Seattle Schools Community Forum

I'm sure most children have no idea what is happening in Congress but I expect that they will feel the ramifications - short and long-term - in their lives.  And who gets hit the hardest if the government shuts down?  You better believe it's those who need the most help. Update:  From The Answer Sheet at the Washington Post, here's what happens to public education if the government shuts down.  From the DOE: A protracted delay in Department obligations and payments beyond one week would severely curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities, and vocational rehabilitation agencies that depend on the Department’s funds to support their services.  For example, many school districts receive more than 20 percent of their funds from Department-funded programs. Here's a helpful chart (show it to the kids) from the NY Times on how this could all play out in the next 48 hours. An interesting op-ed at CNN by local writer/thinker, Eric...

From Ed Week comes this story of a district in Mississippi and the measures they must take for their disciplinary measures for all students. This may end up being what Seattle Schools is told they must do. Among other things outlined in a consent decree signed Thursday between the district and the DOJ: The district cannot use suspension, alternative school settings, or expulsion for minor misbehavior and has to limit these types of consequences all together. School administrators cannot ask school law enforcement officers to respond in cases where administrators can use the school code of conduct to address behavior problems. School police must be trained in bias-free policing, child and adolescent development and age-appropriate responses, mentoring, and working with school administrators. The district's alternative school has to establish clear entry and exit rules and speed up students' transition back to their regular school. All district schools must...

The Times updates the civil rights investigation by the DOE in SPS by noting there is now a second investigation into ELL students and school closures.  From 2009 through the end of last year, the civil-rights office has launched about 100 civil-rights investigations involving at least one school district in nearly every state.  Those investigations, known as compliance reviews, are just part of the office’s caseload, most of which stems from complaints filed by parents or community members.  The department’s proactive efforts have won praise from those who say there was a drought of education civil-rights cases under the previous administration. About ELL students: In Seattle, the review of services for students learning English appears to have started in 2009. A spokeswoman said that information she received from the education department also indicated that federal officials are looking at whether the district discriminated against some studen...

The Times has a sad story this morning about a federal investigation by the US Department of Education against SPS over discipline rates of African Americans.   The Times does point out that this information is really nothing new.  The district (and parents) have know about this for years and yet it is still the case. African-American students are suspended from school more than three times as often as white students from elementary schools to high schools. More than one-fourth of black middle schoolers have received short-term suspensions every year since 1996. Native Americans are disciplined more often than Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The “compliance review” began in May but didn’t become public knowledge until it was reported Tuesday by KUOW radio. District Superintendent José Banda acknowledged problems with student discipline — and said he intends to do something about them.  Banda said he didn’t know how long the federal complia...