Seattle Schools Community Forum

Some sad news on two fronts. One item is this from Ravenna Next Door on Sunday: My daughter and her friends were playing at Bryant this morning when they texted me with concern about glass and jewelry, and "gun powder" on the playground. I walked over to see for myself and sure enough there were empty beer cans, stolen jewelry and a pile of white powder with a razor blade, etc. I called the police who came surprisingly quickly and confirmed the white substance was Meth. Ugh. They took it to the station for evidence but left the jewelry and glass suggesting that I call the parks to come and clean it up. A very surprising site to say the least. Still researching who to call for clean up. The second item is about a beloved staff member at Cascadia: Allen Greenberg, beloved recess monitor at Cascadia Elementary in Seattle, passed away unexpectedly.  Allen spent his life giving to others - always looking out for the less fortunate.  He often stopped by Solid ...

I still have to do my write-up about my talk with Wyeth Jessee about his new role as head of Student Supports, overseeing AL, Special Education, ELL, counseling, nurses, etc.  One thing I will say now is that I asked him about changes in AL and he said he had just gotten the job (absolutely true) but it wouldn't happen without stakeholder input.  I reminded him that Spectrum disappeared like sugar dissolving in iced tea but he smiled and shrugged.  But now a reader has alerted us that the AL department wants our input.   Comments on the proposed DRAFT can be sent to advlearn@seattleschools.org with the subject line 2190SP. The proposed DRAFT will be reviewed by the Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee at their meeting on Monday, August 15, 2017. Please send your comments in before July 31 to assure it will be reviewed prior to the meeting. There are a number of documents to read. 

To save you some time, there was virtually no talk about any changes to the overall program. Spectrum was not even mentioned.  Whatever is to become of AL programs is something that Teaching and Learning is choosing to keep a mystery. What was interesting is that Director Burke, who chaired the meeting, had people write down questions (even the audience, though none of our cards got read but we handed them in.) There was a huge group of SPS staff there including Stephen Nielsen, Clover Codd, head of AL Stephen Martin, and all the Board members. Shauna Heath lead the discussion which I found interesting given the presence of Mr. Martin who spoke very little.  She did say that HC was "big" part of her department.  They say they are dedicated to "everyone who wants to get in, gets in." Highlights:

Update : interesting comment thread from the Community Forum for HCC (APP).

SPS put out a press release about Advanced Learning and testing.  The Board is due to vote on acceptance of the latest AL plan to OSPI at the Board meeting tomorrow night (and it's not even being discussed - it's on the Consent Agenda). After you read this thread, my recommendation if you are an AL parent or prospective parent, is to send an e-mail to your own director (or all of them or really just Director Peters who seems to listen on a regular basis) and ask that this item be REMOVED from the Consent Agenda.  That will put it on the path to being actively discussed. Write to: SPSdirectors@seattleschools.org Reader Lynn has been reading and asking questions and it seems that Advanced Learning will be changing policy almost at will (and without much notification to parents).  From AL: Now that we have formal Superintendent Procedures it will be necessary to update them periodically as do most other programs and services. The current 2190SP was presented to C...

Washington Middle School principal, Susan Follmer, will be holding a parent meeting about Spectrum La/SS on Monday, June 8th from 4:30-5:30 pm at WMS.   It does not seem that AL staff will be there.

I got a query from a parent about changes coming to Washington Middle School and its Spectrum program. The parent stated that he/she was not able to attend the PTSA meeting where this was presented but that it seemed to others to be fairly vague and no one is really sure what is coming.  The parent also asked: I see that there are similar changes happening at McClure, so wonder if this is district-wide? Well, the district has said very, very little about Spectrum and is seemingly allowing principals to chart their own course. 

Update:  AL Supervisor Stephen Martin provided the grant application to me but I can't seem to create a link.  He said this: As you may know, the final guidance from OSPI will not be available until Tuesday June 17, so the iGrant application is very much a work in progress and likely to change before submission. OSPI understands that districts may need to make revisions as local plans are finalized for this first year of implementation of the new WACs. From the SPS webpage: - Summer Testing: For students who moved to Seattle after October 2013 and were not able to test for Advanced Learning eligibility, a summer testing opportunity is available. Information and Application Form . Applications are due by August 1, 2014. - For students found eligible for Advanced Learning programs, a School Choice Form must be completed in order to enroll. Forms are available from the Enrollment office (www.seattleschools.org/enrollment or call 252-0760). You can still apply for a ...

