Seattle Schools Community Forum

So not all the Charter Commission picks have been happily received and there have been some surprising things said about some of the newly minted members. The two primary targets are Kevin Jacka and Steve Sundquist.  Superintendent Jacka is from Springdale and leads the Mary Walker School District.  He is suspect because he signed a No on 1240 page (I can't discern if it was the No on 1240 campaign or the WEA campaign.)  Nonetheless, many superintendents, out of concern for their districts, did sign the petition.  (And indeed, even some of the districts recently signed up with a letter of intent to become authorizers are still expressing concern.)  Steve Sundquist, well, we all know he ran in November 2011 as being against charters.  He filled out a King County Dems questionnaire and said he was against them (as well as vouchers).  But he lost and by January 2012 was at his Legislative district meeting touting them.   Over at the Washingto...

From KING-5 news: A dozen Washington school districts have sent letters to the state Board of Education indicating intent to authorize charter schools starting in 2014, beating a Monday deadline. The twelve districts include Bellevue, Battle Ground, Eastmont, Highline, Kent, Naselle-Grays River Valley, Peninsula, Port Townsend, Sequim, Spokane, Sunnyside and Tacoma. Kent, Spokane and Tacoma are the second, third and fourth largest districts in the state.  (Note: Spokane and Tacoma have gone back and forth for 2nd/3rd.  I did check their websites for their latest numbers and this is what I found.) These letters of intent basically act as place-holders while these districts ponder this question. Tacoma School Board member Catherine Ushka said the letter of intent does not change the district’s previously stated position against charter schools. “The draining of public funds and other issues are still true,” said Ushka . However, Ushka said the board acknowl...

From the Governor's office : Date: Thurs. April 4, 2013 Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Location: Governor's Conference Room Legislative Building, 2nd Floor 416 Sid Snyder Ave. SW Olympia, WA 98501 Printable map of Capitol Campus Handouts: Agenda Commission Members Dr. Doreen Cato Trish Millines Dziko Kevin Jacka Chris Martin Dr. Margit McGuire Dave Quall Steve Sundquist Cindi Williams Larry Wright Read commission member bios . For more information, contact RaShelle Davis at (360) 902-0551 or rashelle.davis@gov.wa.gov . The agenda has introductions, review of the agenda, lunch, overview from Attorney General's office, ethics training, State Board of Ed proposed rules, training for Sharepoint, Operating procedures and structure, public comment, next steps. The agenda seems quite out of order.  They are starting later to ac...

From the AP: The State Board of Education says two Washington school districts have formally expressed interest in applying to be charter school authorizers. Those districts are Eastmont in East Wenatchee and the Highline school district south of Seattle. Any school district that wants to authorize charter schools during the next year are required to tell the State Board of Education by April 1 that they plan to apply. The News Tribune also has reported that the Tacoma School District will discuss the idea of joining that list at its March 28 meeting. It will be interesting to see if any other school districts file by April 1.  Otherwise that will truly leave the Charter Commission as the place to go (as districts can only okay charters that open in their own districts).

On the heels of the issue of disproportionality of discipline in SPS, c omes this op-ed from SPS teacher, Dan Magill. Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5244, approved by the Senate last week, would reduce the number of days students can be excluded from school due to discipline. Do those in favor of the bill understand how damaging just one incorrigible student can be to a classroom? I’m not arguing against this bill necessarily, only providing an informed perspective lawmakers would be wise not to ignore.  We must be careful about overemphasizing the needs of the few students who have already demonstrated their antipathy toward their own education. The other students have needs, too. No one wants students to be suspended or expelled. No one wants people to go to jail, either. Sometimes, that’s the only option that remains.  This is another instance of the school system being asked to solve a problem that is not ours to solve. Our attempts to solve ...

Here's the complete letter sent to Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office by the League of Women Voters, El Centro de la Raza, and the WEA.  From the first paragraph: We request that your office investigate and promptly institute legal proceedings to remedy the constitutional violations arising from ...(it continues on with the RCWs in question). Specifically, the Charter School Act improperly diverts public school funds to private non-profits in violation of the Washington Constitution and is otherwise unconstitutional on multiple grounds, including but not limited to the following: And then they put forth their arguments.  Here's my summation:

It's on. From the WEA: Educators and community groups file legal challenge to new charter school law A coalition of educators and community groups has filed a legal demand with the Washington Attorney General challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 1240, the state’s new charter school law. The demand asserts I-1240, the Charter School Act, violates the Washington Constitution by improperly diverting public school funds to private non-profit groups that are not subject to local voter control and impeding the state’s constitutional obligation to fund fully K-12 public education. The League of Women Voters of Washington, the Washington Education Association and El Centro de la Raza filed the demand with the state attorney general’s office earlier today. “The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state is violating its paramount duty to fund our public schools,” said Catherine Ahl of the League. “The Charter School Act drains money from public schools ...

