tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post9102094495800112706..comments2024-03-28T02:21:17.452-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: December 3rd School Board MeetingMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-10416820100324161022008-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:002008-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:00Kirsten, I feel your pain when it comes to ridicul...Kirsten, I feel your pain when it comes to ridiculously long bus commutes for kids.<BR/><BR/>I don't let my younger son ride the bus to school because he has to be at the bus stop at 8:03 to get to school for the 9:15 bell. And get this, he goes to a neighborhood school in our cluster. He is expected to be on a bus for over an hour each way, every day. That's 10 hours a week on a bus. 40 hours a month. His childhood is to short to waste on a bus, especially when it only takes me 7 minutes each way to drive him. <BR/><BR/>If we are going to neighborhood schools then maybe we can add some extra buses to routes to keep commutes reasonable, say a half an hour or under. Is that reasonable for schools in your neighborhood, that are only a couple of miles from your home? <BR/><BR/>Most adults I know would not choose a job an hour away from our homes, because we don't want to sit in a car two hours a day. So why do we allow our children to do just this? <BR/><BR/>We are all so busy trying to claw our way into a reasonably "good" school or a school that meets our kids needs, that we are over looking the huge impact sitting on buses for hours a day has on our kids. <BR/><BR/>I for one look forward to the day when Seattle has good schools throughout the city and we don't have to send our kids all over creation for a decent education.anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03716725891562757052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-21886796272300621092008-12-05T07:39:00.000-08:002008-12-05T07:39:00.000-08:00Charlie, We have heard that the highest concentrat...Charlie, <BR/><BR/>We have heard that the highest concentration of children in the Seattle area is in the Rainier Valley. Do you know of this? So while the capacity issues are incredible north of the ship canal I'd like to know of the district's projects for south of the ship canal. I am also with Director Bass in asking what specifically is being done to make the schools in the south part of the cluster better. Thank you.readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00375775967885300005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-71047701743450202712008-12-04T23:49:00.000-08:002008-12-04T23:49:00.000-08:00Let's see, we have a lot of excess capacity. We wa...Let's see, we have a lot of excess capacity. We want to eliminate about 9,000 empty seats.<BR/><BR/>One of the District's high schools has 900 empty seats - 10% of our closure goal. We need to leave that school alone.<BR/><BR/>One of the District's three largest elementary schools is totally full, so that's one we need to close for sure.Charlie Mashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17173903762962067277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-75636318723975912262008-12-04T21:53:00.000-08:002008-12-04T21:53:00.000-08:00Hmm.. let me try that again.http://www.seattlescho...Hmm.. let me try that again.<BR/><BR/>http://www.seattleschools.org/<BR/>area/board/031208agenda<BR/>/2020fmp.pdfKirsten Wildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02734233414077072778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-30769849291529578462008-12-04T21:52:00.000-08:002008-12-04T21:52:00.000-08:00See the attached link, Chapter 8. for detailed inf...See the attached link, Chapter 8. for detailed information about building scores. Montlake does score lower than Lowell.<BR/>http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/031208agenda/2020fmp.pdfKirsten Wildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02734233414077072778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-81408338314133942982008-12-04T20:13:00.000-08:002008-12-04T20:13:00.000-08:00kirsten - which schools scored lower than lowell o...kirsten - which schools scored lower than lowell on building condition? I am interested in why Montlake isn't being closed, moveed to Lowell. I agree with the APP split but I would like to see the real costs for retrofitting schools to accommodate the children with disabilities, whether they'll be dumped into the lowest performing schools in the district as has been the history of special ed placement in this district, and also whether changes to their education could be made without leaving the building.readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00375775967885300005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42610190485303674762008-12-04T14:29:00.000-08:002008-12-04T14:29:00.000-08:00Following is the coordinated Lowell PTA message th...Following is the coordinated Lowell PTA message that was conveyed at Wednesday's Board Meeting. I know it doesn't represent the views of everyone at Lowell, but there was a lot of parent discussion that led to this point.<BR/><BR/>"First a word about Special Ed. Our Special education cohort, families of 40 children, needs to be respected, consulted, and informed. These are our most highly vulnerable children and they have not even been told where they will end up next year. That needs to change.<BR/><BR/>Last night, 450 of our APP parents came together to listen to Dr. Bob Vaughan, manager of the Advanced Learning Program. We’ve spoken to the district. Let’s look at the real costs.<BR/><BR/>Let’s look at financial costs. <BR/>1. 10 buildings with lower condition scores than ours will remain open. Most of the major needed improvements recommended by that 2006 report have already been made to Lowell in the last 18 months, with 1.6M$ spent to replace roof, water and windows. <BR/>2. Lowell’s maintenance backlog is $11 thousand per pupil. 21 schools have a higher backlog per pupil. Because our building is large and full, overhead costs go further. <BR/>3. There are costs to duplicating APP in two sites. <BR/>4. And, as half of parents live north of the ship canal bridge, and schools are moving south, bus costs will rise.