Welcome to President Gina Topp

Readers, I ask you - what do you want to see President Topp try to focus the Board on? Less of X and more of Y? 

Topp is not a member of the Gang of Four - Hersey, Rankin, Briggs and Sarju - so I'm hoping she will have her own ideas. One of those new ideas she has expressed is for the district to market itself to raise enrollment and attract parents across the spectrum.

What would I like to see? 

- Again, for the hundredth time, accountability for public dollars. For example, I would like to see a complete list of consultants, who they are, what they are hired for, how long have they been contracting with the district, etc. 

The district likes to tout that Central is full of experts. In tough times, you cut the fat and use your own people. It can be done.

- For a district that claims to care about safety, there is a remarkable lack of action. 

And it's not safety in the abstract, now is it? Two murders in two years at two different high schools? Sexual assault by staff from three different schools? 

You can certainly hear platitudes about it - Superintendent Brent Jones is very good at that - but where's the beef? 

- Rethinking the use of technology because you know what? You can teach students, especially in lower grades, without technology or with minimal use. If you really think about the hardware and software that SPS has bought, the staffing for technology, etc., it's a huge amount of money. 

Do we really know what the ROI is for all that technology?

- Homeless children. In case you missed it, here are some recent cold, hard stats on Washington State:

- 2022-2023 school year: 42,436 students, or 3.8% of the student population, experienced homelessness. This is up from 37,000 students in 2021-2022 and 32,000 in the previous year. 

- 2023-2024 school year: More than 41,000 students experienced homelessness. 

- Overall increase: Since 2006-2007, the number of homeless students in Washington has increased by 55%. 

Causes: Rising rent and stagnant fixed incomes are some of the biggest drivers of homelessness in Washington. 

- Seattle Public Schools: The number of homeless students in Seattle Public Schools has increased significantly for the second year in a row. 

This story from KUOW:

As of October, when the (SPS) district collects its annual data on student homelessness as required by the federal McKinney-Vento Act, 2,235 students were currently — or had been — homeless since the school year began.

That's a nearly 20% increase from last year, when the district recorded a more than 30% jump.

The district has also seen an uptick in immigrants and refugees, Allen said, especially from South American countries.

If you have been reading this blog any amount of time, I have consistently said that unhoused people should be triaged and at the top of the list should be children. 

Children should not be homeless. That so many kids are (and that includes couch surfing) in Washington State is a disgrace. It is a huge amount of work for any district to try to get those kids to learn when the students' lives are so chaotic. 

- If the district is going to return most students - like HCC and Special Education - to their home schools, then the Board should require the district to show a specific and detailed plan for that. 

And schools should NOT have leeway on how they serve their students. Not when you are throwing that wide a spectrum into classrooms.  As well, it is confusing and disturbing for parents to see that School A has a thoughtful plan and School B has worksheets. 

Now this item is not SOFG. The Board should NOT be asking anything about this and trusting that the Superintendent and staff will get it right. However, if you want Seattle parents to vote for levies or even come back into the fold, you better have some real oversight by the Board.  

Thoughts?