Seattle Schools Community Forum

Parents today know that even as older generations had more existential threats (nuclear annihilation), your children have many more threats. I don't think I'd want to be raising a child right now. - (still) Existential threats - the Internet  It offers a plethora of ways to hurt your child (and not just child molesters but many more of them using cyberspace to look for and attract kids. See this important article in The NY Times about parents who are suing Open AI because they believe a chatbot that their son had a "relationship" with did not do enough to save him from killing himself.)  He started using ChatGPT-4o around that time (sophomore year) to help with his schoolwork, and signed up for a paid account in January. The chatbot app lists past chats, and Mr. Raine saw one titled “Hanging Safety Concerns.” He started reading and was shocked. Adam had been discussing ending his life with ChatGPT for months. Adam began talking to the chatbot, which is powered by art...

This is a very interesting race between two candidates who are both very qualified to serve. I would say that even with Director Joe Mizrahi and Director Sarah Clark running, Janis White probably knows the district better than they do. Clearly, Vivian Song has served previously and did much better in the primary than White but I still think White deserves a look. Both of these candidates have invested the time and effort to know this district; I echo what others have said that I wish that one or the other was running from another district.  If I were a voter here's what I might consider and one trait they both have that might give me pause. White's expertise in Special Education is  phenomenal. There just hasn't been a candidate like her before (though some have said they knew a lot about the subject). She is a thinker and knows the district.  Song's expertise in budget matters - doing the work to really try to get in there and figure out what is happening - is great....

This will be a shorter post than the other races. That would be because I chose not to interview candidate Carol Rava. I'll explain that at the end because I don't want to give short shrift to the D7 candidate that I DID interview and that would be Jen LaVallee. Interview I asked LaVallee about why she stepped up to run. She said she had become active in her children's schools and was very unhappy to learn about the October 1 enrollment count and how damaging it can be to schools, especially Title One schools. She said she pushed back on closures because there "was no clear communication on why" but basically the district was saying, "We know what we're doing." She said her children were at Dunlap Elementary which is a Title One school. She also said she helped start the Billion Dollar Bake sale.  She said when she learned Director Hersey was not running, she asked around and could not find anyone to run. Then friends told her she was already doing t...

Update: My apologies to Laura Marie Rivera. I mixed up her final statement with another candidate. I have corrected that. end of update I am again happy to say that both candidates - Joe Mizrahi and Laura Marie Rivera - are smart, savvy people who care deeply about Seattle Schools.  If I were a voter here's what would give me pause.  For Mizrahi, it would be that his depth of knowledge about the district is not as good as Rivera's. She seemed to have been engaged with the district far longer than Mizrahi. Institutional knowledge is a good thing. I would also wonder about how well-connected he is in the city (which you might think is nothing but a plus). But he works for a large union and that may make for some conflict with other agencies involved with SPS.  For Rivera, I wonder why she's having a harder time connecting to voters. For someone who has never served on the Board, she really does know the issues and yet voters in her district didn't get that.  One questi...

 Feelings are mixed in The Seattle Times' comment section on this headline: Seattle students return to school, whether they want to or not: ‘I don’t want to learn stuff’ That quote comes from a 13-year old so sure, that might exactly express that frame of mind. But readers thought it was not a positive start for the new school year and some felt it should not have been attached to the student's name (fearing ridicule for the student).  Personally, on the headline, I think they could have done better. Maybe they thought it was funny.  On the superintendent search front , we learn from this article that current superintendent Fred Podesta has NOT applied for the permanent job.  On Saturday, September 6th, there will be the Grand Opening for the new Waterfront Park. Free music, food trucks and family fun from 11 am - 9 pm.  Looks like President Gina Topp will be speaking to parents in West Seattle about HC. The meeting is Sunday, September 7th at 3 pm at the H...

Good luck to ALL the students, parents/guardians,  teachers,  principals, and school staff! I see the district is using a texting system for parents to contact teachers and office staff. TalkingPoints  is a two-way multilingual family engagement and communication tool helping SPS teachers, staff and families to stay connected via  text  message. Through the platform,  SPS families can quickly and easily message teachers and school staff  from their phone. The central district office also sends important reminders and updates.    TalkingPoints is a simple and handy tool that makes communication accessible to every family. Messages sent through the platform can be automatically translated into 110-plus home languages, which removes language, access, and technology barriers.    The link has many helpful ideas to make this work for your family. I'm pretty excited myself for tomorrow as I start my 4th year here in Tucson with my ki...

