Tuesday Open Thread
Hope you saw my heads up on a possible bus strike due to drivers rejecting management's offer.
From Twitter:
David Simon Retweeted The Associated Press
BREAKING: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 25,000 points for the first time.
David Simon added,
BREAKING: The parents at my kid's Baltimore public school raised their own money to keep the school librarian.
From Twitter:
David Simon Retweeted The Associated Press
BREAKING: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 25,000 points for the first time.
David Simon added,
BREAKING: The parents at my kid's Baltimore public school raised their own money to keep the school librarian.
Comments
Lincoln opening with yet to be determined programming and boundaries...altered HS science sequence...new HS schedule...next year's HS capacity crunch
2much
Garfield
Roosevelt
Ballard
Ingraham
all with possible later geosplit to Lincoln. If you put our address in the lookup tool right now, our reference area is Roosevelt, but I don't know what that actually means. The maps currently labeled scenarios 6 and 4.2 have us at either Lincoln or Ingraham, but again, I don't know what that means if she starts at Roosevelt in fall 2018.
Is there someone I can go to to help me figure out our options?
concerning
GHS would be your pathway with a alternate IBx both of which should be good for all four years.
I just need to figure out which schools to visit etc. Kiddo is 2e/ASD and not every place is a good fit.
For both options, HC pathways in 2019 would be at Garfield, Lincoln and West Seattle with Ingraham’s International Baccalaureate Program as another option.
Not IBX, or IBX program, but "Ingraham's International Baccalaureate Program."
no guarantees
I would look at map F4.2 to see where that puts you. If you start at Roosevelt and are geosplit to Ingraham, it's theoretically possible you could get a choice assignment at Roosevelt in the first year of the geosplit, depending on how many kids they have enrolled. If you are at Garfield HC, I would expect to be geosplit to Lincoln.
NE Mom of 3
Enrollment strongly suggested that Garfield students would be grandfathered but that was based on the notion that there would be zero HCC services at Lincoln. An idea that was never realistic when you look at the severe capacity constraints that are looming for 2018 and 2019.
At the last board meeting, the annual request for portable purchase was presented to the board. There were a lot of board questions and not a lot of very clear answers.
The request was for up to 26 portables with the strong implication that almost all of the portables would be needed for high school. If you read between the lines in the answers there were a few notable comments, including that several of the impacted high schools, no longer had easy portable space in the parking lots.
The next logical implication is that portables will either be placed on the field or that high schools will need to add a seventh period for capacity reasons.
All of these issues were discussed at FACMAC years ago and should not be surprising in any way. I wish that there was more transparency on this topic. The massive uncertainty around all things high school is rather exhausting.
THIS. There is no institutional memory around any of it either. They should just hire you, Kellie.
Flip told me that they can't add portables at Roosevelt. There's no space but the parking lot, and if they block off more parking spaces, nobody can use the field because there's a guaranteed minimum number of parking spots. I believe Garfield is in a similar spot. Don't know about Ballard.
Wait, what? They just put in a request for more portables and included Roosevelt. Personally, I don't think they can fit anymore without losing the entire parking lot. And it's definitely going to be more crowded around RHS for the near and far future.
Near because they are currently building right in front of it (or will start the next project on 15th and 66th) and far because once those buildings are in, there will be more cars.
Placing more than 4 portables at a time requires special permits, so the "implication" of the testimony is that there are 4 portables planned for Garfield, Roosevelt, Ballard and Ingraham. I say implication because while the board asked multiple questions, Flip's response were rather vague.
IMHO, the vagueness was much more alarming that a direct response. Last year at this same time when the RFP for portables was placed there was also a long discussion about how there was minimal space at all of the high schools for more portables. IIRC, each of the major high school is scheduled for another 200 student increase.
At this point in the process, there really are only two viable options for 2018. You either move to a 7 or 8 period day to better utilize the already existing space or you start putting portables on the fields. Neither are great options and IMHO these decisions should be made by the BLTs at each building and should have been given more notification.
Frankly, so much of this pain was avoidable with better planning. One FACMAC recommendation was to deflect enrollment to Ingraham in advance of the 2019 addition. If this had been planned then there would be a little bit more wiggle room for 2018. But as I have stated on this blog many times, the failure to include the Running Start information in the enrollment reports made it look like high school enrollment was much more stable than it actually is. Other option would have been to keep Cedar Park as an interim building and made Marshall available for high school overflow.
The boundary process for Lincoln has been dominated by the "theory of high school." At this point, the reality is beginning to trickle into the conversation and the reality is that we have multiple years of increasing cohort sizes.
Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Lincoln "suddenly" needs to open as a 9-11 for capacity reasons.
Again, I concur with EricB. The statement to the Garfield PTSA was very carefully worded and ultimately does not really mean anything. Even if the statement had been less carefully worded, I would not put any weight on the statement after the Whitman incident.
The promise to the Whitman families was unequivocal, capacity neutral and fiscally neutral and yet ... it was completely disregarded at the last moment, even with substantial board oversight to press the issue.
