Seattle Schools Community Forum

The first is whether any SPS schools will be closed tomorrow ; the district closed 14 today. It looks like several regional districts like Renton will be closed another day. I see nothing at the SPS website but I would guess parents are contacted personally. Boy those photos in the Times are jaw-dropping.  The second item is a story in the Seattle Times that I have seen elsewhere. Namely, Lincoln High School does not have a practice field. The district kind of set themselves up for problems because they knew that both Lincoln High and Hamilton International Middle School needed practice space. I understand they have been going to Woodland Park which is relatively nearby but still problematic. To note, the park at Wallingford is NOT big and any rejiggering of it would take away the main swath of park space from regular users.   The Times reports there is a community meeting tonight. From the Times: It’s a case of competing needs and perspectives in a growing part of Seattle. SPS has

 Update: I see that the WSSDA (Washington State School Directors Association) is having its annual conference starting tomorrow. This should be interesting for President Rankin as I'm sure her colleague will have heard about the recall process. She on the WSSDA board. My favorite session? Creating a Coherent District. End of update   I see that 14 SPS schools, mostly in the NE, are closed today, because of the storm shutting down electricity. Updates as I see them. From the Seattle Times: All schools are closed in Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Carbonado, Eatonville, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Granite Falls, Highline, Issaquah, Kent, Lake Stevens, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Northshore, Renton, Riverview, Shoreline, Snohomish, Snoqualmie Valley, Stanwood-Camano, Tahoma, Tukwila and White River school districts.   First thing - I have not watched this  meeting but boy, did I hear from people.  Apparently, there were moving stories and tears and now....confusion. Is Seattle Schools

In thinking about closing schools, we can see that large districts across the nation are talking about closing schools.  Boston's district dropped from 56,000 about 8 years ago to 49,000 today; they are talking about closing nearly half (!) their schools. In Rochester, NY, they are closing 11 out of 45 schools.  In El Paso, Texas we see a very dramatic drop in their district's population, from 61K ten years ago to just 49K today.  Comparing birth rates, while El Paso's has dropped 21%, they are still at a high of 5.9% compared with Seattle which has the lowest birth rate in the country at 2.6%. Seattle's rate has been dropping since 2016. So beyond smaller districts - which means fewer schools - what does it all mean? From Politico: The reason why curtailing immigration would send such large shockwaves through the American economy isn’t simply because the nation would be deprived of the economic benefits of immigration. It’s because the effect would be amplified by a

Update: You just can't make this stuff up - here's the end game from the guy that Trump wants to head the Pentagon. From People for the American Way: When Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense, concerns were raised immediately about Hegseth's undisguised Christian nationalism .  During the discussion about Hegseth's book " Battle For The American Mind ," Hegseth said that he is working to create a system of "classical Christian schools" to provide the recruits for an underground army that will eventually launch an "educational insurgency" to take over the nation.  "I think we need to be thinking in terms of these classical Christian schools are boot camps for winning back America," said Sumpter.  "That's what the crop of these classical Christian schools are gonna do in a generation," Hegseth agreed. "Policy answers like school cho

Via a parent HCC page at Facebook: The principals at Cascadia Elementary & Decatur Elementary have been informed by the district that students with HC (Highly Capable) designations will still be allowed to transfer into the two schools next year. (You can look on the district website to find your zoned HCC option school.) Currently, Cascadia and Decatur house the "Highly Capable Cohorts" for grades 2-5. I do not know if grade 2 will be included next year or if grade 2 will go away as previously announced. Not sure about what happens at Thurgood Marshall.

