Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended the Budget Work Session on Wednesday.  It was pretty sobering.  Key facts: There is a projected deficit of $18.4M .  I would love to explain it all to you (and I will try to at least get the PowerPoint up by tomorrow) but frankly, I look down at the paper version and I don't know what half of it is.  Imagine my happiness (and surprise) to hear Board Directors say, "Now, what is this?" because they don't know either.  I don't know if it is the Budget office trying to use smoke and mirrors or just too much jargon but if the people who will make the final decisions don't know what you are talking about, you're doing something wrong. By April 10th, we will have the Governor's budget, the House budget and the Senate budget.  We were told that is when "the rubber meets the road."  The Governor released his budget today and it seems quite favorable to K-12 ed (if not quite the amount everyone would want).  He seems to be finding the m...

City Year, one of my favorite groups that helps SPS students, has two ed-related job openings that I thought I would pass on. CITY YEAR: CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT MANAGER.   We need an all-star development manager to drive City Year’s corporate and foundation development strategy – someone who is highly detail and goal oriented, has excellent writing skills, super personable and runs towards a challenge.  Job description link is here: http://www.cityyear.org/CityYear/Jobs/Seattle/Corporate_and_Foundation_Manager.aspx DIPLOMAS NOW: SCHOOL BASED TRANSFORMATION FACILITATOR.  The Diplomas Now Collaborative at Denny Middle School needs a transformation facilitator responsible for effective staff leadership and organizational, instructional, and curricular changes within the school that result in an improved climate and culture.  The STF works closely with City Year, Communities in Schools and Denny MS.  The link to the position is he...

Do you know about City Year ?  I had vaguely heard of it and, of course, if you see a City Year member, you see a young person in a bright red varsity jacket and khakis.   They were particularly noticeable at the recent forum on SPS put on by Seattle Channel.  I recently sat down and interviewed the head of City Year Seattle, Simon Amiel, about who City Year is and what they do in SPS. After talking with Simon, I was very impressed and I want to raise awareness and support for City Year.  The reason I feel strongly about this is because in our high-need schools,  they are doing exactly what I would like to see happen throughout the district.  They are: in schools all day tutoring students building relationships with students and staff and community being role models to students This is the kind of intimate and direct intervention that many of these students need. First, from their website, a little background information: Twen...