Commentary on Current D7 Status for a New Director
I'll just put a couple of things out there.
1) I think the Board should call off the last forum and just vote this week so when school starts, D7 has representation and the Board did their job.
2) This process of picking a new rep for D7 is going south. For people who say this is "their" decision, they Board certainly seems like they are following someone else's lead.
And that there are those in D7 that are still complaining should tell you something. They were never going to be satisfied.
3) Those three brave candidates now have to wait almost two more weeks for a forum whose format isn't truly clear.
What else could we possibly learn from them if the forum isn't open to all types of questions from across the district? Otherwise, it's some kind of popularity contest.
Reader HP said it well - the first forum was the primary for D7 and this forum should be the general election for the entire city.
4)I think if they do hold the forum it will be a train wreck because I suspect there will be people willing to derail it to make a point.
5) Also, note the silence from the Seattle Times editorial board. This is very unlike them to not have endorsed Board seats in the primary. Sure, they had their hands full with the City Council seats and the number of candidates, but that doesn't totally explain it.
I think they are waiting to see how the D7 process goes. I think they are hoping the next forum will be a failure.
I think if the candidate they believe is right from D7 isn't picked, they will go after the Board (and especially President Harris who is the sole incumbent running) like a duck on a bug.
1) I think the Board should call off the last forum and just vote this week so when school starts, D7 has representation and the Board did their job.
2) This process of picking a new rep for D7 is going south. For people who say this is "their" decision, they Board certainly seems like they are following someone else's lead.
And that there are those in D7 that are still complaining should tell you something. They were never going to be satisfied.
3) Those three brave candidates now have to wait almost two more weeks for a forum whose format isn't truly clear.
What else could we possibly learn from them if the forum isn't open to all types of questions from across the district? Otherwise, it's some kind of popularity contest.
Reader HP said it well - the first forum was the primary for D7 and this forum should be the general election for the entire city.
4)I think if they do hold the forum it will be a train wreck because I suspect there will be people willing to derail it to make a point.
5) Also, note the silence from the Seattle Times editorial board. This is very unlike them to not have endorsed Board seats in the primary. Sure, they had their hands full with the City Council seats and the number of candidates, but that doesn't totally explain it.
I think they are waiting to see how the D7 process goes. I think they are hoping the next forum will be a failure.
I think if the candidate they believe is right from D7 isn't picked, they will go after the Board (and especially President Harris who is the sole incumbent running) like a duck on a bug.
Comments
The board is in a bit of a no win situation, but that was always going to be the case in this process. I'd rather have a forum that centers the voices of BIPOC even if it doesn't change who will be selected. People in D7, especially BIPOC and SpED families, do not feel heard by the district, and this is an opportunity for them to express their needs and concerns through questions of the candidates.
I'll just say Sped does not come up much in these discussions.
"Reader HP said it well - the first forum was the primary for D7 and this forum should be the general election for the entire city. "
Was that a rhetorical question or are you serious?
This district has spent years catering to families with power and privilege.
The evidence is manifested in everything from inconsistent offerings in high schools, continued HCC debacle, Black families leaving the district out of despair, and PTA funding.
That question was similar to your comment, again, that Advanced Learning is "open to everyone."
Actually, it's not. It's open to those who qualify based on the entry requirements that go against all best practices for identifying underserved students.
Get Real
There should be *good*, consistent offerings in high schools. You can achieve consistency by having a narrow curriculum and then you've failed, just as narrowing the curriculum has provided low-quality for everyone in a city like Newark. The "HCC debacle" is that the district wants to end it and so they actively block kids of color from going there and some resentful parents think the problem is the program rather than the district's gatekeeping.
Black families are leaving Seattle due to high costs, some are being picked off by charters, but what do you think is going to happen if PTA funding is ended? You'll see a massive exodus of white families from SPS.
If you want to end privilege, you have to show parents who have privilege that they do not need to rely on their privilege in order to get a good education. But all the solutions the SCPTSA crowd propose are basically telling parents to fall back on their privilege - that in fact the only way to get their child the education they need is to use their privilege. It's absurd and shows why the drop-ceiling approach to equity, this ugly resentment that is about revenge rather than educating kids, is a recipe for disaster in SPS.
Turner
What are you talking about? Are you talking about initiatives to put IB into Rainier Beach, STEM in Cleveland, STEM in W. Seattle etc. Are you talking about the new teacher contract that puts counselors into low income schools? Are you talking about grant funding that goes into Title 1 schools? Are you talking about district efforts to get University support into low income schools? Are you talking about the $1M provided to a low income elementary school via a private entity. Are you talking about the failed $11M Southeast initiative? Are you talking about the city's $600M Family and Education Levy that supports low income schools? Maybe you are talking about efforts to get Rainier Beach a new school while north-end middle schools are falling apart. How can you say, with a straight face, that the district caters to HCC families?
Of course, I know the history of this district. Some high schools used to not have any AP. There were always inequities in PTA funding (but that never stopped the district from taking the money). I'm not going into HCC but again, the district has known for a long time how to change the program to make it better and I have tried to help them see that. It hasn't worked. Clearly.
I think it's also clear the district doesn't know what it is doing if it is driving out both Black families and white families.
Actually 1/3 of white Seattle most wealthy privileged families already left SPS for private schools. Many have also left for neighboring suburbs with smaller school districts with far less dysfuction than SPS. The white families who are left in SPS are largely the middle class, a gap growing between them and the wealthy, with a school district that is not focused on them or their needs in the slightest. This also includes SPED and other kids not included in the strategic plan.
JK
Seattle’s 2017-18 Private school enrollment by racial demographic
Total: 17,685 students in private school
American Indian 89
Asian 1,967
Black 1,283
Hispanic 909
White 10,844
Other 2,590
(from the OSPI enrollment reports here: https://www.k12.wa.us/enrollment-reports)
SPS clearly does not care about anyone that leaves. And there is some question about how much they care even about the students who stay.
The whole point of doing this by appointment rather than election is to make it easier and faster--but that sure doesn't seem to be happening. There are so many other things the board needs to be working on right now. The fact that they can't handle just making a simple and efficient appointment is troubling.
c'mon already
SP
MSRP
Agree completely that Betty Patu made the wrong choice to resign rather than allow an election to be held. That said, Leslie Harris could manage this better but isn't. I get the need to re-elect her, but she sure is making it hard.
Cowboy