Things That Make You Go, Hmmm

First up, the Board is having an Ad Hoc Policy Manual Review Committee meeting from 2:30-4:00 pm. This is all part of the Student Outcome Focused Governance (SOFG) that the Board has adopted. The Chair is Director Liza Rankin with member directors Evan Briggs and Sarah Clark.

It's a lengthy charting of Action Steps, Committee Recommendations. In the latter part of the documentation there is color-coded actions for the Committee around Policy Series 1000, which are about Board Directors, the Superintendent, and that relationship.  The ones in dark orange "would likely exceed the scope of the Committee's work and timelines, but the Committee could more feasibly make a recommendation that such a policy be developed or significantly amended in the future."

These include:

- Board Code of Conduct

- Board Engagement

- Board-Superintendent Relationship

- Evaluation of the Superintendent 

Or maybe, the Board wants to wait for the next superintendent. Hmmm. 

Oh and the district saw last week a reinstatement of a lawsuit against SPS by a teacher over mistreatment. Actually, it's the district, Ed Roos and Executive Director Mike McCarthy who are being sued. I believe Roos is a former principal and consultant in the district. From the ruling:

Jacquelyn Flaherty sued Seattle Public School District (SPSD), bringing numerous claims of mistreatment at the elementary school where she taught. The superior court granted SPSD’s motion for summary judgment, concluding she did not comply with pre-litigation notice requirements of chapter 4.96 RCW, because she sent her claim to the wrong person on the wrong form, and because she did not include a dollar amount of her claimed damages. Flaherty asserts she substantially complied with the statute. We agree that she substantially complied, reverse the order on summary judgment, and remand this matter for further proceedings.

Flaherty is an African American woman and former teacher at an elementary school in SPSD. In July 2022, she submitted a Washington State Tort Claim Form to the Office of Risk Management of the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (DES), along with additional supplemental information. In that document, she alleged that she was retaliated against for reporting abusive treatment, and for advocating on behalf of disadvantaged students of color, and that she herself was discriminated against based upon her racial identity and disability. Flaherty claimed $5.5 million in damages.

Flaherty filed her lawsuit in superior court in October 2022, making similar allegations. After SPSD filed an answer and the parties had moved forward withdiscovery, SPSD filed a motion for summary judgment in March 2024, which argued inter alia that Flaherty had failed to comply with the claim filing procedures in chapter 4.96 RCW. 

It is undisputed that Flaherty did not strictly comply with three provisions of RCW 4.96.020, upon which SPSD relies.

We address each one in turn, assessing whether she nonetheless substantially complied and with reference only to the undisputed facts.

Moreover, SPSD offered no facts showing that her use of the discrimination form, along with the additional supplement, did not allow SPSD to investigate, evaluate, and consider whether to settle her claims.

Further, SPSD provides no citation to support the contention that a claimant must present their claim on the designated form or fail to substantially comply. 

I believe that Flaherty worked at View Ridge Elementary and reported a student being locked into what was essentially an outside cage. 

 

Very nearby to Roosevelt High School, a long-time private school, Dartmoor School, has opened a branch. They are - at the same time depending on student enrollment - a private school and a non-public agency. They currently have 37 students. According to OSPI, this is what non-public agencies do.

A Nonpublic Agency (NPA) is an entity authorized by OSPI under Chapter 28A.300 RCW to contract with a school district to provide a program of special education services for students whose special education needs cannot by met by their resident school district. An approved NPA provides the student's special education and related services that are determined necessary for FAPE through the individualized education program (IEP) process.

Dartmoor seems like a place for 1:1 individualized learning for any type of student.  A student can do a hybrid learning process, being enrolled at both Dartmoor and a public school. They enroll private pay students (paid by families), international (international students enrolled and funded by families, and non-public agency (students enrolled and funded by school districts).  

My recollection is that Dartmoor was an actual school in Bellevue but it looks like they have pivoted to a 1:1 model.