Seattle Schools Community Forum

Please, feel free to add to this list. Ron English Alliance for Education MOU MOU for partnering with the City on their pre-k program the issue of Africatown getting back into the Mann building (which they apparently believe is going to happen) FACMAC  Directors Blanford and Martin-Morris' plan for African-American boys (an idea that both have said they want to work on but have never said how) a high school for QA/Magnolia transparency in this district - why can't the district put up every budget for every school/department? 

I finally finished the notes I had taken on the first hour+ of the latest School Board meeting.  I think it worthy reading for several issues. - enrollment is continuing to increase - NCLB waiver and the Senate bill designed to get it back - why SPS isn't funding IB textbooks - artificial caps on enrollment at some schools - Africatown MOU That last one is pretty eye-opening as it featured a last-minute change to the MOU, a blank space for the dollar amount on the lease document, and a question about any religious connections for this learning center that Africatown is running. Very odd and very troubling. 

I didn't attend the Board meeting last night but watched the first hour or so on tv.  (President Carr wasn't there so Director Peaslee filled in but I never heard why Carr was not there.) Highlights ( updated and complete ):

I had been wondering where the agenda for tomorrow's Audit and Finance Committee Meeting was.  Well, now I can see why it was delayed. 1) It's HUGE. 2) It's a mess.  Literally.  Things added links not there - very confusing. The minutes from the last meeting note note a troubling trend - the end of funding for number of programs.  To whit:

Quite an interesting and packed agenda for the Audit and Finance Committee meeting on Thursday.  (It's also interesting that the Executive Ctm meeting, normally in the morning, is at the exact same time so it won't be possible to attend both.) Items of interest : Washington State Auditor’s Office Entrance Conference (Technow)  Always interesting to hear from the Auditor.

The District is considering an MOU with Africatown, but something familiar is proving an obstacle: Africatown's use of a District building without paying any rent or utilities.

I attended yesterday's Audit and Finance Committee meeting which had several fascinating discussions (and non-discussions). In attendance were Chair Sherry Carr and members Sue Peters and Harium Martin-Morris.  Also in attendance was Superintendent Nyland. I had wanted to attend because of a couple of issues of interest to me.  And naturally, one item on the agenda that I really thought would be dry and not-so-vital turned out to be great.  That's why I go to these meetings - you really learn a lot. The items I had wanted to hear about were: - MOA with Africatown - MOU with the Alliance for Education So what turned out to hold my attention? The presentation on Nutrition Services given by Nutrition Services staff, led by Wendy Weyer.  First, kudos to Ms. Weyer.  While her presentation was long, it was detailed and well-organized.  She laid out the information to the Board in a manner they could follow and then connect the dots.   ...

Monday, Nov. 10th Curriculum& Instruction Policy Committee meeting , 4:30-6:30 pm.  Agenda Among items of interest: Items Requiring Board Action on Nov. 19/Dec. 3 - BAR for Policy 3201, Disciplinary Appeal Council (McFadden/Sander) - BAR for Policy 2190, Advanced Learning (Martin)  - BAR for 24 Credit Waiver Application (Heath/Stoen)  Standing Agenda Items - MTSS - Special Education RC-CAP Also, policy on attendance, Native American Education Report, waiver of basic instructional materials,program evaluation&assessment, research activity and test administration and selection/adoption of instructional materials. That's a lot of ground to cover in two hours. Tuesday, Nov. 11th Veterans Day - No School

I plan on writing a thread this weekend that is an overview of how I see the Seattle School Board today.  There are certainly some interesting things being said by directors and frankly, I'm not sure I see them working as a unified body (but not the same people who usually get called out for having special interests).   I listened to the Board comments and more and more, I find them quite telling. - Update: forgot this one piece of info.  You may have heard that some school districts around the country have accepted various "items" from the Armed Forces.  One in San Diego accepted a tank.  Seriously.  I had a chance to ask Ass't Superintendent Pegi McEvoy this question yesterday.  She said the only things that SPS accepted from the military were blankets, cots and MREs.  Sounds good to me. - the district appears to have solved its website problems.  However, apparently the 46th Dems were to have an Endorsement meeting last night at ...

UPDATE :  I checked in with the district as the Times had confusing information about whether ACEI has a lease for the Columbia Annex.  The district has confirmed that there is no signed lease right now.  They are negotiating for ACEI to provide direct services to students and must meet certain criteria for reduced lease rates. End of update. This just in from the Central District News: Seattle Police say they have made arrests and are searching the building as groups occupying the Horace Mann school are being cleared from the Seattle Public Schools property on E Cherry near 23rd. SPD says that three  four adult males were arrested as police continue to search the building after entering the barricaded facility Tuesday afternoon. CDN is reported that the police began the raid around 1 p.m.  The police had been planning a careful raid, making sure there were no children at the site.  They report only four ment in the building, all were arrested...

It's a fairly light week but given the seriousness of the Board meeting on Wednesday, perhaps better that way. Wednesday, November 20 School Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda As I previously mentioned, this will be a long (and hard-fought) meeting to slog through.  I can't say for certain, one way or another, if the speaker list will run long again.  On the subject of the Growth Boundaries , I would say that, for the Directors, it is likely all over but the shouting.  However, there are other items - like the Special Ed Corrective Plan - that many parents will want to speak out on.  So even if the public testimony list is 20 people, I suspect there will be questions on the Special Ed issue and Pinehurst (both of which are right before the Growth Boundaries).  I don't think the Board will get to the Growth Boundaries before 6:30 p.m. What will happen is that the motion will be made to accept the Growth Boundaries.  From what I rec...

