Tuesday Open Thread
Congrats to Nathan Hale - national girls high school frisbee champs!
Speaking of Hale, tonight they are having a welcome dinner for incoming new students. Good for them.
Is that the Dalai Lama with a Denny shirt? Yup. From SPS Twitter:
@SeaPubSchools
Wow! On a recent trip to Dharamshala, India, Lori Markowitz, representing the Youth Ambassador program at Denny Intl Middle School, presented the @DalaiLama with a school "we all belong" sweatshirt as a gift from the Denny community! #SPSConnects
It appears that some portion of the SEA took a vote (from the Facebook page for Recess from Tests):
Voted on and passed by the teachers of Seattle at the June 11 RA (representative assembly)I'll have a write-up from the Work Session on BEX V but good some unpleasant news at yesterday's Audit&Finance meeting. Staff is urging that the Board vote to finally bit the bullet to pay off the bonds on the JSCEE. Taken out in 2001 as former superintendent Joe Olchefske attempted to consolidate (and also it was said to save money) district facilities into one place. There were two series of bonds (A&B) totaling $54.5M.
"Therefore be it resolved that SEA call for a two year moratorium on all standardized testing, at the district, state, and federal levels and to open a public forum along with SPS on the best way to assess our students. Teachers will not be compelled to assess their students using any 3rd party assessment tools.
Be it further resolved that SEA will work with SPS to create waivers. Waivers may be needed during the moratorium for students barred from graduation due to state testing requirements, schools denied Title 1 funding and other reasons. Ongoing work to delink high school graduation requirements from testing will continue.
The moratorium will be considered a period of action research which will inform strategic planning for the authentic assessment of Seattle students."
"Proceeds from surplus building sales of $28.6M were used to retire the Series B bonds" - this was several years ago.
The District's general fund made payments of $4.3M until about 2004 when resources were needed for school programs. And I'd double-dog dare the district to prove that one - it all when for "school programs?"
The Series A bonds were refunded in 2010 to decrease interest payments over the life of the bond. The total principal and interest now outstanding is $28.M.
How does this impact BEX V? Their solution - which I reluctantly agree with to get this albatross gone from around this district's neck - is to take money out BTA IV ($5.6M), $10.1M from BEX V (if passed) and $10.1M from BTA V (if passed). Also, the district has a Capital Eligible Projects (CEP) fund that would contribute about $4.5M. This would take until about 2026-27 to get done.
All that selling of property and now capital funds do not/will not directly go to schools for renovations and updates.
What's on your mind?
Comments
While I'm no fan of SBAC (takes more resources than something more straightforward, such as ITBS, and seems redundant if student is taking PSAT/SAT), there needs to be some middle ground. Proposing a shift to zero testing seems extreme. As a parent, it's helpful to have some relatively objective benchmark, normed to a population beyond SPS.
balance please
2 Riders
Are we moving to a system where families have to pay à la carte for PSAT, SAT, AP, IB and take their students to community colleges on the weekend to take the tests? That's how it was when I was a student back in the day in a different state and that was a massively discriminatory approach.
Does this mean ending free AL testing at title one schools?
I support this drastic action as nothing else seems to be moving the pendulum back towards common sense.
-NW
Nathan Hale was one of two schools in the country to send both a Girls and a Boys Team. The Girls Team came in first while the Boys Team came in second.
Ingraham and Garfield ended up playing each other on their last game with Ingraham beating Garfield. Ingraham was 13th and Garfield was 14th.
The Nationals invites the top 16 Boys and Girls High School teams in the nation. At the time of the invite, Franklin's Girls Team wasn't on the radar but I am sure they will be looked at closely next year.
HP
Ultimate is an "official" SPS team sport in middle school (co-ed). I don't understand why it's supported by the district in middle school but not in high school. Makes no sense.
But, a huge thanks should go to DiscNW and the coaches they recruit to work with our high school students.
Ultimate Mom
HP
Albert
If they want to eliminate an inequitable test, why don't they start with the Saturday advanced learning test?
Helen
It’s fine if your child enjoys taking tests on a computer but many kids don’t.
- FutureLynx
rmedsker@seattleschools.org
Relying on teachers to accurately assess students themselves, with their own subjectivity and biases, is a bad idea. Teachers generally lack the time, and often lack the ability, to truly understand students' needs and capabilities.
All types
I'm opposed to SEA asking for a raise that is not consistent with state guidelines.
