Tuesday Open Thread
From Garfield, juniors there took the SAT on March 6th and never received their scores. It appears the school may have created double accounts for each student. Here's the latest I could find on the issue:
SPS Waitlist info available here. Interesting how all the north-end high schools including Lincoln have a waitlist but Hale doesn't. It also shows the decline at Garfield and Washington Middle School.
Only 12 days left in this year's Legislative session - will we see some school budget relief for districts throughout the state?
SPS Family Survey
What's on your mind?
The latest update from the College Board is that they are working on a technical issue that should be resolved before April 27th. In the meantime, students can retrieve their unofficial SAT score by meeting with their advisory teacher during advisory period.As well, well-known Garfield teacher and author, Jesse Hagopian, was forced to leave Garfield because the school did not want to have him there part-time. He requested to work part-time because he is writing a book. Not sure where he has landed.
SPS Waitlist info available here. Interesting how all the north-end high schools including Lincoln have a waitlist but Hale doesn't. It also shows the decline at Garfield and Washington Middle School. Only 12 days left in this year's Legislative session - will we see some school budget relief for districts throughout the state?
SPS Family Survey
The 2019 Family Survey opens April 16. All Seattle Public Schools families should receive a survey by email no later than April 17. To complete the Family Survey, please respond by May 17 to the survey link that was emailed to you. Thank you for your participation!Let us know some of the questions.
What's on your mind?
Comments
There is ZERO reason to not enroll every one of these students. There is plenty of physical space and an additional 60 students will bring extra enthusiasm and resources.
Anyone who have been involved in the start of new schools knows, you really want as many people who want to be there to be actually be there.
And once again, Cleveland has a huge wait list for 9th grade with 130 9th graders on the wait list. When STEM at Cleveland was introduced as an option program the "plan" was for cohorts of 300 students in 9th and 10th grade. It has been a long time since that number was respected.
I don't know if your comment is very accurate. Because of the change regarding the accounting for medical benefits, where medical benefits for part time faculty are charged to a building's discretionary fund, part time staff have been downsized at nearly every building in the district.
In Seattle's defense, there are over 100 places where students can be assigned. I think the total number of schools for 2019 is 110, but frankly Seattle has enough schools that it is hard to even get an accurate total count for the number of schools. So there are reasons why downtown is often reluctant to move wait lists.
That said, EricB's work is another great example of how many credible resources there are in the community to hep. I hope Eric is able to produce this again and I hope downtown uses the data this time.
The waitlist information is interesting, but without the corresponding actual enrollment, there is little way to know if the wait list is truly reasonable or if once again "staffing capacity" is the driver here.
For option schools like JSIS and Hazel Wolf, it is really clear that the wait list is the wait list.
But Franklin and Garfield both have lengthy lists and both schools were projected to take significant cuts due to decreased enrollment. Stevens and TM were also slated to take budget cuts based on declining enrollment and those schools also have healthy wait lists.
Green deal
I didn't say all juniors didn't get their scores; I'm reporting an issue. And it is an issue if (as it seems) Garfield created it.
Also, no name-calling.
And you know what? I missed that 68 kids on the waitlist (it was at the bottom of the page and I jumped to the next page) so I was WRONG about their waitlist.
I passed no judgment on Mr. Hagopian but he is a well-known teacher in Seattle so I was reporting about the change.
HS parent
(Speaking of College Board, last year's French AP exam administered at Roosevelt was delayed by over an hour. Should those scores be invalidated since the test was administered inappropriately, giving students an opportunity to cheat? Hmmm.)
Garfield's wait list is 80 students and that signifies something alright, but it's hardly flight.
Like Roosevelt and Ballard, Garfield is facing a big budget cut and choices have to be made. Mr Hagopian, while a dedicated teacher, chose not to accept the full-time position offered him so that he can work on other interests. I'm quite certain that were he indeed accommodated at part-time, with attendant benefits, during a staffing budget crunch, Melissa would be shining a big ol' light on the supposed crookedness of it all.
FNH
Blessed parent
Gentrification of the area has caused a big jump in the number of white students at the school, above the usual HCC draw. RBH is now known for being the black high school in the district. Many blacks in the CD resent that Garfield is slowly turning mostly white and that they are being forced out by property valuations/taxes.
