Seattle School Board Meeting this Wednesday - Big HC Protest Planned

The HC parents' message? 

Stop Taking Opportunities from Hicap Students and Don't Sunset the cohorts until Hicap is implemented in EVERY neighborhood school. 

 There is a Highly Capable update on the agenda. To note, HiCap services are legally mandated by the state.

This should make for an interesting meeting. 

A dedicated group of parents has gathered data and have questions and concerns that they plan on outlining to the Board.  For example, this from SPS:

SPS Highly Capable Neighborhood Schools Model 

2023-2024 Elementary cohort schools continue grades 1-5

2024-2025 Elementary cohort schools grades 2-5 - All elementary school new model.

What questions are parents are asking?
- What are the specific, measurable goals of this model?

- How has the district tracked the results of this model since 2023

- What does the research show? Has this model proven to benefit identified HiCap children?

- Who are the SPS administrators overseeing the education of Highly Capable Children? Which of these administrators carries a Washington State Gifted Education Specialty Endorsement?

- A plan that was supposed to have already been implemented before the cohort schools were phased out, but Board members admitted doesn't even exist.

 

Across the district, in many schools, parents of HC-qualified students who choose to stay in their neighborhood school are not receiving the education they should. 

What a couple of these parents did was to examine the CSIP of every elementary school to see what their documentation says about service delivery. What you see:

- Allowing each school to decide its path is wrong because of the unevenness between schools. You see "curriculum compacting" and "acceleration" many times but where is that defined for parents? 

- Bailey Gatzert is only using MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support). 

- From Beacon Hill International 

Teachers are focused on promoting deep thinking through rich discourse, encouraging critical analysis, and the exploration of complex ideas. By nurturing these skills, teachers aim to foster a deep understanding of academic concepts and promote intellectual curiosity among advanced learners.

Okay, give examples in writing so everyone knows what that means.

- B. F. Day DOES give examples so good for them as does Bryant.

- Dearborn Park uses a paragraph of a bland word salad of ideas (and they use bad grammar in one sentence!). Denny also uses this method of communication.

- On the other hand, you have Fairmount Park that has a lengthy section of information.

- A couple of schools have a notation: In progress. Who would want to enroll in a school that has no clear plan for these students?

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