Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools has many clinics set up for vaccinations, both for the flu and for the latest COVID update.  The program started on September 20th and continues to the middle of November. The locations are throughout the district, depending on the day.  The vaccinations are free at the school-based health centers while the vaccinations provided by the Seattle Visiting Nurse Association are by insurance or payment. The school-based health centers also offer childhood vaccinations as well.  If you need assistance by phone or interpretation, call the Coordinated Vaccine Transportation Helpline at  425-943-6706  Monday-Friday between 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and  press 5 for language assistance .  If you have questions, please reach out to info@seattlevna.com for assistance.   The district has a volunteer opening on its Capital Programs Oversight Committee.  We are looking for individuals with experience in capital programs, including expertise in areas such as planning, budgeting, cost

Naturally, it comes from a smart parent crunching the numbers. In this case, that smart parent is Albert Wong. (And boy, do I hope he runs for the Board someday.) He publishes this article on Medium called Anti-Asian Bias in Seattle School Leadership and Advocacy Community. Bold mine. I am extracting a large amount of what Wong has written because it hits great points solidly. His opening statement: Deciding to write this post has been difficult as it leaves me exposed to a lot of the inter-parental bullying that happens in the SPS city-wide advocacy community, but given the data I’m seeing I feel compelled to put it in text. If you don’t want to read, play with the graphs here . If you want to connect with others about Asian advocacy, fill in this form here . I find this a very humble way to start, saying " you don't need to read this but look at these numbers!" The “Well Resourced Schools” plan has a disproportionate impact on school communities that have a highe

 The Seattle Times had a recent story on the uptick of private school enrollment in Seattle.  Census data released this month shows private-school enrollment for Seattle K-12 students hit an all-time high in 2023, estimated at 19,400 students. That represents one-quarter of the city’s total 77,200 K-12 students.  Among the nation’s 50 cities with the largest K-12 enrollment, Seattle ranked No. 2 for the share of kids in private schools last year. San Francisco was No. 1 with around 30% of K-12 students enrolled in private schools. Census data shows that nationally, 12.8% of K-12 students attended private school, so Seattle’s percentage is nearly double the national average. It’s certainly not cheap to send a kid to private school in Seattle. According to the website Private School Review , average private-school tuition in Seattle is $20,977 for elementary schools and $23,708 for high schools, higher than the national average. The increase in private-school attendance in 20

But not for the closure plan. It's a Board Special Meeting that will have two items. Agenda here. The meeting is to be live streamed. - Approval of the Superintendent's "employment agreement" - Approval of the " 2024-2025 Superintendent Evaluation Instrument" Notable items - Pursuant to the existing agreement, the term renewed for a one-year term, through June 30, 2025, because the Board did not vote before November 15, 2023, to not renew the contract. I did not know that.  - This action would approve a new Superintendent’s Employment Agreement with Dr. Jones to replace the March 11, 2022, existing employment agreement effective July 1, 2024. - Yes, he gets a raise of about $13,400 which takes the base salary to $348,395. He'll get almost that much of a raise for his pension. The entire package is now worth $390,940. Yes, he got a raise but it's just about 4% which isn't a lot. But then, he hasn't done a lot.  The evaluation instrument is a

 I asked the Alliance for Education for their thoughts on the current SPS situation and they were kind enough to give me a statement:   “For almost 30 years, the Alliance has worked in close partnership with the district to bring resources of various forms – dollars, innovative programs and collaboratives - into Seattle Public Schools, but those resources are typically catalytic or capacity building in nature – they aren’t designed to address structural deficits. There are no easy or perfect solutions to resolve the structural budget deficit Seattle Public Schools currently faces, and we understand that there are tough choices ahead.    We are in constant communication with district leadership about how we can be most supportive, and we continue to urge them to center students furthest from educational justice and fiscal responsibility in the decision-making ahead.”

Update: I did leave out a detail in the Board policy that may come into play, given how hellbent the district is on finalizing the list of schools before the end of 2024. In the event exigent circumstances make adherence to the above policy infeasible, the Board of Directors may so declare and make a school closure(s) decision following a process consistent only with the minimum requirements of RCW 28A.335.020. In the original post, I did print the entire RCW and I don't see how they can cut much time from it. However, I also just noticed that the RCW says: ... during the ninety days before a school district's final decision... The Board policy says: ... The Board’s final decision shall be made within ninety (90) days of the time hearings are held for each proposed site for closure... I am not a lawyer but as a writer, I know words - have - meaning. I'm not sure if "during" and "within" are different but I suspect the RCW will trump the Board polic

