Tuesday Open Thread
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 of 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 for $50,000
- Intro/Action - resolution supporting undocumented students
Thursday, the 21st
Boundary changes meeting for Adams, Loyal Heights and Whittier
6:30-7:30 pm at the Ballard High Library
Friday, the 22nd
Last day for parent referrals for Advanced Learning programs
Saturday, the 23rd
Three Director community meetings (one of the last for Director Blanford who is not running for reelection. I'll just point out that if you have concerns over the new Student Assignment Plan, now IS the time to talk to directors.)
Harris - Delridge Library from noon - 2:30 PM
Blanford - Douglass-Truth Library from 10 am-noon
Pinkham - University Library from 4-5:30 pm
There are new STOP paddle cameras on school buses to improve student safety.
On that last issue - family vacations - I remind parents that the district's policy is to allow principals to be the deciders at each school on whether a child who is out of school for vacation will be allowed to make up work upon return. Check with your school's principal.
What's on your mind?
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 of 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 for $50,000
- Intro/Action - resolution supporting undocumented students
Thursday, the 21st
Boundary changes meeting for Adams, Loyal Heights and Whittier
6:30-7:30 pm at the Ballard High Library
Friday, the 22nd
Last day for parent referrals for Advanced Learning programs
Saturday, the 23rd
Three Director community meetings (one of the last for Director Blanford who is not running for reelection. I'll just point out that if you have concerns over the new Student Assignment Plan, now IS the time to talk to directors.)
Harris - Delridge Library from noon - 2:30 PM
Blanford - Douglass-Truth Library from 10 am-noon
Pinkham - University Library from 4-5:30 pm
There are new STOP paddle cameras on school buses to improve student safety.
Exterior cameras have been added to 120 of the 379 First Student buses that transport our students each day. The cameras capture video of vehicles that appear to be illegally passing the bus when its stop paddle is fully extended. The King County Sheriff’s Office reviews the footage provided by the American Traffic Solutions cameras to confirm the traffic violation occurred.The district, along with OSPI, is really playing up the importance of daily student attendance. I've seen some parents at the Soup for Teacher Facebook page saying they think the district doesn't consider many issues around attendance like transportation issues (including school buses), chronic illness and family vacations.
The cameras began operation today, Sept. 18. Drivers captured on video now through Oct. 1, 2017, will receive a warning letter to educate them about the new program.
Starting Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, the King County Sheriff’s Office will begin issuing $419 citations to vehicle owners that have violated the state’s stop paddle safety law. Visit the Washington State Legislature website to read the text of state law RW 46.61.370.
On that last issue - family vacations - I remind parents that the district's policy is to allow principals to be the deciders at each school on whether a child who is out of school for vacation will be allowed to make up work upon return. Check with your school's principal.
What's on your mind?
Comments
Will Summit Sierra charter school sell their online learning platform(BaseCamp) to Seattle Public Schools? Check out Eric Anderson's involvement.
The stealth campaign for charter schools found in emails of Seattle Public School employees and the candidacy of Omar Vasquez
https://seattleducation.com/2017/09/17/the-stealth-campaign-for-charter-schools-found-in-emails-of-seattle-public-school-employees-and-the-candidacy-of-omar-vasquez/
Summit Learning Platform expected to be used in >330 schools this yr & utilized by over 800 schools by 2022 according to Moody’s; stuff on expected re charter school expansion here as well.
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Assigns-Baa3-to-Summit-Public-Schools-Obligated-Group-CA–PR_904170619
ImAginIt
In regards to Naviance, almost all the private schools use it. My oldest kid used it at Seattle Waldorf High School and it made getting all the college applications items together so easy. I really liked the software. I am not sure what my Hale kid used because it was handled all by the counselor. I never had access to the system.
HP
ImAginIt
http://www.pasadenanow.com/pasadenaschools/parent-volunteers-spearhead-radical-acceleration-math-class-for-pusd-students/#.WcAPTNOGPBI
Half Full
hidden costs
-Pragmatic Xennial
When did they stop using it?
- not convinced
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Budget/2018%20Budget%20Development/17-18%20Allocations/allocations18.pdf
-sleeper
Too bad
MJ
Moon has a whole section about education and youth. Durkan touts free college and that's it.
Go with your gut if that's how you vote; I also take into account what the candidates are saying (or not).
Too bad
The budget allocations show "Running Start Administration" as a line item for each school. Is there a means of estimating # of RS students based on the allocation and the difference between the Headcount and AAFTE? A quick look shows Ballard, Chief Stealth, Garfield and Ingraham have significant RS allocations, with a significant difference between Headcount and AAFTE for 11th and 12th.
number searching
-sleeper
I will check tonight--I have a prior copy of this downloaded in April-May or so.