Clearly, implications around testing, 24 credit, curriculum etc. has not been thought out.
i am also concerned about michael tolley and his attempts to get rid of hcc. given that i agree with you about eliminating best practices as they relate to hcc they will funnel it through the new task force. as said before mtss will be the new coin of the realm. meaning that they will then have all control of admissions and push kids wherever they want without choice. choice is what drives the hcc. the next step would be ... to private. OR CHARTERS. it is basic education nonetheless. anyone CHARTER would jump to offer those basic services, with best practices, that includes acceleration and curriculum.
hear that please. a charter school will fill the vacuum if michael tolley delegitimatizes the services provided. ah he is retiring any how. nyland should not have new blood deal with his enablers take micheal, wyeth and kari hanson with you.
charter hater
trump said they have great beaches that they shoot their canons into.
altf goes with devin bruckner's crew on race identifying and mtss. welcome to the new charter.
charter hater
as a primer for those not paying attention sps has pushed against any attempt to have a reasonable program. every year they pull something of the the menu with a grin. i can see michael tolley repeatedly pulling back the program.
hcc charter school
hcc charter school
hcc charter school
what does that mean to devin bruckner? i assume as she is pro charter based on her companies boss being paid by bill gates a mix. just a guess. i don't know.
i think they want a overall degradation of sps. imo michael tolley and kari hanson and jesse wyeth have degraded the truth between schools and families.
i am waiting for our next sup. i hope she will see how it is upside down. how truth means less than power.
no caps
Non-School Sport Parent
The only issue is if SPS wants to divert money earmarked by the legislature for our pay.
Just let the pay pass through and then the legislature can fix the levy cliff for next year. Using McCleary's implementation issues to continue to unconstitutionally underpay staff is ridiculous.
Support SEA for a simple pass through of the assigned money and then our bargain can focus on other issues.
Mr. Theo Moriarty
SEA Member
My child had zero absences all year until recently when out of town regattas (not SPS sanctioned) and Desert School (yes, even Desert School is no longer sanctioned) resulted in a spate of unexcused absences. It is definitely NOT True that students "cannot" make up exams and work due to unexcused absences. My child informed teachers ahead of time and was fully accommodated, completing all missed work even a history exam and GPA remaining perfectly intact. The fact that it is now up to the teacher's discretion did cause me some concern, though I can't imagine any teacher denying students the opportunity to make up work unless perhaps an unexcused absence is obviously due to skipping. We've been so pleased with our teachers at Garfield this year.
(Kudos to the Ultimate teams, but it is no surprise to me that Seattle dominates. It is still a pretty niche regional sport that my middle schooler played this year explicitly for that Seattle experience, haha.)
FNH
Some say putting the Head Tax on the ballot with the Family and Education Levy would create an anti-tax sentiment that would prevent the increased Family and Education levy from passing. The city has yet to answer the question: Will the Family and Education Levy divert funding to charter schools.
It appears City Hall is a dysfunctional mess. IMO, very unlikely we need to worry about mayoral control of public education, at this point.
District says, "Seattle created its current school calendar in 2015 as part of contract negotiations with its teachers union...a change at this late date would be nearly impossible."
Jewish parent
HP
The SBAC is developmentally inappropriate for K-2. Not created by educators (some educator input but not written by educators). Not a fan.
No Caps, your continuing to single out a parent in comments not in context troubles me It sound personal and that's not what we need in a discussion. Please stop unless it is in context and/or explaining new information.
sorry mw but when you have a pro charter companies' advocate (devin bruckner) assault hcc then they should get credit if they push sps too far and there is an adoption of a hc cohort charter school. after all she did push you off the speakers list with her shenanigans.
michael tolley doesn't have a response to charter schools.
charter schools are choice.
hcc charter school
hcc charter school
hcc charter school
sps has a choice, continue to push forward nothing. or perhaps mtss. and parents will have another choice no more sps. in the past that was unrealistic. now we have lakeside annex and the chance of a highly capable charter school. they seriously have no idea how effective the private sector could be verses their efforts.
it has been two years since honors for none. i mean honors for all. where is the report and pedagogical support for continuing this. same for social experiment social studies at tm.
you have to see that it is racism, right? because if you live in a well mixed racial environment and your kids are super smart... you are a racist. ballard that isn't a problem. so if your kids are white and smart in an area of town that isn't all white you are a racist.
appartheid stickers pasted around tm.
first middle school to get rid of spectrum - wms.
only self contained programs (ever) cascadia
mgj's poor choices live on. including michael tolley.
we can do better.
if we don't i will push for hcc charter school.
no caps
agreed. sps has another chance and durkin understands with a new director who can really push this sps in a new direction until she runs for president after being governor. oh sorry i should put my crystal bong down. ((i really do agree)).
no caps
Genuinely-restorative-justice-must-be-strict-not-soft/
As practiced in some places, Restorative Justice shows not only how lax discipline leads to bullying, chaos and death, but also how the language of “restorative justice” has been corrupted in ways that are already having terrible consequences.
