tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post5682424623397960189..comments2024-03-18T16:51:10.406-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This WeekMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-2893048217298674682014-01-09T19:39:15.773-08:002014-01-09T19:39:15.773-08:00Finally, this is a list of the locations of work f...Finally, this is a list of the locations of work for this project:<br /><br /> Replace inefficient motors at:<br /><br />• Blaine K-8 School<br />• Boren Interim School<br />• Broadview-Thompson Elementary School<br />• Maple Elementary School<br />• Rainier Beach High School<br />• Aki Kurose Middle School<br />• Washington Middle School<br />• Whitman Middle School<br /><br />Install lighting controls at:<br /><br />• Adams Elementary School<br />• B. F. Day Elementary School<br />• Bryant Elementary School<br />• Coe Elementary School<br />• Concord Elementary School<br />• Franklin High School<br />• Gatewood Elementary School<br />• Gatzert Elementary School<br />• Hawthorne Elementary School<br />• John Hay Elementary School<br />• Leschi Elementary School<br />• Olympic View Elementary School<br />• John Stanford Center<br />• Thurgood Marshall Elementary School<br />• West Seattle High School<br /><br />In case anyone is still reading and is still interested.<br /><br />--FremontDad<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-60807057342343530532014-01-09T19:36:45.771-08:002014-01-09T19:36:45.771-08:00My understanding is that the funds for this projec...My understanding is that the funds for this project came ultimately from an OSPI energy efficiency grant in 2010. OSPI requires districts with a capital improvement fund to use that fund in between OSPI and the contractor. So, the budget really isn't "<i>one</i> pile of money", and if <b>you</b> had bothered to look, you'd have found that. (Enter 'Contract K5003' without the quotes into Google; MAGIC!)<br /><br />When I first read this post, I thought I’d be helpful to the discussion and try to find out what the facilities were that were covered by this project. I did this by searching for McKinstry’s Intent to Pay Prevailing Wages, which is on file with L&I. The Intent was interesting, but not for the reasons I figured it would be.<br /><br />What I found most interesting was that the bid was due and the contract was awarded on October 15, 2010. The Intent was received by the state on February 2, 2011, and it was approved five days later. Interestingly, it listed the location of work as “Seattle, WA 98124”. McKinstry Essention hired two other McK divisions, McKinstry Co. and McKinstry Electric to work on this project, and they also filed only one intent each, probably because the same woman filed all three, and all three show “Seattle, WA 98124” as the work location. McKinstry Co.’s Intent was filed on June 23, 2011 and McKinstry Electric’s was filed April 4, 2012.<br /><br />After work is complete on a public works project in Washington, you have to file an Affidavit of Wages Paid. So, I looked up the affidavits to see if they listed all of the locations, and all of them also only give “Seattle, WA 98124” as the site address. While the affidavits weren’t helpful in that regard, they were helpful in another; all of the work was completed by September 3, 2012.<br /> <br />So, McK reports that their work was complete in September of 2012. But your post says,<br /><br /> “If this is what passes for accurate and adequate explanation of the spending of public funds, then color me unhappy. (The agenda item states the schools but not the budget.)<br /><br />If this is how our new Capital Director, Flip Herndon, explains capital spending, that's troubling. Our capital dollars and how they are spent should be transparent and easy to understand. This is not.”<br /><br />The comment about Herndon intrigued me, so I started looking into who he is, and I found an article in the Times telling me that Herndon was taking the capital, facilities and enrollment planning post, and it was dated August 12th, 2013, a full eleven months after work was complete on this project, and three YEARS past the date in 2010 when the monies were allocated – by the <b>state</b> - for this project. And that’s when I decided I had to speak up.<br />Because, yes, I know how budget planning works. I’m in that kind of industry that I would need to know that. I’m also on enough boards and committees of things that I see how inertia gets carried over, and that once something is referred to a certain way, it stays that way, even if it is wrong and should be fixed. That’s not Herndon’s fault. OSPI’s restrictions on their grant management also aren’t his fault. And if you want him to do better than has been done in the past with capital planning reporting, mayhaps you should inquire with him directly rather than assassinate his character on your blog. <br /><br />--FremontDad<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-78618870756699859182014-01-09T19:35:43.348-08:002014-01-09T19:35:43.348-08:00No, ma'am, I do not miss the point.