I believe there are more black students attending Ingraham high school then are attending Garfield. Blacks are being pushed out of the city's core and to the north and south ends.
Seattle in general will be too expensive for most people I'm seeing fewer black people in almost every area of this city.
I'm the parent of one Garfield graduate and a rising ninth grader who never considered attending any other high school. My years as a Garfield parent and close follower of Seattle education reporting have taught me this - if you want to know what is going on at Garfield, ask the students, parents, and faculty. What's reported here, and in the local media, is often quite inaccurate.
Read the Garfield Messenger, it's available online.
Ruthie
Moving South
The students on waitlists for non-option schools applied from outside the assignment area.
https://www.smh.com.au/education/major-distraction-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks-20190329-p5191r.html?fbclid=IwAR3ghzNcvmPN1i3RLg3aWmcEvf6xJR4lZTndqKEd65Dkoff62X4MsvQQNio
NW Parent
GF junior
—SE Mom
From: "Murphy, Devin L"
Date: April 11, 2019 at 12:29:21 PM PDT
To: "Murphy, Devin L"
Cc: "Butler Ginolfi, Emily A" , "Cohrs, Kurt G"
Subject: Science 7 Update - Ms. Matson's return & additional supports
Hi All,
Happy spring break!
I am excited to share a few updates with you.
We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Matson back on April 22nd. We hold a great deal of gratitude for our guest teacher Ms. Wang as well as Mr. Vigil and the rest of the science team for the assistance they provided during her leave of absence. Upon her return, Ms. Matson will be taking over all teaching responsibilities and will be the primary point of contact for the day-to-day operations of these classes for the remainder of the year.
Given the unforeseen challenges that have arisen with regard to these classes, we are partnering with the district to provide additional supports to best prepare our students for success in their future science studies.
* We are working with the district on designing and offering a potential summer school course. Currently, the district is looking to secure a trained and certified science teacher to teach this course which will be held here at Washington Middle School and will take place during a window of time from 7/8/19 – 8/2/19. As this potential course may have an impact on some of your summer plans, we will be providing you with updates as we continue to move forward.
* We are also partnering with the district to provide our families and students with the central topics, key concepts, and sets of resources to support self-study for our learners.
I look forward to being in touch with you to provide additional information as it becomes available.
Thank you,
Devin Murphy
Assistant Principal
Washington Middle School
Pronouns: “he” “him” “his”
2101 S. Jackson St; Seattle, WA 98144
PH 206.252.2600 | FAX 206.252.2601
CDM
The majority of juniors at Garfield have not yet received their official SAT scores. We called the College Board several times and all they could tell us was that It looked like our children hadn’t taken the test. My child wondered: Am I being investigated for cheating? Was my answer sheet lost or damaged? Will I have to retake the test? Garfield made no statements to affected students or parents for two full weeks. Calls and emails to the school went unanswered. Now, finally, after some press, Garfield has reached out to reassure juniors, and is providing unofficial scores upon request. But students still can’t submit these scores to colleges until they are official. As is often true in Seattle schools, a lot of anxiety could have been alleviated through open communication and transparency.
PN
Can it Get Worse?
unbelievable
curious
"We (the union) went in saying let's grab all we can grab. we knew it would contribute to these budget deficits, but we did it anyway, to try to put pressure on the state Legislature to make this funding permanent."
The legislature should not cave to this pressure. While the ramifications are unfortunate and potentially devastating, to cave will only invite similar behavior in the future.
There were promises made that local levies would be capped so that the tremendous tax increases would not become even greater.
School boards and superintendents have shown that they can't say no in the face of union demands, will the legislature?
CDM
Fairmount Parent
Lincoln is the official north-end pathway school for HCC students. It is automatically the assignment school for HCC students, so the only HCC kids on a waitlist would be those trying to move from Garfield to Lincoln. (Ingraham is an HCC pathway option school for IBX, so that's slightly different, and I'm not sure how that would look waitlist-wise.)
The HCC populations at other schools in the north end are students opting out of Garfield, often just because it's so far. Garfield is city-wide HCC high school currently and will continue to be a pathway in the south end.
Jon
Last year, educators got a big win. Seattle Education Association will open their contract up again, this year. They have already begun working on their next contract. I find this very disturbing.