<BR/><BR/>Let’s look at program integrity costs:<BR/>1. Two splits have been proposed to the APP program over the past 5 years, and for the past FIVE years, APP parents have been asking for an articulated curriculum, and a plan for how the split would be accomplished to really make it work. We have never gotten that plan in five years. The district again asks us to accept a split and work out the details later. If they haven’t been able provide a vision, leadership and details when there was more money and time, why do they think they can do that now?<BR/><BR/>The district says it can make multiple advanced learning sites equitable and consistent. But looking at spectrum and ALO sites around the city, they vary widely in curriculum and strength.<BR/><BR/>Let’s look at bussing and the cost to children:<BR/>1. Last night I heard about a 7 year old who gets on the bus at 802am every morning to make the 9am bell. Does this student live in the far reaches of north seattle? Meadowbrook perhaps or ballard? No, they live in Wallingford, just a few miles from Lowell. The average bus ride increase to families north of Lowell is estimated at 20 minutes each way. Hour and 20 minute bus rides are not fair to young children<BR/><BR/>2. Parents who live farthest from the proposed southern schools may choose not to sign onto the long commute. But they will find their home schools in the north are too full to attend and spectrum classes are full, so their children will be in a classroom that is neither in their neighborhood, nor serving their academic needs.<BR/><BR/>We believe the proposal for Lowell APP and Special Education will not achieve the district’s stated goals of furthering educational excellence , equity, and access. It is not the best way to save costs. Therefore we ask:<BR/><BR/>Please respect our Special Education families by consulting and planning with them where their children will go to school next year.<BR/><BR/>Please, we need to keep APP together as a single cohort at the Lowell building.<BR/><BR/>There has to be a better way to save money than breaking up a thriving all-city school community of 530 families"Kirsten Wildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02734233414077072778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-30136553923759844672008-12-04T09:10:00.000-08:002008-12-04T09:10:00.000-08:00Beth! (and Melissa!)Thank you soooo much for all t...Beth! (and Melissa!)<BR/>Thank you soooo much for all the time you put into these communications! An invaluable service...<BR/><BR/>Speakers who ceded time to other schools, so more different voices could be heard! Yea! Bravo! A wonderful and warming show of grace and respect.<BR/><BR/>Keep up the communication, keep up the sharing of effort and voice. If everyone works together, perhaps a reconfiguration can come out of this is, in fact, best for all the students (or at least the most possible, given these horrific economic times...has anyone been organizing to present arguments in support of public schools down there in Olympia? Or at the city hall? Why is Seattle proposing more street cars as we close schools...I don't get it.)seattle citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16724175257161649500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-80672323038645690442008-12-04T08:30:00.000-08:002008-12-04T08:30:00.000-08:00I still say it's all cart before horse. How much m...I still say it's all cart before horse. How much more time do they need to come up with an assignment plan? <BR/><BR/>These new recommendations concerning RBHS, etc. make no sense if next year they try to force southend kids into southend schools. Remember there are over 1,600 high school students for whom RBHS is their closest school. The capacity is here! Give us something worthwhile and we'll go there. But the District can't just add in some AP classes and expect us to believe that "now RBHS is just like Roosevelt/Garfield/Ballard." It's going to take more than that for sure, but it's worth shooting for since there are plenty of students in the area...and I see nothing but babies and strollers all over my neighborhood.<BR/><BR/>This District is going to keep bleeding money and students until it figures out a way to create quality schools all over the city so they can stop allowing so much choice (= yellow bus or metro costs).SolvayGirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12709893209963350066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-73999849574055510682008-12-03T23:46:00.000-08:002008-12-03T23:46:00.000-08:00Mel,As I look back on what I wrote, I'm not sure t...Mel,<BR/><BR/>As I look back on what I wrote, I'm not sure the live blogging "stream of consciousness" write up is the most effective way to report on a meeting. But it kept me very focused on what was said. :-)<BR/><BR/>Looking forward to thoughtful reflection/write-up from you and others on their thoughts on the meeting.Beth Bakemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16827919509722526726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42239201786369832962008-12-03T22:11:00.000-08:002008-12-03T22:11:00.000-08:00Beth, you blogging fool! Here I sit down thinking...Beth, you blogging fool! Here I sit down thinking about how much I have to write and voila! here it is.<BR/><BR/>Anyway to fill in a couple of gaps:<BR/><BR/>- One guy talked about why they should be closing a high school (both for excess capacity and cost savings). He said Franklin (?) was at Level 5 under NCLB. I hadn't heard this and I'm not sure that's right. He claimed that the cost per student at RBHS is $1900 a student.<BR/><BR/>-there were two APP parents who ceded their time to other schools (one AAA and one TT Minor)<BR/><BR/>-the co-president at Lowell said that the fragile Special Ed kids at Lowell needed to be considered first. She said there were 10 other buildings worse than Lowell, they spent $1.6M on roof and windows and are still closing the building, there are costs to duplicating the program and busing costs, she said that the Spectrum programs and ALOs are not uniform now so how did they expect to keep the integrity of the APP program<BR/><BR/>-one parent ceded time so a Meany parent could speak<BR/><BR/>Those were the highlights I noted from the speakers.