-- Dan Dempsey
FNH
SPSParent
In case anyone else wants to push back on this GHS policy choice as a community, this is from the SPS Deputy General Counsel:
From: Cerqui, John [mailto:JCERQUI@seattleschools.org]
[deletions to maintain anonymity]
. . . . I met with Mr. Howard, Mr. Starosky, and Ms. Pritchett yesterday to talk about the attendance rules. The school wants to stay with its current rule of only excusing absences for Garfield High School approved and related activities. Mr. Howard is allowed to make this decision under WAC 392-400-325, which is a different application from what other schools in SPS allow and different from what Garfield previously allowed.
Look, the district administration is a house of liars. Just lie and tell them your child is ill. That is what we do. They don't deserve the courtesy of good intentions.
BTW, I also will use my vote to screw the district out of further funding every chance I get - just because of the way families and teachers have been treated.
YouAllLie
Absolutely true. Every single principal has discretion over what gets excused and what doesn't. 99 schools and 99 different polices. It's madness.
I have my own list of top 5 things I'd like incoming Super Juneau to addressed and principals is one of them.
In the meantime, the solution unfortunately is to simply LIE and say your child is/was ill. I went ahead and turned in the absence forms knowing they would be unexcused - since I was informed each time - but my child assured me our teachers were accommodating. The Desert School trip added a stop at Wenatchee College to "excuse" one day for the kids, but I wrote on our form that we'd rather take the unexcused absence instead. I do not want to "spend" an allotted college visit absence on a college my child will never attend, when my understanding (perhaps incorrect) is that there are only seven "excused" college visit days in total.
FNH
The legislature did not designate nor did the court approve/affirm an appropriate amount of pay for teachers. Under the McCleary funding plan, the legislature set minimum, average, and maximum salary amounts. They also specifically eliminated the salary allocation model, the salary grid, and the staff mix factor. Within the boundaries of minimum and maximum salaries, the legislature did not require an salary requirements nor determine a set salary increase. Thus, McCleary DID NOT require a 15% salary increase for teachers.
And the court had no role whatsoever in this policy setting nor did they specifically affirm salary policy beyond requiring the legislature to pay the full cost of salaries and for salaries to be at a market-rate and enough to attract and retain high-quality teachers. The court had no role in setting the policy to achieve these mandates.
Where Mr. Moriarty came up with 15% is the amount of increase to salaries the legislature adopted in the McCleary plan. However, that percentage relates to the increase in the state's contribution to salaries. One major issue in the lawsuit was that local levies were covering the costs of teacher salaries and that was found to be unconstitutional. What the legislature essentially did was increase state funding for salaries, thus covering the full cost of those salaries. Meaning that local levy funds would no longer be needed for salaries, thus freeing those funds up for enrichment activities rather than basic education.
That 15% increase was not earmarked for salary increases at the local level but rather to substitute state funds for local funds. In other words, the color of the money changed, not the overall amount contributed to salaries (besides the increase to the minimum salaries and the average salary amount). Mr. Moriarty and SEA and WEA want you all to believe the $1 billion the legislature allocated during the 2018 session was intended for salary increases --- that is false. The truth is that the legislature simply moved up its timeline for covering the full cost of teacher salaries one year and that move to the timeline cost $1 billion.
Most people here remember the teacher strike a few years ago and the salary increase SPS teachers received as a result of that strike. SPS needed local levy funds to cover a portion of that increase until the legislature covered the full cost. Well, that time has come. The teachers ALREADY received their raises and now the legislature is paying for them. What Mr. Moriarty and SEA are essentially proposing is that they receive their base salaries, raises, and TRI pay (which portions of were covered by local dollars) agreed to following the last strike AND get a 15% increase on top of all that, including TRI increases. That's quite the windfall. How many of you received a 3% COLA a few years ago and believe you're now entitled to another 15% pay raise?
Lastly, one thing Mr. Moriarty isn't telling you is that SEA/WEA are looking for additional pay beyond their proposed 15% increase. They have determined that attending IEP meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and grading papers are NOT basic education and that they should receive additional pay from local enrichment levies to pay their time to attend these meetings and to grade their papers. So instead of these dollars being spent on students for enrichment activities, teachers are planning to grab this money for salaries too.
As the SEA plans to re-negotiate their contracts --- which will continue to occur under the cover of darkness before the school board rubber stamps the collective bargaining agreement --- we should all be paying attention to the details and making sure they're not really striking so that don't have to attend IEP meetings without additional pay...
Albert
I'm stating my perspective and generally what we want. There is no way to be wrong there. The Supremes did factually state that we are well underpaid even with TRI and that increased compensation is required. So compensation must significantly increase in order to meet the Supreme Courts definition for our work.
Workload that results from being overworked (and yes we put in about 13 months of work in 10) needs to be addressed as well. More staff need to be hired in order to take back work we've been doing for decades based on the inadequate funding.
