Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Update: The meeting was late as President Gina Topp let people know their Executive Session would be done in 8 minutes (and that was almost on the nose).  As I mentioned, Clark and Briggs were there virtually. I'm just going to say that unless it's illness or some emergency, directors need to be in those chairs. This is one of the few times when people can see directors in person and in action and maybe chat them up during breaks. Virtual is not and never will be a great substitute for in-person.   Superintendent Fred Podesta was on the dais as well. Topp started the meeting saying thank you to the public for taking the superintendent search survey and the deadline for that is August 4th.   Again, she mentioned a community engagement meeting tomorrow, July 31st, at James Baldwin Elementary at 6 pm. I believe it will be Topp and Rankin.  The first meeting of the new Ad Hoc Budget Committee is Thursday, August 7th. I don't have a time or place but will ...

In the comments for The Seattle Times' story on Board candidates and their answers to the Times' questions, there were a couple of comments that caught my eye. One commenter highlighted what different candidates said and made the claim that they believed most of those comments were AI-generated. Reviewing some of those statements, I'm inclined to wonder myself. I sure hope not. FYI, I will never use AI here. It's just not my style even though it might improve my writing.   As well, someone asked this question: Hello, do you think AI programs could eliminate at least 30% of the non-teaching admins? That would really help taxpayers. There is a regular commenter on public education stories who goes by OSPI Retired Professional . He/she/they has really good insights with long answers. Here's what that person said to that question (I reformated the answer for clarity.): It’s a bold idea, and honestly, not entirely out of reach. SPS is already dipping its toes into AI, ...

Update: President Topp said at the Board meeting that the button for the form for public testimony has moved and works. I checked and I don't know what page she is talking about but the one I'm on is not. I note that Director Sarju asked for an email to go out to families in all languages to explain there is a new process and how to access it. She said it shouldn't be hard for folks to know how to do this. Good for her. end of upate  One quick update.  For whatever reason, there is no link to the form to sign up for public testimony for today's Board meeting. So I went to the Board webpage to put it up here.  There are two places to access this form and at both, the link is broken. This is probably why, at this hour, there is still just a single person on the public testimony list.  I have notified the Board office but I doubt it will get fixed.  To me, the Board already looks suspect with this large agenda that is ALL Intro/Action items plus a bulky Strategic ...

I had previously mentioned a mystery Board meeting tomorrow the 30th but it was listed as an Executive Session. Now, as reported by a new Times' story, there is an Executive Session and THEN a "special" Board meeting. Here's the agenda . The meeting starts at 4:30 pm and yes, there will be public testimony allowed. However, there is a notation that the rules have changed and yet there is nothing about those changes.  Every item - every single one - is Intro and Action. Shame on the Board and staff for stuffing items onto a last minute meeting with little time for the public to view the documentation.   The big item is - Authorization to negotiate an employment contract for an Interim Superintendent. This would be with acting superintendent, Fred Podesta.   Via President Gina Topp: I move that the School Board authorize the Board President, with the assistance of legal counsel, to negotiate an employment contract with Fred Podesta to serve as Interim Superintendent,...

  The other article from The Seattle Times is a deeper dive into what candidates think based on four questions from the Times. This article asked ALL of the candidates, including the two in D7 bypassing the primary. D2 Nearly all the candidates cited the budget issues as the continuing biggest issue. I was surprised that candidate Kathleen Smith did not cite it but one of the Times' questions is on the budget so she answered that there. Eric Feeny did give an interesting, fleshed-out answer about the issues. O utside of the financial elephant in the room which stems from state politics and the housing crisis, I’ve observed three addressable organizational deficiencies: academic excellence/rigor, organizational agility and community responsiveness. These are not trivially solved, and they are all linked. So let me give one concrete example for each that work together to ameliorate one another. If SPS had been better at hearing and engaging communities who are aggrieved enough to ...

The Times has had two recent articles on the upcoming primary election that includes school board seats. In the first one , they point out that although the ballot will list 14 candidates in three races, two people have dropped out.  They cite the two big elephants at JSCEE - the budget woes AND finding a new superintendent. (We might just have to have a separate post on where the process might take us. New Board members take their oath of office in early December, not immediately after the General Election.  Personally, I think whoever gets elected should be brought in to listen to any ongoing interviews. They don't get a vote but they can hear from candidates directly.) All thought School Board members should create more opportunities to hear directly from parents and the community. They called for more transparency — some on the budget, others on district decision-making.  The current Board, especially under Liza Rankin's leadership, had private meetings with parents a...

You find out the most fascinating information at the PDC ( Public Disclosure Commission ) about candidates.  To note, school board campaigns are generally not big money campaigns in any way, shape or form. But anything over about $25K merits a look.  These races are a lot like races for judges - people feel kind of lost about who to vote for.    If you look at voter stats, the number of people who vote for mayor is quite high but as you go down ballot, voter numbers drop off. So WHO you can get to vote for you for school board, those numbers get hugely important. If you have people/groups who can mobilize in numbers, you are likely to win because of those low voter numbers for school board.   But more importantly who drives campaigns forward - influential people and groups - that helps a candidate win for school board.  Let's dive in. (I am only going to address the two highest in each race with one exception.)   District 2 - Sarah Clark...

Update: I am hearing that not only do Clark, Mizrahi, and Song seem to be a slate but joining them is Carol Rava, one of two candidates in D7.  Word is that the Four are showing up at events together and they appear to be the only Seattle School Board candidates invited.  More details in my next post on my visit to the Public Disclosure Commission to check donations and who is supporting whom. end of update    Way back in 2002, there was a Seattle School Board election with the majority of seats (4) up. That majority was made up of business-types who had overseen the death of John Stanford and then, the financial scandal of his CFO who became superintendent after Stanford. That would be one Joe Olchefske. Voters were urged to stay the course with that Board majority. Four strong but completely different women ran against them. Somehow, along the way, those four women became a slate and that slate overturned that majority. It was a pretty thrilling election and it was...

 

 Update: The Seattle Times has endorsed Joe Mizrahi for the District 4 seat. And, Mizrahi has some bold things to say. (Bold mine) Anyone who wants to correct a problem must name it first. Joe Mizrahi, running to retain his seat on the Seattle School Board, is doing so, calling out a near total dearth of leadership within Seattle Public Schools. “I was expecting bureaucratic inertia, some incompetence, but the real lack of accountability in this district has been quite shocking to me,” he said after 15 months of observing the inner workings at SPS. Watching the litany of lawsuits , scandals and crises that have beset the district in just the year since he was appointed, Mizrahi often wonders, “How does this person still have a job?” His first meaningful opportunity to address that question will be hiring a new superintendent. Mizrahi says he’d oppose any candidate currently working in the district. He wants an outsider without baggage or loyalties, someone willing to “be a little ...