Seattle Schools Community Forum

Director Joe Mizrahi is going to be at the John Hay PTSA meeting on Monday, September 16th at 6 pm in their cafeteria.  Director Sarah Clark will be at the Magnolia Community Council meeting on Tuesday, September 17th at 7 pm at Our Lady of Fatima Parish Center.    School Board meeting on Wednesday, September 18th at 4:15 pm. September 25th Director Gina Topp will have a community meeting on September 25th at the West Seattle Library from 5-6 pm. To note; there will be a district community meeting on "well-resourced schools" from 6:30-7:30 pm but I don't know where yet in West Seattle. (Editor's note; I got those times for Topp's meeting wrong.) To find out that community meetings that the district/Board are setting up will allott just ONE HOUR is a disgrace. Because that's too short, they will take 20 minutes of it to talk about the proposals, and you will be facilitated. If I were there, I would be speaking up to Board members about this. It's just i

The headline is - Seattle's School Closure Plan Slashes What Works, Not What Doesn't. In his column , he starts in a good place which is 50 years ago in Seattle when parents were trying to piece together "a free school." What was then called an "alternative school."  It was for “the dropout, who is turned off and cannot make it in the structured classroom,” said a 1971 Seattle Times article. (Really, they described the kids like this back then.) “And for the child — usually of well-educated middle-class families — whose parents reject the ‘lockstep’ regular education.” “We’re doing an experiment,” one parent told The Times. “Whether or not an alternative school, per se, that can be run by parents or community can survive within the bureaucracy.” Eventually, the bureaucracy comes for all. That school, which was called “Alternative Elementary,” was so successful they started another, “Alternative Elementary II.” Both are still rejecting the lockstep

The Seattle Times has an op-ed piece - Seattle school closures: Cuts in all the wrong places- from former School Board President Michael DeBell. Let me say upfront that DeBell and I didn't always agree BUT he listened. To everyone. He was one of the better board presidents in the last 30 years of this district.  He starts: Seattle Public Schools is headed for a “defund the police” moment. The district is proposing a closure/consolidation policy so contrary to its long-term interests, so ideologically driven and brimming with unintended negative consequences, that our city will look back at it with disbelief. Pretty damn great.  I'll let you read all of it yourself.  Here is my comment I left: If ONLY the Times allowed gifs I'd put up one that says, "Boom!" Mr. DeBell, in his usual calm and considered manner, debunks a lot of the so-called reasoning from senior leadership on closing schools. He absolutely nails it. I was on the last Closure and Consolidatio

 Update: The Board meeting tomorrow, Saturday the 14th, has been cancelled. end of update Tomorrow, Saturday the 14th, apparently the Board is having yet ANOTHER Board Retreat. This one is at the JSCEE at 1 pm. The Board office has made no agenda available yet but I'll look again when we are less than 24 hours out. The agenda also says there is yet another Executive Session.  As I noted elsewhere, Director Joe Mizrahi is going to be at the John Hay Elementary PTSA meeting on Monday night. It might be one of the few times you can actually ask a director questions. Then on Tuesday, September 17th , there's the one Board committee still going (only because they legally have to have it) and it's a meeting of the Audit Committee . It runs from 2-4 pm. It is chaired by Director Evan Briggs with Liza Rankin as interim member and Gina Topp, also as interim member. (I would suppose that because so many on the Board are new.) Agenda here. There's "Audit Committee Configurat

 I did previously report this out.  Senior leadership did a Budget Work Session on August 28th. In it. they had the two choices. Closing schools (with specifics on savings) or what I am calling "Plan B" below. Plan B Alternative Budget Reductions for 2025-2026  Potential Reductions.                        Positions     Savings Eliminate all Elem. & K -8 School Asst. Principals        22          $  5.0 million Increase middle & high school class sizes to 34:1         72.2         $11.2 million Increase 4th & 5th grades class sizes to 30:1                 32.5         $  5.0 million Increase K -3 class sizes (varies)                                     15            $  2.3 million Reduce all Librarian positions to .5 max                       15.5         $  2.7 million Eliminate all School Equity Funds                                                 $  5.4 million   Total  157.2 positions   $31.6 million They have 3 statements about class size but know what? That

Here are some higher level thoughts from Seattle Schools on what they are trying to do. I pulled out what I thought were key comments in their documentation on Well-Resourced Schools.  This plan begins with our schools that serve our preschool through 5th grade students. Right there, you have a issue that the district should publicly acknowledge. Their funded role is for K-12 and yet they are going to put Pre-K near the top of the list of things in a well-resourced K-5 elementary. If that is true, they need to renegotiate with the City on Pre-K. It's ridiculous that the City pays no rent for the space AND withholds payment to the district until they see metrics of their liking. And, Pre-K pushes out other uses for K-5 buildings. For example: Our plans for a well-resourced school system include s space for two Pre-K classrooms at every single elementary school. SPS knows that early childhood education is a critical part of a well-resourced schools system so Pre-K is an importan

