Friday Open Thread
Happy First Day of Fall!Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos just rescinded Obama era rules on sexual assault under Title IX.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.
Advanced Learning parent referrals are due today.
Director Community meetings tomorrow (note: Director Harris was to have one last week but it got washed out by a leak in a room above the library):
Director Blanford - Douglass-Truth Library, 10-noon
Director Harris - Delridge Library, noon-2:30 pm
What's on your mind?
Comments
-Clueless
HP
I also have a child at Garfield but haven't heard anything regarding enrollment other than the obvious installation of portables. The Latin teacher did report at orientation there would be 40 kids in the Latin 1 section. That worried me, my child previously had a max class size of 16 students (private), but my child says it is orderly in class and sees no problem with it.
FNH
https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=13110333
Flummoxed
Some significant portion of the charter school 6th graders would have been zoned for Madison (and many of the others would have been zoned for Denny). I am sure that having the question mark of charter school enrollment didn't make it easy for planning at Madison or Denny.
West Seattle parent
I'm a little surprised at any shrug about charter enrollment especially for schools like Madison.
Schools receiving additional staffing budgets
Ballard High School +1.0
Coe Elementary School +1.0
Robert Eagle Staff Middle School +1.2
Emerson Elementary School +1.0
Gatewood Elementary School +1.0
Ingraham High School +1.0
Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School +1.0
Lawton Elementary School +1.0
Lowell Elementary School +1.0
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School +1.0
West Seattle Elementary School +1.0
Schools with reduced staffing budgets
Adams Elementary School -1.0
Jane Addams Middle School -1.0
Cleveland High School -1.0
Decatur Elementary School -1.0
Dunlap Elementary School -0.5
Eckstein Middle School -1.2
Garfield High School -1.0
Nathan Hale High School -1.0
Laurelhurst Elementary School -1.0
Leschi Elementary School -1.0
Madison Middle School -1.0
Olympic View Elementary School -1.0
Pathfinder K-8 School -1.0
Queen Anne Elementary School -1.0
Rainier View Elementary School -1.0
Roxhill Elementary School -1.0
Van Asselt Elementary School -1.0
West Woodland Elementary School -1.0
- ouch
What is surprising (to me) is that budgets are drafted so narrowly as to move staff around in 0.2 FTE equivalents. I honestly don't know what the fraction is in the city we came from, where there was the same fall shuffling around of public schools staff once actual numbers were known, but 0.2 seems awfully tight.
You know what's driving me crazy? Kids being marked absent when they are not, receiving alerts on every phone and email address on record, having to go through the process of getting it corrected. Four times already in two weeks! That can't be typical. We are new to public school and this obsession with attendance is freaking me out.
FNH
+11.2 FTE added, -17.7 FTE taken away = 6.5 FTE left over?
FNH
As for how close the projection is, 2% variance doesn't sound quite as good when you think about the fact that SPS has enrollment data. They know how many we had last year, and who had enrolled for this year. It's not a huge mystery--or at least it shouldn't be. Why did they think we'd gain around 1200+ students this year, compared to the actual increase of less than 200 (at least based on current data)? If you think of it terms of predicting the change--which is the real question each year--they were pretty off.
It would probably help them make better predictions along those lines if they did some deep analysis of things like why people leave, how many kids are forced into or choose Running Start because they can't get the high school classes they want/need, etc.
messy
I'm going to have a thread about the SB meeting on Wednesday where this was briefly discussed but while the Superintendent did try to put a good face on it, he was clearly not happy. I think this may have bigger impacts and it's frustrating that the district can be so far off their projections.
-CD Parent
http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=13110333
A 2% variance would be very good if we were discussing long term projections. For example if you were comparing the 2017 actual enrollment number to the 2012 projected enrollment number for 2017, then the 2% variation would be very close.
However, what is being measured here is the enrollment projection over three months, based on actual enrolled students. In this case the 2% variation is extremely large.