Water/electricity/heat are shut off.  Illegal tenants have a generator running and "guards" at the building.  There are many more signs up on the fence and black plastic draping the stairs. Naturally, there have been no classes going on and most educational materials are being stored in the portable at the site. KIRO reported receiving a voice mail asking them to not shine their camera lights on the building as the guy on the roof has an "itchy trigger finger."  KIRO claims the call came from a cell phone in the building but the illegal tenants say it was someone trying to create drama.  (One of several reporters on the scene seems to think an ID can be made of the voice but that information has been passed onto the police and they can figure that one out.) I think many within the district are tiring of this situation and it is likely to be resolved before the end of the week.

From the great and thorough coverage at Central District News.

Here are a couple of photos, all taken in the same room at the Mann Building, that show why some of us are confused about what the real mission is for Africatown.  I do not know when they were written but they were left up during the press conference I attended. Mann as a "safe haven for radical thought" or an art space or a fashion academy or a "cannibis farmer's market". They clearly want to help African-American kids but it also seems they believe that their neighborhood is changing in ways that they feel are wrong/unwanted and that taking the Mann Building is the first step in keeping it an African-American neighborhood. Ideas about teaching African-American students It is very hard to know what to think or if this represents the thoughts of an entire neighborhood. 

The Latest: Based on information I got today at the BEX Oversight Committee meeting, I knew that it was likely that an attempt would be made to clear the Mann Building.  I observed the building for a period of time late this afternoon.  I saw several people stop and look at the still-locked gates including a construction truck and private electrician company truck.  I saw no one come in or out of the building. In the Open Thread it was reported at 6:43 that there was a Tweet that Banda had a Notice to Vacate the Property that said everyone had to be out by 6:00 pm today or they would be considered to have been "trespassed."  The Tweet was a rally to come to the building.  Someone Said reported police and power trucks there.  Then at 7:52 pm, Someone Said reported that KIRO-tv tweeted that the Seattle City Light workers were "turned away" by Horace Mann occupiers but no police were there.  Power had gone out at my home so my family and I left an...

As I get all my writing together for my upcoming threads, I thought you'd want to see some photos from last night's jumpin' Board meeting.  I want to thank and credit all the children who came and, to a kid, were well-behaved and attentive.  I felt for them when one woman went off; I'm sure it was quite shocking to young kids but that is civics.  The latest from Mann; gate closed and chained with these broken crates lining the fence.  This is at both gates.   Wedgwood was there in force.  Pinehurst was there in force including a cute robot costume.  Woman shouting to the Board and the room about inequity.  Despite President Smith-Blum's requests to security to escort her out, it took a good three minutes and the Board nearly left the room themselves. Kimball out in force, advocating for their Beacon Hill neighborhood. Eckstein sign (sorry, couldn't get it to rotate)

 Update:  The Superintendent has asked that the Mann Building item be pulled from the agenda.  I'm not sure if I'm glad or sad but I do know it's not good.  I suspect that the Mann building is NOT cleared so there may be some other news about this in the next couple of days.  Whether the Superintendent goes forward with these leases or not, he still needs to clear that building.   End of Update Between the Growth Boundaries Intro and the Mann building, it stands to be quite a night for a School Board meeting. There are 63 people signed up to speak (they will also 25). The majority are about the Mann building and I expect some pretty fiery rhetoric. (I plan to try to split my time - 1 minute whole minute on boundaries and one whole minute on Mann. I note that Charlie is also speaking and he's always entertaining.)  One tip: whether you speak or not, the Board likes to have your comments in front of them.  The Times has finally gotte...

District staff have put the the Action Report for Intro/Action at Wednesday's Board meeting for the "Approval of lease of space to Africatown Center for Education & Innovation." I have NEVER read such a disjointed and ridiculous Action Report  - with no less than six question marks.  There should never be question marks in an Action Report.   The staff either knows or doesn't know the information.  If they don't, then they have no business submitting such a report. I suspect the issue is that they cannot get clear answers from Africatown leadership and/or staff can't get information they have requested to be provided to them. There is a long and tortured history of what has been going on at the Mann Building (and I believe both sides would say it is not entirely accurate).    It is ridiculously long. Here's what I believe from this Action Report and its woefully state.  Staff is worried about blowback from having to ask police to help...

Let me begin by setting a foundation. EVERYONE agrees that African-American students have been mis-educated by Seattle Public Schools and by public school districts across the nation. Black students have been presented with inadequate and inappropriate academic opportunities, they have been denied equitable access to programs and services, they have been disproportionately disciplined and disproportionately referred to Special Education. The outcomes have been academic under-performance, the "school to prison pipeline", and the continued economic and political disenfranchisement of a significant portion of our nation's people. It has been a tragic shame. It has been happening since the start and it is continuing. It is an ongoing emergency that urgently demands a response.

The Times is reporting that First A.M.E. Church operated a daycare at Seattle Central Community College - rent-free - for 16 years .  (Yes, I know - how is that possible?)  The daycare was allowed to do this by a program at SCCC called Seattle Vocational Institute whose students' children were to have first-in enrollment.  The daycare ran from Sep. 1997 to June 2013. From the Times: First A.M.E., which closed the daycare in June, paid no rent to the Institute - a value the school estimates would have exceeded $650k over 16 years.  It also paid no utilities or janitorial costs, worth an additional $158k or so.  SCCC president, Pual Killpatrick, said the college had identified this problem contract and that the church was notified in Jne they would need to vacate.  The church did end up paying for utilities and janitorial services from Sep. 2012 to June 2013. Troy Niemeyer, the auditor's whistle-blower manager, stated, " It amounts to the state giving ...