Seattle Schools Community Forum

2016 Board Officers:   Director Patu - President   Director Peters  - Vice President   Director Harris - Member-at-Large Please note that any director's direct e-mail address is: first name.last name@seattleschools.org To write to just the entire Board - SPSdirectors@seattleschools.org To write to the Board plus senior leadership - schoolboard@seattleschools.org This Board's first retreat is this Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm at JSCEE.  Agenda .  Lots of new member issues like "hopes and aspirations for the coming year," committee assignments (both within and outside of the district), and, as always, governance. SPS photo

Tuesday, December 1nd Oath of Office for the four new members of the Seattle School Board.  JSCEE auditorium from 5-6 pm. If I had to guess committee choices for new Board members, I'd guess that Leslie Harris would like either be on the Executive or Audit&Finance committee and Scott Pinkham, Rick Burke and Jill Geary would like Curriculum&Instruction.  Wednesday, December 2rd School Board Meeting , starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda (And into the fire quickly for those four new members. It's always fun to see them figure out the microphones as well as see where each member gets seated.) Highlights - Native American program annual review - Board self-evaluation narrative.   I liked this line: Directors also noted the need to strengthen how the Board ensures accountability for progress on the Strategic Plan.  This is interesting. At the November 10 work session, Directors discussed the progress the Board has made from previous behaviors...

Monday, Nov. 16th Community Meeting on Assignment Plan at Rainier Beach High School, starting at 6:30 pm.  This is the last of the meetings on this topic.  I still maintain this was window-dressing and not about staff getting and receiving real input on this topic.  I'll have a separate thread on what readers have said but it seems clear that the waitlist is still an issue. Wednesday, Nov. 18th Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm.  Something of an end of an era for this particular make-up for the Seattle School Board. Agenda . I do want to publicly say thank you to each of the Board members who are leaving - Harium Martin-Morris, Sherry Carr, Sharon Peaslee and Marty McLaren.  I walked Fremont with Sherry Carr to help her get elected.  I worked on the campaigns of both Sharon Peaslee and Marty McLaren (her first one.)  It takes courage to even stand up and run for office and even more courage and energy to serve.  I certainly have disagreed...

Welcome to new Seattle School Board Directors Burke, Harris, Geary, and Pinkham. Congratulations on your victories. Now on to the real work of governing the District. As you have heard (over and over again) your role as a Board Director is not to manage or administer the day-to-day operations of the District. That work has been delegated to the Superintendent. Your role is to set policy, provide oversight, and represent the public.

From the district: The board action for the Student Assignment Plan scheduled  on Nov. 4, 2015  is being postponed until Nov. 18  to allow for additional understanding and feedback from our many stakeholders. Read More about Student Assignment Plan Board Action item Good decision but if there is confusion, it is at the hands of district staff. School Board election results:  First returns: Director District No. 1  Michael Christophersen  33.65% - 24825 votes Scott S. Pinkham  65.87% - 48597 votes Director District No. 2 Laura Obara Gramer  20.72% - 15480 votes Rick Burke  78.96% - 58982 votes Director District No. 3 Jill Geary 59.43% - 44392 votes Lauren McGuire 40.22% - 30041 votes Director District No. 6 Leslie Harris   74.51% - 55538 votes Marty McLaren  25.15% - 18744 votes I would say that clearly voters made clear choices.  The two Establishment candidates did not win.   Now the hard work towards ...

Big night for Seattle for election results .   We could see a major shift in the make-up of both the School Board and the City Council.  Any predictions?  It is also a hugely important election for Colorado and, in specific, Jefferson County, where a recall election of several school board members is being attempted.  From Aljazeera America : But this battle has ramifications far outside the school district, and it’s drawing attention on a national scale. It is a battle pitting heavy hitters like AFP, the small-government advocacy group founded by billionaire businessmen Charles Koch and David Koch, against teachers’ unions and their supporters. It’s a battle being closely watched by educators and political operatives across the U.S. because JeffCo is the ultimate swing county in the key swing state of Colorado. That means success — or defeat — there could be replicated across the U.S. Interesting article about tweens/teens and use of digital pr...

