classroom and a teacher pushing a particular product to students and school?  Who owns that property - the teacher or the district?  Is a teacher pushing the limits of contract restrictions by promoting products, either in class or on free time?

First Day of School!   Let us know how it goes.  SPS wants you to share your photos on Instagram/Twitter with the hashtag: #SPSFirstDay @seapublicschools Rules of the road when there are school buses from the Inside Out blog from WSP.

I attended the Robert Eagle Staff Middle School ribbon-cutting today and also walked thru Licton Springs K-8 and and Cascadia Elementary.   Bustling and busy were the biwords of the day for these schools.

Editor's Note: I derived this information from many sources but mainly the great Washington Paramount Duty Facebook page.

From SAM Asian Art Museum (editor's note, the events are FREE but you need a ticket): Off the Walls: Community Day Sat Sep 16 2017 Asian Art Museum Entire Building 10 AM – 2 PM Get Tickets

Last Friday of summer vacation - I feel for all the kids.  But please remember the kids and their schools in Houston and surrounding cities whose school year may not start and, of course, will follow a lot of trauma.  Please donate if you can. Apps stories From KING-5 , an app called Yellow that is like Tinder for tweens/teens .  Not good.