The legislature must NOT allow unions to access unlimited amount of levy dollars. School boards must fulfill their fiduciary responsibility and not allow the union to push us into further debt.
After WEA's effort to obtain unsustainable raises, I do feel confident the union will push to levy dollars in a way that may not benefit themselves and continue to create budget crisis. I can hear their rhetoric..."The Voters Approved These Dollars." Don't buy it.
After WEA's effort to obtain unsustainable raises, I do feel confident the union will push into levy dollars and create another crisis. I can hear the rhetoric.. "The voters approved these dollars.!"
Thank you for that update, PN, and yay BHS!
The kids in families who can afford to hire math tutors will probably be ok; the others, not so much. It's shameful.
Meany Parent
For the 2016-17 incoming class, the split of RHS/BHS/Lincoln and the assignment for HCC/GHS was still under discussion. It was still unknown what students would be grandfathered and what would happen with the HC pathway for HS. Some families opted for IHS to avoid a possible split in HS (after having gone through splits and moves in both ES and MS). Since then, more north end HCC students have been opting for BHS or RHS if they live in those assignment areas. I'd guess choice assignment for IHS is now mostly students from the Lincoln or Hale assignment areas. HCC waitlists for GHS, HIMS, and other HCC pathways are most likely those applying to schools outside of the default pathway, such as RESMS=>HIMS.
HS parent
HS parent
Frankly, all who complain about the wage increase are complaining about us taking about half of what would have fixed the issue. I can always go back to project management and triple my wages because my skills are in demand. Which is why the court ordered staff wages to increase. Which happened as was ordered. The issue now is still that the state tax structure isn't enough to meet the McCleary demand as it wasn't when the court ruled back in '12.
Mr. Theo Moriarty
Ingraham has 125 HCC this year for 9th and we were told that is due to them lifting the cap temporarily from 90. They allowed all who applied this past year to enroll due to grandfathering HC kids who would have moved to Lincoln.For comparison, Ballard has 91 HC 9th graders this year and Roosevelt 79. Both schools also have a very large majority of spectrum eligible students taking AP classes.
@ Jon "The HCC populations at other schools in the north end are students opting out of Garfield, often just because it's so far." Technically there is no HC in high school. It is most important for kids who have neighborhood schools that cannot offer them a peer group or coursework. Ballard and Roosevelt allow roughly the same access to AP classes as Garfield. The principals also openly welcome HC kids as inclusive of all the kids in the neighborhood. I believe kids are choosing Ballard or Roosevelt because they have learned this information and each year the numbers increase drawing more kids. Those schools offer the same pathway as Garfield for the HC students who reside within their boundaries. Increased Seattle traffic limits a reasonable commute to Garfield. If their neighborhood high school is just as appropriate as Garfield and can offer the same classes, clubs etc and is only a few blocks away why should they send their kid across town. In addition, HC peers are choosing those schools as well.
With the addition of Lincoln in the north end it will probably draw HC kids if majority of peers from HC middle schools migrate to that school over neighborhood schools. The next couple of years though I speculate the HC cohort from middle may be split amongst Ingraham, Roosevelt, Lincoln & Ballard.
Observer
Later in the tour, we met with the psychology instructor. She is from Germany originally and was so friendly and open and well spoken, and the students in the hallway clearly adored her. What she said about IBX was that they discourage IBX for kids who aren't developmentally ready for it in terms of executive function and social skills, and she said (I'm paraphrasing) it's typically boys they steer away from IBX since they are developmentally usually still behind the girls in these areas still in the mid- and late-teen years. This made sense to us just comparing the young woman who was tour guide to most of the senior boys we saw.
What was unclear to me, though, was if you have an HCC student but want to attend IB and not IBX at Ingraham, do you apply the same way? Not sure about that.
We still have a year to go until 9th grade. We are actually in the Hale zone, but we don't like how that school is set up, so IB or IBX really appeals to us.
