Seattle Schools Community Forum

You could call it a soap opera or use another, more colorful, word (but this is - mostly - a family blog.)

To note for tonight's Board meeting agenda ; the Jane Addams Middle School BEX IV construction item has been moved to the May 7th Board meeting by the Superintendent.  No explanation given.  The Superintendent has also asked to remove the Reduction in Force (RIF) item from the agenda.   I confirmed that this is because there will be no RIFs sent out.  As well, the bill to fix facade restoration at Franklin is - gulp - nearly $1M (coming from BEX III and good thing the money is there).  (When part of the facade fell, it was great luck no one was standing underneath it.)  Along with the backflow item at Jane Addams that had to be replaced recently (and I'm not sure how much that cost), we see that our buildings have a near-constant need for maintenance and emergencies fixes.  This is why the maintenance budget needs to be upped or we will likely pay more in the long term.  There are only five people signed up to speak so if you wanted to speak...

Thank you to my readers; I can't be everywhere and these are important updates all parents should know. First, Ingraham staff just voted down their budget, 58-1 and released the following statement: " We reject the budget on the grounds that it forces us to compromise basic student and staff safety, requires us to compromise building and community standards for a comprehensive high school and reflects the wrong priorities for Seattle Public Schools and its students." I am unclear about the ramifications of this vote-down.  I believe that the district will wait and then if no budget is forthcoming, will figure a budget on their own.  I have to think that this will, in turn, cause a great rift between schools and the district.  I will ask what comes next. Update from SEA Facebook page: As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, 25 Seattle schools have voted to reject budgets for next year. Seattle schools cannot take any more cuts! NO CUTS TO SCHOOL BUDGETS! Educators n...

Legislature: The Washington Senate voted unanimously for a bill t o make it easier for minors to seal their records (for minor crimes).   I'll have to read the bill but I doubt it will protect your child if the incident happened at school and it is now part of a school record.  The FERPA changes would allow that kind of data to go out to vendors of all kinds (and even our friends at the Seattle Times). Still no word on the tying of test scores to teacher evaluation bill.  This is the last day for the Legislature to vote on non-budget bills. The Kansas Supreme Court says public school funding cuts in their budgets hurt poorer districts and they have ruled it unconstitutional.  From CBS News: The Supreme Court sent the case back to district court for more review to "promptly" determine what the adequate amount of funding should be, but didn't set a deadline for a hearing. It did, however, set a July 1 deadline for legislators to restore money for two funds a...

A heartbreaking story about the Greenwood shooting by the Ballard student via the Times .  The student was not homeless (he came from a two-parent household) but had chosen not to live at home.  Both his mother and the victim's wife seem to have deep sympathy for the situation of the other.  From SXSW from Microsoft's CTO - "anonymity going to be more valuable than gold in near future."   Might want to keep that in mind for your children's privacy going forward.  No one may be anonymous in the future but that doesn't mean people won't want some privacy in their lives.  Interesting new website - Funding Washington Schools - "understand the consequences of underfunded K-12 students" - good info. You want more?  Here's the hugely useful Government Information page from Vanderbilt University with at least a hundred l inks . My Northwest story on NWC and Cascade - the e-mails seem to show the district very much did know it was going to ta...

This issue of homes for Cascade and NW Center Kids is  but one of the first capital dominoes to fall.   The new 2014-2015 budget reflects that the growth isn't quite what the district expected.  At this point, that doesn't matter. The district simply does not have the capacity for the students who continue to pour in.  There will be more dominoes and the number and speed at which they fall will only get faster.   There are huge mistakes being made in our capital building and thinking.   Someone needs to have the political courage to do something but what is it going to take? I have heard from a number of different people on the front lines of the issue of housing both  Cascade Parent Partnership and NW Center Kids.   There has been an astonishing amount of "haven't heard from them", "didn't know" and "they offered no options."  Somewhere in there is the truth.   It's like in Cool Hand Luke - "What we've g...

