Seattle Schools Community Forum

A thread was requested on school-level budgeting that is occurring over the next couple of weeks. 

A quiet week in the district but it may be the quiet before big events/news pop up. Wednesday, Nov. 2nd Board Work Session on Demographics and Capacity Management from 4-5:30 p.m.   There are no agenda or presentation materials attached to this at the website but I will keep checking back.  School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m.   A previous thread went over some of the agenda .  This will be the last School Board meeting before the election.  At the next School Board meeting on Nov. 16th, one or more directors could be lame ducks.  (Generally, the new directors, if there are any elected, are installed in early December.)  Thursday, Nov. 3rd LGBT Families Dinner from 6-8 p.m.  at the NOVA/SBOC (Meany building) at 300 20th Ave E.  All District families and staff are welcome to attend.   Dinner and entertainment will be provided through community donations.  Please RSVP to Lisa Love at the Health Intervention Off...

Monday, October 24th Curriculum & Instruction Policy Committee Mtg, 4-6 p.m.   The agenda includes:  review of Alternative Learning schools, some sort of resolution for Cleveland to have a 150-hour requirement, graduation requirements, and Board policies "C" (curriculum and instruction) and "D" (students which includes placement, records, rights, discipline, etc.). Wednesday, October 26th Director Sundquist Community meeting from 11 am - 12:30 p.m.  Delridge Library, 5423 Delridge Way SW Oversight Work Session: Finance from 5:30-7:00 p.m.   This is some sort of update on organization for financial oversight.   It's one big overview but to what end I'm not sure.  (They also need better proofreading for these PowerPoints.) Work Session: Budget Goals from 7:15-8:15 p.m. Saturday, October 29th Director Patu Community Meeting from 10 am to noon at Tully's, 4400 Rainier Ave South Other meetings of interest this week: Wednesd...

Charlie reported that Robert Boesche, CFO, wants budget ideas so let's give him some.  My thought is inspired by the Kia car commercial with the gangsta hamsters (I cannot say why this commercial so entertains me but it does.)  The tag line is: You can go with this or you can get with that. So in that vein, I thought we might put together a list (and feel free to do this at your elementary school).    First up, School Counselors or Academic Coaches? This or That? Which do you think make the most difference at your school?  Which would you be willing to do without for a year or two or three?  (And none of this, "I don't really know" stuff.  You know your school; what do teachers or the principals talk about more?) What else would make a good "this or that"?

I'll be doing an update on the Town Hall forum and hey! it's Friday. That seemed like a fast week gone by. Saturday Community Meetings: Director Carr - 8:30-10 am -Bethany Community Church,8023 Green Lake Dr. North Director Martin-Morris - 9:30-11:30 am - Diva Espresso, 8014 Lake City Way NE Director Maier - 10:30 am-noon - Bethany Community Church, 8023 Green Lake Dr. North Director Sundquist - 11:00 am-12:30 p.m. - High Point Library, 3411 SW Raymond St. Mirmac reports that at the Audit & Finance Committee meeting yesterday that it was stated they overlooked $3.3M during the budget process. I hope each Director gets asked about the budget and what this "overlooked" money could mean for SCHOOLS.

I left after 5 hours at the Work Session on the budget. I know Dorothy Neville was still there so I hope she can fill in the rest. I have 18 pages of notes. It was a room packed with staff and tension. It was clear this was not some exercise and staff was very careful to not name specific jobs (and therefore people) in their discussions. The entire Board was present, Dr. Enfield was there the entire time even though she had just learned of a death in the family and Dr. Goodloe-Johnson was not there because of a health issue. There were 3 handouts: Budget Workshop, Feb. 9, 2010 Central Office Staff Reduction Proposal (note: Central Office, not Central Adm.) A hodge-podge of different documents stapled together that included the above proposal, WSS Team Prioritization Reduction, Personal Contracts, etc. These are not vital documents so don't get worried if they are not on-line. As soon as I see this posted at SPS, I'll link them. I have two meetings this morning so I'm ...

