Things That Make You Go Hmmm

 First off, I am aware that it seems the district is refusing to move waitlists at many schools but especially many Option Schools. Yes, it does seem odd that a district that is desperate for students now will only enroll them at the schools the district wants them to be in. 

This is something that needs attention and documentation. I will attempt to do that work. Because when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of closures, if there appears to be a pattern whereby the district is going to be able to make claims about enrollment that are, only on face value, true because they made them so. 

I will need your help on collecting that data. 

 

What's up with a near-total overturning of leadership at Nathan Hale High School? I hear the principal and two vice-principals are out (or moved elsewhere).  

Feels like the district is trying mightily to clamp down on schools and how they work. I do know that some high school principals are not very happy with not being able to suspend/expel students who they are worried about having real issues.  As has been reported, the shooter at Ingraham High School had, just weeks before, been in big trouble and yet there he was at the school. 

The new principal at Nathan Hale High School - Jolene Grimes-Edwards - has previously worked at Hale as well as several other schools. 

And many times the question comes out when we have Board elections - do candidates have children in SPS? Turns out that Director Evan Briggs, President Liza Rankin and and SCPTSA co-president Samantha Fogg all have children at Nathan Hale.   

 

Remember the recent issues that the Seattle Council PTSA was having in electing a new board? Where the meeting was on Zoom and there was an accusation that "white people" were trying to take over the board and the current board tried to change the voting rules in the middle of the meeting? It's unclear where they are on the new board members right now. On their home page, it has a "Meet the Board" link that is broken. I suspect this may have to go to the state PTA for help.

For the last Board, there is a list of officers but, alarmingly, many of them wear two hats, doing more than one job. That signals to me a very closed board and/or one that can't find enough volunteers. What IS new is that there is a "SCPTSA Director" for every school board region's director.

 

I'm hearing that Sarah Pritchett, the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, has a much bigger role in the running of Seattle Schools than her title might imply. Word is that she's working out of Dr. Jones' superintendent office. Why would that be?

I also heard that it just might be possible that Superintendent Brent Jones might not be staying after all. But no fear because who did they get back into SPS that looks like he's just waiting in the wings? None other than former Garfield High principal Ted Howard who now serves as the Accountability Officer for the district. Whatever that means. Stay tuned - this could get interesting. 

I absolutely would not put it past the current Board to allow this to happen.

Meanwhile, throughout Washington State:

The Pasco School Board had a recent go at drawing boundaries. Not sure it worked out well. From the Everett Post:

The Pasco School Board adopted a new high school boundary map this week that moves most low-income students to one of the district’s oldest facilities while opening a new school across town.

The decision to redistribute the district’s students was finalized on Tuesday after a 4-1 vote, following almost a year of debate over how to approach the issue. Various options were proposed, ultimately resulting in a choice that prioritized proximity over equity.

During the School Board meeting, district officials opted for Scenario D, which was the most cost-effective in terms of transportation but disproportionately split student demographics. Throughout the process, most participants reported valuing proximity over equity.

“Equity takes the cake for me,” said student board representative Kimberly Joya Manzanarez. “It is the teachers that we have and the classes that we get to take that shape us as students. It is the extracurriculars that we get to seize that shape us as students. I get to go to my top choice school because of the opportunities I seized, and I want that to be true for future Pasco High students.”

“I just want to say,” she continued, “that [opportunities] may be offered, but definitely not at the same level.”

Offered doesn’t really mean offered,” she said. “The course handbook said so many courses were offered when I was a freshman, and you know, as a new freshman, I was really excited that I was going to be able to see so many opportunities only to be disappointed.”

I haven't looked at those options that there is a link to but might be worth seeing what other districts are using.

“Now, this is an opinion of mine,” said Jake Stueckle, PHS’s former principal, who presented the board with the options. “Equal isn’t always best.”

Stueckle compared the decision to a coach focusing on the best players instead of elevating newer or less advanced ones to the same level. He said Pasco’s playing field varies from school to school; there’s no way to ensure every student has the same opportunities.

Wow, saying the quiet part out loud. Again equal doesn't mean equity; they are two different things.  

 

The Washington State Charter Commission voted to revoke the charter of Pullman's only charter school which opened in 2021, Pullman Community Montessori. Simply put, they could not make the funding work.  

Commission staff performed an investigation into the school, and found multiple violations. They included deficiency in safety compliance, changes to the education program and a lack of financial viability, according to documents attached with the meeting agenda.

This brings the number of charter schools in Washington State to 15.  They could have had up to 40. Apparently Washington state parents aren't all that interested.

To note from the Commission:

While there is currently not an application window for potential new charter public schools, the Commission oversees the performance frameworks for 16 charter public schools in Washington. Existing charter public schools may apply for expansion. 

 

Most recently, the Commission approved an expansion application from Spokane International Academy so that the charter public school could expand from serving K-8 to serving K-12 in their community. And in late 2022, Rainier Valley Leadership Academy was approved to expand from serving 6-12 to serving K-12. 

 

Existing charter public schools may also apply for renewal of their charter to continue operating.

 

In plain English the above means there is not any ability for a new charter to come into being. There was a 5-year window for 40 schools and that has passes and the Legislature did nothing to extend it. 

As I mentioned previously, only EXISTING charter schools within the boundaries of SPS have the right of first refusal for any closed Seattle Schools' buildings. There are five of them right now.

The Marysville School District is in trouble - big time.

Financially insolvent’ Marysville schools to get unprecedented oversight

Superintendent Chris Reykdal will convene a first-of-its-kind Financial Oversight Committee, he wrote in a letter Tuesday. 

And their school board president has also resigned.  And the head of HR.

 “I have determined that the district is financially insolvent,” Reykdal wrote Tuesday in a letter to district leaders, “because it is reasonably foreseeable that unless action is taken, (the district’s) financial situation will result in a deficit general fund balance within three years and the district is unable to prepare and execute a satisfactory financial plan.” 

In an email, Marysville schools spokesperson Jodi Runyon wrote leaders were not yet sure what the committee would mean for district operations. School board meetings would continue as scheduled, she wrote, “unless we are instructed otherwise.”

If the district was dissolved, neighboring districts would step in to serve Marysville students, Payne said. The state has never dissolved a school district before, though Vader School District in Lewis County was dissolved years ago and annexed into the Castle Rock School District.

And holy smokes, via My Northwest, Maryville's finance director wrote a 78-page (!) document to OSPI ..

regarding the need for an external investigation regarding falsifications, violations of the law, cronyism and a hostile work environment that is most prevalent with top leadership and HR directed to other executive directors, directors, legal counsel and other support staff specifically at the service center,” Gonzales wrote in a letter for the school board, obtained by The Everett Herald.