Seattle Schools This Week, September 3-8, 2018

Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Two ribbon-cuttings for two renovated schools.


Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to open E.C. Hughes School for the Roxhill Elementary School program students and staff from 11-noon.

Ribbon Cutting ceremony to open the newly replaced Loyal Heights School building for the Loyal Heights students and staff from two to three.

The district notes there may be a quorum of Board directors as more than a couple may be in attendance.

So who is in interim buildings this year?

Queen Anne Elementary will be located at the John Marshall building for the 2018-19 school year when its permanent facility is being renovated and a new addition is being built. The John Marshall building is located at 520 NE Ravenna Blvd, Seattle, Washington.
Wing Luke Elementary will be housed in the old Van Asselt building for two years starting September 2018.  Its new building is under construction and will open in September 2020. Address for the old Van Asselt building is 7201 Beacon Avenue S., Seattle, Washington.

Cleveland High School, Sept 4, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. - Naviance Information Meeting.  The first of five, the Naviance sessions start to explain to parents/students about this opportunity to use this software in school for college and career planning.

The College and Career Readiness team will hold five regional information meetings to give parents and community members an opportunity to talk directly with staff about the benefits of Naviance, the plan for implementing this tool, the steps we are taking to protect student data, and the opportunity for families to opt out of this tool if interested. 

I will have to ask but I think once you start, you can still opt-out.  You just may not be able to retrieve the data your student has already given.

Personally, I would not do it until it becomes clear how much data is being asked for and what kinds of real (and useful) information that students can see and use with this system.

A couple of need-to-know items:
1) Your child CANNOT sign up without your permission.  The default - if a parent/guardian does not opt the student out, is that the student is enrolled.  However, if a parent/guardian DOES opt their child out, no student can then opt themselves back in.
2.  The opt-out window is September 4-19th via The Source.

Once the second opt-out window opens, parents and guardians can opt out their 8th - 12th grade student out of Naviance by updating your preferences in the Source. Opens a New Window. 

 
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
First Day of School for grades 1-12.  

Sept. 5-7 Family Connections

Kindergarten students: Before starting school, each new kindergartner's family is offered the chance to meet with their student's teacher to begin building a home-school partnership. So that teachers can meet with families, the kindergarten start date is postponed three days, to the Mon., Sept. 10, 2018.

School Board meeting, starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda.

Much of the Consent and Action agenda are capital facilities items.  However, on the Intro list there is this:

Approval of the 2018-19 Superintendent Evaluation Goals and Instrument and Adoption of Board Procedure 1630BP 

This action would:

1. Approve the goals and evaluation instrument for the Superintendent in the 2018-19 school year:

a. Execution of the Superintendent’s Entry Plan 

b. Completion of a new SPS Strategic Plan
c. Superintendent/Board Collaboration; and 

2. Adopt Board Procedure No. 1630BP, Evaluation of the Superintendent. 

I'm all for a new/updated Strategic Plan but am sad to see that they project costs of between $100,00-125,000, not including costs for community meetings.

Basically, what Juneau needs to do:

As applicable, each section of this evaluation will be informed with an equity lens consistent with Board Policy No. 0030 with the intent to: 

1. Raise the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the lowest and highest performing students;
2. Eliminate the racial predictability and disproportionality in all aspects of education and its administration (e.g., the disproportionate over-application of discipline to students of color, their over-representation in special education, and their under- representation in various advanced learning programs);
3. Ensure all students regardless of race or class graduate from Seattle Public Schools ready to succeed in a racially and culturally diverse local, national, and global community. 

Then there is the Annual Approval of school plans (CSIPs). 

It is stated that these have been sent to OSPI, all Executive Directors have them, they are on file at the school and with Grants and available at the SPS website.  Maybe I'll do a spot-check and see if that's true. 

Also, there's this:

• Executive Directors of Schools are the lead centrally for ensuring schools are making good faith effort toward implementing and achieving their C-SIP goals and assist in brokering proper supports.
  

There is also this:

0. There is no requirement that the School Board approve each school’s C-SIP. Instead, the requirement is only that the School Board ensures that the plans are in existence. 

I actually have no problem with the Board not reading all of them but I think that EDs should be able to show the Board that they know what each of their schools are doing to fulfill their CSIPs.  In other words, what's in the CSIP should be broadly and easily visible throughout a school.     

 

The last Intro item is around athletics, confirming that the district is part of WIAA and the Metro League and any new high school (see Lincoln) is also part of Metro.   

 

One thing I didn't know is that the principal of a school  with the Executive Director of Athletics can waive the required 2.0 GPA for some students athletes.

All students (grade 9-12) participating in interscholastic activities maintain a 2.0 grade-point average in all subjects, be enrolled in courses that ensure normal progress towards graduation, and maintain the number of credits necessary for advancement to the next grade level. The Board authorizes the Superintendent to establish procedures to waive the 2.0 grade-point average requirement for participation, but only at the start of a semester/trimester. To be eligible for a waiver, the student must satisfy the minimum scholarship standards in the WIAA Handbook and the waiver must be approved in writing by both the building Principal and the Executive Director for Athletics.

Another addition to Policy 2151 incorporates the existing practice of allowing the 2.0 grade point average to be waived for participation in interscholastic activities. The policy change establishes that both the Principal and Executive Director for Athletics needs to approve of the waiver and that the minimum athletic eligibility established by the WIAA must be maintained. This will allow a minimum number of students in hardship or extenuating circumstances to participate in activities.

Thursday, September 6th
Operations Committee meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE.   No agenda yet available.

Seattle Public Schools Native Education Title Vl, Parent Advisory Committee Meeting from 5-6:30 pm at JSCEE.

We encourage all parents and guardians of Seattle Public Schools Native American and Alaskan Native Students to attend.  For information contact Gail Morris gtmorris@seattleschools.org opens an email client application opens an email client application 206 252 0948

Naviance Information Meeting at West Seattle High School from 5:30-6:30 pm.

Saturday/Sunday
There are no community meetings with Board directors this weekend.