That affluent people need to put their kids in public schools in order to minimize their progress, thus helping to reduce the overall achievement gap? Why should someone have to sacrifice their own child in order to prove they care about others?
Then again putting them in public wouldn't help the achievement gap anyway, so your comment doesn't even make sense in the first place.
unclear
Too bad
-sleeper
Do you know if her kids went to SPS schools?
And if Moon is less knowledgeable, then I'd have to ask for the evidence that Durkan is more knowledgeable (or is she just going to follow in Mayor Murray's footsteps as her statements seem to indicate).
HP
You're WRONG that "Keeping her children in public school would demonstrate concrete solidarity with her constituents."
I suppose keeping her kids in public school demonstrates some sort of solidarity with constituents who have children in public
(and public only!) schools, but there are many in Seattle who (a) don't have kids; (b) have kids who are already done with school and aren't that familiar with or concerned about SPS; (c) have kids in both SPS and private schools; (d) have/had kids in only private schools; (e) have/had kids in public schools outside Seattle, even though they live in Seattle; and so on.
A candidate can't be LIKE their constituents in all ways, and nor should they be. Is a candidate ineligible because their income level isn't at the mean for the community--or should it be the median? Is it ok for them to be male or female, or do they need to identify as both? Do they need to be mixed race--and if so, what's the "right" mix? Are they required to ride Metro instead of Uber? Work out at the local community center instead of a private gym? Clearly, these questions are ridiculous. But it's similarly ridiculous to expect that they make one specific choice when it comes to education, when a great number of choices are available to their constituents.
unclear
Incredulous.
Yes, I agree that all things being equal, it is a show of good faith, that there with us, taking the same metro buses, and enduring the same stupidity that has come to be public schools in the city of Seattle.
I hold zero animus to any person, be they an ordinary Joe or a high profile political public figure, for some sort of 'disloyalty' or hypocrisy should they send some or all of their kids to independent (aka private) schools, or if they move to Bellevue or Mercer Island in order to procure a steady and excellent school system for their family.
But yeah, it does come off as "what's good for the goose is NOT good for the gander" when a wealthy public official pulls their own kids out of the SPS rodeo and send them to a private nonparochial school but then climbs on the soapbox and bemoans equity and the achievement gap. Not saying they don't have a right to opine, just saying as it comes off a little chickenhawk for me.
Maybe I'm just jealous: love to be able to afford a private K – 12 education for our kids with the 15 kid max class size, spanish-language starting in kindergarten, and writing/grammar instruction.
However, when I look at mayor candidate, I think much more broadly; experience managing vast complex public agencies, drafting & running budgets, and understanding legislative functions due to direct experience legislating are far more important to get a skillful and effective mayor then somebody pushing out sound bites of the feel good top 10 hits.
But, that's just me.
Thank you Melissa for running this blog and allowing us to have a place for discourse, and yes, perhaps a little venting.
Tired parent
When did Durkan work in legislating (truly asking because I don't recall this in her resume)? When did she manage a vast public agency?
The number of people in Seattle without children in SPS outnumbers the people with children in SPS. I don't think it's even close How do I know ? If there are 53,000 students then there could be 106,000 parents + the 53,000 students = 159,000 Seattle has a population numbered at 730,000. I will give the SPS total a extra 30% to account for pre kindergarten children and other unknown factors, so that's = 206,700. That leaves 523,300 without children in SPS. That's still more than 2X more people without children in SPS then with children in SPS. I would guess the SPS parent population is significantly lower due to SPS siblings and single parents.
106,000 plus or minus is still a large % of voters. There are most likely voters who are SPS grads and parents of SPS grads. What that number is would be a guess, but I doubt it's 200,000 so it probably true that there are more people in Seattle without any SPS connection than with a SPS connection.
I don't think I have ever cared what a mayoral candidate thought about public schools because the Seattle Mayor should be focused of other priorities.
Seattle voter
What's the connection between private schools--excuse me, private non-parochial schools--and the achievement gap? Are you suggesting that private schools somehow cause the achievement gap? If all those kids wealthy kids in private schools went back to their neighborhood schools instead, you think Seattle's achievement gap would improve?
I think it's more likely things would move in the other direction. For one, those kids--and their parents' PTA dollars and volunteer hours--would likely end up in our already-more-well-off schools. And two, those tax dollars that now toward public education the family isn't using will instead get used. This all helps the achievement gap how exactly???
unclear
I don't really care where the mayor sends her kids to school. But I am less interested in hearing about what to do to fix SPS from someone without kids in it.