Update: I am hearing chatter that the Board will call a special meeting sometime next week (ahead of the next regularly scheduled Board meeting on October 9th) in order for the Superintendent to put forth a revised and final plan.  As I talk about here , the Board policy on closures is specific on what any plan needs to have including criteria for closure, demographic information, co-facility use and what each site's classification will be. These items are in addition to the Board's desire to know how the closures will help "student outcomes" beyond schools being "well-resourced." On the co-facility use, one example I did not know about is Catherine Blaine K-8, which appeared in the first iteration of the closure plan. It is co-owned with the City. I would say all of that is certainly doable in a short period of time but again, both the law and the policy have specific timelines that I do not believe can be met before the end of 2024. The district wants to

 Via the West Seattle Blog: West Seattle High School has received a national honor from Special Olympics for its Unified Sports program (which brings together student athletes with and without disabilities).  WSHS’s Unified Sports coordinator Rachel Myers: WSHS is being recognized as a Special Olympics National Banner Unified Champion School .   WSHS demonstrates their commitment to inclusion and shown determination in achieving the collective goal of creating a truly “Unified Generation” of young adults who embrace differences and lead social change! We could not have done this without the hard work and support of our alumni and current WSHS students and staff! We are excited and honored to join the 1,014 schools across the country and the FIRST SPS school to receive this level of recognition! Myers explains that “Schools that receive this recognition have demonstrated the commitment to inclusion by meeting 10 national standards of excellence. These standards were develope

 Via Seattle Special Education group on Facebook: DHH Night at the Ball Game!   Come out to T-Mobile Park for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community Night on September 28!   Purchase Includes: - Specially priced $45 Main Level or $25 View Level ticket to Saturday, September 28 game vs. Oakland A’s. - Limited-edition Mariners-themed Deaf and Hard of Hearing Night T-shirt.   Deadline to purchase: Friday, September 27 – 5 p.m. https://www.mlb.com/mariners/tickets/specials/deaf-community

 Kellie LaRue wrote a post about Seattle Schools and Option Schools. In this post, she examines the SPS history of enrollment. It is a long read but it may help parents better understand what is happening today. "How Many Students Go Into A School? This is more of a question for philosophy majors than educators. The simple answer is “it depends.”  However, “it depends” is not actionable. So SPS routinely find themselves in a quandary where they make recommendations but never daylight the dependencies. TL/DR version The actual answer is long, pedantic and quite bureaucratic. The short answer is over -implified and lacks nuance. Here is the shortest answer that I can give. The majority of school districts have a handful of elementary schools, 1-2 middle schools and 1-2 high schools and maybe 1-2 unique programs. That’s it. It is a straightforward process to assign students. Seattle Public Schools is a NETWORK of schools, with more than 100 school buildings and programs and to unders

Just minutes ago, the SPS put out this message on the website. To save you some time, the only news is that the community engagement sessions are cancelled. There is nothing new in here except a very massaged message.  I am sorry our proposed options created anxiety for many families who rely on the key programs and innovations within our schools. We are retooling our plans to address these concerns." No one could have predicted this kind of blowback? Really? No, I think the Superintendent and staff thought they could put a kind, gentle face on their planning and that BOTH the Board and community would accept being muscled that way.  Didn't work. Dear SPS families, staff, and community, I am taking more time to reflect on plans to bring a consolidation recommendation this October. As a result, I am canceling the upcoming community meetings.  A new schedule of engagement sessions will be released soon. I understand the closure of schools is a very serious topic. Afte

A parent generated survey This survey has been developed by Seattle parents and community members in order to gather quantifiable data regarding parent opinions about Seattle Public Schools and the impact of the Well Resourced Schools Initiative.   - Please fill out ONE survey per household. - We estimate it will take less than 5 minutes to complete. - This survey is individually anonymous.  - Aggregate results of this survey will be shared with Seattle Public Schools and the community. FILL OUT THE SURVEY: It takes less than 5 minutes. SHARE THE SURVEY: Your collective views are POWERFUL and the link is shareable. Whether your kids are currently in Public School or not, we want to hear from you. Aggregate data will be reported to SPS leadership, and back to the community at large.   AND Parent Day Saturday, November 23, 2024 National Association for Gifted Children is bringing their annual convention to   Seattle   this year!  NAGC warmly invites parents, grandparents, an

Update:  Not so sure this is a "hmmm" but rather a gasp: Washington State has ZERO Blue Ribbon Schools this year according to the Department of Education. That's pretty sad. Washington joins Oregon, Idaho, and Vermont. Weird that the NW did so poorly. end of update  Out of San Francisco comes news that their mayor is sending in an organizational team , a school "stabilization team," to help the lagging, ailing SFUSD . What is striking are the parallels with SPS. SOFG participants? Yup Closing schools (or want to) Yup "Well-resourced schools" Yup This messaging to parents? Yup  It's unclear how much force this new "team" could apply to the superintendent and senior leadership team. However, SFUSD is already somewhat under state control. Their Board president said, at a hasty meeting yesterday, that "we are not getting full information." I would think the inference is that senior leadership is not showing all its cards. Is that