Items of Note

Update: Here's the info for the candidate forum; thanks to a great reader.

A consortium of education nonprofits is proud to announce a public, community roundtable event designed to engage Seattle residents in crucial conversations with candidates about the future of public education. This event, organized by Alliance for Education, Black Education Strategy Roundtable, League of Education Voters, Seattle Council PTSA, Seattle Student Union, Southeast Seattle Education Coalition and South Seattle Emerald will provide an intimate platform for Seattle School Board and Seattle City Council candidates to address important issues from the community, share their visions, and answer questions.

Event Details:

  • Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2023
  • Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
  • Location: Rainier Avenue Church, 5900 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118

  • The event program will include a free family style meal during brief opening remarks before attendees move into small, intimate roundtables that candidates will cycle through, allowing more personal questions and one-on-one face time. Candidates and community members will cover key issues top of mind related to public education, such as:

  • Funding for schools
  • Equity and access to quality education
  • Curriculum development and innovation
  • Community engagement and partnership
  • School safety and student well-being

The event is free and open to all members of the community and media. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to secure seating and have time for dinner. Dinner will be served free of charge to all attendees with accessible options such as vegetarian and halal available. Translation and interpretation will be available for ASL, Amharic, Cantonese, Oromo, Tigrinya, Vietnamese, Somali and Spanish. Transit access is available with nearby King County Metro bus lines 7, 106 and their on-call flexible options.

The event will also be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person.

Find additional information, accessibility, and updates about the event here.

This could be much better than a traditional forum. I hope someone asks both Director Liza Rankin and Director Lisa Rivera Smith about SOFG. They should have to explain that huge item. Also, ask all of them about closing schools and what that will mean for the entire district.

end of update

In good news for Seattle Public Schools, Thurgood Marshall Elementary School was named a Blue Ribbon School by the Department of Education and named an “Exemplary High Performing School.”

The Superintendent mentioned this at the Board meeting but as of this moment, no press release or tweet has been sent out. 

One parent at last night's Board meeting from West Woodland Elementary reported that their school's year was going swell until parents received some unhappy news. Due to enrollment shifts, class sizes would change AND a couple of classrooms would become splits. 

Now this is not a first for Seattle Schools and yes, adjustments do happen. But, as the parent said, "It goes against the "well-resourced school" philosophy." He said these changes do not support stable and reliable learning environments. Now this is not a first for SPS and shifts do happen. But know what principals could do? Warn parents from the outset that it could happen so that it doesn't seem out of the blue and upsetting. 

The Seattle School Board wants to hear from you about your priorities for the next capital levy.  

Please fill out this BEX VI Guiding Principles Feedback Form and let us know if these principles align with your values for Seattle Public Schools buildings by Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. 

and this tweet:

Find a draft of the guiding principals, the feedback form, and more info at: buff.ly/46ttagr

Principals? Seriously?

This was put up at the district's webpage on September 25th; they are giving this ONE WEEK to get input. This is NOT public engagement. And those "principles?" Read it for yourself. Weird how verbose and yet vague they are. 

Honestly, if I were on the Board, I would be ashamed of how this district communicates to parents and the public. 

And readers, could you please help me out? I swear I saw a listing for a city council/school board candidate forum sometime in early Oct but now, I just can't find it. If you have the info on it, please send it to me at sss.westbrook@gmail.com. It doesn't seem like there will be many forums and I'd like to try to find as many as I can. Thanks!


Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm sorry to the families surprised by the split classes. We went through this a few years ago. I suggest that anyone with a child in the lower grade of a split class ask the teachers and principal what they are going to do to ensure those kids do not repeat lessons the following year. Then keep asking until they give you a plan. I asked, they avoided the question, and my student did the same science lessons, same lessons in many subjects, the following year, because in the split class the teacher just taught everyone the lessons for the older grade. It was lousy. The school, which I'd had a high opinion of before, really disappointed me. I know the district determines how many teachers a school can have, but if the solution is to do a split class, I would expect the principal to come up with a way that kids do not get the same exact content two years in a row.
--k4mom
9/28/23, 10:20 PM
Amanda F said…
I was in split level classes growing up and loved them. I don't see them as something to fear. I was in an "open classroom" for 1-4th, which meant various things, but among them mixed age levels. 1st-3rd, and then at some point 3rd got lumped in with 4th and 5th.

My kid was in a split K/1 for 1st and did really well. Of course these were with relatively small class sizes and well supported teachers. But we definitely didn't just repeat a class year. We were often in small groups doing things appropriate to ability level.
9/29/23, 8:36 AM
Anonymous said…
Splits can be great, as long as there is deliberate planning around curriculum and composition, not thrown together in October. They are also a lot harder than they were a generation ago…more pressure on grade level standards. What I’m hearing is that the requirement on principals to create these was completely unexpected even a week ago, and could cause big disruptions in the coming weeks just to hit “class size reduction” targets in K-3.

SMH
9/29/23, 10:31 PM
Anonymous said…
The only thing that needs splitting is this district.

Split now
10/1/23, 12:28 PM
@Split Now said…
State Representatives Sharon Tomiko Santos and Pettigrew (south Seattle) wanted to split the district years - ago. Perhaps they were correct.
10/1/23, 5:02 PM
Anonymous said…
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10/3/23, 2:50 PM
Anonymous said…
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10/4/23, 10:17 AM
Anonymous said…
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10/4/23, 4:15 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
I am seeing more gun events based on disagreements and not a lone gunman. The recent shootings at a university is an example. I suspect this incident at Garfield HS is the same. Too much easy access to guns.
10/5/23, 8:12 AM
Anonymous said…
I wonder if you've heard about the classroom adjustments forced by the district this week. Because they failed to follow the state formula for K-3 class size, they are now making some schools create 3-4 split classrooms, moving just a handful of 3rd graders into 4th to make the class sizes work below that. It's ridiculous. They had all these numbers in the spring but would not budge, now forcing kids and teachers to move around 5 weeks in. For the umpteenth year in the row. Student outcome based decisions, LOL. And they leave their principals high and dry to figure things out and take the heat.

I have nothing against intentional, multiage classrooms - they can be great as long as teachers are prepared and there is community buy-in. But this is not that. When we asked for central office info on curriculum management for our multiage classes, forced by their staffing cuts last spring (and putting our classes at 30), they just said there was nothing and to check the publishing company websites.

Seattlelifer
10/6/23, 10:48 PM
pillsonlinenorx said…
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10/8/23, 4:09 AM
buyklonoponpill said…
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10/12/23, 11:59 PM
buyklonoponpill said…
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10/13/23, 12:15 AM
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