GroovyGal
Bean counter
FYI, to all, "achievement gap" is now considered in error (and, in some circles, a racist term) and it's now "opportunity gap." I'll just point out that researchers or educators made that term up, not parents and regular citizens.
Bean Counter, you have it half right. Yes, some more experienced teachers (ie more costly) tend to be at well-to-do schools. But the less well-to-do schools also get Title One funds which is a good chunk of change. Is it being spent the same? No. Does that negate having fewer experienced teachers? No. But if you look at budgets, with all the dollars, you are going to see fewer dollars at well-to-do schools, just in funding. Of course, that does not include fundraising. Show me where Title One funding is "marginal" to teachers salaries.
1. Refocus FEL money and social service money controlled by the city into programs that serve disadvantaged kids.
2. Revamp the preschool for all program to increase diversity of teachers and students while also reducing administrative costs.
3. Reduce the opportunity gap by increasing diversity of teachers and administrators while rolling out civics and ethnic studies curricula.
4. Advocate for Seattle education in Olympia and work with SPS leadership.
Paraphrasing is mine. If you don't think it's fair, please let me know.
The only item I really have issues with is #3, and that's just because curriculum and teacher hiring are core SPS issues, and I don't think the mayor should be dictating them to SPS. I do believe that this is an area where city leadership can work with SPS collaboratively.
For all of the issues, I don't see why you would need a child in SPS to make positive change. It could help, but I don't see it as necessary.
Bean Counter
I also don't blame individual parents for the choice they make given the circumstances they have, but it would absolutely be better if more middle and upper middle class families chose public schools.
GroovyGal
https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Budget/2018%20Budget%20Development/17-18%20Allocations/allocations18.pdf
Also looking at the OSPI pages, average years of teacher experience is something of a mixed bag, although I recognize it is a problem overall. Bryant and Bailey Gazert both have 12 years average. Cascadia is 5 years. Wing Luke 7.
-sleeper
Seattle nomenclature is far from the norm. This is an example of language of social justice activists, mostly concentrated in Seattle.
And to be clear, the term "opportunity gap" was made up by politicians and bureaucrats and activists. Most educators and researchers continue to use the achievement gap and will continue to do so into the future.
Bean Counter
Yes, I see both achievement and opportunity used for the gap but I also see the sideways look if you use achievement. Sometimes, it's hard to keep up.
- Sigh.
JR
Can you start a thread on enrollment and/or tonight's board meeting. There was no hard data at the meeting tonight but there was some very interesting comments in the Superintendent remarks.
* They had projected growth of 1271 for this year. This would have been the largest single year growth ever, and there was no real year over year growth. No actual number reported but I referenced the projections to get the baseline.
* Enrollment is down district wide. They don't see a pattern.
* We know high school enrollment is up so that means the shortfall has to be at K-8
* This could impact up to 50 teachers. Fortunately there is $4M in mitigation funds in the budget, so this will not mean the loss of 50 teachers.
* Boundaries for Lincoln will be complete before open enrollment.
* They met with the city about Memorial Stadium and they are in discussions about potential land downtown as Memorial Stadium is too important to the city and too heavily utilized to be taken out of service and replaced with a high school.
There were a bunch of other items as well but that is some of the capacity and boundary related items.
New leadership
There was a lot of interesting parts that impact student assignment, etc. There were a number of items that surprised me, so I suspect there will be a large number of parents blindsided by some of these changes to assignment and boundaries, etc.
The enrollment shortfall is really quite impressive. I can't even imagine how big of mess this would have been if the plan to geo-split 850 elementary students had actually come to pass. The shortfall would have been even larger.
Here is a concerning article about parents that rebelled against Summit's online learning. There are concerning issues regarding sharing of student data.
https://www.studentprivacymatters.org/parents-rebel-against-summitfacebookchan-zuckerberg-online-learning-platform/
FNH
Good for Meany.
"Opted Out"
And P.S. we are far from the only family who we know who did so. Personally know at least 15 who left at high school at the last minute with only maybe three being upper middle class and able to afford. The rest are scrambling and leaning on scholarships.
Fed up
Maybe I'm just jealous: love to be able to afford a private K – 12 education for our kids with the 15 kid max class size, spanish-language starting in kindergarten, and writing/grammar instruction."
Yes I agree. A very affluent person with kids at a selective private non parochial school told me recently that she does not believe in gifted education in public school! She was "against advanced learning, as kids learn from each other". But hers are at a school the majority cannot afford, handpick excellent students, had to take an admission test & interview etc to enter etc. Far more segregated! My own advanced learning kid was in a general ed K-5 school. In middle, takes 3 classes (Spanish, math & orchestra) with general ed students. Three classes advanced learning cohort. In the public high school anyone can enroll in AP courses.
