Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Friday Memo for January 6 doesn't have much in the way of news, but it does form a pretty nice round up of the news from the past month. For example:

I spoke at the School Board meeting on Wednesday.  One of my topics was the fact that in order to understand the raging budget deficit facing SPS, I was told to file a public disclosure request.  I pointed out to the Superintendent and Board that this was not transparency at its best and if they want support from the community, it might be useful to be open about the situation. This information  is not some state secret and, in fact, the finance/budgeting folks probably all know the numbers by heart.   To my surprise, I was sent this information by JoLynn Berge,Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance. Great but, once again, not specific enough (but, of course, that's by design.)  I'll first note the obvious for every single one of us adults - when creating a budget, you start with what money you DO have and what you owe/needed spending and THEN you see what is leftover for other things.  The district seemingly operates with what they WANT ...

The district's info on buses and inclement weather for what may be an up-and-down weather week. Also, two items of note to put on your calendar. One, a community meeting on Cedar Park and its designation as an Option School.   This is on Thursday, December 15th at Cedar Park Elementary from 6:30-8:30 pm. The other is an Option School Fair that the district will be holding on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Cleveland STEM High School from 10 am-2pm.  Monday, December 5th Student Assignment Plan meeting from 6:30-7:30 at JSCEE.   At UW, Education and Society Film Series : Starving the Beast.  Sponsored by University of Washington College of Education Master in Education Policy program Kane Hall 120 from 7-9 pm. Some of the most pressing issues facing America's educational systems will be discussed during the "Education and Society" documentary film series. Watch "Starving the Beast" and join a conversation about the funding of public hig...

I'll do the School Board meeting in two parts because even though the Growth Boundary amendments were the big show, many other interesting things were said at the meeting. But to the Growth Boundaries.  HUGE thank you to Kellie LaRue who sat thru the whole thing (something like 6+ hours; I wimped out at 4 hours) and reported back on the votes.

So many threads to get to including Director Burke's meeting on the reopening of Lincoln High (about 250 in attendance.)  And, he has the sole director community meeting tomorrow, Oct. 29th, at the Fremont Library from 11 am-1 pm. If Richard Sherman of the Seahawks played Quiddich who would be on his team (and guess who is a Seahawks fan ?)

During the discussion at the Boundary Changes thread, I was asked to create another thread on what readers found in the Friday Memo on this subject. One reader noted that two of the attachments that were supposed to be in the original BAR are finally at the SPS website.  (And use that in any argument you want to make about going forward - information was not given to the Board and the community in a timely fashion.)

I do want to put forth an accounting of the Board meeting last Wednesday, the 12th, but the MOST important thing is to tell parents to get your feelings/thoughts/ideas/amendments into the Board as soon as possible. My take from public testimony is that there are a couple of big concerns: - grandfathering (many, many calls for this to be expanded) - uncertain pathways to middle school - boundary changes that affect too many schools and their communities I cannot urge you enought to collaborate with other parents/schools and get those thoughts to the Board ASAP. Either: spsdirectors@seattleschools.org (for just the Board) or schoolboard@seattleschools.org (includes senior management) Here's what was said during the Board meeting on this topic.

From the agenda for the Board meeting on Wednesday night, three items of major interest.

Below is a letter from the North District council (" representing the North Seattle neighborhoods of Meadowbrook, Pinehurst, Maple Leaf, Cedar Park, Olympic Hills, Jackson Park, North Matthews Beach, Lake City, Victory Heights and Northgate") to the Board and cc'd to Superintendent Nyland and City Council member, Debora Juarez expressing concern over Cedar Park's opening and its possible ripple effects for the region. I am also learning that there are parents gathering information about growth boundaries, possibly to challenge the district legally.  I am not surprised at any of this given the gravity of the situation, both district-wide and for specific regions.

Today is the Operations committee meeting where they will be discussing proposed boundary changes. The Committee will then take a vote on whether to move them forward to the full Board for approval. Agenda .

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:

  March 17, 2016 Dear Cedar Park, John Rogers and Olympic Hills Elementary School Communities, I am excited to announce Dedy Fauntleroy has been appointed as the new Planning Principal for Cedar Park Elementary School , starting this fall. She has been serving as Principal for John Stanford International School (JSIS) since February 2014.

This notice is important for many reasons and I remind readers that while it may not be your school/region, issues like boundaries have ripple effects so it's important to keep this on your radar. As well, why are we building a huge new building for OH when the district is drawing more kids off OH into Cedar Park?  It makes it look like the district has other plans that they are not revealing.  Olympic Hills Elementary PTA press release 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.

