Seattle Schools, Week of June 2-6, 2025 (Updated 6/3)

Update:

Reviewing the Audit Committee agenda documentation, I see that there are many audits, both external and internal being done. 

Ted Howard, Accountability Officer, has a study coming from Moss Adams on "governance assessment" in March 2026. That sure is a long time to wait for study results. Hmmm.

In the agenda documentation, there are the results of a study on school counselors by Leading Edge Advisors. It has many recommendations, most of which seem logical. If the district were to implement these items, my quick calculation is that it would cost over $1M. (Starts on page 83)

The study notes:

- School Counseling is Central to Student Success

- Significant Gaps in College and Career Readiness Remain

- Early and Persistent Academic Disparities Require Action

- Current Counseling Infrastructure Is Under-Resourced

- Bright Spots Show What Is Possible

- he District Must Act Now to Strengthen Counseling Services

I would love to know where the "bright spots" are.



There is also an "internal audit" being done at Nathan Hale High School's principal. This stems from a state audit that found issues around volunteers. I'd love to know the story on that. 

There is also an enrollment study:

In partnership with state legislators, Seattle Public Schools senior leaders engaged Strategies 360 to conduct an in-depth study of enrollment decision-making patterns and stakeholder perceptions of Seattle Public Schools. Based on the in-depth survey and subsequent analysis and recommendations from Strategies 360, the Enrollment Planning and Senior Leadership Teams have identified the following corrective actions and opportunities for further study.

Not sure I understand what "in partnership with state legislators" means. Is this the Seattle legislative delegation holding SPS' collective feet to the fire?

- Engage with early learning providers and families in both SPS and neighborhood Preschools to proactively bring them to SPS for Kindergarten.

Isn't this already being done?

It also has this quote from the report (which I'll have to ask for):

Focus on more effective engagement with “early learners” meaning caretakers of Pre-K students in order to increase the percentage of Seattle-born children who enroll in Seattle Public Schools for Kindergarten and beyond.

So why just Seattle-born children? People with kids born other places, immigrants, for example, SPS isn't interested?

- Frequent and consistent communication and education about curriculum and potential changes to program structures and offerings, highlighting changes and future vision.

- Find “unaccounted for” students and reengage them.

Research shows that COVID led to “unaccounted for” students leaving school districts
nationwide. These students are difficult to track, as they are typically un-enrolled from their
school and no longer part of the district after they have been absent for beyond 20-30 consecutive days.

Enrollment Planning will sponsor a project to do the following:

• Understand the scope of absenteeism in SPS with a 10-year data analysis;

• Institute and monitor proactive systems to support schools to better track and reengage chronically absent students;

• Utilize the Reengagement code in our student information system so that we can prioritize our students who have been absent for 20 or more school days.

See that bullet list paragraph above? The district says it will cost nothing to do. Seriously? A 10-year data analysis is certainly going to take time and resources. You can't just AI it and hope you get the info you want.

- Create a task force for specific groups of students of color to learn why they leave SPS at higher rates.

Another task force? Go have forums at every single high school during school hours. You'll get more out it than anything else. 

- Continuing to partner with city agencies to provide data in support of affordable housing.


There was also an internal audit around Food Allergy Management. That says they should "streamline documentation" for parents, improve communication between departments, make sure students have the Board mandated 20 minutes seat time to eat, and hire a full-time registered dietitian for JSCEE.


One more audit to come is around Communications; this will be done internally. I hope they ask parents for their thoughts.

end of update

The Board is having a quick half-hour Executive Session on Monday, June 2nd. The agenda states:

Executive Session: To discuss with legal counsel representing the agency matters relating to agency enforcement actions, or to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency. RCW 42.30.110(1)(i).

 

On Tuesday, the 3rd, there is an Audit Committee meeting. The agenda is not yet available.

There is also the regularly scheduled Board meeting on Wednesday, the 4th beginning at 4:15 pm. The agenda is fairly short with no meetings in the middle of the meeting as has become the norm for the Board. 

They will be having the public hearing on the 2025-2026 Budget. There will be a separate sign-up sheet for that at the Board meeting. You have three minutes to speak. This starts at 8:00 pm. 

Items of Note

- Ballard High School Internal Audit. The Internal Auditor does regular audits of schools and departments.  Here are the highlights from this one:

We noted the following concerns associated with student records during the audit:

• Student cumulative files, which are used to collect and maintain academic records on a routine basis, included documents that should not be retained, have exceeded their minimum retention period, or should be retained in a separate confidential medical file. Retaining these items in the student cumulative files increases the risk that they will be inappropriately released and subjects the District to unnecessary liability.

o Confidential items such as medical documents should be retained separately from the students’ cumulative file. If a copy of 504 Plan documentation is included in a student’s academic file, the Plan should be reviewed and any protected medical information that is unrelated to academics should be removed from the cumulative file.

o Registration documents establishing residency or citizenship of the student or guardians should not be retained in the academic file.

o Transfer documentation from prior schools of attendance should be reviewed upon receipt and only standard documents necessary for the cumulative files should be retained.

o Other items such as elementary and middle school progress reports have limited retention periods and can be destroyed once their retention period has expired.

