2024 - Let's Start the Year With Things That Make You Go...Hmmm

 I note that the Gates Foundation and a group called The Scholar First have created a "Washington State Education Roundtable" and put out their list of members. I can see that the list of members is not comprehensive for all Washington state school districts but to not see not a single person from the largest school district in Washington seems odd. 

Also, here's their latest long-term vision:

By 2035, our goal is to help 70% of Washington’s students enroll in a postsecondary program after high school—the first step in preparing local students for the good-paying jobs in our state.

They also have a "Quick Facts" and this one is disturbing:

Washington state is 49th in the country in FAFSA completion.

On the incident in June 2023 at Sand Point Elementary School where a guy jumped the fence, chased kids, went into a classroom and harassed students before leaving, I received another folder of public disclosure documents. Among the emails was this info to add to the story:

- A security person in SPS - a lead in fact - asked the then-principal Ric Baileykaze if they had walkie-talkies. The principal said yes but they were ordering more. So SPS Security doesn't know what schools have what safety equipment? And if schools have their own safety plans (which I assume they do), does SPS have those plans so that, after the fact, they can verify that schools followed said plans? 

- The principal told that security person that he could not going to some SPS meeting - at U Village - because he had to meet with community right after the scheduled time and was worried about time. Why is there an SPS security meeting at U Village? (It is nearer to Sand Point than headquarters but why not not meet at Sand Point?)

- After the incident, which was largely on the playground and nearby portables, there was discussion of moving some classes around. The principal wrote to SPS Labor Relations, asking if there had to be a timeline for moving classrooms and/or paying teachers to change rooms. The answer was no to both. 

- One parent wrote in and asked about barbed wire to put on the top of the fencing. 

- One mystery was why the 5th graders were alone in the portable when the intruder came into it. After the incident, the teacher wrote to the principal saying it was distressing to hear that there was talk that he didn't cooperate with police and why did so many people want to know why the kids were alone in the portable?

It appears that their teacher was on the playground and had followed the intruder but had some kind of physical issue that prevented the teacher from moving quickly. She claims that the kids were only alone "for five seconds" which can't really be true given that the kids had first tried to lock the door and then tried to hold the door closed against the intruder but couldn't. I'm having a hard time believing if she was right on his heels that all that could have happened in five seconds especially since the kids also said he talked to them and tried to grab at one girl and took a backpack. 

The record also says that the teacher next door was the first in the room - hearing the kids shouting at the intruder - not the designated teacher. 

Checking in at the Seattle Schools' website page, I see that for the first two weeks of the year the district/Board have NO public-facing work at all. No Board meetings, no committee meetings and, of course, no community meetings. The Board has one Board meeting in January and one Board meeting in February. Ditto for March. It's not until April that there are two Board meetings in a month. And around that time, it is likely that the district will be announcing possible school closure candidates.

At the last Board meeting of 2023, on December 13th, I see that - again - it is Director Song who asks questions of staff. I continue to find it disturbing that it is largely her and Director Rivera who ask questions of staff on various staff work.

As well at that last meeting, there was one speaker who went on - without being told to end her remarks - for about 6 minutes. She didn't go over 30 seconds or just a minute, but a full 4 minutes. It's ridiculous how the Board picks and chooses favorites who get to speak longer than others. This was Sebrena Burr, a past president of the SCPTA and long-time public education advocate for Black children. She decided to call out Director Harris (oddly, not by name) over Harris asking Hersey at her last Board meeting to not roll his eyes. 

Somehow this has morphed into some big disrespect. It was maybe 30 seconds of discomfort but Harris went on with her remarks. It is utterly ridiculous to think Harris needed to apologize.

Then Burr went on to talk about some interchange between Directors Song and Sarju at that same meeting saying that "some directors don't believe in our children." Well, if you want to talk about disrespect, there it is. I assume Burr means Song, in some way, disagreed with Sarju and decided - yet again - it was disrespectful. 

Electeds disagree all the time and usually without being disagreeable. It is good for electeds in a group - city council, school board, etc - to strive for unity but that is not always going to be possible.

Burr went on to say senior Black staff see the racism and that Black educators have it the worst. And then she bombastically stated that Superintendent Jones "was born and made for" his current job. 

Last "hmm" - if you were a someone who has expertise in Ethnic Studies, had a website about bringing Ethnic Studies into K-12 curriculum and called yourself "Dr." (in the PhD way), near and far, wouldn't you want to put that in your curriculum vitae if you finished said PhD if you were an instructor at a major university? And yet, not there. Hmmm.