It will be quite the week by the time we all get to the end of it. From SPS Communications : Tuesday, Nov. 3 Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) community gathering cancelled Due to an unforeseen circumstance we must cancel and reschedule the Nov. 3, 2015 DHH Community Gathering. A critical component for this meeting is appropriate interpretation services. Despite early requests and multiple agency contacts, interpretation services were not secured. The district was informed of this on Oct. 30.

District 6 Last night, the King County Labor Council voted to rescind their dual endorsement for Marty McLaren and Leslie Harris to a sole endorsement for Harris .  It appears that Jonathan Knapp played a hand in getting the dual endorsement back in May but McLaren's apparent lack of support for teachers during the strike changed minds. Letter from King County Labor Council to Marty McLaren. As well, Teamsters Joint Council 28 recently endorsed Harris.

It happens every single time there are school board races - that it is VITAL to vote and get the right people on the Board. I will admit that last time, in trying to find good candidates for a couple of races, I certainly got fooled.  I really thought that Sharon Peaslee and Marty McLaren were change agents.  They did present themselves that way even as I realized they really didn't know the district well. My vetting of them found two fired-up women ready to come in and ask hard questions.  Well, that really didn't happen (or it was piecemeal and uneven). I read everything I could find online and attended five candidates forums.   Here are my picks for School Board, some with comments and some I just decided that I will let the candidates' words speak for themselves.

Nathan Hale Government classes are putting on a student led Election Forum the evening of Thursday, October 15th from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center involving candidates for Seattle School Board and would like to invite you, your friends and your neighbors to attend. Candidates will make short opening statements, respond to questions from students, and then make a short summary statement. Be an informed citizen and attend!

Monday, Oct. 12th Board Curriculum&Instruction meeting from 4:30-630 pm at JSCEE.   Agenda Highlights: - there's a Race to the Top grant for the Seattle Teacher Residency.  The Board should reject this.  Why?  Because the relationship with one partner for the STR, the Alliance for Education, is tenuous and the district may be left holding the bag for this project.  I think that the district had the right idea but, like most district initiatives, did not have the long-term planning or backing to fulfill the mission. - Did you know our district has NO "Instructional Philosophy?"  Apparently not, as a new Board Policy A.01.00, has been written.  Sigh. Yes, that's the most important thing to get done. - High School Credit for World Languages (this is for both students who have taken a language as a second language and those whose first language isn't English and can receive credit for what they know in that second language). - Special Ed program...

Upcoming forums/meetings for School Board candidates (or including them): UPDATE: Saturday, October 10th - Candidate Roundtable presented by the Vietnamese-American Community.  Includes City Council and ballot initiatives as well as school board candidates.  It's at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska St. from 11 am-1 pm.  Wednesday, September 30th - Rick Burke is meeting at the Capitol Hill library from 6-7:30 pm for drop-in time for voters to meet with him.  (Note: free parking underground at this library.) Tuesday, October 6th Sponsored by the Eastlake Community Center from 7-9:15 pm at Pocock Rowing Center, 3320 Fuhrman Ave E. (This one includes City Council and ballot measures as well.) Thursday, October 8th Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and SCPTSA from 7-8:30 pm at Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Avenue. Tuesday, October 20th Sponsored by CPPS and SE Seattle Education Coalition from 6:30-8:30 pm, location TBA ...