In the case of Garfield HCC, it will not be either capacity or fiscally neutral to grandfather HCC students. The next few weeks has multiple critical decisions related to high school that will impact this district for the next decade or more and there is precious little daylight on how they all interconnect.
North of 85th
I'm happy to learn that many of the 8th graders were eventually returned to Whitman, but the point still stands. That was a lot of drama that ultimately did more damage than anything else.
The "stated reason" for not enrolling Whitman was the "staffing capacity" of 600, despite a physical capacity of nearly 1,000. Staff staunchly defended this staffing capacity. Whitman's Oct 1 enrollment count was 566, significantly below the "staffing capacity."
These numbers strongly suggest that many families simply left the district, rather than play these games. Staff just got this one wrong, plain and simple and it will haunt the Lincoln process.
I also agree with Eric & Kellie. Any geo-split will be applied equally across all capacity constrained schools and programs. So that includes Garfield. The SPS statement about Grandfathering current 8th at their pathway school (Garfield) was based upon an old plan.
split enough
-parent
TS
-GLP
Future Ingraham Parent
Director Burke indicated that Eagle Staff may soon be over capacity, and that staff is considering the following 3 options: (1) Moving HCC out of Eagle Staff; (2) adding portables to Eagle Staff; or (3) changing the boundaries for Eagle Staff.
Only last year, the concern was raised that the projections for Eagle Staff showed that it was on a path to being overcrowded.
no guarantees
Looks to me like they do IB in 10/11.
http://www.bsd405.org/interlake/2016/01/gifted-high-school-program-information/
But that's not the issue. It's the district's program, so they should do what they said. Or, if they eliminate it, they should find a way for HCC students to get a 4-year sequence of math within the regular IB sequence that doesn't result in having to repeat material.
all types
And we're schools closed the. The building ms reused for different programs (so it looks like they weren't closed?)
Thanks!!!
Mag mom
Should say something like... Were some of the closed schools buildings reused for different programs so it looks like schools weren't closed?
Mag mom
MLK was sold to some community group.
Haters hate-66
But to your last question, most were closed for a period of time but now, I don't think there is a single empty school building (the district has other property that is leased). The district did find itself with some issues over those closures such as Viewlands having their copper plumbing ripped out and taken by thieves. That cost a lot to redo.
From the Friday Memo. You have got to be kidding me.
no words
o my
I am not positive this is the entire list but the bones are pretty close.
04-05 closure round
MLK closed and later sold. The MLK names was moved to another building.
For capacity reasons, rather than close, multiple schools were turned into K-8s for capacity reasons.
Broadview Thompson, Madronna, Pathfinder, Orca, and possibly a few more.
06-07 closure round
Viewlands (reopened)
Rainier View (reopened)
Fairmount Park (reopened)
there was a big push to close Sacajawea in this round but Sac was taken off the list at the last minute.
there was a big push to close a central area school but I don't think one was closed.
08-09
TT Minor (now the world school)
Nova (program moved to Meany, building closed and building reopened and Nova returned to Nova)
Queen Anne Elementary (World School moved from QAE, building closed one year, reopened as elementary school)
Meany Middle School (closed to become the home of Nova and World School, Meany reopened and Nova returned to Nova and World School to TT Minor)
Genesse Hill (building closed - Pathfinder moved to Cooper - building reopened as new Schmitz park)
Mag mom
Wait...what? Six months in and already threatening to change the boundaries or move out HCC?? Seems like if (1) or (3) are going to happen for this coming fall, there are going to be some angry parents.
If moved out of Eaglestaff, where will the HCC middle school kids go? And when? Makes me wonder about Whitman being about 400 seats under its full 1000 capacity. Aren’t there about 400 HCC kids between REMS and HIMS?
Bueller
oops
-KP
P.S. IMHO, they completely messed up last year on this. The Board seemed so anxious to open Eagle Staff successfully, and there were all these budget issues at play, that they didn't listen to the community and allowed staff to go ahead with a plan that overfilled it.
Excellence in Uncertainty
I could be wrong, but it struck me that some directors—particularly those not in the north-end—may have not actually understood the nature of the amendment, whether it was making kids move or saving them from a move, and the fact that it would have created more sustainable pathways and balanced enrollment.
I remember school board director comments before the vote along the lines of… “We don’t want to move kids unnecessarily. We can revisit next year if the school’s too crowded and move them after that.” I was like, what?! No no no. By voting against the amendment, you are changing long-standing pathways, moving actual kids, and filling Robert Eagle Staff from the start. Revisiting would mean moving kids back OUT of Eagle Staff.
It was super clear that Robert Eagle Staff would be filled very quickly and that increasing density in the immediate neighborhood would lead to overcrowding in short order. And that doesn't even address the uncertainty and stress caused to Whitman adjusting to such a big drop in enrollment.
SMH
On the same page when I try to actually go through the process, it says "We are not accepting 2018-19 applications at this time."