This and That

According to the Seattle Times, Seattle Schools will NOT be changing any graduation dates. 

Muslim students at three Seattle high schools have a difficult choice to make on June 17: Celebrate Eid al-Adha, one of the most important Muslim holidays, with their families or attend their graduations, an important rite of passage.

But the students said the outreach to their administration and follow-up efforts with Seattle Public Schools officials went nowhere. Last month, a coalition of students from Garfield, Cleveland and Franklin high schools spoke during a School Board meeting, asking the district publicly to change the graduation date. 

It notes that some dates are not fixed and are based on moon sightings. It lists the date of Eid al-Adha in the 2023-24 academic year as June 16-17. But OSPI keeps a list of religious holidays and had June 17th for this particular one. So SPS saying they didn't know for sure seems lame. 

Some said that scheduling the ceremonies on a Muslim holiday and the lack of engagement from the district made Muslim students, families and staff feel excluded and ran counter to the district’s pronouncements on equity and its aim to center students “furthest from educational justice.” 

Reading this story, it appears students believe the district never acted in good faith to even listen to them and just ran out the clock. What's odd is that at the School Board meeting in early May, Deputy Superintendent Ted Howard was brought to the podium by Superintendent Brent Jones to report on how this was going. Howard basically said, we're talking. So it's unclear to me who Howard actually spoke with.

This year’s graduation holds deep significance to students, who started their high school experience during the pandemic, Vickner Hough said.

The district said it would continue to work with faith leaders “about possible recommendations for next year’s commencement planning.”

The Times also reports on an ACLU lawsuit by several plaintiffs, including a former nurse at West Seattle High School and also a mother of two SPS students, over Initiative 2081 which was passed by the WA State Legislature for a so-called "Parents Bill of Rights."

Initiative 2081, which was passed by the Washington state Senate in March, would require schools to state what information the parent of a child in a public school was entitled to, including instructional materials. It includes 15 total rights, including notification of medical and safety matters.

Thursday’s lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Washington, Legal Voice, and QLaw on behalf of ten nonprofit organizations, argues the initiative contains “vague and broad language” that would harm youth from marginalized communities. 

“Parents shouldn’t have to wade through state laws and rules to figure out what their rights are when it comes to knowing what is being taught at their child’s school, or how the school responds to the health questions of students,” Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg, said in a March statement after the initiative was passed.

I actually have an upcoming thread on what parents know and when about the school environment. 

The lawsuit filed Thursday argues the parental notification provision contradicts privacy protections for health records and will interfere with students’ ability to independently consent to medical treatment. The bill could also out LGBTQ+ students and endanger their safety, the lawsuit alleges.

“Initiative I-2081 rests on the assumption that all homes are safe, and that is sadly not the case,” said Erin Lovell, executive director of Legal Counsel for Youth and Children, in a news release.

The organizations seek an order from the King County Superior Court preventing the initiative from going into effect in June.

An AP report says this:

A conservative megadonor backed the law, which is set to take effect in June. The Democratic-led Legislature overwhelmingly approved it, with progressive lawmakers wanting to keep it off the fall ballot while calculating that courts would likely block it.

And here's what the law currently is:

Minors do not need parental permission to get an abortion in Washington, and state law gives those 14 and older the right to get tested or treated for sexually transmitted diseases without their parents’ consent. Those 13 and older have the right to outpatient behavioral health treatment.  

 

Over in Wenatchee, their school board closed one elementary school and cut 63 staff positions. This story from the Everett Post.  Wenatchee SD has lost 916 students since 2015. 

Since staffing constitutes 85% of the district’s budget, reductions were needed to balance the budget shortfalls. District officials intend to cut around $9 million for the upcoming school year.

Teachers, parents and other community members flocked to Tuesday’s School Board meeting to try to save the school, but instead, they could only voice their frustrations.

And here are the cost savings that district put forth:

The district outlined the savings as such:

$2.8 million saved by closing Columbia and cutting 28 staff members;$2 million saved by aligning the three middle schools’ schedules and cutting 20 staff members;$671,000 saved by shifting the high school from a 4×4 block to a six-period schedule while cutting six staff members;$1 million saved by cutting “additional staffing” by nine positions;$2.5 million saved by reductions in materials, supplies and operational costs.

 

Meanwhile in Yelm, dozens of Yelm high school students walked out over proposed budget cuts. This from KING-5 news:

Last week, the Yelm Community Schools Board approved a proposal to eliminate 220 staff positions, including 120 teachers.

The district currently has 350 teachers, according to Superintendent Chris Woods.

Woods said cuts could include junior varsity sports, drama and music programs. 

“Unfortunately, when you’re cutting $15 million, everything’s on the table. So there are no easy decisions in this,” said Woods.

 Those are some very deep cuts.

Want to learn more about the situation at Pathfinder K-8 which the Board heard about at the last Board meeting? Here's a letter parents wrote.

It is surely a very tense situation at that school with at least 5 parents coming forward at the Board meeting to read anonymous thoughts from staff members too worried to speak up in person.