Heads Up If You Want To Glean Info on the Thinking of the Seattle School Board

Update

Well that was one odd meeting. 

What happened was that -whatever the reason- BOTH the phone-in listening AND the YouTube footage did not work at yesterday's Board meeting. How it's possible for two very different ways of accessing the meeting could go wrong seems a mystery.

But I hung in there and the audience (viewing) was told that the footage of the discussion around the new Student Rights and Responsibilities policy would be made available. I did send an email to the Board office requesting this because I don't know when that will be or even where I would look to be sure to find it.

Here's what the agenda said for the Retreat (which is where the public came in):

- Supports for Board Work

- Board Work Plan

- Closing

To note, when I published this post yesterday there was no documentation for the Retreat. That's one lesson for readers - staff does not have to put all the documentation up at the time the agenda is published. You have to go in, over and over, to see if anything new gets put in there. 

The Board work plan is at the end of the documentation. 

What first occurred at the retreat was something that I know many people do not like - a team building exercise. President Brandon Hersey told the group to take their blank sheet of paper and some crayons and draw a picture of something that happened to each director in the last few weeks and put a one-word emotion at the bottom. 

And this was not on the agenda so it was a little confusing when this all was going to align with the stated agenda. This was a public meeting. 

The stories each director told were very sweet, very humanizing. I learned some things - Hersey is getting married, Sarju is a mid-wife, and Superintendent Jones' father turned 85. 

After about 30 minutes, they finally got to the first agenda item. Here's where I felt pretty dismayed. 

The discussion was about how staff will be communicating information to the Board. There are four "technical tools."

- Weekly Forecast - This tool already exists. This is an email that the Board will receive weekly to remind them of their work schedule and tasks to get done. I was startled to hear Director Sarju say that she had no idea there was more information if you scroll down. She said she had never done that.

- Board Bulletin - The slide said, "The purpose is to include the Board in celebrating progress and achievements made across the district..." as well as work specific to the Strategic Plan.

Let's Talk - Head of Communications, Bev Redmond, said this is "email 5.0" and allows the Board "to take subject matter nimbly." They had several categories which the public can use to choose what their communication to the Board is about. I think this could be helpful to Board members in terms of seeing what categories get the most play. What is odd is that there are no categories for programs, school-based issues or safety. 

This is managed by the Ombudsperson and Customer Service. 

This is a bit confusing to me because I believe you can still email the entire Board or a director but if you use the Let's Talk form, someone else will see your message first and slot it into a category. The claim is that users will get a faster response time. But will it be a useful response? Hard to say.

Directors Lisa Rivera Smith and Director Vivian Song Maritz had several questions. Rivera Smith asked about if a person had a comment AND a question. The answer was that person would need to submit two comments. You can also submit a photo or document using the tool. 

Song Martiz made an interesting comment on the Bulletin, saying she didn't really need it and "I don't have to know what your team is working on, I trust you." She also said many people didn't know about Let's Talk and prefer to "talk to the manager" and I believe she meant, submitting directly to a director a question or comment.  

Director Liza Rankin chimed in saying that it seemed too much for staff to do their work AND then report about it to the Board, calling it "rehashing the work you are doing."

I'll just pause here to state that I just do NOT know what Rankin and Song Maritz think the job is if not to AT LEAST know what staff is working on and how at any given time. They got rid of committee meetings and that oversight. And now they don't need to know what the Superintendent and staff are doing on a weekly basis?

- Board Director Question form - This was the form just for questions for items on regular Board meeting agendas. Now this form is for ALL director questions. So someone somewhere will vet the questions and pass them on to the appropriate staffer. I didn't hear how long this will take to get routed nor how long it will take to get questions answered. (I left the meeting with an hour and a half left; perhaps this answer was in there.)

Issues

1) The information discussed in this section WAS not in the documentation. I took screenshots but I think I missed at least one slide. 

2) A couple of these seem to be quasi replacements for the (former) Friday Memo that superintendents would send out to keep the Board up-to-date on what staff was doing as well as committee meetings that the Board dropped. 

3) This is all STAFF arranged. I find that disturbing that the Board is allowing the Superintendent and staff to dictate how the latter will communicate with the former. All this was given with a smile of course and the Board got to ask questions about the different tools work but none of these tools were Board generated as far as I could glean from the discussion.

Redmond said a company called K-12 Insight created these tools and "we are major customers of theirs." Interesting.

And just an aside to Director Rivera Smith - if you are going to wear a mask AND talk at a rapid-fire pace, it is really hard to understand you.

