Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update 2: Useful chart from Ed Week on how each state does its testing. end of update  Update: Education Week is reporting that only 21 states are continuing on with Common Core tests (SBAC or PARCC.) end of update From Soup for Teachers' Facebook page; Did you know that students in our district who opt out of standardized tests receive a zero rather than a more statistically accurate null score? Please join me in asking our board to make the change to a null score to increase the statistical accuracy of test scores in our district.

I had planned to go to the Work Session today.  As you may recall, it was to include Advanced Learning but that got pulled.  The line-up of topics includes the Families & Education Levy which is the their first topic.  Their presentation's page 8 is an interesting pie chart showing the different areas of education they fund and how much.  Early Learning and School Readiness  $7.7M  27% Elementary Academic Achievement  $6.4M  22% Middle School Academic Achievement  $5.9M  21% High School Academic Achievement  $2.6M  9% Student Health  $6.3M  22% I'd have to ask about the Early Learning and School Readiness portion and how much includes pre-K.  Early Learning is generally defined at pre-K to 2nd or 3rd.  I raise the issue because the City now has its own Pre-K levy so it would be good to know how that spending breaks out because of the new levy. This is certainly important: Last summ...

Hillary Clinton 's event at Rainier Beach High was a bit odd. There were hundreds of people waiting outside when I got there about ten to six. (I was press so I got in early.)  They had the event in the gym and had cordoned it off so much as to dilute the capacity by at least half.  Then, they allowed people in so slowly - over the course of 2+ hours - that they didn't even fill it .  There was room for at least 100 more people. But the crowd was enthused and certainly included a fair number of young people (which is somewhat contrary to whom she seems to gather in other areas of the country.)  She did mentioned Rainier Beach and its IB program saying, "It makes me so proud to see what this school is doing with the IB program." I certainly think there is pride in the turnaround at RBHS but the fact that they have lost the principal who was the leader AND the district doesn't fully support the program financially makes those words ring a bit hollow. She also sa...

Below is a letter I dropped off today - in person - to each City Council member.  It details what I believe is a pattern for the Mayor - via his Department of Education and Early Learning (Families and Education levy and the City Preschool Program and, more recently, the HALA report on housing, in trying to insinuate the City more and more into the workings of Seattle Public Schools. Dear City Council Members,

It appears that you can literally buy influence at Seattle Schools around who is selected as principal at any given school.  I have two examples.

Remember that Big Picture that I am trying to build about Seattle Public Schools? This is one more set of pixels for that picture.  Say what you will but someday - probably soon - you will see all these pixels from a distance and understand the big picture.  This is co-written with Robert Cruickshank who served as a Senior Advisor to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. Seattle’s Families and Education Levy is losing its way Last month, parents at Sand Point Elementary School learned that the City of Seattle had decided to slash a $318,000 Families and Education Levy grant they had worked hard to earn. When parents and staff learned about the sudden cut, they rose to challenge that decision. The dramatic reduction to the grant puts at risk teachers' jobs, instructional supplies, a family support worker, and a school counselor. What was the reason given by the City for taking away the grant funds? It's because the school's principal is leaving for another job . Since this news...

Josh Kerns at KIRO Radio does an excellent job in covering this story.  (I have several questions into the City on this issue and I will update as I receive answers.)  Basically, Sand Point Elementary, a fairly diverse elementary school in NE Seattle, had applied for a grant from the Families&Education levy.  The work on this grant had been done by all stakeholders at the school including the principal, staff, and PTA.  They were awarded a grant of over $300K to hire hire a counselor and enact other initiatives to support students and their families. But, when the City learned that Principal Warren was leaving (to move to Washington, D.C. with his family), they pulled the grant.  Why? I found this in the most recent RFI presentation doc I could find at the F&E levy page.  It says: Applying principal and/or assistant principal is still at school during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school year. Now, of course, their money, their rules.  But...

There is an issue going on with Sand Point Elementary and the sudden pulling of a grant from the Families & Education levy because SP's principal is leaving.  The school planned staff around that grant and are now scrambling because of the rescinding of the grant.  The school is looking for answers and so far no one - from the City or the District - has any to give them. This could mean dire things for other schools who may get F&E grants and then see them taken back should they lose their principal. I have never seen any documentation mentioning this nor did the Department of Early Childhood and Education staff at a recent Board Work Session on the levy mention this possibility.  I'll have full details after I get some answers to queries I have put to various stakeholders. Today I will be attending an odd sort of panel discussion on charter schools at UW via the Evans Schools of Public Affairs.  It's called Charter Schools: Problems and Poss...