I didn't watch all of the Board meeting on tv last night but I did get to see the Board leave - en masse - when one speaker who didn't know the rules, challenged them on allowing her a second slot to speak again.  (The rules are one speaking time per person per meeting, no matter if someone is willing to cede their spot to you to give you more time.)  When she wouldn't back down, the Board just got up and took a break.  It was surprising to see given they generally give security the nod and the person is escorted from the room. The Board also voted to halt suspension for elementary school students for nonviolent offenses for one year.   Taken out of the mix for suspension are disruptive conduct, rule-breaking and disobedience.  (Seattle has a lower suspension rate than the state average but it still has the issue of suspensions that occur more for minority students, ELL and Sped students.)  This vote still doesn't solve the issue of what else happens if n...

 Update: the LWV forum is to be in conjunction with the Seattle Council PTSA. end of update I have been diligently keeping my ear to the ground for School Board debates but the City Council races have been able to suck most of the attention of many groups.  But naturally, the solid citizens of League of Women Voters are having a forum. It's Thursday, October 8th from 7-8:30 pm at the First Baptist Church at 1111 Harvard Avenue (Capitol Hill).   According to my information, all the School Board candidates have sent in their RSVP except for District 1, Scott Pinkham and Michael Christophersen. In other news:

Ask Michael Christophersen, School Board candidate, District 1. Mr. Christophersen - either to be annoying and/or to try to glom onto my popular blog's name and look - redid his own Special Education blog with the exact same background, the same SPS log of senior management (complete with my errors) AND put "A" in front of my "Seattle Schools Community Forum" title. I didn't know this happened until some people saw it and wrote to me, confused about why he was writing for my blog.  He is not. I am writing this because I wrote to him and asked him to cease and desist. He changed only the background.  Had he done as I asked, I would not be writing this thread. I find this a pathetic move and it speaks of someone who will do anything to try to get elected.  (If he's doing it just to annoy me, that's even more pathetic.) I hope readers take note for future voting decisions.

I was notified that Scott Pinkham - a School Board candidate in District 1 - found that his e-mail has been incorrectly reported at the public disclosure website.  It is incorrectly listed  in the main area as: ss4ssd@gmail.com But on his C1 form, the correct address is shown (and this is it): ssp4ssd@gmail.com (updated and confirmed by Pinkham - you have to watch those "s" in the email address). If you had been trying to contact Pinkham and received no answer, that may be why.

You just never know with our system of "postmarked, not at" Washington State mail-in system. Jill Geary                47.14%  7668 votes Lauren McGuire     46.33%  7535 votes A difference of 133 votes. Leslie Harris          47.87%  6,970 votes Marty McLaren      38.12%  5,551 votes A difference of about 1400 votes. It's going to be an interesting election. And just to note, it is illegal to take down campaign signs.  I have seen this in one campaign and it really shouldn't be happening (especially if it is on private property).

Update from the 4:15 pm drop today by King County Elections: Lauren McGuire    6004  (47.24%) Jill Geary               5817  (45.77%) Geary has closed the gap between the two candidates to less than 200 votes. Leslie Harris            5,240 (46.76%) Marty McLaren       4.338 (38.69%) Harris has increased her lead by about 200 more votes. end of update

I would like to say this is a parody of sorts but no, it's Director Peaslee's recommendations for School Board. Now the first thing you'll note is that she gives recommendations for all the races (even though not all are on the primary ballot anyway) except for her own district.  Weird, no? Then there's this: The most important trait needed to ensure an effective School Board is collegial respect. 

Update :  I had it wrong so let's be clear.  The Seattle School districts up for election are 1(currently held by Peaslee),2 (currently held by Carr). 3 (currently held by Martin-Morris), and 6 (currently held by McLaren). End of update In discussions with friends and neighbors, I find two kinds of voters.  The "I got my ballot, filled it out and mailed it already" and the "I'm waiting until the last minute" voter.  I'm somewhere in-between. I'm going to give you my picks for School Board but also throw out some picks for City Council as I think the make-up of the City Council could have a large affect on Seattle Schools (given the aggressive nature of Mayor Murray on this issue). Note: in the primary you only vote for a School Board candidate if your district is up for election this year. However, after the primary, in the General election, you WILL be voting for four candidates.