To answer...No, ma'am, I do not miss the point.<br /><br />To answer another question of yours, a GMax project is a project that has been bid with a guaranteed maximum amount. This is why there was no change order – the money had already been allocated for this project, McKinstry finished the initial work so far under the budget they had set that the district was able to use these allocated monies to do additional work. Thus, there were no change orders for the project management side (to McK, it was a change in scope), and the only change order from the billing perspective was a deductive change order for -$223,638.00 to match the project’s new total cost to the lesser amount of money that McKinstry was asking for. The contract that the district signed with McKinstry gave them the right to change the scope of work at the district’s discretion to stay within the project budget.<br /><br />--FremontDad<br /><br />(cont'd)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-3111800998030560822014-01-07T08:37:33.192-08:002014-01-07T08:37:33.192-08:00CHARTER COMMISSION TO HOST PUBLIC FORUMS ACROSS ST...CHARTER COMMISSION TO HOST PUBLIC FORUMS ACROSS STATE<br /><br />http://listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A2=CHARTER-SCHOOL-COMMISSION;84564e77.1312p<br /><br />PSPAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-46062353547503850132014-01-06T19:08:17.905-08:002014-01-06T19:08:17.905-08:00Again, you miss the point. A budget shows ALL the...Again, you miss the point. A budget shows ALL the projects and each one costs. If you bothered to look, the "budget" is one pile of money. Not helpful, doesn't set a good tone.<br /><br />Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-87813075287442345542014-01-06T16:33:46.184-08:002014-01-06T16:33:46.184-08:00Melissa,
I'm certain he can do it. Should he...Melissa,<br /><br />I'm certain he can do it. Should he? Does he know that the projects in the pipeline are being judged thusly? Is it reasonable to expect him to care as much about this information on a project that he had little to do with - one that McKinstry claimed work was complete in the 2Q of last year?<br /><br />I think he has many much bigger fish to fry than past projects that are in final acceptance stages, and I want him to be looking at those newer, more current projects. Yes, the metadata on this project in this milieu was lacking, but I don't see the reason to start putting black marks next to his name for it, <b>unless</b> it continues under projects he initiates or has some major involvement in. <br /><br />I think your expectations here are unreasonable.<br /><br />--FremontDadAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-5654438754252530182014-01-06T14:42:55.295-08:002014-01-06T14:42:55.295-08:00Fremont Dad, I'm not complaining about the wor...Fremont Dad, I'm not complaining about the work done, I'm complaining about transparency of the presentation.<br /><br />That he can do. That is what we need in SPS.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-88449566591076195012014-01-06T14:29:17.105-08:002014-01-06T14:29:17.105-08:00FremontDad,
I would tend to agree with you on tha...FremontDad,<br /><br />I would tend to agree with you on that.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-81692927351942835232014-01-06T14:28:20.587-08:002014-01-06T14:28:20.587-08:00Transportation Work Session presentation for tonig...Transportation Work Session presentation for tonight.<br /><br />Nothing about costs,such as additional portables for neighborhood schools when sunsetting grandfathered transport for schools.<br /><br />http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/school%20board/13-14%20agendas/010714agenda/20140107_Presentation_TransportationWorkSession.pdfA-momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-21610811132858116842014-01-06T13:33:38.431-08:002014-01-06T13:33:38.431-08:00I'm going to stick up for Herndon a bit here. ...I'm going to stick up for Herndon a bit here. The guy's been on the job for what, four months? His perspective is probably looking forward, and not really backward. The project that you're hammering him on here was awarded in February, 2011, and completed in April, 2013. The opacity of his predecessors is probably being carried through the system on inertia, and I can easily imagine that he doesn't have the details of this project on the tip of his tongue. If he continues with the record of opacity, that's a different matter. But excoriating him over a project that he's merely trying to get final acceptance of I think is poor form.<br /><br />--FremontDadAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-26995762672741507212014-01-06T08:42:30.225-08:002014-01-06T08:42:30.225-08:00The budget for this Race to the Top grant can be f...The budget for this Race to the Top grant can be found on <a href="http://roadmapracetothetop.