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 ...

Most of my readers know by now that I am very interested in capital issues and funding.  I care for two reasons. One, every single student deserves a clean, well-maintained, safe building to call "my school."  It would be great if the technology is up-to-date and there is natural light and flow to the building to create an inviting atmosphere. Two, the taxpayers of Seattle vote in ever-increasing huge sums of money for these buildings.  And, yet the district does not maintain the system properly.  As well, the district has a very convoluted idea that they can move money around from BEXs and BTAs and claim all the work promised will be done.  I have disputed that claim for a long time and I still believe it. There has never been a transparent accounting of all the dollars in the BEXs and BTAs and what work actually happened.  Never. Yesterday, I received the notice of the upcoming BEX Oversight Committee meeting on Friday morning.  The notice in...

Boy, I saw a lot of happy and excited people today at both these new buildings.  At both ribbon-cuttings, they had the 15+ ribbon-cutters (SPS staff, Board members and legislators) cut bits of ribbon to give to students who were there as souvenirs.  (I didn't have time to take a tour in either building so I didn't get to ask about a couple of things in each building.  I also didn't find the library in either building.)

A heads up for tomorrow's BEX Oversight Committee meeting .  It will NOT be at JSCEE but is at the Genesee Hill School Library, 5013 SW Dakota St, from 8:30-10:30 am.  The meeting will be shortened in order for committee members to tour the building.  The public is allowed to come along. The agenda shows a project status review for the various BEX IV projects.   

Update:   a couple of corrections. Sue Peters is, of course, the Chair of the Audit&Finance Committee (which I attributed to Director Harris.)  Director Peters had asked Harris to chair the meeting since Peters was unable to be physically present. As well, I attributed a statement to Peters that was Geary's about how Director Blanford felt the $11M should be spent. end of update As I previously reported, the Board was having an Audit&Finance Committee Meeting of the Whole and then had an Executive Committee Meeting of the Whole and then a Work Session on the 2016-2017 Budget to figure out to do with this $11M underspend that was found.

I had heard that Emerson Elementary was losing a large number of teachers (somewhere between 10-12) and I asked the district about this. Here is their reply:

Update :  I am told that the notice went to several community groups in Wallingford, Fremont, Ballard, etc as well as the alumni group for Lincoln High.  Again, this meeting is ONLY about building design - not programming or enrollment.  You can certainly go and ask questions but I doubt anyone from Enrollment or C&I will be there to answer those types of questions. End of update

Check my "Dude, Seriously?" thread for updates on McCleary .  I find it astonishing that legislators think somehow it would reflect worse on the Court to promise to shut down schools if McCleary isn't fulfilled by the start of school year 2017-2018 than the legislature.  And, that the action would be so distasteful to the legislature that they would actually entertain the idea of NOT getting the work done so as to make it look like it's the Court's fault. The fault lies entirely on the seemingly touchy shoulders of the legislature.

Tuesday, April 26th International School and Dual Language Immersion Programs Meeting Chief Sealth International Schools from 6:00-7:30 pm Seattle Public Schools invites families, community members and staff to share thoughts and ideas on our International School and Dual Language Immersion programs. The district is examining these programs in order to make recommendations about potential changes in the 2017-18 school year. Boundary Change Community Meeting Roosevelt High School from 6:30-7:30 pm Mayor's community conversation on education , hosted by SEA.  Van Asselt Community Center from 5:30-7:30 pm. Mayor's community conversation on education , hosted by SEA.  Northgate Community Center from 5:30-7:30 pm.

A few quick notes. 1) There's a photo of Lady Gaga at the SPS website regarding the RULER approach to students' emotional needs.  That was bit startling (although she does have another connection to SPS, namely the Mighty C89.5 station at Nathan Hale High that was one of her earliest supporters and that she visited early in her career.)  2) Also, the heart that the kids and staff at Greenwood Elementary created yesterday made the national news on NBC.  As well, the Mayor dropped by the school to offer his thanks to the school for their support of their community after the Greenwood explosion. Audit and Finance Agenda

Reminder: meeting about boundary changes in the far NE region: Olympic Hills Elementary Parent Teacher Association invite media to attend a Seattle Public Schools community meeting to discuss race and equity issues surrounding 2017 boundary changes February 9th, 6:30-7:30pm in the Cedar Park Elementary cafeteria.   From SPS: In September of 2017, a new middle school will open in the NW Region.

