Director Joe Mizrahi Speaks
So much news coming fast and furious.
The speakers list for the Board meeting tomorrow will be published by the end of day today. I'll let you know what it looks like.
Next, Seattle Hall Pass did a live tweet session of Director Joe Mizrahi's visit to the John Hay Elementary PTSA meeting last night. There were some notable quotes.
Two key takeaways (as I perceive his words):
- He is not satisfied with this plan.
- He's not going to be muscled into any vote.
Also,
He talks about the enrollment study that Olympia gave them $100K to do. (Podesta has said it will be done by the end of the year.)
Hilarious. Yes, why wait for data that might better information school closures?
- The plan was supposed to come in July but it was postponed. He didn't see the full plan until it was released in public. He saw about 90% of the plan.
I have heard from another newer Board member that they do not receive materials sooner than the public or just one day before. This is why they had committee meetings so items on the agenda could be fleshed out BEFORE Board meetings.
- "What you do is just as important as how you do it," he told SPS staff." What happens to option schools, dual language, boundary changes, what choices to families have if they're displaced.
- He thinks the district still has a lot of work to do before December. He says he won't be backed into a corner.
- He tells a story of a family who knows who say they will leave. He says that Podesta doesn't think the families that leave won't affect the savings that much, because it will be spread across the many schools that are still open.
So if the people who don't return to SPS in 2025-2026 are spread out over the district, it won't seem like much. EXCEPT that they don't know WHERE the greatest number of people will check out from.
- His view is that they haven't been fully fleshed out. He thinks they need to share more info with the community.
- He wants the union to have the strongest voice in what happens to seniority and teachers going to new schools. He will support them and what they want.
To note, Mizrahi works for a union.
- He understands that it's important for the students to stay with their cohort, such as incoming 5th graders. Those kids are the ones who were in kindergarten when Covid hit.
Director Gina Topp has also raised this issue.
- "There is a deeper menu of cuts if we don't do consolidations." He says it's possible the community may want the deeper cuts over closing schools. He's referring to the slide from the Wednesday agenda.
Sure but will the Board listen? Doubtful.
- Q: Board asked for a plan, they got a huge overhaul. Is there a scaled-back plan that might work? Yes, there are old facilities that should be shut down, especially if they're near big buildings.
I'm on-board with go-slow or scale back.
- He shares the frustration that the decisions are more facilities-based than student-based. Questioner interrupts and says that John Hay can hold more children than the building they are being moved into (Queen Anne).
I will warn here - as the people at Hall Pass do - for school communities to NOT allow themselves to be pitted against each other.
-His biggest issue is that he doesn't think that there is a lot of confidence in the district's ability to pull this off by next fall.
Ding, ding, ding! For the win because I think that is true to most parents.
- Q: Special ed programs, is there a plan? Brings up how highly capable was never rolled out at neighborhood schools. What questions are you asking to hold them accountable?
A: He says that highly capable situation is exactly why people don't have trust that other programs will be served at the consolidated schools.
A (con't): He says the dual-language conversation has been the same. It's all vague. People don't have trust that they're going to replace the current system.
I am hearing the same thing over on a Seattle Special Education Facebook page.
- A (con't): He's asking them for a plan that shows a moderate approach, with fewer boundary and programmatic changes. If continuous enrollment is really a board choice, bring us the choices. The approach right now is very cookie cutter. He says they should be looking community by community.
- A: He says we have a friendly Seattle caucus, but there are legislators all over the state. There are 5 districts in binding conditions now. He says that's tricky because then districts lose control.
And would that really be so bad? Hmmm
Comments
Willful naivete?
I can not repeat this enough. This is NOT a facilities-based plan. I know exactly what a facilities based plan would look like and it is not this.
A facilities based plan would be using the triangle maps to highlight walkability and building condition.
This is philosophy driven plan. And the philosophy is that choice = inequity.
I can't believe I am writing this. Does nobody understand that every staffer, every project, every paperclip is funded by TOTAL ENROLLMENT.
Every enrolled student brings money. Fewer students, fewer paper clips.
Fewer everything.
Yes, teachers are 80% of the budget, but the other 20% is no joke and every student who leaves cause that 20% to decrease as well.
They WILL reject the “plan without a plan” presented by Brent, and we will watch it in real time. Pass the popcorn.
Just Facts
If you say SPS dysfunction will make families with children leave the city -- it cuts different ways with different voters. Non-breeders who rent, whose main concern is high housing costs, will do a quiet little jig and vote for more of the same next round. Parents of students in option schools, or students with advanced learning designation, make up a very small segment of the electorate. A large majority voters are indifferent to those things, or actively hostile based on their ideology.
School board members may squirm when confronting rooms full of angry parents, but that doesn't mean they won't vote for the "progressive" vision of fewer, larger, all-the-same schools, and then cruise to re-election if they want.
YASSS