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Seattle-RFP.pdf" rel="nofollow">Pg 29</a> here.<br /><br />Here are a few major problems:<br /><br />* Despite the grant stating clearly that there is SPS "in-kind" contributions including staff time, this is not shown on the budget. As we all know, these CCER/Alliance/LEV pet projects consume a lot of staff time. The budget document is misleading. Previous Road Map grant apps list all "in-kind" cost elements and, if the board is asked to approved this (per policy) then it needs all the information.<br /><br />* Our district's participation in Road Map is contingent upon sharing our students' data with CCER.<br /><br />* It is very difficult to glean what is what re: these projects unless you know the secret website <a href="http://roadmapracetothetop.org/about/" rel="nofollow">http://roadmapracetothetop.org/about/</a> <br /><br />* The preschool "partners" are already "institutional service providers" and have direct access to student data via SPS' Automated Data Reports. Although district procedure calls for parental consent, I have never been asked for consent to hand my child's data to the YMCA.<br /><br />* The grant app cites sustainable funding thusly "We will work with the school principals in our target schools and encourage them to apply for City of Seattle levy funds... (I)f principals see positive change they may be open to <b>reallocating Title 1 or LAP funds</b> towards these efforts." RMP does NOT offer sustainable funding, what will happen is SPS will cannabalize other programs to sustain these efforts.<br /><br />* The effectiveness of this project will be gauged by 3rd grade MSP scores (cheerily provided by OSPI). So we will not discern any result until these Pre-k kids are in 3rd grade!<br /><br />* These projects must be closely scrutinized. We see that the Alliance's Seattle Teacher Residency pet project was NOT brought before the board, despite exceeding the threshold for grant approvals. That effort will ultimately cost SPS $700K per year in five years.<br /><br />I can't attend Wednesday's meeting. I hope someone can address this issues.mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-62226800732237215572014-01-06T08:04:46.047-08:002014-01-06T08:04:46.047-08:00Still no agenda for tonight's Work Session.
Do...Still no agenda for tonight's Work Session.<br />Does anyone know what's going on with grandfathered transportation?<br />Last year they decided to keep it, because the cost of portables for neighborhood schools would have been too high.A-momnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-1781190124406924252014-01-05T23:11:32.882-08:002014-01-05T23:11:32.882-08:00Pre-K, that is true; I saw that. But it is not cl...Pre-K, that is true; I saw that. But it is not clearly delineated where it should be and the schools are not noted. The Board has a right to know this information as does the public. <br /><br />Charlie, I wondered about that myself.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-70708308887567322002014-01-05T21:54:20.691-08:002014-01-05T21:54:20.691-08:00I see that the transportation service standards st...I see that the transportation service standards still includes this exception to the usual rules:<br /><br />"<i>Aki Kurose Middle School students are provided yellow bus transportation if they reside more than 1.0 mile from the school, as an exception to normal Middle School eligibility standards.</i>"<br /><br />That's left over from the Southeast Education Initiative and was supposed to have been discontinued. Why is it still there?Charlie Mashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17173903762962067277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-27595027709638338092014-01-05T21:23:14.455-08:002014-01-05T21:23:14.455-08:00It appears the professional development is for pre...It appears the professional development is for preK-3rd grade teachers, as noted in the background information in the briefing report.<br /><br />1. Designing and implementing a summer professional development institute for preK-3rd grade teachers in partnership with Highline Public Schools. <br /><br />2. Utilizing former SPS Readiness to Learn Parent Leaders to recruit families with <br />preschool age children to join school readiness play groups, and to facilitate groups using <br />the Child Care Resources Kaleidoscope Play and Learn model. <br /><br />3. Working within our system to refine our practices and conduct targeted early enrollment <br />outreach<br /><br />Pre-Ks is OKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com