-JP
Unclear
It is possible that the district was unaware of Zuckerburg's involvement with Summit's online learning program.
Thanks to the board director that called attention to this issue.
Why I find it annoyingly *hypocritical* when one sends one's own non-special ed students (in other words, they aren't leaving because their student's unique SpEd learning needs are being shafted) to a non-parochial private school (in other words, not leaving public to have their children will be bathed in the specific cultural and religious values that are critical to that family which are not available in public school) and then *bemoans* the achievement gap is because data shows that minimizing higher poverty schools, making schools all 'middle class' schools, has a positive affect on student achievement on poor students, and thus, the achievement gap would be narrowed by that person keeping their general ed kids in public schools (achievement gap is narrowed NOT by bringing down the top, or by simply 'cooking up' a high average by adding in high testing students, or by diluting the poor scores and spreading them across many buildings, but by actually raising scores of low achievers). Putting a majority of well-scoring general ed students with low scoring kids does not make the low scores 'smarter' because they are 'sitting beside' a 'smart' kid, there is no knowledge osmosis. Nor are those kids there to 'tutor' the low scorers. They are there to learn, as is their civil right to learn. However, have a majority of well prepared students in a classroom does positively affect the low scorers. Perhaps the overall tone of a classroom with students excited to learn means that fellow students adopt the attitudes modeled by the majority of their peers, and so they too become engrossed in lessons. I don't know why, just know that is what the data says.
I use achievement gap NOT opportunity gap, because the 'problem' we are trying to fix is students poor test scores: achievement. Who knows what kind of opportunities the low achieving students have had. I know kids from wealthy loving families who did terrible in school or who had drug problems and dropped out. They had no gap in opportunity but they bombed at school. I know kids who had nothing and came from 'broken homes', they had no 'opportunities', but, they did ferociously well in school and went on to successful careers. Opportunity is a vague word. We are not trying to solve opportunities in a class room per se. We are trying to support learning, excellence for all, and, if it takes solve barriers to learning, then that is something that is critical for schools. That is where learning specialists, wrap around services, early learning, free lunch and breakfast come in to play. Not that those will level the playing field, but school is school and cannot replace an intact social and health policy net and resources.
People with means pull their kids out of our public schools. I do not judge their choices. But when they get on that soapbox to complain about equity, however, I am repulsed by the hypocrisy. Because, if they cared so much about it, they could stay in public schools, convince their friends and neighbors to do the same, and thus actively make public schools better for all without making their kids suffer poorer scores.
To be clear, I am not talking about advanced learning: data shows that not only do their test scores fail to grow without appropriate instruction, but that their social/emotional learning suffers terribly, with high drop out rates as a result.
If we want excellence for all, that includes academically gifted learners as well as struggling learners as well as special needs students. All is all. I support all, and not at the expense of others -- education is not a zero sum game.
Please, no tangent about the program that shall not be named. A question was asked, so here are my thoughts.
Tired Parent
As long as SPS views high performing kids primarily as tools to bring up lower performing kids and not kids equally deserving a challenging education, parents will find other ways to get their kids what they need.
With education becoming increasingly important to adult success, how many parents are willing risk their kids' futures to support SPS' social engineering bungling?
Is it too much to ask for SPS to consider their primary goal as providing every kid a challenging education?
Fed Up
"People with means pull their kids out of our public schools. I do not judge their choices. But when they get on that soapbox to complain about equity, however, I am repulsed by the hypocrisy."
That's the point I was trying to make about the private school parent with kids in an exclusive school criticizing advanced learning. Yet, my kid's personal experience (as I outlined in my post) has been far less segregated.
-JP
To note, there are also a lot of other "equity" type issues that may come into play. Many children who started in public schools and ended up in private have faced some sort of discrimination or unfair or inappropriate treatment in the public school setting, or perhaps they faced a one-size-fits-all educational approach that simply did not work for them. Is it equity if works for most but not for all? Could you be seeking a more "equitable" approach in private? They are not equal, but may be equitable.
That said, yes, some are seeking a more "elite" experience in private. As are some who try so hard to get their kids into HCC in public. But many in both are seeking an appropriate fit for their child, something that allows them a similar chance to thrive.
At least that's our experience.
gone girl
The affluent person to whom I was referring went private and exclusive all the way. Yet, believes public schools should not offer advanced learning as "kids do learn from each other". Give me a break. I guess the "common people" should have a one size fits all education, while her own have an elite, hand picked economically & racially segregated, small class experience.
- JP
Gone girl
ThinkOUTSIDEof TheBOX