Plus, Sarju and Hampson look at their phones a lot. Hampson even got gently called out on that by the Superintendent.  

end of update

The Seattle School Board is having a "special meeting" tonight. At first it was just to approve the newly renamed "Student Rights and Responsibilities" policy (now called "Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools." These basic rules "contain the student rights and responsibilities." But now it includes the Board's retreat. It will be streamed so it could be interesting

This policy had been brought up for a vote by the Board previously but the BAR got tabled because of some confusion about it. Director Rankin especially seemed confused. That new name? It's part of whatever the issue was about the policy in the first place. 

Some of the wording in the BAR under Equity Analysis is somewhat troubling .

For the 2022-2023 school year, students and staff were engaged primarily via scheduled
meetings and policy review. Collaborators informed us that they still did not see the
implementation of the Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools and more work needed to
be done to increase transparency and education around these policies for students and parents/guardians. This aligned with feedback from students and community in previous years that the Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools is a well-intended document, but implementation of this document needs to be a priority.

That last sentence? Tips me off that this policy has packed in the race and equity policy that Director Hampson has been pushing for so long. I had wondered why she had backed off on that work; I think it's embedded here.

The Coordinated School Health Discipline team began the 2022-2023 school year with the
intention of partnering with parents/guardians to learn more about their experiences with
discipline. Based on information provided by connections staff were able to make, and
information gathered during previous years, staff recognized that the policy is not reflective of
the experiences of those who are most impacted. Unfortunately, there were several barriers
that prevented this work from happening to the scope staff had intended, but we are committed
to continuing the partnership with students, parents/guardians, and community until the
document acknowledges the experiences and impact of these disciplinary policies on those
furthest from educational justice.

I would like to know more about the "Coordinated School Health Discipline team." Who are they and what is their mission?

"...staff recognized that the policy is not reflective of the experiences of those who are most impacted." Who are they talking about? And what are the "barriers" that "prevented" the work from getting done? Hmm

Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, the Discipline team, in collaboration with DREA
staff intend to partner with students, including the school board student members, to write the
Student Rights section in their own words, as well as co-design documents that enhance
student accessibility to the Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools such as video
presentations, advisory lessons, and trainings for students and staff on student rights. The
Discipline team will also align data review to the Goals and Guardrails, coach school leaders
on student and staff support, communicate with the School Board regarding discipline data and
policy, and ensure the Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools meets state mandated requirements.

So the Board is voting in a policy they know isn't finished to their standards/wishes to fulfill a state requirement? 

 I think the following paragraphs are key to this effort to rewrite the policy and for parents to understand in terms of how the policy is enacted, 

Student behavior is closely associated with learning. Meaningful learning occurs in
environments that are safe, positive, consistent, and predictable. By establishing an inclusive,
safe, and welcoming environment that includes co-created behavioral expectations and a
common language for talking about expected behavior, students can focus on learning.

 In addition, this work directly aligns with the SPS Strategic Plan Seattle Excellence, which is
laser-focused on supporting students of color who are furthest away from educational justice,
beginning with African American boys and teens. This work is not about changing students. It
is about changing broken systems and undoing legacies of racism in public education. By
actively addressing racism in our educational system, and ensuring students furthest from
educational justice thrive, conditions in Seattle Public Schools will improve for all.
The potential benefits of making changes to the Basic Rules of Seattle Public Schools SR&R
include clear alignment across district departments, consistency in disciplinary responses, and
increased transparency for students, parents/guardians, and community.

Board Policy No. 3240 also states that “the foundation of Seattle Public Schools’ discipline
policy is one of prevention and measurement of progress. The policy is grounded in the
establishment of a positive school climate that is based on shared behavioral expectations and a
common language for talking about expected behavior. The shared behavioral expectations are
reaffirmed through an inclusive process that involves students, families, teachers,
administrators, volunteers, and other staff within a tiered support framework. Should
divergence from these shared expectations occur, behaviors will be addressed with a
continuum of responses from positive communication through clear pathways for
reengagement and reparation of harm.

After the Board votes on this policy, they will have a dinner break for 30 minutes. So the retreat starts at 5:45 pm and will run until 8 pm.

The agenda says:

- Supports for Board Work

- Board Work Plan

- Closing

I will ask about supporting documentation to flesh this out.

Comments

Furthest said…
Let's not forget the district's actual definition of "students furthest from educational justice." This includes rich students, it includes students that are straight A students, and includes students that come from families with phds. The only requirement to be a student "furthest from educational Justice" is to be a member of one of the district's favored racial classes. If you're White or Chinese or East Indian you are classified as "not" furthest from educational Justice regardless of whether or not your family is on welfare or you are failing all your classes.