 Update:  here's the updated story from Queen Anne/Magnolia News .  Some interesting history but also some expensive trouble for the district. The building had various uses after it closed like being the home to the African-American Academy and a temporary fire station. The "uh oh" is that it has landmark status thru the City in a large way.  This means much higher costs than if they could just renovate it without that status.  This has been a problem at many schools like Roosevelt, Cleveland, and Garfield.  I'm trying to recall the last elementary that had a major update that had this status but I know Coe, Stevens and maybe T.T. Minor. end of update Opened in 1927, Magnolia Elementary School served the neighborhood’s children for nearly six decades, before it closed in 1984 due to declining enrollment. From then on, it served as a temporary site for several schools, including Adams (from 1987 to ‘89) and John Muir Elementary (1989 to ‘90). ...

This week sees the reopening of schools after the holiday break. This week is a big work week for many who will be attending and closely watching what happens when the Legislature starts its short session on Jan. 11th.   Updated: see Thursday for details. Wednesday, Jan. 6th School Board meeting , at JSCEE starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda

Looks like someone's trying to revive the reviled Inbloom (the $100M public education data cloud that Gates created) by making a kinder, gentler one.  I, along with some other student data privacy advocates, see this as much less threatening than InBloom but I would have to see all the particulars before I could say it was okay.  From Washington Monthly:

I cannot attend the Operations Committee meeting today but wanted to alert you to a couple of things that appear on the Agenda .

Update:  Packed auditorium with SEA members with lobby nearly filled as well. Kudos to Washington Middle School volunteers - big applause. Following by big tension after Bernardo Ruiz finished his presentation on the annual Education and Racial Equity.  A man stood up and shouted at Bernardo to tell the truth about Middle College.  He wouldn't stop and President Carr said she would clear the room if need be.  He shouted, "*** you!" to the Board and left in a fury. As for the transfers of money, I note that the presentation on the movement of money from the Capital Budget to Operations budget changed and asked Ken Gotsch about him.  He knew nothing and seemed confused. I am VERY suspicious of what is going on with these dollars for the Interfund loan and the Operations and Capital budgets. end of update  Tonight's School Board meeting looks to have one of the longest agendas I have ever seen (and therefore, possibly one of the longest meetings ev...

The last of the " Technology Vision Town Halls " will be tonight , starting at 6 pm at West Seattle High School.  Has anyone attended one?  Any thoughts?  Was student data privacy mentioned? Also to note, Friday, March 6th is the LAST day of Open Enrollment .  So hop to it if you haven't enrolled your student yet.  There is also an Operations Ctm meeting on Tuesday , the 3rd.  Agenda here .  It is likely to be a truncated meeting as Director Patu, the chair, is not available due to the death of her husband.  The agenda appears to be just capital matters. Then, Wednesday , there's Board meeting.  Agenda available here. One Action item (total) and that's the 2015 Board Code of Conduct.  Here's the redlined one and there are changes both good and puzzling.

First up, the Board retreat on the 6th.  Apparently, I had been expected because Director Peaslee said something to the effect of, "wait for Melissa" and Director Peters and Michael Tolley (who ostensibly must read the blog and knew I was not coming) said, "She's not coming."  I'm sure there was a sigh of relief that no one from the "angry community " was there. I also learned via public disclosure documents that at least one director feels the need to pass on many of my e-mails to the Board to senior staff .  To note, there are about 13 people who get the e-mails you send via "schoolboard@seattleschools.org."   These include the Board, Legal, the Superintendent, Communications, a couple of cabinet people and a person in the Board office.  So now, if I'm writing to the entire Board, I'll just send it to the main e-mail address because it seems my e-mails get forwarded on anyway.  I don't really like it this way because I...

The Times had a brief article last night when the news broke about the one-week extension for public input on the appointment of Superintendent Nyland to be the permanent superintendent which has now expanded and there are some very interesting quotes. The action slated for a special meeting of the board on December 10 at 4:30 p.m.  The Times says the Board hasn't decided if they will allow comments. - apparently there will be discussion at the Board meeting Wenesday when this is introduced.  (Normally, the discussion at Intro is limited so we'll have to see.) - The district has this e-mail for "interested parties" to weigh in - SchoolBoard@seattleschools.org . - The Times notes that Nyland came from Marysville, serving nine years there.  I'm finding some very telling stories out of Marysville that may be clues to the kind of superintendent he may be. - Peaslee said the board usually introduces and votes on superintendent job offers in the same meeting...

I did forget to mention this previously and an alert reader reminded me of it; there's a notation on the Board agenda for an Executive Session at the end of the meeting: Executive Session: To consider the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate – This closed session will begin at the conclusion of the regular Board meeting and last approximately forty-five minutes. The legislative session will not reconvene after the executive session, and no action will be taken as a result of the executive session.    I believe this is likely to be over how much the district is willing to pay for the Federal Reserve building and land.  $10M? $15M? $20M?  I haven't seen any estimates of how much it is worth (given its condition and its landmarking status). The auction starts on Dec. 5th and continues until Jan. 28, 2015.  Opening bid is $5M.   The district, if successful, would buy themselves land and a building and, doing it t...