Seattle Schools This Week, October 15-20, 2018

Monday, October 15th
ITAC (Information Technology Advisory Committee) from 4:30--6:00 pm at JSCEE.

Equity and Race Advisory Committee Meeting from 5-7:00 pm at JSCEE.

Superintendent Juneau Listening Tour, Roosevelt High School from 7-8:30 pm.

Tuesday, October 16th
Advanced Learning Task Force meeting from 4-7 pm at JSCEE.

Superintendent Juneau Listening Tour at El Centro de la Raza Centilia Cultural Center from 5:30-7 pm.

Wednesday, October 17th 
Board meeting,starting at 4:15 pm at JSCEE.  Agenda.

Items of note for Intro:

- Legislative agenda for 2018-2019

The 2018-19 proposed legislative agenda is focused on three main areas:
  • Provide Ample and Sustainable Funding for K-12
  • Fund Capital Facilities Projects and Remove Barriers to Address Needs 
  • Eliminate the Opportunity Gaps 
- Approval of the Facilities Master Plan (which is probably the best one ever created), this due to the leadership of Director Mack and the stellar committee members.

- Operations Levy - SPS is asking for $815M over three years (evenly distributed at about $271M a year).  The last Operations levy was about $758M.  The current Operations levy represents about 19% of the budget, down from past years amount of nearly 25%.  
- BEX V - SPS is asking for $1.4B over six years.  I'll have a separate thread on the last BEX V Work Session but I note that somehow Rainier Beach HS, which still in the top ten, has moved way down on the list.  I find this disturbing.

There are those district watchers who believe staff really does not want to renovate RBHS on the premise that it will be spending money on a school that is not anywhere near full (forgetting that many schools, after renovation, DO fill up).  As well, there are some on the staff who seem willing to allow charter high schools to take those students in.  

If staff keeps RBHS near the bottom of the list and puts that work near the bottom of the list and (somehow) runs out of money to take care of RBHS by the end of BEX V, well, that will be a mistake.  Wiser heads should prevail.  

  - There is also a BAR for revision of the Board's policy on Digital Citizenship.  As a member of ITAC, I advocate for this motion to wait until ITAC has more time to discuss it further.
    Thursday, October 18th 
    African-American Male Advisory Committee from 4-6 pm at JSCEE.

    Latino Voices with Superintendent Juneau at Concord Elementary from 6-8 pm.

    Public Hearing on BEX V and Operations levies from 7-8 pm at JSCEE.
    This is your opportunity to put it on public record what you think of either/both of the upcoming levies in Feb. 2019.

    Saturday, October 20th
    Director Harris community meeting, from 3-5pm at the Delridge branch of Seattle Public Library.

    Comments

    G.H. said…
    I notice "Eliminate the Opportunity Gaps" is on the legislative agenda. That probably includes things like offering middle school students who attend Washington the chance to study a foreign language like the city's other middle school students, right?



    Tapped Out said…
    The state will no longer allow teacher salaries to be funded by levy dollars. The district's operation levy will decrease 6 percent and the district wants an additional $57M from previous year. Where do they plan on spending these dollars?

    The district, in total, is asking for an astonishing $2.4 BILLION dollars.

    The district's budget has soared to around $855M per year.

    These increases come after McCleary has increased our property taxes between $1K-$1500 per year.

    If the F&E levy passes, Seattle property taxes will have increased between $1136- $1636 per year. The state still needs to fund special education.

    How much will SPS's levy increase our property taxes?


    Tapped Out said…
    September 2018 Warrants​

    General Fund
    *Payroll
    $889,317.94

    Vendor
    $17,026,408.42
    Capital Project Fund
    Vendor
    $23,095,828.55
    Associated Student Body
    Vendor
    $96,534,89
    Grand Total

    $41,108,089.80

    Unreal. It is time for the board to do their due diligence.
    Anonymous said…
    Where are the new enrollment projections for SPS? How can BEX V be properly analyzed without current enrollment projections?

    FRUSTRATED
    Questions said…
    The board plans on asking the state to lift the levy lid which amounts to additional taxes for Seattle homeowners. In addition to district's levy, how much more are they asking for via an increased levy lid?

    http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/18-19%20agendas/October%2017/I01_20181017_2019%20Legislative%20Agenda.pdf

    Have you seen the latest audit? Major findings. The district's document provides little information. Whistle blower complaints up 100%.

    http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/18-19%20agendas/October%2017/Internal%20Audit%20&%20Ethics%20Annual%20Report%20-%20October%202018%20-%20ADA%20Compliant.pdf

    Is this board starting to slip?
    Anonymous said…
    Are you interpreting the graph correctly? It looks like complaints were broken down by "anonymous" vs "non anonymous" and the whistleblower complaints (less than 1% of "types of contacts") were 100% non anonymous. Personnel complaints, on the other hand, were 77% anonymous and 23% non anonymous. No surprise there...

    a reader

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