Seattle Schools Community Forum

Well, a report out from the public hearing last night that I believe is worthy of its own thread.  From reader Danny: I attended the Pinehurst K-8 (aka AS#1) public hearing last night. It was just that, a public hearing for public testimony. No more real information was gleaned from it other than how important the school is to the community of people who send their kids there. One testimony of note was School Board Director Peaslee waited patiently and testified last with no time limit and put on record that the options of temporarily locating at the Decautur bldg while waiting for a permanent co-location with Thornton Creek are absolutely viable solutions. She also stated that it doesn't make sense to close a program due to low enrollment while there are waiting lists and empty buildings in the district. She also stated that she had a conversation with Thornton Creek's principal John Miner who told her Pinehurst must be saved and is on board with the co-loc...

From the Save Pinehurst group: We hastily formed a new Pinehurst K-8 BEX Levy Committee in response to the following in a letter sent  to the entire School District on October 9, 2012 from Superintendent José Banda. The Seattle School District (BEX IV Levy Team and School Board) has yet to talk with the Pinehurst K-8 community on next steps. We are aware that they have meet with Jane Addams K-8 and other schools over the last few months, including this week. We request the same courtesy and consideration to meet with them ASAP and collaborate on a solution for preserving the 40+ year history of the Pinehurst K-8 alternative school. We are aware that time is of the essence since the Board will be voting on the BEX IV Levy soon. "Jane Addams K-8: Move to Pinehurst K-8 and open Jane Addams building as a middle school by 2015. We will work with the Pinehurst community on next steps for the school." Solutions proposed by our school community: •Keep Pinehurst K-8 in our...

Here's the story from the Seattle Times.

OSPI announced its list of 2010 Washington Achievement Award winners . There are several Seattle schools on the list (a couple notable for being named in two places) but there aren't many. From OSPI: The Washington Achievement Award: Is awarded collaboratively with the State Board of Education (SBE) and based on the Washington Achievement Index. Celebrates schools for overall excellence and special recognition in: language arts, math, science, graduation rate, improvement and closing achievement gaps. Honors schools at an annual ceremony hosted by the SBE and OSPI. OSPI uses statewide assessment data from the past three years to make their selections. OSPI wants to recognize the efforts of schools and their families into making good schools happen. So what SPS schools are on the list? Overall Excellence Bryant* - Concord Int'l* - Coe - Hay* - Loyal Heights* - McGilvra* - Montlake* - Schmitz Park - Mercer* - Blaine K-8 Language Arts Nova Math Loyal Heights - Schmitz Park Sc...

There are two new SPS schools on this year's state list for low achievement; AS#1 and RBHS. Now SPS, trying to put a good spin on it, makes it sound like this is a great thing for them to be able to apply for state grants (ranging from $50k to $2M a year over 3 years starting next fall). Sealth is also on the list but SPS is NOT going to apply for a grant for them" because the school is well into implementation of a plan to ensure a high‐achieving school. “While additional funding would be helpful, we do not want to disrupt the momentum that has been created.” Again I say...what? There is a chance for money to help a school that is still getting its footing and is going to be transitioning to a joint campus with a middle school and we aren't applying for the funds? How is more money "disrupting the momentum?" Districts that participate have to choose from four federally designated intervention models and SPS, in 2010, chose "Transformation." This ...

I attended the press conference today about the Transition Plan for 2011-2012. Tracy Libros was there along with the new(ish) head of Customer Service, Brandon Holst and Teresa Whipple of Public Affairs. The media was represented (in person) by me, Phyllis Fletcher of KUOW and Jerry of KING-5 tv. (By the way, I think KING-5, followed by KIRO-7, do the best job for tv coverage. KOMO and KCPQ always seem awol on these issues.) On the phone were reporters from the West Seattle blog, PI-online, Seattle's Child and The Stranger. Two of the most important things before Q&A. Again, as I posted previously, the deadline for issues/concerns to Board members in order to create amendments is FRIDAY, JAN. 7th (tomorrow), not Monday, the 10th. Steve Sundquist abruptly changed this date. Second, I asked and Tracy verified the following point. There used to be an amendment to the enrollment plan called the Waldman/Barnhart amendment. Basically it was a hold safe amendment. Yo...

