Seattle Schools Community Forum

 I have not yet read the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action, though I plan to do so. But I did read about Justice Sotomayer and Justice  Brown Jackson have said in their dissent from the majority. And I agree with them. Sotomayer In deciding “that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions,” the court effectively “cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter,” Sotomayor wrote. "The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society," Sotomayor added. "Because the Court’s opinion is not grounded in law or fact and contravenes the vision of equality embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment, I dissent." Brown Jackson In a separate 29-page dissent in the UNC case, J...

 KUOW does a very good job with this story. It's very good reporting from Isolde Raftery and Ashley Hiruko.  This is the story of a gun. It begins with a 14-year-old boy showing it off. It ends with another boy dying in a high school hallway. Kow what might make a difference in the future? If the gun owner who has kids in his home had secured his gun under RCW 9.41.360. Since he appears not to have done that, the law SHOULD be enforced. Every single gun law needs enforcement. If your firearm is not in secure storage, and you knew or reasonably should have known that the firearm could be accessed by someone who is prohibited from possessing a firearm, such as a child, under some circumstances you may be charged with a crime. If a prohibited individual accesses an improperly stored firearm, the firearm owner could be charged with: Community Endangerment in the First Degree is a Class C felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Community Endanger...

 The Seattle Times commissioned a poll on school quality and school safety. It's was taken of 500 Seattle residents which I find a bit odd given there could be many who have never had kids in SPS nor been in a school in years. Quality So for quality about 37% said Excellent/Good and only 9% said Poor and 26% were Undecided. So where does that leave Fair (26%) - leaning to the good or leaning to the bad? Superintendent Brent Jones had this to say: Jones was pleased with those results. “We typically hear about the challenges of Seattle schools and where we’re deficient,” Jones said. “Hearing that … most of the people feel that they are getting a solid experience from Seattle Public Schools, that’s something we already knew. To hear that from a poll — that’s great. What the Superintendent leaves out is the enrollment numbers dropping may mean people are voting with their feet. The poll showed a strong correlation between how people feel about living in Seattle and what they thin...

The Board's Ad Hoc Committee meeting was not a great way to end the day as it was both irritating and dumbfounding. At the meeting, representing the Board were Brandon Hersey, Leslie Harris and Chandra Hampson. Representing staff, it was Superintendent Jones, head of Communications Bev Redmond and Board office staff. I was the only "guest."  What they were trying to hash out is the community engagement around defining "a well-resourced school." What is being proposed are "Learning Walks" at several schools deemed to be well-resourced. Ms Redmond outlined what it might look like: In an hour to an hour-and-a-half, Jones and the Board will take a walking tour of the school, maybe have some "construction experts" to explain good points from the building side, and then engage with community using some kind of prompt like thoughts on what parents think a well-resourced school looks like. It was stressed it would NOT be an open mic.  They will ...

Today I engaged with Washington State and Seattle public education issues. A lot. I listened to a League of Education Voters (LEV) panel, followed by an hour-long call with a couple of people from a progressive group that wanted input on the Board elections, and, to end the day, listening to the Board's Ad Hoc Committee talking about "public engagement." As you can see from the timestamp of this post, I'm starting to write now at 7:30 pm.  This is NOT what I want to be doing frankly. But what I heard today makes me very upset. Here goes with Part One. The title of the LEV webinar was Washington Education Funding and School District Budget Challenges.  As federal stimulus dollars start playing a smaller part in school budgets, school districts across Washington state face challenging decision points. Many districts are exploring consolidating resources and serving students with fewer staff. In this webinar, we will examine why districts are in this situation and d...

Can I say I like this endorsement? Plus, the Times Editorial Board takes major swipes at the current Board and has a quiet yet stern statement on Superintendent Brent Jones. What was that statement? And the power at SPS currently sits in the hands of Superintendent Brent Jones. Yup and that power came from the current Board handing it to him tied with a ribbon on top. Swipe #1 Many of these problems were exacerbated by actions of the current school board, particularly the approval of an unsustainable teachers contract. Whether or not board members knew that the contract would lead to a $131 million chasm, they certainly should have. Pro Gitenstein #1 But Ben Gitenstein, a manager at Google whom The Seattle Times is endorsing to represent District 3, brings more than that. Most refreshingly, a willingness to speak truth to power. Swipe #2 What, exactly, went on before a student brought a gun to Ingraham High last fall and fatally shot another youth in a school hallway? Current bo...

