Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Hampson interview is probably the most problematic of the interviews. Like Director Zachary DeWolf, she feels it important to lay out a roadmap to her thinking leadership based on her childhood.  Her words do open up broader questions about what school board leaders believe about leadership, especially as the school board elections approach. In fact, several things that Hampson says deserve further discussion and I'll be writing a wrap-up post bringing in those issues. She talks quite a bit about her Native culture and being a Native woman. However, it is a bit of a surprise that she spent about half the interview talking about herself. Also, Hampson said she would supply MFR Law Group with evidence of her work to support the Black community. She did NOT do so even though the report says she was offered several chances to do so. Clearly, she wanted to present a narrative that she couldn't possibly have committed racist acts. The report supports that she didn't. But boy,...

 Been hearing a lot about Special Education lately. There was a rally yesterday at JSCEE with about 100 educators, students and parents gathered to protest upcoming staff cuts to Special Education staff at between 40-50 schools. 

From the Times News Express According to Seattle Public Schools, 99% of its 7,283 regular, full-time employees are in compliance with Gov. Inslee’s vaccine mandate. The percentage includes more than 99% of all teachers, 100% of all principals, and 99% of management staff.   The district says there are “a few employees” who are taking leave to complete the vaccination process and 206 employees who’ve been granted religious or medical exemption.   On Monday, the district told KIRO Radio that 6% of the drivers are being “separated” from their jobs because of the vaccine mandate , which includes third-party vendors. First Student has reportedly experienced bus driver shortages across the country this fall.

These interviews are quite fascinating because of what any given interviewee decided to tell about themselves.  Zachary DeWolf is a great example. He tells the interviewer that he ...is energized by doing good things in the world... In late 2020, he had been out of a job but had just gotten a job with Washington Environmental Council as a communications director.  He talks about his therapist, his dog, his husband and learning Cree, a Native language. What it all has to do with the issue at hand is unclear except that he believes he's a good person who works hard.  But if you read the entire interview, there are several places where he contradicts himself. It's troubling.

The MFR Law Group interviewed 20 people for their investigation report. I had requested only the principals' interviews - Keisha Scarlett, Manal Al-ansi, Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf. Because of my reading of these interviews, I have now requested more of them. At the time of this episode, Dr. Scarlett was the chief of Equity Partnerships and Engagement.  One item I didn't mention previously is the issue of the redaction of names. Ninety percent of the time, I know who it is from the context. Other times, I may put in two names in this reporting if I am not sure.  One new fact - according to the report: Internally, SPS requires an investigation be conducted within 30 days but Juneau? signed an extension to allow the investigation to be concluded by January 31, 2021.  - Right up front, the investigation states: Scarlett is covered under SPS's (sic) anti-retaliation policy and is entitled to not be retaliated against.  - Like Al-ansi, Scarlett said she wasn't fil...

  So I saw that the South Seattle Emerald had interviews with candidates for Seattle School Board from District 4 and I started reading. Imagine my surprise when I see Director Brandon Hersey asking a question. What?!  A sitting director, who is also a candidate, is asking other candidates questions about being on the Board? Totally inappropriate. But we have directors who can intimidate and create upsetting work environments for JSCEE staff so sure, why not a director who is directly trying to influence an election? This here is SPS Today.

 The MFR Law Group interviewed 20 people for their investigation report.  I had requested only the principals' interviews - Keisha Scarlett, Manal Al-ansi, Chandra Hampson and Zachary DeWolf. Because of my reading of these interviews, I now have requested more of them. The only two directors not interviewed were Erin Dury and Leslie Harris. That seems odd to me especially for Harris who has been in her position a long time. I am pondering how to provide this information, some of which is stunning, some of which is disturbing and some of which borders on a naïveté that I would not expect from adults who have been in the workplace for a long time. I will try not to repeat information from the report itself but I may need to in order to provide context. What I also find fascinating is that MFR must have asked each person (at least the principal players) for some background on themselves. That some of them were so liberal with their backgrounds seems odd to me but it certainly pro...

Via Facebook: Through this survey , the Washington State Professional Educator Standards Board is currently seeking feedback on the first draft of the revised cultural competency, diversity, equity and inclusion educator standards.  The PESB will share the input they collect with their technical advisory workgroup. It will be used as a resource for how the standards can continue to be strengthened to better support student and community needs.    Community engagement is vitally important to inform the future of equity in educator standards. To ensure that every voice is heard, we are prioritizing opportunities for the public to engage throughout all phases of the initiative.    Through this survey, we are currently seeking feedback on the first draft of the revised CCDEI educator standards. The input we collect will be shared with our technical advisory workgroup and used as a resource for how the standards can continue to be strengthened to better support stud...