Jon
You're sort of right in terms of HC-specific classes, but there still are official HCC pathways you're guaranteed a spot for in terms of school assignment. If you're HCC and in the Hale zone, as we are, then your assigned school next yr is Lincoln by default, and you'll go there unless you opt back into Hale. High schools with HCC pathways have to be set up to offer 2+ yr advanced course sequences that other HSs may or may not offer, although Ballard and Roosevelt do. (Hale does not.) Our student's HCC friends attending Ballard and Roosevelt already are doing so mainly to avoid the commute. Their social circle mostly went to Garfield, but it can take quite a long time to get to school so Ballard and Roosevelt made more sense for them. Since those HSs have the course sequences they need, it works out. The opposite is true for Hale folks, almost all of which go to Garfield this year/Lincoln next. But you're right neighborhood HSs can sometimes meet those needs, just not always.
Jon
Courts don't mandate wage increases. Neither did McCleary.
Observer
Wah Wah
The walking routes are littered with needles and lurkers. Don't be fooled by there phony open houses.
Ex Ram
In fairness, Wah Wah, the district is constantly moving HCC kids from one school to the next, changing pathways, changing rules and not announcing them, ignoring IEPs, saying one thing but doing another (hence the IBX IB confusion), the district never replies to e-mail questions (maybe that's changing?), some schools technically have HCC but not really, and families are often at schools where you can't even ask basic questions because the answer will be Wah Wah, You Don't Matter, We Don't Like Your Kid, so you're ostracized and can't find anything out, you don't know where your kid will be going to school from one year to the next... This is sometimes the only place you can find stuff out, and you can tell from the long and multiple responses the school district has made it so complicated no one really knows all the rules or the whole picture. It may be frustrating, yes, but with a little compassion you can maybe see why it happens from time to time. Not trying to be a frustration, just trying to figure stuff out.
Jon
The courts absolutely included increased teacher compensation as part of the state funding model changes. Hence why we bargained it. Staff pay was being made up by local levies and the state needed to step in and provide that funding as part of maintaining the public school system. SPS got a 20% hike in funds and we got a 10% hike in funds leaving 10% to fund other needs until McCleary got fixed. Yet there was extra and now there isn't enough though we left plenty of money on the table for the district. Blame them if you're going to blame but also please go back and read the various announcements from the Supreme Court. You'll find it abundantly McClear.
Mr. Theo Moriarty
Teacher pay was being funded by levies and that needed to stop for anything outside of true extras. But there was never 20% more funding. There were more state funds and less levy funds (after the first year). So teacher pay needed to move from being funded from levies to being funded from the state funding. Not go up by 10-20%. But it did. Then PASS took more money. Then central admin probably did too.
And oops, this was all too much money. The pending deficit from the loss of levy funds was clearly known back in August when all of the negotiations happened, even just with the bargained teacher raises. SPS and many districts SAID there was no long term money with the levy cliff. WEA and SEA said no, no, it's there and the legislatures will fix it (i.e. more levy taxes, the opposite of what McCleary was about). Turns out, so far, they haven't. So, now there's no money. Who suffers? The kids. And the librarians and APs who are now out of jobs. But mostly, the kids.
NE Parent
McCleary was about weaning teacher salaries from local levy dollars. Teacher salaries were comprised of approximately 20%-28% levy dollars. State dollars were intended to take the place of levy dollars.
A couple years ago, many worked to prevent the legislature from throwing us over the cliff. The following year, a state wide movement threw us over the cliff and created chaos. I was told the fight this year was to "deal with the levy".
It appears Senator Wellman seeks to create state oversight. Wellman is looking at audits and district paybacks. It appears that the state realizes that they need an accountability measure.
SPED Parent
While you are very right that special education is a complete disaster in terms of funding especially, I want to point out a factual inaccuracy: there actually is fairly large overlap of occurrence of disability in highly capable populations. Some studies show highly capable students have higher rates of disability than the general population, and other recent studies show that a large percentage of students of color who are in special education programs should also be in highly capable/gifted programs, but their high capability is overlooked or not recognized. Professional development would allow clinicians and educators to recognize what disability and high capability look like when the co-occur in the same child and what they look like when the child is a person of color. In Seattle, HCC students who have disabilities usually have to choose between inadequate special education services at an HCC school and full special education services at the designated neighborhood but without any accommodation of their high capability. Schools like Cascadia and Decatur do not offer full ACCESS level services onsite, which is a misguided choice the school district makes and that harms 2E students and leaves them without services. The result is that the population at Cascadia or Decatur may look like it is lower in special education students (504s + IEPs), but that is because of the lack of special education services there are not because HCC students are less likely to have disabilities. 2E students, of whom there are many in Seattle Public Schools, suffer the disaster of special education as well as that of HCC, and they are among the most underserved students in the entire system, which is why parents in Seattle so often choose homeschooling for 2E students. That does not make them needier or more deserving of those services than others, but HCC students with disabilities do also need special education services. These are not mutually exclusive and in fact very often co-occur. In the end, you will find fierce special education advocates and allies in any 2E parent. It is not a competition.
