Analysis of What Came Out from Last Night's Seattle School Board Meeting

 In some ways, that meeting was a quiet doozy. I say quiet because, despite the tension and the concern coming from parents, teachers and students, the crowd on hand and all the speakers were respectful. I do wish at the end of public testimony that people would have been much louder in pushing for MORE speakers. In the end, President Liza Rankin only allowed 5 more than the usual 20 for a situation within the district that is anything but usual. 

 

Quick note: the staff has changed the NE community meeting on closures from being on Rosh Hashnanah which is Oct. 3. That meeting date has been changed to Monday, September 30th at 6:30 pm at Olympic Hills Elementary.

But also, you can go to the district calendar page and they DON'T HAVE THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS THERE.  Bev Redmond of Communications and the Superintendent were bragging about having these webpages for the whole "well-resourced schools" project but they can't be bothered to put those meetings on the district calendar?! C'mon!

 

Quotes from last night:

Director Brandon Hersey,"Many things can be true at the same time."

Parent (who got the time from Sophia Conley but I didn't get the name) on TOPS. "Calling bigger schools well-resourced doesn't magically make it happen."

Samantha Fogg, SCPTSA Co-President "We need education that our children do not need to heal from."

Laura Marie Rivera, SPS parent, "The concept of a plan won't work."

TOPS parent Nelson Connolly, "This program may be extending my son's life." His son has a disease where he can't be exposed to sunlight and TOPS covered all their windows with UV paper. The disease is also making his son slowly go deaf. 

Marni Campbell, czar of the "well-resourced schools plan, " The more students you get, the more staff you get." 

Director Michelle Sarju, "We are not inspiring confidence in our audience with student outcomes - even I don't understand it." 

Director Gina Topp, "We have to all be in it together and work as a city. We need to bring the community with us."

Student Board member Colin Bragg, "In five years, it might not feel like anything but now, it's huge for all involved."

Student Board member Sabi Yong, "The well-resourced schools plan will eventually apply to ALL SPS schools." 

 

Here's the link to the Board agenda. In it is item D-VIII. The links to the Presentation and the Seattle Public Schools Report on Data and Options for School Closures are there and are important reading. 

Here are my big takeaways from last night

1) The Board directors appear to have heard the message loud and clear - this district is simply not ready to announce school closures in December.

It seemed like a come to Jesus moment for some Board members. 

Was it the crowd? Had they heard from hundreds of parents? Did other electeds chime in privately? The shade from the Seattle Times crowd (with the editorial board's thoughts still to come)?

Whatever it was, it certainly has moved the needle. 

 

2) What was stated a couple of times in different places was that if the district isn't ready to close 20 schools, they need to dial it back to far fewer schools. Several times there was a call for a go-slo approach with reflection after it. 

Meaning, close 5 schools, see how that goes within the district, get some lessons learned and then decide if you want to close other schools.

 

3) Academics matter - finally - to the Board. 

I had been wondering how staff was getting away with saying academics were NOT part of the closure criteria and the Board going along with that. 

Last night they seemed to awaken from a slumber and oh my gosh! Asking "Where the metrics are for student outcomes?"

Rankin said that nothing before her gives her that kind of data.

Hersey wants 3rd grade metrics from possible closed schools and other K-5s in their region.

Sarju said "We HAVE to close schools" but said she won't vote on anything without those better academic outcomes for kids.

The Board sure let things get far along before this sudden change of heart. 

4) Boy, senior leadership, including the Superintendent, WERE - NOT - HAPPY especially at the update session on closures. Now you can't blame the Superintendent who STILL does not have a new contract. I suspect the Executive Session before the meeting was about the contract. 

Marni Campbell who is now the czar of the "well-resourced buildings" plan twice spoke up to defend her team.

When Director Hersey asked for metrics around 3rd grade literacy for all the possible schools being closed and the K-5s in their regions for comparison. Campbell said that it led to "racism" to use those kind of metrics. Hersey said he didn't want to be gaslighted and Campbell said staff didn't want to do that.

Superintendent Brent Jones looked defeated by the end. He said it was "disappointing" but that "we need to stabilize our budget." I would think if they don't close more than 10 schools, you will see a big slash and burn across the district.

 

5) These two new student school board directors - Colin Bragg and Sabi Yoon - are VERY good. I think these two will be a good way to keep the Board honest. 

6) I think one key point that has come in to sharp view is that NO MATTER if the district closes its desired number of schools, OTHER CUTS still have to be made. This means widespread suffering and possible confusion throughout the district. It really will be a ton of change happening all at once.

- Close schools. Must have transition plan for those students and staff leaving a closed building. Must have a transition plan at the receiving school as well.  (There are no transition plans at all right now.)

- Make the cuts to the remaining schools. Those cuts will impact staffing, transportation, and use of the building.

- Redraw boundaries. Tricky because if more parents leave the district, those boundaries might not make sense. 

- Redo transportation plan from three tiers to two tiers. Very complex work to get it all right.

You get the point. 

Other notable thoughts

- Chris Jackins says it is legal for the district to use capital funds' interest for operations (and he cited the RCW). I would challenge the district to say this is not true. If it is, then they should use those funds.

- Now that the Board has gutted the Highly Capable policy, it will be interesting to see where it all goes from here.

- Director Gina Topp has shown moxie and courage in refusing to just go along. One example was when she pulled the Highly Capable policy change BAR off the Consent Agenda to ask valid questions. She then asked that they have a Work Session on Highly Capable but President Rankin said they could do a Work Session on "academics." 

Then, she tried to make a motion during the presentation to add an Option C which would be closing 4-6 schools. BIG pushback from President Rankin and Legal Counsel, Greg Narver. 

Still, she persisted. She did not win the day (I think she needs to make it an amendment when the vote comes.)

- The interactive map at the SPS website:

In first 2 days, the option A interactive map had 58,087 views, and option B had 30,671 views—suggesting active engagement. Great to see so many parents diving in. 

- If the district is pushing building condition for any candidate for closure, they better be honest. Because many buildings that HAD BEEN on previous BEX lists suddenly dropped off in BEX V. I had wondered about that until now. Clearly a shift had happened.

Meaning, many buildings are not in good shape because the district changed course on which buildings to be redone.

It is no school community's fault if their building is in poor condition.