Good Luck, Students and Parents!

 I am assuming that Seattle Schools has opened today. I know this can be an exciting, albeit somewhat nervous day for parents and students, but I also know that SPS has schools staffed with caring adults. 

Let us know in the comments how the day goes for you and your child.

Comments

Anonymous said…
We received a message from SPS last night at 8:35 pm:


Dear SPS families and staff,

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is pleased to announce that it has reached a tentative agreement with Local 302 International Union of Operating Engineers. The Local 302 represents SPS custodians, culinary services, grounds, security, and alarm monitor teams.

SPS appreciates all the hard work of both bargaining teams to reach a tentative agreement.

We are excited to have the members of Local 302 join us as we welcome our students, families, staff, and community partners for the 2023-24 school year tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Bev Redmond
Chief of Staff
Seattle Public Schools

- What did it cost us
9/6/23, 11:41 AM
Anonymous said…
There are some frustrated (former) Japanese students at Garfield. The previous Japanese teacher left at the end of the last school year and over the summer they just didn't hire a new one. Now Spanish is the only foreign language offered at Garfield. At least they snagged Mr. Sundt (formerly of Washington Middle School) to be the long-term substitute orchestra director after the previous director let parents know he was decamping to Mercer Island one week before the start of school.

Bull-Mom
9/7/23, 9:42 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
One foreign language at Garfield? I guess that's what you might call a "well-resourced" school. I mean, they do have one, right?

Was Mr. Sundt the jazz band teacher at WMS?
9/7/23, 1:12 PM
Realist said…
As far as I recall, when they cut foreign languages at Washington Middle School, the principal sent out an email with racial counts arguing it was a matter of equity. I believe the district's current Head of HR was the regional director for WMS at the time.

I can't say what happened at Garfield, but there is therefore a precedent for the District to count the number of Black and Hispanic students in foreign language classes, and other classes, as a measure of equity.

They cut my student's foreign language last year and he also had to take Spanish. Nothing against Spanish, but he hated it because he said he learned almost nothing. Did they even have a book? My student wasn't sure because since there was no homework in the name of equity, he never had a need for a one in order to earn an A.

Look what the district has listed as priorities for well-resourced schools: family kitchens and showers. Those are fine, but those were decided long before the current "listening tour."

It seems unlikely that Japanese class and Japanese books will ever make the list. Because if Japanese class appears to be segregated, it's likely intentionally out.

Parking spaces at a high achieving predominantly white school may fall into the same bucket.
9/7/23, 2:36 PM
Anonymous said…
Hmmm “well-resourced schools” sounds like a meme waiting to happen for the Fox News crowd. Kitchens? Showers? Parking? Not to mention therapy and sexual health planning. Yeah I get that supporting families supports learning but this is all a bit afield of the intent of schools, and it lets everyone else off the hook for delivering services - healthcare should happen at hospitals, cooking/showers at home, etc.

Ugh
9/8/23, 8:55 AM
Anonymous said…
My son is a senior at Ballard, he told me his AP Stats teacher is going on paternity leave starting Monday 9/11, and the teacher had not heard that an appropriate long term sub had been found yet. Obviously this was not a surprise to the school.
Seattle schools are already at a disadvantage in AP starting almost a month later than midwest/east coast schools.

Ballard Mom
9/8/23, 2:42 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more