Update: A reader provided a link to the summary of the Sacajawea meeting as posted by their PTA.  Reading through it is quite similar to reading the account by the West Seattle Blog of the Sanislo meeting.  You see this in the minutes - " Despite the district’s stated intention to address questions openly, many attendees felt frustrated by vague, unsubstantiated, or incomplete responses, with many questions left unanswered altogether." They listed some key players in the district which is helpful to me because I didn't know who was heading Enrollment these days. Well-Resourced Schools Officer: Dr. Marni Campbell Director of Enrollment Planning & Services: Faauu Manu Chief Operations Officer: Fred Podesta Regional Executive Director of Schools, Northeast: Dr. Mike McCarthy Facilitator: Jerome Hunter (ran the Q&A portion) The West Seattle Blog refers to a moderator but doesn't name who it is. At the Sacajawea meeting, it's a guy named Jerome Hunter. He i

There is to be a rally by parents worried about the four possible school closures before the Seattle School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 19th. The rally will be from 3:45-4:15 pm; the meeting begins at 4:15 pm. From Seattle's Child: In announcing the rally, event organizers Stressed: “It’s time for all of us to wrap around the four school communities proposed to be closed to show them and the School Board that this proposal is not supported by the community. We need families, students, grandparents, engaged residents, local businesses, everyone to come help us support all of our kids.” The Save Our Schools rally is being orchestrated by the parent-led All Together for Seattle Schools and will take place from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. at John Stanford Center ( 2445 3rd Ave S. in Seattle) . Rally organizers encourage those who attend to bring signs in support of keeping North Beach, Sacajawea, Sanislo, and Stevens elementary schools open.  They also urge partici

 This time it appears that it's Roosevelt High School's football team who is going to the state championship and may have recruited players from around Puget Sound and other states to get there. This has previously been an issue at Nathan Hale (2017 basketball), and Garfield (also football). The Garfield coach was cleared of wrongdoing in 2017. However, there was also the sexual assault case at Garfield High for a girl on the women's basketball team. That's still out there.  From KUOW: Roosevelt High School in Seattle is under investigation by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association for alleged football recruiting violations as the team heads to state playoffs for the first time in a decade. About 20 Roosevelt varsity football players transferred this fall from other teams or school districts, online rosters show. Nearly all are highly-ranked players who played football last year across the Puget Sound region, including at least four from Spanaway a

Updates: Here's a link to the group, Recall Rankin, that filed the recall papers.  In their press release, they give this information: Under Washington State law, the King County Superior Court will review the recall petition to determine if it can proceed. If a judge allows it to proceed, petitioners will then circulate the petition for signatures.  A recall requires the valid signatures of legal voters equal to twenty-five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office to which the officer whose recall is demanded was elected at the preceding election. The total number of votes in the 2023 election for the District 1 seat on the Seattle Public Schools board was 194,633, which me ans 48,659 valid signatures of legal voters are required to place the recall on the ballot. From the Times editorial board : The drumbeats around a possible School Board recall in Seattle have been growing louder for quite some time. But its main target, board President Liz

From NAGC : NAGC24 Annual Convention November 21-24, 2024 Seattle ARCH Convention Center, Seattle, WA Invigorate your passion for educating gifted and high-potential students at NAGC24, November 21-24, in Seattle, WA. You’re invited to join more than 2,000 educators, gifted coordinators, psychologists, researchers, and caregivers as they gather to share best practices for supporting high-ability children.     Explore the future of gifted education with hands-on workshops, inspiring keynote sessions, and hundreds of innovative sessions filled with proven strategies you can use today and thought-provoking ideas for the classrooms of tomorrow!    Take time to connect, discover, and experience the energy of your gifted education community—all at NAGC24!    There is a lower priced one day rate for Parent Day at NAGC 24. It's Saturday, November 23rd with registration due by Friday, November 15th.

A busy week at JSCEE with yet another meeting - this time for the Board - on Wednesday, Nov. 13th at 4:30 pm. Subjects? Agenda Work Session: Policy Governance 4:30 p.m.* Work Session: Progress Monitoring Training 6:00 p.m.* My very first question would be - who wrote these guidelines? Someone at Council of Great City Schools? They are aware that not all boards are elected and most operate within the challenges of their district. These cover: - Effective Goal Monitoring Goal monitoring is a conversation between the board and superintendent that provides boards the opportunity to evaluate the alignment between the community’s vision for student outcomes (goals) and current student performance/growth (reality). While goals and reality may not match perfectly, it only becomes problematic when there is no evidence of student growth. And even if students aren’t yet growing and making progress, that’s only catastrophic if the superintendent doesn’t have sufficiently aggressive strateg