Seattle Schools Community Forum

 From Community & Parents for Public Schools, Seattle ( CPPS ): SEATTLE: Students win when families and schools work together, but not all parents engage equally. So Community & Parents for Public Schools of Seattle is bringing an acclaimed program to the city that strengthens ties to public schools by recruiting, placing and mentoring volunteers who might not otherwise participate.

Our friends over at CPPS (Community and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle) are looking for your stories. From Stephanie Jones, Executive Director: I am seeking parents who may have been involved in boundary conversations around the NE or AP.  (Editor's note: this is her need here as Stephanie went to most of the other meetings.) CPPS is working on a newsletter that will highlight parent/community stories from around the city about the impacts of boundaries and some of the change themes that are repeating from region to region. I am really interested in perspectives that highlight the community level concerns – walkability and community integrity are things I’m hearing a lot, as well as equity.   Anything else?  In particular, do you have a personal story or can you refer me to someone who does about how boundary changes? I’d like just a paragraph or a few sentences, but am happy to see any background info (letters to board, etc) that people are ...

From the press release: Community & Parents for Public Schools (CPPS) Seattle announces the first mayoral election season forum discussing Seattle public education: "Focus on Students, Families, Communities: The CPPS 2013 Mayoral Education Forum." The forum will take place April 30th in the Garfield High School Commons. CPPS will hold its annual meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The 90-minute forum will take place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. All mayoral candidates who filed prior to March 15th have indicated they will attend. Community & Parents for Public Schools (CPPS) of Seattle is a citywide network of parents and community members working as one to ensure quality public schools for all Seattle children. It is known for its ability to foster authentic grassroots engagement in the public school system. Instead of lobbying for adoption of its own education philosophies, it works to train parents to effectively advocate for their own students and community need...

One reason for this blog - and that has always been the case since its earliest days - is discourse and encouraging activism.    I said this recently in an interview and I frequently have parents tell me that it's the only place they can really go to ask questions.  I am glad that enough parents know about it that they feel comfortable to come here and raise issues.  (Some also e-mail Charlie and me and that's fine as well.)  One topic that came up in the Eric Lui interview was about how parents can be involved (and how deeply) in their children's education.  Eric pointed out that many parents don't want to speak out.  I've said this before - my belief is most parents just want a good school that they have confidence in the staff and where they feel welcome (either as a volunteer or a parent who visits occasionally).  I don't think most parents want to be activists.  I think most parents want to be advocates for their child's education...

Wednesday, May 30th Work Session: Special Education from 4-5:30 p.m. at JSCEE - no agenda available yet. Thursday has two great events on solutions, yes solutions, that education experts are going to be presenting to parents and communities.  I have a feeling that this discussion will not be around charters, testing and TFA so if you want to hear different expert voices, attend one of these meetings. Thursday, May 31st Community &  Parents for Public Schools (CPPS) Annual Meeting from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at JSCEE Agenda: CPPS Highlights for Year, Parents' Bill of Rights Overview, Guest Speakers, Board Election.  "Building Quality Neighborhood Public Schools: What Can We Do?" Speakers:  Dr. Margery B. Ginsberg, Associate Professor of Education at UW and co-director of the AIM Center at Cleveland High School Dr. Joshua Garcia, Federal Way Public Schools' Assistant Superintendent of Teaching for Learning.  More info: cppsofseattle.org Parents Across ...

Monday, October 10th CPPS' "Parent Friendly" School Board Candidate forum at Washington Middle School, 2101 South Jackson St. from 7-8:30 p.m. The district  is having an Early Enrollment evening with the help of the Asian Counseling /Referral Service from 5:30 pm- 7:00 pm.    Here's a blurb from ACRS's website about them: Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization offering a broad array of human services and behavioral health programs to Asian Pacific Americans in King County. ACRS is the largest multiservice organization serving all the different Asian Pacific American communities - immigrants, refugees and American born - in the Pacific Northwest. Tuesday, October 11th Audit and Finance Committee Meeting (Audit) from 4-6 p.m.  The agenda reflects the following: audit response performance audit (capital) follow-up Special Investigation (Pottergate) 09-10 Audits (I have no idea what this is...