We recommend that the school review student cumulative files and conduct the following:

• Ensure that no confidential medical information is included in the files and destroy copies of unrelated medical information.

• Destroy any unnecessary documents that are not required to be retained or have met their retention period.

• Review files of transfer and newly enrolled students upon receipt to ensure only necessary documents are included in the cumulative file.

Management response

We concur with the recommendation and appreciate the feedback provided to our school regarding our processes and procedures as they related to the audited areas. We are confident that each area highlighted in the findings will be addressed.

One item on the Consent Agenda caught my eye: Approving an Interlock Agreement regarding Memorial Stadium between the District and the City of Seattle.

This is the agreement in its entirety and I will confess I did not read it all. Not being a lawyer was one reason. But here are some highlights I managed to find from skimming.

MSR ( Memorial Stadium Redevelopment LLC ) acknowledges that the Seattle Center is hosting the FIFA World Cup Fan Celebration in summer of 2026 and that MSR shall coordinate with the City to support planning efforts for Seattle Center Fan Celebration requirements and activities.


"SPS Priority Hire" means in order of priority:

1. SPS students (former students, graduates and those who have an SPS high school of origin regardless of graduation status); and/or

2. Workers who have a currently enrolled SPS student in their household; and/or any resident of an Economically Distressed Zip Code within the SPS boundaries (see Attachment B of the SCWA).


SPS to pay annually to MSR (as in-kind contributions and/or reimbursements) an amount equal to SPS’s current annual baseline expenses, adjusted for inflation, for regular operations and maintenance (“O&M”) of the existing Stadium (“SPS Baseline Funding”).


SPS and City Event Revenue – As between SPS and MSR, during SPS-managed events, SPS to keep revenues from ticketing, interior food and beverage, retail and other sources within Stadium. Youth education and career development opportunities led by SPS through Stadium operations and community partnerships, with MSR support, also qualify as SPS events. During City-managed events at the Stadium, City to keep revenue from ticketing and other sources within the Stadium.


Parking Lot Revenue Share – SPS to receive annual net revenues generated from use of the parking lot up to an amount (the “Threshold Amount”) initially equal to net revenue generated by the parking operations during the SPS 2024-2025 fiscal year, adjusted for any days during which the parking lot is unavailable for parking due to the Project. Adjustment of revenue calculations to account for such days during the SPS 2024-2025 fiscal year shall be made by using a forecast of daily net parking lot revenues applying the average daily net parking revenues produced during the balance of the SPS 2024-2025 fiscal year. The Threshold Amount will be established prior to execution of the OMA in reference to audited SPS financials. The Threshold Amount shall be adjusted for inflation as of September 1, 2026, and the first of each September thereafter applying the index to be determined in
OMA. Any annual net revenues above the applicable Threshold Amount are to be shared equally between SPS and MSR.

Introduction Items

- Approval of the Board's resolution for "Fixing and Adopting the 2025-2026 Budget." Includes a link to the entire budget. 

- Amending the paid school lunch charge, upping it by $.55 for all grade levels. Breakfast price will remain the same. The lunch price will be $3.80 for elementary students and $4.05 for secondary students. Of course, students that qualify for free or reduced-priced meals or who attend eligible schools for the Community Eligibility Program are not charged for "their first complete meal."

- Then there is a ridiculously long group of Board policy changes to multiple policies. It feels kind of like shock and awe to expect anyone to read through all of these. I skimmed some but read others.

• On public testimony, they want to end the sharing of time (two speaker in one 2-minute period) AND the ability to cede your space to someone else. I'm good with the former but not the latter. There are times when something has happened where one person on the speaker list would be glad to give their time so someone else can address what happened. 
• I see no mention of phone-in testimony but I don't know if that needs to be in there. I think it should.
• On Safety, I didn't know but a student CAN bring pepper spray to school if 1) they are over 18 OR 2) they have written parental permission on file with the school. An 18-year old cannot bring it to school and then give it to a younger student. I would think that if a younger student has to have something on file, an 18-year old should also register with the school. 

Personally, I'd bet this does not bring happiness to teachers. 

• There is also included in the Safety section, the results of the Garfield High School student survey on SROs in school. Only 32% of students took the survey out of a school population of 1,495. I did see two comments that stood out. When asked about improvements, one student said, "Improved lighting in hallways and parking lots." Is the lighting that dim in some hallways? Not good.

The other comment, which was made more than once, is around vaping. Apparently some kids do this in class and/or the bathroom. Smoking or vaping should absolutely not be allow in the building. 

One student suggested cameras in bathrooms because of fights and vaping. Clearly, you can't have cameras in the bathrooms but I would support them just outside every single bathroom so that if trouble does happen, you'll know who was in there.

On Saturday, June 7th, the Board will have one of their retreats from 10am to 4pm. There is no agenda yet available but I think this one could be interesting. Here's hoping it is televised.