From The Seattle Times: But there’s one essential element that will be missing from Bryant’s library when students return to school Wednesday: Anne Aliverti, who served as the school’s librarian for 15 years.  Aliverti was struck by a car while crossing Sand Point Way on Aug. 4, and died from the resulting traumatic brain injuries on Aug. 14. “This is the heart of the building, and she was the heart of this — and so her reach is tremendous,” said Steve Garlid, a fifth-grade teacher who is about to start his 31st year at Bryant. “It feels like our heart is broken.”  Garlid is among the thousands of students, parents and teachers who have cycled through the library during Aliverti’s tenure. Many of them are still in shock over her death.   “We’re not really sure how the students are going to be,” Garlid said, trying to anticipate the mix of emotions as students in first through fifth grade begin the new school year Wednesday. She “saw the precious quality of life,” Gar...

To note, I asked most of the same questions of all candidates but because Song, Clark, and Mizrahi have already been or are on the Board, I phrased one question differently.  I do also always thank the candidates for having the courage to step up, write their name down, and say, "I think I can do this job." It does take courage to do that. I'm going to have a separate post for endorsements.  I am happy to state that I found both women to be enthused and smart. It also makes it harder for me to categorically state that Candidate A is "better" than Candidate B. Both women seem very much data-driven and that's something the Board needs to focus on and press district staff about.  If I was a voter, I might try to balance out concerns over Smith's learning curve as a new Board member vs Clark’s health issues (which continue).  One question I have asked all the candidates is, "Barring illness/death in the family, do you commitment to serving the entire fo...

 From KIRO-TV: Two longtime Seattle Public Schools employees have filed a lawsuit claiming they were forced out of their jobs after repeated retaliation and harassment by the district’s director of culinary services, according to a complaint filed in King County Superior Court. The suit, filed Tuesday, names the district and Aaron Smith, the Culinary Services director, as defendants.  Plaintiffs Emme Ribeiro Collins, the district’s executive chef from 2019 to 2023, and Helen Jones, operations manager in culinary services from 1998 to 2023, allege that Smith targeted them after they raised concerns about his behavior and management practices. Collins says she filed a formal retaliation claim in November 2022, but continued to face hostility until she resigned in May 2023.  An internal HR report completed more than a year later corroborated elements of her complaints, the lawsuit states. Jones filed her own retaliation claim in December 2022 after securing an ADA accommodat...

There is this forum hosted by the Native Action Network and the Urban Native Education Alliance. I heard there is one coming up hosted by the Alliance for Education and the SE Seattle Education Coalition, probably in October, but I cannot find anything solid at this point. If you hear of others, please let me know and I will post them. I'm at   sss.westbrook@gmail.com            

To note, I believe there will be more cameras on more buses this year. It's a pretty big fine so do the right thing and keep kids safe!   Via OSPI: It's back-to-school season, and that means the wheels on thousands of school buses across Washington are going round and round!   Since 2011, school bus drivers nationwide have participated in a one-day survey to determine how many motorists illegally pass stopped school buses. More than 3,000 drivers in Washington participated in this year's survey. During the one-day survey, Washington school bus drivers documented 1,156 instances of drivers illegally passing a stopped school bus. Multiplied by the number of days in the school year, the survey results indicate that drivers are illegally passing a school bus in Washington state more than 200,000 times per year!   Click through the slides or visit the included link to review the rules around when to stop for a school bus. https://ospi.k12.wa.us/.../drivers-know-laws-about...

Update: My thoughts on this discussion.  1) I don't know the right answer but I do know that Superintendent Podesta is right - there will not be 100% buy-in either way for a police officer at any SPS high school. 2) I believe Ted Howard that SPS is doing a different way of training these officers. One that is about calming a situation and not gut-reacting to it. One that is student-centered. And that, unless it's an emergency, police officers will not get involved with discipline.  3) Maybe Garfield is not the right school to try a pilot program even though that's where a murder occurred. I wonder if people against a police officer there might try to derail it.  4) This Safety program has multiple layers. To say all the district is offering is a cop at a school is not true. Maybe they should try all the other layers before bringing in an officer.  I do not see anyone being backed into a corner or that it's a foregone conclusion. The Board can say okay to everything ...