 Update:  here is a link to all the updated BTA IV documents .  There is now a line: Capital and Technology Financing Obligations principal payments - $8.1M Where did this money come from (did they add dollars or rearrange?)  They rearranged but I'm not sure what projects lost what. Now I did ask if this is all just to pay off JSCEE.  The answer was...not sure.  I really would love a full accounting of all that has been paid into JSCEE, how much remains, when payments are due and when there is an end in sight.  This is patently ridiculous at this point.  While I realize there is virtually NO one at JSCEE who helped enact this nonsense, the fact of the matter is a lot of people there - both on the Board and in management - have kicked this can down the road for a very long time. end of update In advance of Wednesday's public comment meeting for BTA IV levy and the Operations levy, I have uploaded the handout from the community meetings ...

Friday, August 8th BEX Oversight Committee Meeting , 8:30 am-10:30 am, JSCEE, Room 2750 Minutes from June. It will be interesting to see if the downtown school issue will be discussed.  (Yes, I know that BEX money is spoken for but it might come up as a topic.) No Community Meetings with Board directors on Saturday the 9th. To note: next week, the schedule starts picking up again with two Board committee meetings and one Community meeting.  SPS News: Distinguished Seattle Public Schools Health Services Manager Katie Johnson has been named one of 20 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellows for 2014. Johnson joins a select group of nurses from across the country chosen to participate in the final cohort of a three-year leadership development program aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of nurse leaders who are working to improve the U.S. health care system. According to a news release from Mayor Murray's Office on July 21, 2014, five new ...

A bit of an exciting week as the district welcomes two new Board members. Also FYI, the district is looking for members for its School Wellness Task Force . Seattle Public Schools is seeking members for a Task Force to review, revise, monitor, communicate and evaluate policies and procedures governing school food, competitive foods, nutrition education, physical education and physical activity. The Task Force will operate for an 18-month period, December 2013 to June 2015. To be considered for the School Wellness Task Force students, parents, family and community members should complete and submit a nomination form by Friday, Dec. 13, 2013 . The invitation letter , nomination forms , and a complete description of the committee are available online .   Tuesday, Dec. 3rd Oath of Office from 5-6 pm in the JSCEE Auditorium.  It is open to the public.  Sue Peters, Stephan Blanford and returning Director Betty Patu will be taking the oath.  There are ope...

It was a full house but frankly, not as full as I thought it would be (and certainly not the crowd that Charlie had - Tracy Libros said there were at least 250 people at Monday's event).   There were three legislators there - Rep. Jamie Pedersen, Rep. Gerry Pollet and Senator David Frockt.  I saw just two Board members - Director DeBell and Director Peaslee (odd that Martin-Morris wasn't there - this is his region).  There were also several members of the FACMAC committee. I sat at a table with parents worried about several issues but they seems resigned.  I also sat with two reporters from the Roosevelt News.  They worry over losing diversity at their school and overcrowding.  I set them up to talk with Shauna Heath.  Big Picture A couple of themes I came away with that I hope ALL parents understand. This is a serious situation (and probably more serious than the district is letting on although Flip Herdon did let two things slip that s...

This Work Session had a larger-than-normal audience which is a good thing because now there are other witnesses to what was discussed.   Charlie and I both went and came armed with ideas for the Board to consider.  (He outdid me, of course, with his sheet with 23(!) questions.  He checked them off as they went along.  At least five of them got asked but not necessarily answered.)  I gave them a sheet with comments copped from Charlie's previous thread.  And, with apologies to all other programs, somehow Advanced Learning/Highly Capable got the lion's share of discussion. Michael Tolley started the session, outlining the higher level thinking.  However, the presentation, on slide 3, says that one goal of the process is to " include access to services and programs as a key component in boundary revisions."   To which Charlie wrote in the margin "except Montessori."  And, he's right.  Montessori is in neighborhood schools but i...

I had understood that the district was reviewing the plan for Thornton Creek.  What I believed I had heard was that it did not appear to the community that the district had considered all options.  (I also believe there were real differences of opinion within the community about what would be the best plan.) The district DID do analysis and here it is.  There is a comparison of two projects - the one at Cedar Park and the one at Thornton Creek. The analysis for Cedar Park was versus using Lake City property (an old school building that has been coverted into offices).  They still believe Cedar Park is the better option (cheaper) but looking at the breakdown, CP would have to have 8(!) portables to be viable.  I am also confused at the high price to redo Lake City as it is a lovely building that just needs some renovation (although it needs a gym)  and yet is is double the cost of updating CP.  And Lake City would have double the classrooms....