I hope your day goes better but I for one am not taking one iota more work or responsibility for the failures of the legislature.
Mr. Theo Moriarty
We were also offered the option of turning athletic absences into supposed college visits, but my student did not want to go through that charade. And why should we all participate in pretending to abide by a policy for which the school administration has explained no legitimate educational rationale? Yes, attendance at school is important. But if the school will excuse absences for any and all GHS activities -- including watching the basketball teams play in the state tournament, is it really serving an educational goal to have a blanket rule that an absence will never be excused for a non-GHS activity? Especially when some activities -- e.g., rowing -- are not offered at school and may be important to a student's future educational opportunities.
The SC never made any such rulings.
Albert
How much has housing increased in Seattle since the last teacher contract? More than 15%? Thought so.
Teachers are being priced out of where they teach. This has long been an issue in places like San Francisco, where public servants like firefighters, police and teachers can't afford to live.
Your points to dispute Mr. M's inaccurate information were needed.
Your portrayal of teachers in Seattle as money-grubbers ("teachers are planning to grab this money", for one) is disgraceful.
Do you have an agenda or what? Sure sounds like it. You definitely aren't a teacher in Seattle who is struggling to pay the rent and student loans.
Get real.
Delete Me
Completely agree about the charade and everything else, those exact same points have been raised in our house. It's disappointing because otherwise our Garfield experience has been excellent. And it's true that for us the change has had no impact, but your experience validates my uneasiness that the policy be selectively enforced by teachers caught in the middle. I'd like the policy to codify that students who notify teachers in advance, and who make necessary arrangements to make up missed work, be allowed to do so. After all isn't the goal an education, not attendance? That your child sat for a make-up exam only to have the score zeroed out for an absence marked U vs E is beyond absurd.
FNH
This is why I haven't missed Albert in the least. All those things take time. I would think grading papers is part of a teacher's day already. But if teachers want to get paid for the time they put in, then they should be. I'm not sure how to dispute that except to get into a quarrel about what is basic education.
"The 2017 law boosted the starting salary for new teachers and set average salaries for teachers, staff and administrators to be paid for with state funds. And the law capped wage hikes for the upcoming 2018-19 school year — which is the period covered in most contracts getting negotiated — to no more than the percentage increase in the Seattle consumer price index.
This year’s law preserved the starting pay and average salary targets, and the one-time cap on increases, which turns out to be 3.1 percent."
Senator Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee and chief budget writer was an advocate for additional funding. Here is what she has to say:
“We didn’t come out of the session saying everybody gets a raise,” said Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, the lead Senate budget writer and one of those negotiating education policy bills. “We said every district will get more state money.” and “2018 is not supposed to be a raucous year for bargaining,” Rolfes said. “But it may turn out to be.”
Washington state legislature understands that special education funding needs to be addressed.
During the last strike, SPS board and district were criticized for providing raises under the premise that the legislature would fulfill McCleary. I highly doubt the legislature would show compassion for negotiating high increases.
The district has yet to face a budget that deals with a lower levy lid. SEA must consider this fact.
SEA and the district have plenty of time to negotiate. I will not support another strike.
So, there was an effort to "get real" about salaries in high cost areas like Seattle.
Albert
-Cynic
And when I have to pay for my kids' classroom supplies because the teachers grab up the MSOC money and the local enrichment levy money for their own salaries, I get a little testy.
And don't start in on the "well the state should have paid for it so we didn't have to" bit. WE ARE THE STATE. We pay for this stuff. All of it. Whether the state's charging the property tax or the district is charging the property tax, we pay no matter what.
Albert
no caps
Admiral Halsey
Albert, how much has a Seattle educator's salary risen over the last ten years or so?
It sounds like you have some data on this - could you share?
Thanks.
Olympia will be watching Seattle and contract negotiations with great interest through out the state.
Olympia must address the following issues during the next legislative session: Special education, levy cap, equity (some parts of the state don't have the ability to raise funds), and nurses.
I don't think that Olympia will be kind to any district that does not work in tandem with the state.
anyone?
Ducking District
Does any other high school require students to take a zero period in order to take AP LA? If not, how is that equitable? If most schools can manage to teach AP classes during a regular day, LHS should be able to, too.
Also, what does that mean for other AP classes? If you take an AP science class, do you also need an extra prep period for that one, too? AP math? AP social studies? AP foreign language? There are only so many zero periods during the regular school day. (Actually there are ZERO during the regular school day, but you get my point.) How would that work for kids who want/need take 3 or 4 AP classes to get the right level of challenge?
And why are there no Lincoln planning meeting minutes posted since about a year ago? These are our BEX dollars at work--aren't they supposed to make the minutes (and agendas?) available?
Zero Confidence