Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update:   I missed the part where the City also wants to increase their data collection from their education work.   No big surprise. End of update. From the Seattle PI via Joel Connelly, comes the not-so-new news that the City is going to create "a full-fledged Department of Education and Early Learning " that will be part of the next City budget. The new city department would have 38 employees, the bulk coming from the city’s Human Services Department and the Office of Education.  It would administer a $48.5 million budget, including $30 million annually as part of the Families and Education Levy that provides after-school and health services. Of course, I suspect this is very dependent upon the City's preschool proposition passing in November. The PI doesn't mince words:

I just got back from a news conference where it was announced that the City of Seattle will be investing $500,000 in arts education in Seattle Public Schools.   This will advance the already established partnership between the City and SPS called The Creative Advantage. (That's Mayor McGinn's mom, Joyce, looking at students' artwork.  The boy to her right is McGinn's brother, Kevin.  McGinn is the boy hiding at her left side.) The goal is one hour of music and one hour of visual arts per week for every single student in SPS by 2020. The investment dollars came from something of a surprising source - admission tax revenue from the Great Wheel on the waterfront and the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum was higher than expected.  So thank you tourists for those dollars.  The $500k will be invested over the next two years to start rolling out the planning done under the $1M Wallace Foundation grant.  The Central district will be the first to see some doll...

From the City of Seattle: Weapons to Words is a program for students in Seattle sponsored by the Office of the Mayor and Office of Arts & Culture in cooperation with Chihuly Studio and Schnitzer Steel that encourages a violence free future for Seattle. Metal upcycled from guns recovered from future Seattle gun buyback programs will be tuned into plaques featuring quotes from Seattle students. Students are asked to submit quotes that signify what gun violence in their community means to them, and what we can do to stop it. This program encourages kids to think about clear, simple actions and attitudes that they can take to contribute to the elimination of violence in schools and in our city. A panel convened by the Office of Arts and Culture will select one entry per school to be engraved on a publicly displayed installation designed by Chihuly Studio. This contest is open to students in the City of Seattle in grades 1-12. One winner per school will be selected by a panel of ...

This morning I attended the joint press conference between City representatives and district representatives who announced that the district will now be using Seattle's Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) services for complaints of violations of SPS ethics policy as well as retaliation complaints for those who do speak out. Good lineup;  for the City, the Mayor, Tim Burgess, Wayne Barnett, Executive Director of SEEC, Robert Mahon, SEEC Chair.  For the district, Susan Enfield, Noel Treat and Steve Sundquist.   There were folks from all the tv stations as well as print/radio reporters.   The two state auditors assigned to SPS were also there. There were brief remarks from Enfield, the Mayor, Burgess and Sundquist.   Enfield stated that the City had "expert" services and their program is highly regarded.  She said it was not all they were doing to restore accountability but that it was a "keystone" step.   Sundquist said that th...