 I just found this online form for comments to the Board . It may have existed for awhile and I just didn't know but it might be more useful than sending one from your own email account. They do have a breakdown of topics, asking if it is a question, comment, suggestion, concern or compliment.  They do say: Board Office staff aggregate feedback submitted here weekly for Directors to review. Directors receive a high volume of messages and will not respond directly, but will receive and review your feedback from Let’s Talk. There's also this page that has all the departments and online forms to contact each of them as well. Big news from SCOTUS this week via Politico: Supreme Court won’t hear charter school dress code case that promised broader fallout J ustices denied a petition to hear Charter Day School, Inc. v. Peltier after conferring over the case last Thursday. Religious liberty groups , some school choice organizations , plus 10 attorneys general in Republican-led...

I see that graduations from Seattle high schools are underway. I want to wish all the grads good luck and all the parents a pat on the back. Great job and congratulations to all!

This race has three candidates - Rosie McCarter, Gina Topp, and Maryanne Wood. The incumbent, Leslie Harris, has chosen not to run again after two terms. I got no response from Maryanne Wood but I did interview Rosie McCarter and Gina Topp.  Gina Topp Here's her campaign website. Topp is a formitable candidate with deep connections within King County government.  - She h olds a B.S. in Biology, Juris Doctorate, and Master of Tax Law from the University of Washington (UW). - She has s erved as the chief legal counsel and policy advisor to King County Executive Dow Constantine.  - She has served on the boards of the 34th District Democrats and the Seattle Sports Complex Foundation as well as on the West Seattle Rotary Board. - Her endorsements include King County Executive Dow Constantine, current director, Leslie Harris, as well as three former directors that include Steve Sundquist, Peter Maier and Barbara Schaad-Lamphere.  Clearly, a candidate who has a law degree ...

District 3 - the seat currently held by Chandra Hampson - is an open one as Hampson wisely chose not to run. (I am taking bets that she ends up doing some kind of SOFG work, maybe as a coach. Not sure she can ever run for office again.) There are three candidates - Ben Gitenstein, Christie Robertson, and Evan Briggs. I interviewed Gitenstein and Robertson and never heard back from Briggs.  After interviewing both Christie and Ben and reading Evan's campaign website, here's my recommendation for the primary - vote for Christie and Ben, if only because they are far more qualified to understand and do the work than Evan. Christie because she has a PhD in neurobiology and Ben because his work has been about managing people and budgets. These attributes would be useful on the Seattle School Board. Ben Gitenstein Here's his campaign website .  "Seattle is a great city. We deserve great schools." After interviewing Ben, I came away very impressed. He is blunt to a point...

As I previously stated, I am not interviewing the incumbents and that includes the incumbent for District 2 - Lisa Rivera Smith. Rivera Smith's interview with the 36th Dems. (I'll have more to say on that interview when I do my endorsements.) Christina Posten My Interview Posten is a former Whitman Middle School principal (and that was the first place she ever was a principal having previously being a teacher). I have to say that to have a candidate who is both a teacher and someone who knows the challenges in Seattle Schools makes her uniquely qualified as compared to other candidates. Doesn't necessarily mean she would do better but her learning curve would be smaller.  I asked Posten why she was running for the Board. She said she felt she had the skill set necessary and could "leverage her experience" in the district to support the district. She said she has been a coach and consultant for other districts. She said she left her post at Whitman because she had...

 I'm not a LEV fan but this webinar could be interesting. I note that this will be the first appearance of the new SPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance/CFO, Dr. Kurt Buttleman . He will be on the panel. He has been in education, working at South Seattle Community College. In that position, he was named CFO of the Year in 2014 by the Puget Sound Business Journal.  As federal stimulus dollars start playing a smaller part in school budgets, school districts across Washington state face challenging decision points. Many districts are exploring consolidating resources and serving students with fewer staff. In this webinar, we will examine why districts are in this situation and discuss possible pathways forward at the state and local level.

Editor's note: I am not interviewing the sitting board member in this district, Liza Rankin. I know her and I know her work so I'm not going to waste her time or mine. I will talk about each sitting director when I put up my endorsements but spoiler alert! I think the Board could use a reset. Also, in my interviews, I asked every challenger about the new governance model, Student Outcome Focused Governance (SOFG). Most of them barely knew anything and know what? That's not on them; that's on the current Board. The current Board talks about "community values and vision" but doesn't ask community what that means to them. They have publicly acknowledged how big a change this is to the district and yet haven't really done any kind of public outreach. A post at the SPS website is NOT outreach.  So if you go to a candidate forum and you see puzzled looks on the faces of challengers when this comes up, don't write them off. Ask yourself why this Board ha...

 I have inquired if this event will be streamed or videotaped for later viewing. If you click through, you can register to view it streaming. I didn't realize that it is a forum that students will run.