For a sense of scope, there has never been variation of this size in the last 20 years, either by percentage or by whole number, despite substantial change in Seattle.
-Garmama
-Garmama
Fix AL
kellie, perhaps you're right. I don't have a historical perspective for comparing projections, and to me a 2% variance over the summer does not seem large for a dynamic city such as Seattle. Especially one in which the cost of living is reportedly forcing many families to leave for cheaper housing.
Garfield portables are next to the field behind the school. I was also surprised to see Garfield on the list of schools losing staff, but they were evidently prepared for Garfield's population swell, hence the portables.
Another interesting note from the Meany meeting: The principal's request for gym bleachers ran against permitting requirements linking the number of seats to the number of parking spaces. Meany of course has no room for a parking lot, so bleachers are on hold for now. This is one of those instances where I support the spirit of the law but good grief, even gym bleachers?
FNH
-HS Parent
I hope I'm wrong.
-HS Parent
I think the Superintendent makes light of the issue of charter schools because most are high schools and the district may not care, at this point, if they lose some high school kids. While the charter movement is fairly slow at this point, when the pace picks up, the district will care.
And, given there appears to be some staffers working with charter schools internally, it could even be worse.
Lets all hope they hire well for this job posted: Enrollment Planning Analyst
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/seattleschools/jobs/1737405/enrollment-planning-analyst-1-0-fte?keywords=enrollment&pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs
...Boundaries for Lincoln have not yet been finalized, but work is underway to "build an innovation high school."
Weren't parents previously told it would be a traditional high school? Google other "innovation" schools and it could mean anything but traditional. This is not an option school, but a neighborhood school. Many students will be on a traditional college prep pathway, and most likely will want to continue that pathway, not have their plans disrupted so SPS can experiment with some new program that they summarily let languish.
If others have more optimism and insight into what is planned, please share.
-very wary
-very wary
@ anonymous 10:19AM-- Thus far I have heard nothing from the administration or board about Lincoln becoming an HCC pathway. It seems to be complete speculation between HCC parents, who as far as I can tell, have not been actively advocating for a north end pathway. In contrast, I don't think there is an active HCC program committee. There have been several vacant parent seats they have not filled in recent years. There seems to be no leadership.
-HG
-sleeper
On Lincoln, this is where I would push the issue of HCC. Ask staff how they can keep this "planning" up for a program that is adrift. It's bullshit.
Vision Please
The district sent an email to HCC parents & will be asking for feedback this week. I suggest HCC parents advocate for the HCC north end pathway to be either Roosevelt or Ballard. Both schools already offer an array of AP courses. However, they would need to add lots of sections (for easy scheduling) to be on par with Garfield. It would likely need to be one school, not both, to ensure enough students to make schedules easy.
No idea will be 100% popular. However, it seems to me that there are other plans for Lincoln. In addition, it seems more intuitive that expanding sections at an established, north end, familiar, existing school in their neighborhood already offering AP courses might be idea parents will prefer.
- a parent
-sleeper
Energy would best be spent advocating for a clear academic pathway for those wanting to continue with advanced/AP coursework - either those split from BHS and RHS, or those not wanting to be forced into a PBL program. Go to the Lincoln planning meeting!
realist
-a parent
Garfield does not seem to be offering sufficient numbers of AP classes, and seems to be moving in the wrong direction. Splitting the pathway will further decrease demand for AP classes, so that trend seems likely to continue.
As to what would be attractive to SPS admin, I think we DO have some idea...and I don't think expanding AP at Ballard or RHS is it. Have you looked at the district's materials on this, such as the recent Power Point presentation that is so focused on HCC and equity and next steps re: AP class availability and numbers at each high school? All their research and questions suggest that's where they want to go. Increasing AP classes at ONE high school to accommodate HC students is not likely to fit with their hyper-focus on equity.
DisAPPointed
-Clueless
Something I have wondered too. If they want more kids to want to go to Rainier Beach, then they need to remodel it so it is attractive.
HP