What Matters to the Seattle School Board?

So I listened in to the Board meeting Wednesday to listen to the discussion around the budget vote. (That’s a whole other post but I digress.) I caught Special Education PTSA president Janis White’s testimony about what seems to be a failure by the district for recovery services for Sped students mandated by OSPI. I also read Sped parent Mary Griffin’s post at the Special Education PTSA Facebook page about how, at the last Special Education PTSA meeting, staff promised clear info on summer school. Apparently that didn’t happen. But Sped parents shouldn’t feel badly because Director Harris, time after time, has asked for staff to PLEASE give the Board documentation in advance of meetings so directors can review it and ask pertinent question. Oh sure, says Superintendent Jones.

That she has made this request over and over should tell you something. She also asked for an org chart because the shift in jobs and titles and new positions is quite hard to track. 

But for Exhibit One of what the district cares about - before your children - is this recent article from the Seattle Times on the long-running saga of the homeless encampment at Broadview-Thomson K-8. 

To review:

“Talks between the city and school district became tense in late March. Seattle School Board president Chandra Hampson demanded in a Facebook post that the city never conduct “sweeps” on school grounds, and instead provide “immediate” case management and outreach to the encampments near Broadview-Thomson and Meany Middle School (which has since been removed). 

Durkan was disappointed by Hampson’s advocacy through social media, writing “when we have questions, issues or concerns — we pick up the phone and call each other” in an email.” Hampson made a public “demand” against any sweeps via an earlier Times’ article. That’s not how you start a dialog; that’s how you start a fight.

Durkan says that she and Hampson have never met or talked.

Let’s just start with this from the article:

“Only in Seattle, it seems, has the school district become directly involved in finding shelter or resources for campers.”

Here’s what the Board and the district have time and money for:

- “The district’s deputy superintendent told The Seattle Times this week that, “as a last resort,” the district will help cover the tab for shelter and services to individuals living in the tent community. No one knows exactly how much that will cost, or how the school district would pay for it.”

- “The district installed a privacy screen on the fence surrounding the Broadview playground and installed security cameras and card readers at the school building entrance.”

I cannot fathom the thinking but I know that the district’s FIRST and MAIN concern should ALWAY be students. But that’s just me.