<BR/><BR/>I'll blog elsewhere on the presentations.Melissa Westbrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12588239576000641336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-50740351890105358162008-12-03T21:30:00.000-08:002008-12-03T21:30:00.000-08:00Here's the text of the presentation on Special Edu...Here's the text of the presentation on Special Education. <BR/><BR/>December 3, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/>Members of the Seattle School Board, <BR/><BR/><BR/>Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you. As a parent of a child with a disability, I attended the board’s November 25th work session with a particular interest in how students receiving special education services will be impacted by the superintendent’s preliminary recommendation for capacity management. At that meeting I observed a lengthy exchange of questions and comments between members of the board, the Superintendent, and other district staff. I am here this evening, motivated not by what I heard at that meeting, but rather by what I did not hear.<BR/><BR/>Forgive me if I’m wrong, but other than Director Bass’s questioning about the dislocation of disabled students from Meany Middle School, there were no other questions from the board specific to special ed, even when recommendations that will directly impact students with disabilities were being presented.<BR/><BR/>I observed testimonies by directors of the district’s APP and Bi-lingual programs, while there were no similar presentations by special education staff, discounting one clarification from the district’s lawyer on Seattle’s compliance to the IDEA. Regrettably the board neither questioned the absence of a special ed spokesperson, nor acknowledged that this recommendation is being vetted at a time when special education is without a district-level director who’s sole focus is special education.<BR/><BR/>As this process goes forward, the board must question how this recommendation will affect students with disabilities. I, for one, would like to know: <BR/>• What will the economic impact be as neighborhood schools accommodate the accessibility and therapeutic needs of this population group, and as the district hires more specialists (such as speech language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists) to attend to a more scattered population of disabled students?<BR/>• What is the plan for displacing students from Meany and Lowell? Will their relocation be driven by the singular goal of placing them into their neighborhood school as soon as possible, or will there be a more measured tracking towards inclusion that involves an interim plan, with the likelihood of imposing yet another transition on these students in the future when full inclusion becomes the dominate goal? <BR/>• How will the district assure us that by next Fall all of our relocated children will be welcomed into their new schools, because currently it is not uncommon for us to hear some parents, school staff and administrators state that our children are not welcomed into their classrooms.<BR/>• And most importantly, what will the academic, social and emotional impacts be on individual students as they loose their cohorts and trusted staff?<BR/><BR/>It is always our hope that as we work on behalf of our children, we settle for nothing less our best efforts. To more fully prepare for the changes that will result from this recommendation, more questions must be asked with the expectation of direct, informed and well-considered answers.<BR/><BR/>Please do not infer that my comments imply a criticism of the work already done by the district while designing their recommendation. I am only sharing with you my expectation of this board that you include in your considerations the particular implications of this recommendation as it applies to students with disabilities. And, that this scrutiny occurs with the same fair and deliberate efforts that are done for all other affected district students. Thank you.readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00375775967885300005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-20941504061200059822008-12-03T19:40:00.000-08:002008-12-03T19:40:00.000-08:00At the work session on November 25 the School Boar...<I>At the work session on November 25 the School Board indicated that the option of altering the Student Assignment Plan to permit the location of Pathfinder at Cooper should be evaluated. Staff are evaluating this option.</I><BR/><BR/>Cooper fought off this very proposal two years ago. How has the school been doing since? Does it seem likely that they can fight it off again?Roy Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07677294298900083208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-74173921816236132832008-12-03T19:37:00.000-08:002008-12-03T19:37:00.000-08:00We have received substantial feedback that a major...<I>We have received substantial feedback that a majority of the Summit students will not travel to the Rainier Beach building, which will continue the excess capacity problem. This may result in a final recommendation to discontinue the Summit K-12 program.</I><BR/><BR/>Poison pill working as predicted - staff presented Rainier Beach as the new Summit location, and when people pointed out that that proposal is probably infeasible, staff responds with "well, then we'll just close Summit entirely".<BR/><BR/>I wish I could say this particular chain of events was a surprise, but it isn't.Roy Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07677294298900083208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-75415692922936293042008-12-03T19:32:00.000-08:002008-12-03T19:32:00.000-08:00Did the NE coalition representative say anything r...Did the NE coalition representative say anything regarding the recommendation to move Thornton Creek to Jane Addams and re-purpose Decatur as a reference area elementary?Roy Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07677294298900083208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-61034783499530028852008-12-03T19:11:00.000-08:002008-12-03T19:11:00.000-08:00What are the Lowell parents saying? You said ther...What are the Lowell parents saying? You said there was repetition, but do they have a main point beyond just not wanting to see their school closed? Thank you very much for doing this!Ms. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656315991483345435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-61360549927266401162008-12-03T19:08:00.000-08:002008-12-03T19:08:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ms. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12656315991483345435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-71445467700870033692008-12-03T18:33:00.000-08:002008-12-03T18:33:00.000-08:00I really appreciate the liveblogging, thank you!I really appreciate the liveblogging, thank you!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00199045752800199947noreply@blogger.com