The district then tallies up the counts based on these racial classes to prioritize funds and services. In most places this would be illegal racial profiling and discrimination.

Not surprisingly, last year six of the top 12 highest paid District staff were African-American and three were hispanic. No Asians at all. Similar numbers for the principals at the District's large comprehensive High schools. All the kids of these nine staffers making more than 250k would also be furthest from educational justice because of their favored racial classes.

The District already has all kinds of policies which these top staffers ignore, along with the US Constitution. Someday somebody with power may actually notice
New Trend said…
HC appeals via private testing are now race based in Seattle Public Schools.
"If you're White or Chinese or East Indian you are classified as "not" furthest from educational Justice regardless of whether or not your family is on welfare or you are failing all your classes."

Well, I'm not going to defend targeted universalism; I just don't think it works but yes, what the above states is true. That the district tried to drill down further to Black American boys (versus immigrant boys) is troubling.

I, too, noticed the near zero number of Asians in senior leadership. This seems odd given the make-up of the city and the district.

New Trend, could you tell us more about how you know about HC appeals testing?
Oy said…
E-mails are not transparent. The district should not have gotten rid of Friday Memos.
Oy, you make a good point and I will have to ask if these will be published anywhere ongoing. Because if you have to request each one, that could get tedious.
Anonymous said…
Furthest:

Do you have a source for how SPS defines those furthest away from educational justice. I had assumed that it was a sugar coated way of saying under-represented minorities (always curious which URM they included in this category), but could never find this info. I had of course assumed they meant URM who were actually furthest away from educational justice (e.g. attending a poorly resourced school, not performing well in school, etc). URM who are crushing it in HCC or at a well-funded school, seems a little insulting to tell them their A's still leave them furthest away from educational justice.

BLUE SKY
Anonymous said…
Melissa:

Can you clarify what you mean by this?
"That the district tried to drill down further to Black American boys (versus immigrant boys) is troubling."

Many immigrant East Africans live in the same Seattle neighborhoods as US born African Americans. How is the district differentiate between these two communities in the same schools - and what real world ramifications was there?

Do you have a source for this?

I'm not arguing one way or the other (there's certainly huge differences between the groups culturally, though there's also many shared experiences). Just trying to better understand what's happening in the district.

Thanks!

BLUE SKY
Blue Sky, the district is using the Targeted Universalism approach used in Oakland Public Schools. The idea is you pick one struggling group of students and focus on them, with the idea being what you learn in that focused approach you can then use for other groups (and see results more quickly). The group the district picked was Black boys. I thought that odd because it seems like Black girls also have struggles but that’s what they did.

I would have to go back and look but I recall a Board committee meeting where the discussion was around focusing on American Black boys (those native born) versus immigrant African boys who had some amount of time being raised in another country. I never heard any more of that thought again and my take was that the department created to work with Black boys wanted to have as narrow a focus as possible.
OSPIretiredprofessional said…
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then He made school boards. – Mark Twain

Washington State law explicitly states that “each common school district board of directors, whether or not acting through its respective administrative staff, be held accountable for the proper operation of their district to the local community and its electorate.”

Typically, School Board members (Board) do not have extensive financial backgrounds related to district finances. Board members (a.k.a., directors) are elected to their positions. There is no requirement of having particular financial backgrounds for the job. The lack of financial background puts a Board at a disadvantage regarding understanding why particular decisions are made, deciphering financial reports, and monitoring the budget.

Given that elected officials will continue to govern districts, there is a clear need for some Board training. Such training should be straightforward and address a Board's purview of developing policy, defining strategy, and providing oversight to a district’s personnel. A training program should include an annual orientation (especially for new members) and periodic workshops as may be needed throughout a district's fiscal cycle. A properly structured training program addresses:

• How to read financial statements and reports
• Budget development and management
• Program management, expenditures, and grants
• Fiscal policy
• Strategic planning and oversight

Nothing in state law prevents a Board from involving itself in the actual running of the schools. The Board cannot simply set policy and judge how well the executive management implements the policy without the Board involving itself in the actual running of the schools. Without Board action families and students lack assurance that their needs will be addressed if the Board doesn’t step In. Genuine participatory budgeting and reforms that empower community members and the Board to make more of the decisions that affect students can help improve a district’s operations. Otherwise, all the Board will be left with is a rubber stamp.

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Education News Roundup