Two Workshops Keep Board and Staff at Seattle Schools Busy
The Seattle School Board had a busy week last week. Several of them attended a Zoom conference, 2021 Harvard and Council of Great City Schools ABC Leadership Institute, lead by the Council of Great City Schools. The CGCS:
The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) brings together 75 of nation’s largest urban public school systems in a coalition dedicated to the improvement of education for children in the inner cities. The Council and its member school districts work to help our schoolchildren meet the highest standards and become successful and productive members of society.
The district joined this group probably 15 years ago. I don't know how much it costs to be a member but apparently the district thinks it is worth it. For this particular conference, the cost was $2800 per person. Initially, the district signed up when Superintendent Juneau was in power but since her departure, the list of attendees was:
President HampsonVice President Hersey
Director DeWolf
Director Dury
Director Rankin
Director Rivera-Smith
My understanding is that DeWolf did not attend the entire conference. Below is the description from a couple of years ago.
The program will include several classroom sessions each day using the Harvard Business School case study method, along with smaller-group sessions and discussions on issues such as the Role and Responsibilities of the School Board and Incorporating Family and Community Voice in Decision Making.
From the Board Office:
The Board will be discussing the learning from this professional development opportunity at the August 25, 2021 board meeting.
The big event for this week is for staff:
Integrated Curriculum Department & Department of Racial Equity Advancement Presents: The 2nd Annual LiberationThrough Anti-Racist Education Institute is taking place on Zoom from 9am to noon each day from August 9 -August 12, 2021. This institute is to create movement towards building Seattle Public Schools (SPS) into an anti-racist institution. We invite SPS educators, families, school leaders, staff, and community partners to join us. This virtual event will be focused on Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s four-part equity framework. We will listen and learn from Black and Brown communities, engage in deeper discussions via daily breakout sessions, and explore ways to move towards action in an adult capacity development.
I'm confused from the get-go because there is no "Integrated Curriculum Department" in SPS.
The LTARE Institute programming will be as follows:
Day 1: Culturally and Historically Responsive Education: Identity - Helping students develop a sense of who they are and want to be.
Day 2: Pursuit of Skills - Helping staff and students develop a sense proficiencies in academic content and life skills.
Day 3: Intellectualism - Helping staff to gain new and authentic knowledge about the world.
Day 4: Criticality: Discerning Truth from Falsehood.
National Keynote Speakers include:
Dr. Nichols
Dr. Sean Arce
Dr. Maulana Karenga
Dr. Joye Hardiman
*This institute is optional. It is presented as an opportunity to learn in a shared space.
(Links mine.)
Again, a bit confusing because I don't know who "Dr. Nichols" is. It could be Kirstin Nichols or Dr. Edwin Nichols at SPS. I tried to look it up but every single link is coming up as broken. (That new website has some bugs.)
These look like fine speakers. I don't know the costs for the district to put on this workshop.
A comment to the blog was sent to me referencing this workshop which I could not find at the SPS website and so didn't want to put up the entire comment. The commenter also pointed out that Dr. Karenga committed a crime which he was found guilty of and did time in a California prison.
In 1971, Karenga was sentenced to one to 10 years in prison on counts of felony assault and false imprisonment.[16]
Jones and Brenda Karenga testified that Karenga believed the women were conspiring to poison him, which Davis has attributed to a combination of ongoing police pressure and his own drug abuse.[4][18]
Karenga denied any involvement in the torture, and argued that the prosecution was political in nature.[4][19] He was imprisoned at the California Men's Colony, where he studied and wrote on feminism, Pan-Africanism, and other subjects. The US Organization fell into disarray during his absence and was disbanded in 1974. After he petitioned several black state officials to support his parole on fair sentencing grounds, it was granted in 1975.[20]
Karenga has declined to discuss the convictions with reporters and does not mention them in biographical materials.[18] During a 2007 appearance at Wabash College, he again denied the charges and described himself as a former political prisoner.[21]
I can only report that in the intervening years after his imprisonment, Dr. Karenga received two PhDs and created Kwanzaa. It would appear that he paid his debt to society and went on to work very hard on his career.
How many teachers and staff that have the ability to spend four mornings this week on this workshop when school is starting so soon is unclear.
Comments
His invention of Kwanzaa in 1966 preceeded his activities as a violent felon and cannot be cast as some sort of redemptive act. It was part of his activism. He's unrepentant and refuses to this day acknowlege that he committed terrible acts of harm to people.
The Liberation workshop site cannot be found via googling. The only way to access it seems to be via the link in the Seattle School news brief that is sent to employees. I'll post it if I have time, although I honestly don't see the point.
The previous comment I made was about another SSD training and the fact that trainers made threats against employees who made heterodox comments in the chat.
Cassandra
I'm interested in seeing the link to The Liberation workshop.
Here’s the link to the event. Registration was supposed to end last Friday but it appears you can still sign up. https://ltare.splashthat.com/
I note that the Board spent nearly $15K for Board members to be part of the Great Cities Schools event. For the district event, there’s 4 speakers. Costs for speakers could be from $500-$2,000 a speaker. So that’s around $8,000 for that event.
I truly hope that the Board and the district are getting what they want from this spending.
These threats were in the form of "We will find out who you are and there will be consequences." I do not know what ultimately happened to those staff.
Let's say I go to the considerable trouble of pulling out my notes and giving you quotes of certain things that were said along with approximate timestamps.
Would you believe any of it without screenshots or video evidence?
Would you care if staff were threatened, or would you agree with the trainers who made the threats?
Kalenga is a perverted torturer and professional grifter and you appear to be running defense for him, so I am trying to figure out if you would care about staff intimidation at some meeting we had.
Cassandra
I'm not running defense for Kalenga, I'm looking at the facts. If you believe there is no redemption from time in prison, I don't know what to tell you. I am NOT condoning what he did but I am saying he paid a price for it which is what we do to criminals. That he is trying to wave it off is not good. That he calls himself a "political prisoner" is nonsense. And perhaps those organizing the workshop could have thought better but they didn't.