Monday, Oct. 3rd Early Enrollment starts.  See SPS website for details. Tuesday, Oct. 4th Intermediate Term Capacity Management community meeting from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Mercer Middle School, 1600 S. Columbian Way Wednesday, Oct. 5th Operations Committee mtg (meeting of the whole which I believe means the entire Board) from 4-5:30 p.m.  No agenda available yet.  School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m. Sign up to speak starting 8:00 am on Monday, 252-0040 Agenda . This includes the (late) contract for NWEA for MAP testing.  There is a torturously long explanation of why this is such a great thing which leads me to believe staff thinks there will be pushback from the public testimony.  One thing I didn't know - all students new to the district have to take the fall MAP.   Also, Mark Teoh told the C&I committee that the cost was going up by $20k but here it appears that it is $30k.  It also says this: Due to staff reductions, unfortunatel...

Communities and Parents for Public Schools has really been doing yeoman's work on outreach to different communities.  I wanted to pass on this info I recently received from Stephanie Jones who is the Director of CPPS Seattle. An incredible group of south end parents has been drafting a SE Parents’ Bill of Rights for Quality Neighborhood Schools.   We have had about 20 parent leadership graduates from Community & Parents for Public Schools to get the ball rolling on this, and they are ready to share it for more input and buy-in.   Next week we’ll be sharing it in a formative way (for advance notice, input, support) with School Board Director Betty Patu, and district Executive Directors Michael Tolley and Bree Dusseault.  Ultimately, we’ll have parents bringing their statement to the school board, to board candidates, to the Superintendent.  And, we’d like to get principals and teachers and PTAs to buy in as well – the idea is that this mig...

NBC is gearing up its Education Nation series this week and having a conference in NYC.   Many of the speeches are to be webcast.   Naturally, this is EST so you either have to get up very early or tape/Tivo them.   I haven't been overly impressed with this series in the past but they do have some interesting conversations scheduled. Tomorrow's include an interview with Warren Buffett, Susie Buffett and Melinda Gates at 8:15 am. One great one will be on Tuesday at 9:00 am - a debate between Geoffrey Canada and Diane Ravitch.  I have a feeling they have more in common than might be expected. I'm going to be on KING-5 news at 8:30 am on Wednesday to talk about parent involvement and whether parents need a union.  (This is their phrasing and no, I don't think parents need a union but I do think they need groups who serve as parent advocates.  I don't think that's happening so much now except at a high level - PTSA advocacy for legislativ...

The stars aligned last night and Charlie and I were once again in the same place - the CPPS event on parent engagement at Lincoln High.  This event was great because there was evidence that the work CPPS is doing around parent engagement is reaching the right people. Also, I feel this may be a signal or a golden moment for parents to seize upon; this based on what the Superintendent had to say about parent input AND the CPPS idea of "training" parents to be advocates for their child.   I only wish this wasn't coming at the end of the school year when people are starting to dial back. Credit goes to all the CPPS staff but especially Stephanie Jones .

Monday Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee , agenda . This is from 4-6 p.m. This agenda reflects issues that have been brought up before so I think it is an on-going discussion about previously discussed issues. These include Student Rights & Responsibilities, Families and Education levy, anti-harassment policy and procedure (students), high school graduation requirements policy, and high school grad and credit marking policy. Tuesday Parent Engagement for the 21st Century: A CPPS Event Tuesday, May 24 6:30-8:30pm Lincoln High School Library 4400 Interlake Avenue North Join us as we bring together parents, community members, and our education leaders to explore new possibilities for parent engagement. You’ll learn about our Parent Leadership Training and opportunities for you to make a difference in our schools. Dr. Susan Enfield - Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools - and her Regional Executive Directors will be our special guests. You won’t want to mi...

From the CPPS web site: CPPS ANNUAL MEETING - 21st Century Parent Engagement TUES, MAY 24, 2011 at 6:30-8:30pm Lincoln High School Library, 4400 Interlake Ave N Come learn about our Parent Leadership Training, encounter action opportunities where you can make a difference for our schools, and help define parent engagement for quality neighborhood schools in our city. Special guests, interim superintendent Susan Enfield and the regional directors, will be there to discuss the district AND local level community/parent impact. Join us! RSVP at contact@cppsofseattle.org More info: http://www.cppsofseattle.org/CPPS052411.pdf

Not much happening this week in SPS meetings but many education events this month.