Short film competition at MOHAI - open to all ages - History is  ________ .    Submissions through March 31.   There are several youth awards for students 17 and younger. Shout out to MAP boycott leader (and Garfield teacher) Jesse Hagopian for his appearance in Seattle Met's "Perfect Party" group.  (See page 28 of the March issue.)  I appeared on one of these lists but I was grouped with Eddie Vedder so I was very happy. Remember I was questioning why the Chief Communications Officer at Starbucks, Blair Taylor, was the moderator for the Michelle Rhee talk at Townhall?  As I previously mentioned, she handpicked him to do it.  (And as someone who has done a few of these things, I have rarely seen a guest be allowed to pick their interviewer.) Starbucks media did get back to me and said that Mr. Taylor did this on his own.  I pointed out that the press release only mentioned his affiliation with Starbucks and NOT that he sits...

Former State Superintendent Judith Billings weighs in at the Times about charter schools. So The Times recommends Superintendent Dorn violate his oath of office to uphold the state Constitution. Article III, Section 22 states in plain language — by law not subject to interpretation if the language meets that test — “the superintendent of public instruction shall have supervision over all matters pertaining to public schools.” The initiative emphasizes charter schools will be public schools, yet excludes the superintendent from supervising them. Superintendent Dorn has suggested an easy “fix,” if the Legislature wishes to support 51 percent of the voters. A two-thirds majority of both houses of the Legislature could put charters under the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Barring that, amending the constitution itself is the only way to move forward without violating the state’s highest law. She's right.   We were told, over and over, these are public...

Some pretty funny (and not surprising) public education items in the news. First up in the category of " well, that didn't take long ", the Washington Policy Center opines on Senator Ross Hunter's idea that the state should take over failing schools.  (This is a similar idea to what happens in many other states - the schools become "turnaround" schools.)  Lawmakers should remove the cap that limits the number of charter schools that can open to only eight a year, up to a total of 40. We don't even have ONE charter and they want the limit raised.  Unbelievable. They do use the thought that Charlie had: Removing the cap would benefit all children, because just the possibility of a parent takeover would motivate school officials to improve services for children before that option arises. That, in turn, would give parents the leverage they need to seek positive change in education. Imagine this message from parents, “Give our kids the educ...

The State Board of Education had a two-day meeting last week in Tumwater to address various issues under their purview.   One of them is figuring out their role/duties and the boundaries of both under the newly-passed I-1240 to create charter schools in Washington State. (I was also honored and pleased to meet Jeff Charbonneau, the Washington State Teacher of the Year from Zillah High School.  I want to write a separate thread on him and the great work they are doing there but boy, what a great guy and a great teacher.) What came first before the discussion was a presentation by Alex Medler who works for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers .  Keep in mind, this is an organization just for authorizers and not charter schools themselves.  It's a very specialized group. As you may recall from 1240, the Board of Education will be the authorizers for any school board that wants to itself become an authorizer of charter schools within its di...

Glad we don't have Board members like this one in Georgia who apparently tried to run over a high-school student in a Walmart parking lot. I spoke with State Superintendent Dorn yesterday.  As I had previous surmised (and he confirmed), he is truly confused about his role under the state constitution and what the wording is in 1240.  He is planning to have a conversation with the Attorney General's office to seek clarification on this issue.  If the AG's office is unable to give him that clarification, he may have to go to the ultimate source which would be the Supreme Court but the funding for that would have to come out his office's funding.  Not a great choice.  What is interesting is that he is somewhat agnostic on charter schools (he has seen some good ones from years back but, of course, sees the issues around thinning the pot of already weak funding to our existing schools). Anyone up for a snowball fight ?  The will be an attempt at Seattle Cen...

I have received word that the WEA Board of Directors has decided to fight I-1240 in court. From their statement:  “Though our candidates won, we are disappointed that corporate interests with their $11 million were able to pass the charter school initiative. Looking forward, your board of directors has decided to fund a legal challenge against the new charters law and, as we did with McCleary, are seeking partners and developing an approach and timeline for this effort.  More details about this will come.”  Please note: the WEA has NOT filed anything but this was a statement made to their membership last month.  Naturally, these kinds of efforts take time and money and the WEA is making all due consideration about their next steps. The Washington Policy Center is itself already on the attack against this action.    From their statement;  The union faces a costly, uphill battle. A lot of information about successful charter schools in...

