Seattle School Board Hopes to Speed Up Board Meetings

Update: one thing I noticed on the Capital items on the Board agenda was that for each new project - Rogers Elementary, Alki Elementary and Montlake Elementary - each initially had been some kind of modernization of part or most of the building. But now, both Alki and Rogers are to be partially demolished and Rogers is to be entirely demolished. That makes them much larger and more expensive projects. Alki will keep its gym which will be modernized but the rest will go. Montlake will get a new playground and gym but has landmark status so its main building will be modernized. I bring this up because why wouldn't this have all been apparent in the first go-round of decisions?  I think via the Facilities report they knew quite well the condition of each building so why this update? Hmmm

end of update

I was doing my normal check of the weekly meetings of the Seattle School Board and noted that they have a Board meeting this week. Given the teacher strike, naturally I would assume a large public testimony list. (They start taking requests for public testimony at 8am tomorrow morning, either through email or via phone. See bottom of post for sign-up information.) 

However, I saw what I thought was a typo as the meeting starts at 4:15 pm and it says it runs until....5 pm. Huh? Now the agenda itself says the meeting runs until the normal 8:30ish.  But continuing to view to agenda we see a couple of things that might explain that hopeful 5 pm end time.

1) There are no Intro or Action items; all of the Action items have been rolled into the Consent Agenda which is just a single vote of directors. There are 16 items, most that don't need single votes. However, one of them is stated "updated since Intro." How, why? The directors need to view that item by itself. The item is the joint use agreement of parks by the district and the City. 

But it's stunning that there are no Intro items. 

I also note that in the Consent agenda are several action items pertaining to Special Education students who need intensive help. For about 68 students, the cost is over $9M. Part of that is to pay for IEP services for Special Education students in private schools. 

2) The time for public testimony has moved from 5pm to 4:30 pm. It's appalling that this has happened (and I must have missed when it did).  Parents and the public who work can barely get there at 5 pm and now they move it to 4:30pm? Yes, there's that community engagement that the Board is so very fond of talking about. 

But again, I think the public testimony list will be huge given the strike. It is usually just 20 people but I believe if there is a large number of folks who wish to speak, they extend it to 30 people. At about 3 minutes a person (two minutes to speak and walking up), that would mean at least an hour of testimony. 

Hilariously there is still the notation for "Board comments" that each director has two minutes. I can say that most directors tend to ignore that. 

Procedure to sign up for Board testimony:

Members of the public who wish to address the board in person or by teleconference may sign up online or by calling (206) 252-0040, beginning Monday, September 12, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. The public testimony list will be posted Tuesday, September 13, 2022. Those who are placed on the posted public testimony list may provide their testimony by dialing 206-800-4125 and using Conference ID 698 748 813 #. For information on how the public testimony list is created, please visit the Board’s website.

On the principal watch, it appears West Woodland's principal, Farah Thaxton, is leaving that school.