There is a joint meeting of the Advanced Learning Taskforces tomorrow, Thursday the 29th from 4-8 pm in the JSCEE auditorium.  They will be discussing their recommendations with an eye to presenting a combined recommendation plan to the Superintendent and Board in the future.  The public is invited to attend but no questions or feedback will be happening as this is purely a meeting for the committees.  There's a very interesting report of "recommendations" that is a compilation of various members of the Taskforce at the Advanced Learning Taskforce page .  However, this is NOT official.  (What is interesting is apparently the first eight-and-a-half pages are from two students at Ingraham.) It makes for tough reading as it is a large volume of very specific ideas.   You find yourself trying to figure out, "if this, then that? or "what would happen with X,Y,Z." I think it great that these people have put forth a plethora of ideas because it he...

There was a reader comment about wanting to opt an APP student out of MAP testing but the parent seemed to think that the child would lose eligibility if he/she did not take the MAP.  Here's what I learned from speaking with Stephen Martin, head of the Advanced Learning department. The MAP is the gatekeeper to finding out if your child is eligible for AL testing. However, once you are enrolled, your child does not lose eligibility in AL programs if he/she does not take MAP.  What is a problem is maintaining your eligibility if you qualify but then do not access a program.  (Let me say that, on the surface, I think this policy is good because I used to hear many parents say they were just testing their children "to see how they do" with zero intention of enrolling them in an AL program.  That's just a waste of time and money for the district and it should not be happening.) BUT, the issue is does your child have access to an AL program even if he/she qualif...

Many updates on Advanced Learning via the Superintendent's Friday update (thanks to Mirmac 1 for finding this).  It is a litany of woes about many issues affecting AL (some of their own making and some the district.  One of them, lack of cooperation from schools, needs some attention from someone.)  Emphasis mine: From Advanced Learning: The most important update continues to be the changes that occurred in April 2013 to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC 392-170) regarding Highly Capable Learners. After speaking with OSPI and colleagues around the state, most districts are making adjustments to their Highly Capable programs in response to the changes. During this transition year, OSPI is providing some lee-way in their annual consolidated program review to allow the districts to adjust.  The new WACs regarding Highly Capable Learners requires that changes be made to our current program delivery model. State law now re...

A reader let me know that his/her home got a call from Universal Survey (according to their phone message they do "marketing and political opinion" surveys.  The caller said they were doing a survey for SPS.  The reader did not continue the call.  Anyone else?  As well, the APP blog had a comment that one person had not received their scores and e-mailed AL.  They received a prompt reply that a letter had been mailed Feb. 15(!) but it never reached the family.  What was worse is that they received a PDF with the scores for their child but ALSO names, IDs, addresses and test scores for 60 other students.   Did anyone else get this in their letter? I also note that I believe something of a similar nature happened to some Sped students (to an even larger degree).   I find this all quite interesting given that tomorrow's Work Session is on ....data privacy and how SPS has great polices and procedures in place.  I will inquire to the di...

A reader sent in the latest info from the AL webpage :

This is an e-mail I sent to Al Interim Director, Steven Martin.  I cc'd the Board, Shauna Heath and Michael Tolley. Dear Mr. Martin, As a former member of the Advanced Learning Taskforce - who served for a year and was asked to stay on for the next year (which never materialized and with no explanation) - you can imagine my surprise to learn there are TWO AL Taskforces already in place.  I am very disappointed to not even be asked to serve when my knowledge of the subject and the programs in this district is quite deep. My questions to you are the following: - how were members chosen? - are the committees now full?  If not, how may one apply? - why was there no public process or even notice? - who are the members and what is their connection to AL? - how many meetings have there been? - where are the minutes of the meetings available? - when are the meetings for both taskforces?  Where is that info available to the public? If you don't know the answers to the...

I mean, seriously, why does this district bother?  To explain, it was noted by several readers that the testing schedule for Advanced Learning programs is NOT in the school calendar.  And, by law, they have to supply public notice (at least for APP).  You'd think the calendar , going to every single family in the district, would be the ideal place.  You'd think the first-day packets , going to every single family in the district, would be the ideal place. You'd apparently be wrong. So I wrote to the Board and the Superintendent: Special Service Program Highly Capable Students WAC 392-170-042 Annual notification. Annual public notification of parents and students shall be made before any major identification activity. The notice shall be published or announced in multiple ways in appropriate languages to each community in school and district publications or other media, with circulation adequate to notify parents and students throughout the distric...