Several of us have seen advance notice of what Central Administration cuts lead staff is going to present to the Board this afternoon/evening at the Board Work Session on the budget. What I saw almost borders on the ridiculous. There are, to the naked eye, almost no coaching cuts. There are also no senior level cuts (and that's where we would save money). It is also confusing what they suggested and what got saved. Example: 10 people work in Child Nutrition Services - no cuts. Enrollment/Planning has 6.5; they would cut 2.3. Example of total elimination of work: cut all from the following: International Education (.5), Mail Services (1), Native American Education (.07), Native American (1), Risk Management (.9). Example: Systemic Interventions - sounds like an important thing to fund - it would go from 7 people down to 2.5. But Visual/Perf Arts, at 8, would go down just one position. How are interventions less important than arts? Biggest hit? 36 of 90 positions in ...

After I reviewed the budget survey and put up my analysis, I thought I'd hear what people thought. But not so much. We're obviously not making the decisions. (I still need to write up the discussion from Wednesday's Work Session on the budget but it was kind of funny hearing one Board member say yes to a cut and then another saying no way to the same thing. It's their job to figure this out unless they just want to allow staff to do it and boy, would that be a mistake.) But folks, they have to make cuts. Big cuts. We can't protect/support everything. And little cuts (anything $50k and above) can add up. It could be a thousand paper cuts or some huge items but they will have to do it. Time is running out and once they put it on paper and say it out loud, well, it's almost done. I am sorry to say but this situation is going to get worse before it gets better. It's not like good learning can't still happen but with a lot less. The question is ...

Monday - Curriculum and Instruction Committee mtg. - 4-6 p.m. Among the agenda items: world language credit, credit for online work, update on science and social studies alignment, Wednesday - Director Sundquist Community Mtg. - 11 am-12:15 pm Also, Board Work Session on Budget - 4-8 p.m. This may be a bit of showdown. Will staff have the information that Directors requested at the last meeting? Will staff try to waffle on how much Central Office staff gets cut? Will it be Central over Transportation? Thursday - Community Meeting on Transportation from 7-8:30 p.m. I don't know where and I don't know how this can be covered in this short a timeframe. I'm thinking they aren't that interested in feedback. Possible Audit and Finance Committee meeting - TBD Also, a reminder of forum of public school K-12 teachers talking about challenges, both local and national . Seattle University, 6-8:30 p.m., Student Center, Room 160

I started this in Charlie's thread's comment section but it got too long. So, to add to the discussion, here are my notes (I left as Charlie arrived). From my notes: -the Board office has two new hires so both Joan Dingfield and Pam Oakes are gone. I'll miss them; they are nice people. One new thing; the addition of the first 5+ people on the waitlist to the agenda so you can get an idea of where you might be on the waitlist -Lots of energy from TOPS parents who very calmly and clearly explained their issue about transportation. Over 50% of their students will lose their transportation, mostly from the southend. They are asking for a community stop model for buses so their students can continue on. Their hope is for the district to fulfill this request for 3 years. (This time request has something to do with a promise the district made, I believe.) - it was pointed out that a member of the BEX Oversight Committee is doing business with the district and this has not...

Dorothy and I attended the Board Work Session on the budget yesterday afternoon/evening. It was not a pretty meeting and not just because of the subject matter (which is grim). Here's a summary first and then some general items of interest in a separate thread (it's way too much to write every question and answer but ask me questions and I'll see if that got covered). Dorothy, you chime in if I heard it wrong or leave something out. The meeting was videotaped so it should be available at some point for viewing. I also can't find the Powerpoint yet so that is to come. UPDATE: here's the link . Summary The budget gap is $36.6 million . Here is the explanation Don Kennedy gave in a staff memo: Our current budget gap, based on the governor’s proposed budget, for next year is $36.6 million. While the impact of her budget to Seattle Public Schools was not as negative as we projected, we nevertheless have a significant budget problem. In addition to the $36.6...