I firmly believe that down at the old JSCEE, senior staff said, "They want data and info? We're gonna give it to them." The documentation released yesterday is just overwhelming. I am diligently reading through it and trying to pull out key items. One thing they could have done is group topics together but no, so if you are looking for a specific topic, you'll have to wade through all of it.  I hope to get something together later today after I read, digest, and then organize the information in a way that is most helpful to parents.  But I read the comments at the West Seattle Blog and it's a good snapshot of possible discussions going on around the district. - This is heartbreaking. The reason I stay where I live and commute so far is so that my kids can apply to Boren K-8 next year and Lafayette as a backup. It’s a shame in a region so rich with STEM opportunities that both options will eliminate the only STEM school. - Lafayette is the most walkable elementary

Update from SPS: Key Upcoming Dates: To ensure everyone has the opportunity to understand these proposals and share feedback, we are hosting a series of meetings.  Sept. 11: Refreshed webpages launched with all proposals, criteria, and data.  Sept. 24: Online information sessions to provide an overview of both options. Sept. 25-Oct. 8: In-person meetings in each region for families, staff, and community. Separate SPS staff meetings will also be held.  Mid to Late October: Superintendent announces the preliminary recommendation.  November: Public hearings on each proposed school closure.  December: Final School Board vote before winter break. I note that Director Gina Topp is having a community meeting on September 25 at 6 pm at the West Seattle Library. Given that comments at the West Seattle Blog on closures is nearing 100, she's gonna need a bigger room. If directors don't regularly have community meetings, so be it. BUT for this time and place, every single one of t

Update: All Together for Seattle Schools has a website - Fund SPS - with information as well as suggestions for action.   As well, the John Hay Elementary PTSA is hosting Director Joe Mizrahi at their next meeting on Monday, September 16th at 6:30 pm.   Director Gina Topp is having her regularly monthly community meeting on Wednesday, September 25th at the West Seattle Library at 6 pm.    end of updates   No Closures, No Cuts! Community Organizing and Planning Meeting to Save SPS - Saturday, 9/13 at noon   Event by Robert Cruickshank (SPS parent) Jefferson Park3801 Beacon Ave South, Seattle     and     To note, the Board meeting starts at 4:15 pm and it sure would be good to pack the room.          

   I have not reviewed all this data and analysis but here are the cold, hard proposals. I can't believe how many schools appear to be stripped of their personality. We're looking at cookie-cutter schools here. I also have not reviewed the boundary maps. SPS is creating two alternative models/scenarios as the district works to stabilize and improve our school system. As you review the proposed options below, please know these are drafts under consideration . Superintendent Jones will present the preliminary recommendation with the Well-Resourced Schools proposal to the School Board in October. The School Board will vote on the proposal before winter break (Dec. 2024).   Proposed Option A (summary) Savings: $31.5 million 52 schools​ (21 closing)​ Transition to a system of attendance area elementary schools with no K-8 or option elementary schools.​ Draft interactive boundary change tool for Proposed Option A. Learn more about this proposal. Under Option A - NW Cl

I wanted to add this story from ProPublica, The Unequal Effects of School Closings.  Summary blurb: As more families opt for charter and private schools or homeschooling in the wake of the pandemic, cities around the country are shuttering schools. The effects fall hardest on majority-Black schools and special-needs students.    I bring this article to your attention for two reasons.   One, I think there could be every chance that one school picked might be a partially renovated building. I'm not sure staff and parents currently in an SPS building like that should breathe easy. A good example would be Cedar Park Elementary. I say this because of Director Brandon Hersey's words, over and over, to staff that some communities would be hurt more by closing their school than others. It's great that he wants to protect school communities in his district but does that preclude other directors from speaking up?    Honestly, I think if Hersey pushes back hard on any school closures

Several items have come across my desk recently about school closures.  First, there's "special" Board meeting this week on Wednesday, the 11th which a bit of everything.  The agenda reflects a Work Session on what this board wants to put forth at the annual Washington State Directors' Association General Assembly. This is the professional group for school board members throughout the state. It's 20 minutes but only President Liza Rankin is likely to speak so I doubt the other Board members will have much to say. There is an executive session "to review the performance of a public employee." I venture to guess that is about the Superintendent's contract as Jones is still operating under his previous contract which expired on July 1. I'm sure the Board has had many back and forths about it (in the form of these executive sessions) and I'll bet the issue is "how can we pay him more when we say we have to close schools?"  Then

 In the latest shooting - this one in Georgia - it appears that the gunman had a chaotic home life with both mom and dad. Mom, over the last 10+ years, has been arrested for drug use and, according to neighbors, sometimes locked her kids out of the house. Dad apparently was a verbal abuser. There are two other siblings involved and you feel for them. It's all sad and pathetic but there is nothing that would justify what Colt Gray did. And in one of the worst things you can do as a media outlet, WBS-tv in Atlanta put up a photo of a victim as the shooter. It wasn't mixing up photos on one page - there was only one photo. Interestingly, the tv station picked the only Black victim to do this to. Hmmm. Here's what one teacher at the school posted on Twitter; bless her and every teacher who puts their life on the line every day. Her name is Jennifer Carter.