Things that Make You Go, Hmmm

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 true in SPS? Will there be another shoe to drop whatever the choice ends up being for SPS? 


Regarding the Times' editorial yesterday on the district needing to listen to parents on the path forward, there was this question that you see every - single - time there is an SPS story in the Times:

They should double down on the programs people want for their kids and sell the product of academic excellence to make this the district of choice. Bring back walk to math in order to differentiate math levels in neighborhood schools, work to expand option schools and dual language immersion. Otherwise there will be an exodus to private schools for anyone with the means. And it will be a downward death spiral for the district finances.

Don’t kill the most popular option schools like McDonald and John Stanford.

Try to grow the pot. Win families and funding back.

The main question being - why is SPS doing NOTHING to get families back? And why is the Board okay with that, why doesn't the Board ask - "what are we doing to appeal to families?"

It does seem weird for the district to say they have lost a lot of money from families leaving but NOT to have plans to do anything about it. 

If the Board does end up closing the Option Schools, any fallout from that - meaning, still MORE families leaving - should be right at the feet of the Board. And there will be FOUR members up for election in November 2025. Those are Michele Sarju, Brandon Hersey, Sarah Clark and Joe Mizrahi.

I'll just say this about those four.

- Sarju seems to not like the job. She doesn't come prepared, rarely asks any clarifying questions. She does not talk to parents outside her district even as she is elected citywide. She also takes things very personally and likes to call that out on the dais.

- Brandon Hersey will have been in office 6 years (2 appointed and 1 elected). He's a bright guy but always seems to be trying to protect his district - again, elected citywide - and score political points. Does he have it in him for another four years?

- Sarah Clark. Nope, and I hope people step up to run against her. 

- Joe Mizrahi is showing signs of being a responsible and smart board director. I hope he runs. 

 

Looking at the district calendar for this week, I again call the issue of not putting the Well-Resourced/Closure meetings directly on the district calendar.  No, you have to go to the Well-Resourced webpages to find that info. That's just ridiculous and you'd think the Board might call that out. 

So they have Topp's meeting on Wednesday on the calendar but NOT the community meeting immediately after it in West Seattle. 

So to do a public service, here they are:

  • Online: Tuesday, Sept. 24, 6:30 p.m., Zoom Meeting (Families and staff will soon receive the Zoom meeting link, and the link will be posted on our website.)
  • Southwest Region: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 6:30 p.m. Genesee Hill Elementary, 5013 SW Dakota St., Seattle, WA 98116 (Editor's note, Director Gina Topp is having her community meeting from 5-6 pm at the West Seattle Library.)
  • Southeast Region: Thursday, Sept. 26, 6:30 p.m. Wing Luke Elementary, 3701 S Kenyon St., Seattle, WA 98118
  • Northeast Region: Monday, Sept. 30, 6:30 p.m. Olympic Hills Elementary, 13018 20th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125
    • This meeting was originally scheduled for Oct. 3 in the Northeast Region has been moved to Monday, Sept. 30.
  • Central Region: Tuesday, Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m. Kimball Elementary, 3200 23rd Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98144
  • Northwest Region: Monday, Oct. 7, 6:30 p.m. James Baldwin Elementary, 11725 1st Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125

 

 

 

 

 




Comments

Unknown said…
All of this makes me think that the Democrats are signing on to universal school choice and are participating in the process of eviscerating public systems. Rankin's(?) comments about the future of the district being a place that just serves special education students was probably more telling than we have understood so far.

SP
9/23/24, 10:52 AM
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