I attended a meeting today at the Cascade Parent Partnership school at Wilson-Pacific.  The meeting was called by Superintendent Banda who was in attendance as was Facilities chief Flip Herdon and NE Ex. Director Kim Whitworth.  The school had just finished a spelling bee and there were plenty of parents and students in attendance. 

I am in receipt of an e-mail sent out to the Board, the Superintendent, the Seattle City Council, Mayor Murray and a few others in leadership.  It is about a meeting about NW Center.  It includes no wording about Cascade nor does it invite any of Cascade's leadership. It is from a NW Center parent; I am checking to see if this has been done through NW Center. I find that sad because NW Center seems to have gained quite an upper-hand in this situation from various government officials (including Rep. Reuven Carlyle who is hosting this meeting).   I would love to know if Cascade is having a similar meeting and have an e-mail out to their principal to ask. I find some of the wording to be not-so-fair to the situation. They say:

Here's the latest on this story: From My Northwest : So far, the only response from the school district came in an email saying they'll let Northwest Center know the next step after enrollment numbers are in on March 7 . By that time, Northwest Center will have just three months left to figure out a plan.  From The Stranger Slog , now we have a Seattle legislator involved: The Northwest Center understands that they may have to move, but is asking for more time to find a suitable location for their developmentally and physically disabled students, many of whom require a facility that will accommodate their specific needs. SPS spokesperson Teresa Wippel told me that the old Van Asselt school has been offered to the Northwest Center, but Northwest Center President and CEO Tom Everill says, "There is no offer of Van Asselt on the table—no planning or site analysis has been done, and there are no applications for construction permits or licensing."  I...

Good story on Garfield teacher Jesse Hagopian in Seattle Met . The Times editorial board weighs in on the North Center Kids/Cascade program and oddly, completely leaves out Cascade.  Naturally this baffled a couple of readers who ask, "What is the about?  Why would the district do this?"  But paint a complete picture?  Not the Times. Best wishes to all your loves this Valentine's Day - be they big or small. What's on your mind?

RBHS Coding Team In support of teacher Jon Greenberg This thread will cover the last School Board meeting last Wednesday, Feb. 5th.  All directors were in attendance but Director Carr.  The Rainier Beach High School T.E.A.L. team (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) gave a presentation on coding work they have been doing.  There was a large crowd primarily around transportation, former Center School teacher, Jon Greenberg and the NW Center Kids program. 

Second Update:  I erred in some of my reporting here.  As I told someone, sometimes I get a narrative in my head based upon what I know and forget that others might be starting from a  different place.  My apologies. Corrections: -  Policy 4260.  To understand, there are Board POLICES and Superintendent PROCEDURES, that mostly go hand in hand.  However, ONLY policies are voted on while the Superintendent just puts forth his procedure to enact said policy.  Naturally, it behooves the Superintendent to make sure they line up or have a plausible reasoning for why staff believes a policy should be enacted.  The Board was only voting on Policy 4260 which was to amend rental of school facilities.  This was vetted by quite a few people, including the SCPTA, and it's fine.  It passed. The issue, however, is that district legal staff inserted a paragraph into the Superintendent's procedure 4260 that would make after-school groups liab...

Sharon Peaslee has been elected President of the Seattle School Board by a vote of 4-3.  Sherry Carr was also nominated. Betty Patu was elected unanimously to be Vice-President. Marty McLaren was elected unanimously to be Member-at-Large. Superintendent Banda conducted the elections. I'll have a longer wrap-up of the Board meeting but a few notes. Blanford recused himself from two votes that involved his wife who works for the district in CTE. Blanford, Martin-Morris and McLaren won't be having any December community meetings (for various reasons - Martin-Morris was unable to find a space).  They all said you could contact them via e-mail.   The majority of public testimony to the Board were on three topics.   One, allowing current 7th graders at Hamilton to stay on and finish 8th grade there.  One speaker said that they had been told there was not space but now the finding is that there would be space.  As well, they said Laurelhurst 7th...