Seattle Schools Community Forum

SPS seems to be at steady-state on these OSPI measures in 2025 . There are some changes, though: - Kindergarten readiness dropped by a lot, from 73.6% to 67.9%. As someone who tutors kindergarteners, this readiness is so important to students getting their best start in learning. Even kids who come in with modest readiness can move much faster than students who come in with pretty much a blank slate.  I might ask the City what they think (given they have a large preschool program embedded in SPS). - 8th grade Reading is dropping slightly while 8th grade Math is mostly the same. - On high school Math, I am perplexed. In 2023, it was 52.3%, 2024, it was 58.3% (a notable climb), but in 2025, it dropped to 49.7%.  - Dual Credit participation (with CTE) is really climbing and again, I'd love to know why that might be. Ditto for without CTE. Parents, thoughts?  - I always smile at the 4-year graduation rate at over 80%, mainly because I don't believe in that stat, given how SPS...

To note, Minneapolis Public Schools announced that they will provide "E-learning" through Feb. 12th for any student who requests it due to the ICE shooting in that city as well as ICE agents who appear to be circling schools, looking for undocumented parents. From NBC News : Just a few hours after an ICE officer ignited nationwide outrage Wednesday by fatally shooting Renee Nicole Good on a snowy street in Minneapolis, U.S. Border Patrol agents clashed with teachers and protesters at a high school less than 3 miles from where the 37-year-old mom was killed. “This is so upsetting,” Carol said Thursday as she tearfully recounted what she had witnessed. “All these men, who were fully armed, suddenly jumped out of the SUVs and started running towards the school.” School was being dismissed at the time, and hundreds of students were walking out of the building, she said. “Some of the teachers and school workers were trying to keep the Border Patrol away from the students, telling ...

A student reporter from the Garfield Messenger (GHS' school newspaper) had an interview with incoming superintendent Ben Shuldiner. The reporter, Rafael Brewer, asked some very good questions. I loved this blunt question: As a cis white male, how do you plan on understanding the community that you’re serving and what is your full plan for community engagement?   I think that any good Superintendent who’s coming from the outside wants to spend as much time as possible in the communities that they’re going to be serving. I have, maybe it’s an audacious plan, I don’t know, but I’d like to visit every single school in Seattle within 100 days.      The other thing that we’re planning on doing is having community meetings in each of the seven districts, because school board directors each represent one of seven districts. The idea is that we’re going to try to have community meetings in each of the seven districts, at least once before the 100 days are up.   So muc...

  Open Enrollment for School Choice at Seattle Public Schools

Before I start, I will say that I am so glad I am not raising children right now. It's a terribly challenging time especially around use of social media and now Artificial Intelligence. Let's start with one example, story from  Reuters. Elon Musk's Grok AI floods X with sexualized photos of women and minors Summary: Elon Musk's Grok is generating sexualized images of women and minors Politicians in France ask prosecutors to investigate; India demands answers Experts have long warned Grok owner xAI about potential misuses of AI-generated content Grok is a free AI assistant - with some paid for premium features - which responds to X users' prompts when they tag it in a post.     It is often used to give reaction or more context to other posters' remarks, but people on X are also able to edit an uploaded image through its AI image editing feature. The Take it Down Act was signed into law in May 2025 that specifically addresses tech-enabled sexual abuse. This Act w...

A big welcome to the year 2026 which I predict will have its ups and downs but it WILL be a good (if not better) year than 2025. I hope that each of you had a fun and safe holiday. I note this from acting SPS superintendent Fred Pedestal's new year greeting: It is a time for renewed hope as we work together to make Seattle Public Schools one of the top districts in the nation. This, of course, is what incoming superintendent, Ben Shuldiner, has stated. I'm glad that the statement seemed to mean that SPS is truly dedicated to all students. As for what is coming up on the SPS calendar, I see one meeting - the BEX and BTA Capital Levies Oversight Committee meeting  - on Friday, January 9th.  I do see an oddity for Wednesday, January 14th - a Board "Special Meeting." There is nothing else that explains it nor is there an agenda. Ditto on Wednesday, January 28th. Sandwiched in-between those is the Regular Board meeting on Wednesday, January 21st.  I have a number of stori...