As promised, here's the info for applying via Speaker Frank Chopp (one of the three people to select the Charter Commission). It's basically the same as the Lt. Governor's office - write/e-mail them to self-nominate or to nominate someone.  If you are self-nominating, give full details about your background (both personal and professional that might be pertinent) as well as your resume.  If you are nominating someone else, maybe be sure that they want to be nominated so that they can send in their resume if asked for one. 339C Legislative Building PO Box 40600 Olympia, WA 98504-0600 frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov

Here's how via the three possibilities - Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House.  Each office gets to pick three Charter Commission members.  Governor  Governor Gregoire's office is taking the applications via their regular commissions form .  They are then going to pass them along to Governor-elect Inslee's office and he will make the decisions.   I was told both offices have received calls of interest about applying. Lt. Governor Brad Owen His office is taking nominations via e-mail and snail mail.   You do not have to fill out an application and you can self-nominate OR any other person or group may nominate you.  (Apparently Stand for Children has been sending in their nominations.)   If you are nominated in any way, their office will give that due consideration.  ltgov@leg.wa.gov Lt. Gov. Brad Owen Office of the Lt. Governor PO Box 40400 Olympia, WA 98504-0400  Speaker Frank Chopp I am still findin...

A.G. Rud, the dean of the College of Education at Washington State University, and Ken Zeichner, professor of Teacher Education at UW, have written a quiet op-ed reviewing the most important ideas in enacting charters in Washington State. They express the concern, based on fact, that some of the more successful charter models have a "stripped down" curriculum that focuses on the basics but has little else for a well-rounded student. A lean curriculum focused only on improving standardized test scores is common among schools run by charter-management organizations elsewhere in the country. As documented by prominent education historian Larry Cuban, franchise-school operators such as Rocketship often target low-income communities and offer a stripped-down version of schools that most charter advocates would not want for their own children.  They also offer these recommendations (and they are valid - transparency and accountability are key): • Ensuring that the cha...

I spent time today crunching vote totals for Seattle for 1240.  (And no thanks to King County Elections where apparently they can't even give you total votes for the city of Seattle for any race.  I couldn't believe it.) Thank you to my husband for his help (and the Excel tutorial).  Here are the numbers (and could you please, after all that work, give me credit if you quote them somewhere else): Total registered voters - 411,607 Total voting   - 330,246 Yes - 130,727 - 39.6% No  - 199,519 - 60.4% But boy, we looked at the precincts that DID vote yes and guess where 98% of them are?  In wealthy neighborhoods along the water.   To the NE (below Magnuson), downtown, SLU, the SW and the SE, there they were.  Almost to a precinct, it was very predictable (as we first wrote down the precincts and then looked at the map).  There were a couple of odd precincts here and there and several in the Rainier Valley and one at High Point...

A new group has formed for the protection of Washington State public schools.  It is - not surprisingly - called "Protect Our Public Schools."  They are having a formal announcement/press conference today at noon at the Seattle Center Armory, Room 311 (formerly the Center House at Seattle Center).   They are encouraging all who can to attend.  (Room 311 is balcony level on the west side of the building across from the glass elevator.) Protect Our Public Schools is affiliated with Parents Across America.  I'll put up their website as soon as I have the link available.

The "Washington Charter School Resource Center", a long-time website for charters in Washington State (started by Jim Spady of Dick's fame), announced a convention in Tacoma for all things charter. It's on Saturday, December 15th at UW Tacoma from 9-5.  It costs $25 per person before the 9th and $35 after the 9th. Oddly, this info isn't at Stand's website or LEV's and the link at the Spady website is gone. Luckily I have one .

Correcting the Times gets tiresome but they just don't seem to want to get it right and/or be truthful. Today there is a wag-of-the finger editorial to Inslee, et al. about the passage of 1240.   The Times should not be telling Inslee what to do given how roundly they denounced him as a candidate.  That said, I-1240 does put quite the rush on the State Board of Education to get its work done under 1240 as well as Inslee, Chopp and Lt. Governor Brad Owen to get their work done (selecting the Charter Commission members). Lynne Varner starts off by saying people will be "watching" who Inslee, Chopp and Owen pick and she's right there.  LOTS of people will be watching as well as asking questions.  We will be able to know who every single person who applies is.   Here are my comments on the editorial: First, many, many people will be watching and asking Chopp, Inslee and Owens about their process for picking the Charter Commission. But you need a BAL...