-Simone
As long as SPS continues to define its HC program in terms of acceleration, 2E students and gifted underserved students will continue to be left out.
The entrance into SPS HC is predicated on achievement along with CogAT scores that are normed only for the population that continues to dominate SPS HC.
This moral disaster is perpetrated by the loud and powerful parents who mistake achievement for giftedness, linked to a district that continues to kowtow to the privilege of the parents who have the typical types of students who test in (middle to upper middle class of college educated, with a few token side stories).
No matter how much the truth is out about Seattle's HC/HCC, nothing has changed significantly because the parents whose children got in under this model will raise Cain if true change is on the radar, as they've already proven.
What a joke that isn't funny.
TruthB Told
HCC is not gifted. I'm not going to debate this with you. Please don't try and tell us that a student not receiving gold plated HCC services is similar to SPED students getting ZERO!
Like I've said , funding is NOT the issue with SPED. Lets leave it at that.
SPED Parent
Flame On
Of course there are doctors with disabilities:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/06/635414552/doctors-with-disabilities-push-for-culture-change-in-medicine
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211184957.htm
https://kcumb.edu/blog/faculty/how-adhd-made-me-a-better-physician-and-teacher
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/upshot/silence-is-the-enemy-for-doctors-who-have-depression.html
I'd also like to add that as a scientist I sometimes feel educators misundersand science. It's a process, and using your hands and eyes senses is a big part of it. And keeping kids curious and engaged and experimenting is key to learning and excitement -the district has some good science teachers who understand this and are passionate about it.
You apparently haven't been privy to the discussions here that fully embrace the acceleration model and have offered up instead an "HC lite" program for underserved students who aren't up to speed. Other themes have included plenty of posts that explain away the lack of underrepresented in SPS HC on exposure to lead paint, etc. with links to research to boot.
Why do you think SPS continues to use this model for HC that defies all best practices?
Look no further. The parents who are benefitting from this model may not be a cult, but they have proven that that have enough power in this district to keep their gift horse for themselves.
TruthB Told
If you want to read something, read Becoming Citizens. It tracks the history of special ed. And no, it isn’t about the poor plight of 2e.
Flame On
Be careful what you wish for.
SPS is using an HC model that is known to exclude underserved and 2E students and goes against best practices of research and experts.
At the same time, many of these same parents are (rightfully) up in arms because SPS wants to adopt a science curriculum that goes against best practices of research and experts.
When you contribute to a culture that skirts the research when it benefits your own children, the karma will keep coming back to bite. The precedent has been set already to woefully ignore best practices on a large scale in SPS with HC.
You can't benefit from a model that ignores research and then expect to be credible when you pull out the research on another issue that doesn't benefit you.
Can't have it both ways. Also, karma and all that.
TruthB Told
TruthBTold, you seem to blame the parents for the way HCC is carried out. I think I can speak for many parents who have been begging for years and years for this program to change - to be about more than acceleration (which is NOT the be all), to be more accessible, to use other testing (and the Board has had presentations on how the whole program could be better). And yet no one in power ever does anything. I appreciate the work that whatever taskforce is yet again working on this but I doubt it will create real change.
SpedParent, you said:
"Please don't try and tell us that a student not receiving gold plated HCC services is similar to SPED students getting ZERO!
Like I've said , funding is NOT the issue with SPED. Lets leave it at that."
Could you explain all this? Because I'm confused by what you mean and how you know that. I don't want to "leave it at that."
"You apparently haven't been privy to the discussions here that fully embrace the acceleration model and have offered up instead an "HC lite" program for underserved students who aren't up to speed."
Most HCC parents would like a real gifted program but acceleration is all the district has. As TruthBTold said, the model being used is mostly against best practices.
Also, there are kids of color who could used gifted services even if it's just acceleration. Ditto for kids of color who are 2E. That's the saddest part of all.