From CPPS: What Do Parents Want in South end Schools? SE Parent Leadership Project Kickoff Tuesday, October 19th, 7pm Mercer Middle School 1600 Columbian Way (enter the parking lot from westbound Columbian Way) To make our public schools in south and southeast Seattle the quality neighborhood schools we want them to be, CPPS SE parents are organizing outreach and training for parent leadership and advocacy in the Aki Kurose and Mercer Middle School feeder patterns. This project offers opportunity for community members to share their perspectives on schooling in these neighborhoods, to tell about their own experiences and desires for their children, AND to develop a collective advocacy voice for the changes they need. Join us on Tuesday to talk about: a community video to tell our schools' stories parent leadership and advocacy training to meet YOUR needs a parents' agenda for quality neighborhood schools Can't make the meeting but have a story to tell? Cont...

The Annual Meeting of CPPS is Tuesday night at 6:30 at John Stanford Int'l at 4057 NE 5th Ave. They are having a business meeting first, electing new officers/Board members and approving a budget from 6:30- 7:00 p.m. Then they are having a panel on Parent Leadership from 7-8:30 p.m. with Directors Kay Smith-Blum and Betty Patu along with PTSA leader, Heidi Bennett. The public is invited.

Stephanie Jones, the head of Communities and Parents for Public Schools (CPPS), released the results of the recent survey on the performance of our superintendent, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. From their results: In just over a week, they received 662 responses. More than half included optional written comments 273 (41%) included an email address (this is a great sign of standing up and being counted) Submissions came from 37 different zip codes, covering all regions of the city As you would expect, the anonymous responses were more negative but the non-anonymous ones were still "solidly" negative. One absolutely great thing that the folks at CPPS did was to include every single comment. There are pages of them so it takes awhile to read. But it is valuable reading because you start seeing a theme to them even as each one differs somewhat in its issue. What did people say? If I had to sum it up, it would be two things. One, there is almost zero feeling that Dr. Goodloe-Jo...

Danny Westneat of the Times had a column today about CPPS's efforts on RiFed teachers. From the column: "But the decision this month to lay off 165 of Seattle schools' newest teachers in a "last hired, first fired" manner has got some of liberal Seattle suddenly sounding more like a conservative red state. More than 600 school parents have signed an online petition, at supportgreatteachers.com , that calls out the teachers union for causing "great distress and upheaval" in the schools. At issue is the policy of choosing who gets laid off solely by seniority. "Wake up and see how union refusal to consider merit is damaging the profession and our kids," wrote one parent. "We want the best teachers, not the oldest, teaching our kids," wrote another. "Teacher unions are an anachronism," said another. The organizers of the petition are a group of parents called Community and Parents for Public Schools. They agree wha...

SOME DATES/TIMES have changed. SEE BELOW. Some very interesting conversations and ideas at tonight's public hearing on closures at JSCEE, with plenty of school board members attending and listening. However, I was struck by how little participants have to say about regional communities -- we all have a perspective on our own school communities; lots of us have views on closure proposals in terms of numbers or anecdotes about others' school communities, but we just aren't talking enough about the larger cluster or regional networks that affect our options, our access, and the quality of education that our kids receive. Well CPPS ( Community & Parents for Public Schools) wants to do that, and we are starting those conversations in Central Seattle, South Seattle, and W. Seattle next week. It is my experience that the quality and conditions of schools in a region affect one another both directly and indirectly in terms of choice, fundraising, access to teachers, ac...

One thing that the repeated series of closure proposals over the past several years has done is to inform us a bit better each time of what is out there in the world of Seattle Public Schools. It isn't always pretty, certainly, but when you get past the numbers, it has been pretty interesting to learn that nearly every school has a beating heart and some important stories to tell. Communities and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle (CPPS) wants to capitalize on this asset -- that every school/neighborhood commmunity has something to offer -- and on the fact that parents working together can show the district a thing or two. It is one of CPPS’ bigger aims: changing the nature of the conversations between parents and school communities and school board/district personnel. CPPS sees the closure process as offering an important opportunity to bring parents together to define and call for “quality neighborhood schools,” and to address the current issues of capacity-student assignment...

Two articles of interest today.  First, an editorial I co-wrote in today's PI: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/387559_schoolclose13.html The district will get into detailed specifics for cutting costs.  We'd love to see them give equal attention to the improvements they seek.  For instance, they say they want to make all neighborhood schools great.  We all have opinions on that, but what exactly do they plan to do for the struggling schools?  I'd like to see them write down the details so we can comment, and more importantly, so we can identify where we can participate and how we can hold them accountable to it.  They've got the stick down... now we need the carrot.    I'd love to hear additional thoughts on what the district could do to make you more confident in the schools you may be forced to choose from (due to closure, overcrowding, or changes to the assignment plan). And here's an interesting article from today's New York Times: http://www.nytim...