There is a story at KING 5 News announcing that Mayor Jenny Durkan and Superintendent Brent Jones have signed an letter of intent to move ahead on revamping Memorial Stadium. And, this would be tied to the passage of BTA V next February 2022. It would also be tied to a possible school on top of where the Battery Street tunnel was (and that's whole other post). KING 5 gets the amount on BTA V wrong - the $66.55M is just for renovating Memorial Stadium; the overall ask for the entire levy is $765M. Yet another issue is the revamping of Seattle Center and the future of The Center School. The City has said the planning would include The Center School but with a renovation may come more leasing costs to the district. So we have two lame duck leaders making a huge decision that affects a key area of the city.  I'll pause here to say this one thing in four words - Queen Anne High School. The high school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and was an of...

  October 22, 2021 The Seattle Education Association is the voice for educators and our students, standing united to address the needs of our community and to transform our district into an anti-racist school system where every student thrives. Via an SPS parent, Special Education Students Need Structure and Stability- Not Disruption Last week, special education staff in about forty different schools were informed that special education positions would be cut due to lower-than-projected enrollment in special education programs. Many of these educators raised concerns about how the district determined these cuts and reached out to their supervisors and/or administrators to ask questions. Their supervisors and administrators did not respond or they directed educators to contact Dr. Torres. There appears to be significant confusion within SPS administration about what is going on with special education staffing.

  Folks, it would appear that either Director Chandra Hampson either learned nothing about being humble from the Scarlett/Al-ansi episode OR she is doubling down before her being president of the Board ends in December. (And if that doesn't happen via a 6-0 vote, then they are ALL insane.) First, just to note, tomorrow night will be the first in-person Board meeting in a long, long time. I'm glad to see it as I think the Board should have to look the public in the eye. I'm hoping that we do not see an influx of board meeting instigators such as we have seen around the country, yelling about masking and CRT.  (To note, there is no actual announcement of this at the website; I just saw different wording on the agenda and asked.) BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR YOU TO DO IS WRITE OR CALL THE BOARD AND TELL THEM, "NO!" to the following agenda item. It's - spsdirectors@seattleschools.org or 206-252-0040 for the Board office.  But the most important issue is this i...

 In a fairly stunning press release, Seattle Schools appears to have a a group that appears to be using a department as their mouthpiece and urging the defunding of police. From the press release : October 14 is George Floyd’s birthday and Justice for George Day/#TeachTruth. Justice for George is a day to remember him and call for funds to be directed towards social programs and education. Now, I know what you are thinking - Melissa, where does it say "defund the police?" True, just calling for funds to be directed towards social programs and education doesn't necessarily mean defund the police. But what funds are they talking about and where are they currently directed? And, who wrote this press release? Meanwhile, over on the district's Facebook page, the message there DID call for defunding the police. (This was up last night and has since been taken down but too late; got a screenshot, SPS.) It said (bold mine): Oct. 14 is George Floyd's birthday, and in his h...

 Lincoln High reopened with great hope and fanfare in September 2019. But then the disaster of COVID came in March 2020 and it, like all other SPS schools, closed. So it’s had probably one of the rougher experiences for a school. (Of course I know that there are many more schools with populations with many challenges but reopening a school after decades closed, trying to get parents and community onboard and then closing again is tough on kids, staff and parents.) So Lincoln parents, how goes it? Parents and/or staff and/or students, please note: - You do NOT have to use your real name here but no “anonymous” - it makes comments hard to track and answer if many people use that. Call yourself Princess Leia or Ted Lasso or whatever; just put down a name. - I screen all comments now but ONLY for attacks that are racist, sexist, etc. You can have a strong opinion and I still will put it up. 

I have tried to compress the MFR Law Group investigation report because I think it is poorly formatted and hard to follow. Here's a link to the original letter of complaint from the two senior staffers to the entire Board that started this whole situation. After reading this investigation report three times, here's what I think. FFS!   Sure, you could blame racism but it probably wasn't that, not when you have egos, misperceptions, misunderstandings, lack of clarity and hubris.  Let me just state the obvious - of course this is important work but it is important to get it right. And, this was all happening in the middle of a PANDEMIC . For the SCPTSA to say a policy of this type had been put off too long, sure, but this was a PANDEMIC.  I don't think anyone at SPS was shuffling their feet.  Here's how to sum up this situation: - Hampson felt she owned this policy (draft Policy 0040) and therefore, the entire process. In short, she was trying to micromanage staff...

The district did finally send me the final investigation report by an independent law firm over allegations of harassment and/or intimidation and/or bullying by Directors Hampson and DeWolf against two SPS senior staffers of color, Dr. Keisha Scarlett and Manal Al-ansi.   I will do a full post on what it said but, after reading it twice, I just shake my head at the whole situation. But if you would like to read it, here's a link. This is the report that the Board itself voted to accept at their last Board meeting. Without having the report available to the public and voting to also excuse themselves from their own Board policy that says that any agenda item must have its documentation attached.  Those two paragraphs alone, with a finding of HIB against two Board members AND the entire Board voting to pause their own policies AND withholding information that the public paid for and has a right to see, that should tell you ALL you need to know about the current state o...