At today's board workshop on Integrated Planning , the district has removed its recommendation to close the AS#1 program and repurpose the Pinehurst building into a sped Pre-K. The new proposal is AS #1 •Keep current program •Engage and work with the school community to develop an action plan •Set specific timeline and outcomes for increased enrollment and academic achievement •Executive Director will monitor It is possible to get heard - it just takes a monumental effort from parents, staff, and the community. The AS#1 community has had the misfortune of proving this year after year. If your message is true it is possible to be heard. Congratulations to the AS#1 community on another hard fought victory. Thanks to the board for pushing back and getting the staff to change their recommendation. (my family is no longer at AS#1 but we still value the unique option that the school provides to families in the district) Why is AS#1 worth saving? Check it out: http://as1seattle.wordpress...

(Did anyone attend Tuesday's? I think Dorothy said she did. I looked at the PowerPoint and there is a lot of stuff that I wish I had heard presented. I'll have to tease it out in another thread. Here are my notes from the PowerPoint of the 2nd of last week's "integrated" work sessions (a mash-up of budget and transition plan). I did not stay until the end so help me out if you did. All the Directors were in attendance as was Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. They started at page 45 of the previous day's work session. They started talking about program placement and the new possible Accelerated IB program in response to the overcrowding at Garfield. It would be modeled after the program at Interlake over in Bellevue. (I'll just say here that I think it's done. The community would have to rise up, en masse, to prevent it. I just think there's way too much work already done for this to be just a "possibility." The question is whe...

Seattle AS #1 (Pinehurst) K‐8 (an Alternative school) ESD 121 Seattle Catharine Blaine K‐8 ESD 121 Seattle Daniel Bagley Elementary School (Montessori) ESD 121 Seattle John Stanford International Elementary (Language Immersion) ESD 121 Seattle Madison Middle School ESD 121 Seattle Mercer Middle School ESD 121 Seattle Orca @ Whitworth (Alternative School) ESD 121 Seattle The New School at South Shore ESD 121 Seattle Thornton Creek @ Decatur (Alternative School) ESD 121 Seattle View Ridge Elementary School Hello award winning principal! As we indicated in our letter of 9/4/2009 – your school is being recognized as one of the 5% highest improving schools, over a 5 year span of time, in Reading and Math for the state of Washington in 2009 – what an honor! We are very excited for this remarkable progress in student achievement made through hard work and focused efforts in your school and in schools across the state of Washington . Congratulations once again! Phi Delta Kappa of Washingto...

So far, my experience has been mixed. I wrote a letter to all of the board members, the Superintendent, and the School Improvement Supervisor, reminding them that AS#1 has been asked to increase its enrollment as part of the Closure Recommendation approved on January 29th. I described all the work that the AS#1 community is doing to increase awareness of our program: New Website FAQ sheet New Brochure Outreach to Preschools Open House Extended tour dates   And asked for a commitment from the district to: Have Enrollment Staff visit the school or at a minimum read the pamphlet and website information so they can speak knowledgeably about the school . Discuss AS#1's restructuring at a future board meeting so that prospective families can hear from the district that they support the program and what work is being done through the restructuring. So far, I have heard back from Sherry Carr and had multiple communications with Scott Whitbeck, the School Improvement Supervisor. He was gr...

[Updated 6:30 pm with links to appendixes.] So I was wrong about there being a meeting at 4 pm today. It was just a media briefing which has already happened. See Cooper on list of school-closure “final recommendations” on the West Seattle Blog for details. I'm reading the West Seattle Blog post myself right now and will add more to this post in a few minutes. Full document of final recommendations is online on district page. Changes from last time: AS#1 is not closing but Summit is. However, AS#1 must create a restructuring plan and transportation is now limited to two clusters (North and Northeast). "If AS#1 does not meet the metrics outlined in the restructuring plan we will evaluate discontinuing the program for fall 2010." Thornton Creek is not moving and expanding to K-8 ; instead a new traditional K-8 will be in Jane Addams building. TT Minor General Ed program moved to Lowell. TT Minor Montessori still moving to Leschi. And a bunch of the options discussed...

AS#1 (Alternative School #1) is considering changing its name as a way to reposition itself within the Seattle Public Schools community. Many families of young students (K-3) feel like a new name would help breathe new energy into the school. It would allow us to distance ourselves from the inaccurate reputation that we are a "hippy" school that lets the children run wild or that we don't care about education. These families have chosen AS#1 despite the threat of closure and misrepresentation by the enrollment centers because it offers a dynamic learning environment that values each individual child in a small school environment Others argue that the name AS#1 is historic - we are the first Alternative School in Seattle and we set off the chain of events that helped bring choice to Seattle schools - and the name should be preserved so the work we have done for the past 35 years is not lost. Many families have left over disagreements with the more structured and less democ...