So What's the Board Up To?

 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 Configuration (Briggs)" item which perhaps means selecting permanent members. Then there are "audit updates" including the Rainier View Elementary issue. What I find odd is why would that be in the Audit Committee if it's a personnel issue? Was there also some financial mismanagement?

These three items are of interest:

- Corrective Action Plan Update - Moss Adams T&L Efficiency Study (Moss Adams) - This should be a report on how the district is doing with the study's findings and recommendations about running the district.

- Communications Corrective Action Plan (Redmond) - Why did Communications have a corrective action plan? Also, they hired some young guy for Communications who has the exact title as current head, Bev Redmond. What happened with that? 

- ERM Update (Podesta/Saxon) - That stands for "enterprise risk management." That can cover a lot of ground so I'll have to tune in to see what it is.  

To note, the meeting is open to the public so if you want to catch three directors in one place, this would be a good time to drop off any written info on closures in your region that you want them to see. Rankin will wave you off to Board staff but you would be able to tell them who you are and the region you represent. 

Then on Wednesday, September 18th, there is the regular monthly Board meeting, starting at 4:15 pm. Agenda here.

The Personnel Report has some notable items:

Hired - a new principal at John Stanford Elementary named Sam Abrams and a rehire of an assistant principal at Boren K-8, Rebecca Bland.

Leaving - Gerrit Kirschner, principal at Thornton Creek Elementary (a loss - he's a good guy) and Kelly Vancil, principal of West Woodland Elementary. 

There is also this item: Scoring and Ranking Method for Selecting Schools for Building Excellence (BEX) VI Capital Levy.  I find some aspects of this ranking troubling.

Yes, SPS wants more money from taxpayers in February of 2025 for BOTH the Operations levy and BEX VI, facilities levy. 

You might want to look at this, especially Page 2 of Attachment A which has the School Equity Tiers Methodology. I have never seen staff drill down quite this much on student population. They also note it will weight if an interim site is close-by. In the past, the district looked all around the district and distributed projects fairly equally. 

Now, it's going to be different and may be the first time we see no renovations north of the ship canal. 

 

Then we have:

4. Amendment to and Renaming of Board Policy No. 2190, Highly Capable Services (renamed “Highly Capable Program”). Approval of this item would amend Board Policy No. 2190, Highly Capable Services, and rename as Board Policy No. 2190, Highly Capable Program, as attached to the Board Action Report. (Updated Since Introduction)

 Wherein we find that HC is now a "program" and not a "service." It is stated:

 The Board Action will also rename the policy to align with the state model.

The plan is an online form prescribed by OSPI and is not intended as a document to
communicate the work of the Advanced Learning department to the broader public and Board. In
order to better communicate the work of the Advanced Learning department and the Highly
Capable program offered by Seattle Public Schools, this action would require an additional 2
report be provided to the Board as an informational item. The content of this report would
provide additional description for each of the plan components required in WAC 392-170-030.

The rewritten policy - the tracked version - is a sea of red. A lot of change in this policy so parents do read it carefully. For example, these parts are gone now: 

- The School Board also recognizes, consistent with the definition of basic education under state law, that students capable of performing at significantly advanced academic levels require specialized services in order to meet their basic educational needs.

- Expansion of students’ academic attainments and intellectual skills in every year of education

 

I see this:

1. Approval of 2024-25 Superintendent Evaluation Instrument. Approval of this item would approve the 2024-25 Superintendent Evaluation Instrument, as attached to the Board Action Report. (Introduction & Action) (Materials to be added prior to meeting)

So perhaps from the Saturday retreat AND this evaluation document, we will see what the Board will do with Superintendent Brent Jones' contract which officially ended on July 1.  

 

And out of nowhere as an Intro item:

1. Approval of Board Resolution No. 2024/25-9, Reduced Educational Program for 2025-26 and 2026-27. Approval of this item would adopt Board Resolution No. 2024/25-9, Reduced Educational Program for 2025-26 and 2026-27, as attached to this Board Action Report. (Materials to be added prior to meeting)

Is this related to closures? I would think so but that word "reduced" is deeply troubling.  

Lastly, another

VII. Budget Development Study Session: Preview 2025-26 Budget Options

We will likely hear staff refute some of what has come out from the parent community at large about closures. I hope directors ask hard questions and get real answers.