Seattle Schools Community Forum

There was a rather interesting happening over at The Seattle Times last week. The Times had queried readers about what advice they would give the new superintendent, Ben Shuldiner. I filled out the form and then got a call that my comments would be used if I was good with it. I then emailed the reporter back saying certainly but also letting him know - if he didn't know - who I am. He said oh yes, I know you are a blogger, it's fine. So the article by Ryan Nguyen came out last Thursday. I saw my comments in the story as well as those of many others. As well, there were some interesting quotes from Shuldiner. Shuldiner said he aims to visit every school in the district during his first 100 days as superintendent. Additionally, he told The Times he intends to hold a community meeting in each of the seven School Board districts .   “As any new leader, from inside or outside, you’ve got to spend time in the community,” Shuldiner said at the Nov. 5 School Board meeting. “You’ve got ...

  For the first time in a long time, every director was up on the dais. President Gina Topp said they wanted to honor the three outgoing directors - Brandon Hersey, Sarah Clark, and Michelle Sarju. (Coincidentally, their departure signals the last of any Black directors on the Board. I note that there were no Black candidates in the General Election. Of course, there was -  Sarah Clark - thanks for the correction.)  Superintendent Fred Podesta was asked for his remarks first. He had attended the Black college expo where 2,000 students attended (and I would assume not just SPS students) and 700 enrolled at that time, some with scholarships attached. He said that being a board director was "pound for pound" the hardest work in public service, noting his career had been in public service so he had seen a lot.  Director Hersey brought his month-old son, Avery. Naturally, everyone was quite taken with this sweet little baby. Apparently he has been so busy he didn't realiz...

Remember these? Talk about anything and I will print it. (Naturally, no personal attacks, swearing, racism, etc.) I'll start. From the West Seattle Blog, their interview with soon-to-be superintendent, Ben Shuldiner.   Highlights: -  He says public-school districts have to come to terms with the fact that while “30 or 40 years ago, they had a monopoly … now, there’s so much more choice.” But he says the ultimate way to solve the problem is “just do better at our jobs” – provide a better education. To increase enrollment in Lansing, Shuldiner says, “we made our schools better.” He says promotion is important, from talking to the media to advertising such as billboards.  -  And he says they noticed a trend – parents loved the elementary schools, but were “fearful about the junior highs.” So, he says, “we created a bunch of K-8s” – and that led to less loss between elementary and middle school, because the students would be staying on in schools with which they and the...

 Two items to note in advance of the meeting. One, if you follow history, November 19, 1863 was the day that President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. It followed the Battle of Gettysburg, a three-day fight that saw over 50,000 combined casualties. That is more than any battle in American history.  President Lincoln said that "the world will little or long remember what we say here" but he was wrong.  He said: " Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."   He ended by saying: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  I hope we can find a way to endure as the "United" States of America. Two, the district is NOT happy with the verdict from the Meany ...

That job would be trying to understand why the district protects principals and teachers who are problematic. But also, how to create contracts with those two groups so that they do have protections but making sure everyone knows the acceptable parameters of behavior.  I bring this up because it is all so baffling from the outside to understand what happens at JSCEE when there is a complaint against a teacher or principal. For example, my understanding is that especially at the elementary level, each school's principal gets to decide whether to excuse a travel absence for a student. I can get not wanting to put a teacher in the position to have to do extra work (in organizing missed assignments for a student) because that student went to Disneyland. But where exactly is the line for excusing absences and how do parents know what that is? I know that some parents at different schools have compared notes and some resent that their principal is more hard-nosed than another school...

Update: Via The Seattle Times : Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 nationally ranked boys basketball recruit, has enrolled at Rainier Beach for his high school senior season and was on campus Thursday, according to multiple reports.   The 6-7, 230-pound small forward joins a decorated program that went 28-3 last season en route to winning its 10th state title. We've heard this story many times from RBHS as well as from Nathan Hale HS and from Garfield HS and it doesn't always turn out well. But always, best of luck to RBHS. Re Stokes: Stokes is eligible to play for Rainier Beach per the WIAA rulebook’s section 18.12.2.1, which requires “a student whose transfer to a new school or school district is based on a bona fide change of residence to a new school or school district due to an actual physical relocation of and with the entire family unit to a different residence and coupled with termination of all occupancy of their previous residence.” Stokes withdrew from Notre Dame in Sherman Oa...

Grrrrr. Really, it's generally just me and Chris Jackins who ask hard questions about the spending of the capital levies known as BEX and BTA (Building Excellence and Buildings, Technology, and Athletics/Academics). But folks, I believe it is the ultimate slush fund for the district and it's wrong. You might ask how can it be a slush fund when voters are told what the dollars will be used for? Because there are dollars from many past BEX and BTA levies. The district does NOT spend all of it. Some comes from "underspend" but my belief is that they hold on to dollars to get interest from it and keep that capital pot o' dollars going. (I have a hard time believing there is much "underspend" given how often Capital asks for overrun dollars from the Board. The district rarely gives a final overview of costs for each project.) I understand having some capital funds as a rainy day solution but there are schools with real and ongoing maintenance issues and they ...