Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times is reporting that First A.M.E. Church operated a daycare at Seattle Central Community College - rent-free - for 16 years .  (Yes, I know - how is that possible?)  The daycare was allowed to do this by a program at SCCC called Seattle Vocational Institute whose students' children were to have first-in enrollment.  The daycare ran from Sep. 1997 to June 2013. From the Times: First A.M.E., which closed the daycare in June, paid no rent to the Institute - a value the school estimates would have exceeded $650k over 16 years.  It also paid no utilities or janitorial costs, worth an additional $158k or so.  SCCC president, Pual Killpatrick, said the college had identified this problem contract and that the church was notified in Jne they would need to vacate.  The church did end up paying for utilities and janitorial services from Sep. 2012 to June 2013. Troy Niemeyer, the auditor's whistle-blower manager, stated, " It amounts to the state giving ...

As if to only reinforce the idea that the real action of the district is at committee meetings, there was the Audit&Finance committee meeting yesterday. On the upside, I think this district has made tremendous strides in bringing in some bright and capable people as district staff.  Duggan Harmon, head of Finance, Richard Staudt, Risk Management, and Andrew Medina, Internal Auditor, and Ronic Lirio, also in Finance, all come across as quite knowledgeable about their area of expertise within the district.  I think they are all capable of laying out the facts clearly to the Board.  I do not hear the hedging that I used to with, say, Don Kennedy, the former COO/CFO. There was an update of First AME and their compliance with the contract wording for the sale of MLK, Jr. building to them.  There were members of the First AME board on-hand to listen.  District staff went through a chart that showed areas of compliance for use for youth-centered activities for...

Way back when, David Letterman used to give celebrities about $5,000 to make a short film for his "Holiday Film Festival."  My favorite was one with Bette Midler who made a film about a boozy barfly laying out her life and views and she always ended with, "Why bother?" The Lady Di one was about Bette's character explaining how Diana came to the U.S. for the first time and "she brought 2 trunks and 15 suitcases.  She went to...JC Penney.  And I said, Lady Di, why bother?" And so I say about the media in Seattle on Seattle Schools, why bother?

One thing is clear - there were people in the district who just did not want the MLK, Jr. Building to go to an affluent private school.  Didn't matter the price - it was a non-starter.  The issue was also about gaining something for the public besides money.    How that was to be balanced in the minds of the School Board is not ever made clear. 

The State Auditor's office has determined that the sale of the Martin Luther King, Jr. building to First AME church did not violate any laws and there was no conflict of interest.  However, digging deeper, there are some interesting items. Update:  I got it wrong about Noel Treat being on the selection committee.  The selection committee was made up of Don Kennedy, Ron English, Holly Ferguson and Chanin Kelly-Rae (public member).   Mr. Treat only attended the August 2010 meeting with MGJ at the request of Ron English (and this was right after Mr. Treat was hired). New Update:  Yoo hoo, Seattle Times?  Are you there?  There is nothing at their website on this story.  I have searched and I found nothing.  What an odd thing (especially since it clears the district).  Maybe they are worried about what this looks like to voters in terms of the School Board incumbents.   The lobbyist's name is Clifford Traisman (it is unclear to ...

I ask that question because of the meat of this editorial .  You'd think that Charlie or I wrote it because it is strong medicine down to its last line. I'm not even going to excerpt it - just read the whole thing, please. Maybe it's all the churn between Pottergate and the sale of the MLK, Jr. building.  Maybe it's one poor state audit too many.   Maybe it's the discouraging knowledge that despite having some exceptionally bright and capable people on the Board, we still cannot get our act together as a district. I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe these people on the Times' editorial board, are tired of making excuses for when - when - when ? will the district stop flailing around with crises and settle down to the real business of educating students with no education-word-of-the-day named plans.  Just good teaching with good supports for teachers/principals AND students.   Just well-maintained buildings.  Just a website where you can find ...

First up, a commentary from David Brewster over at Crosscut about the upcoming elections citywide.   It gets so much wrong about the School Board that Charlie and I just couldn't stop ourselves.   I'll just hit the highlights: It was different with the Seattle School Board , where all four members of a particularly inept board were swept away (or declined to run) by an informal slate of business-backed, big-organization-experienced newcomers. The result was a transformed board. It changed overnight from a board dominated by petty bickering, meddling, superintendent-undermining, inexperienced bumblers. This time there is a swarm of challengers. I don't know much about them yet, but none seems to have much community stature.  I wouldn't call the previous majority on the Board inept at all but throwing that at all four of them seems wrong (especially if you know those women).  I'm not sure what "big organizations" that Steve, Harium and Michael ...

Lynne Varner of the Seattle Times wrote another editorial on the sale of MLK to the First AME Church. Apparently the parties are getting together on Thursday to discuss the Church's ability and willingness to fulfill the covenants of the sales agreement. That provided her with the occasion to cluck her tongue at this a bit more, like a pekingese tugging at a linebacker's pants cuff. She fretted that the District could suffer " a loss of fundamental trust and credibility ". Seriously. Only people at the Times think the District has any trust or credibility left to lose. The thing that struck me most about the piece was how it cast Ron English as tragic hero of this little drama. He alone stood up for the right thing, but his expert input (and the unanimous opinion of a committee formed to pick a buyer for MLK) was cast aside and overridden by the evil Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson (never mentioned by name) and the scheming Fred Stephens. Now the bitter irony: Mr. Engl...

Yes, it's true.   Within a week after First AME Church purchased the MLK, Jr. building from the district, they turned around and did a quit claim (for "10.00 cash in hand paid and other good and valuable consideration, conveys and quit claims" ) to - wait for it - the MLK Family Arts Mentoring Enrichment Community Center (MLK FAME CC).  So FAME sold to FAME.   According to the Washington Secretary of State, FAME CC was incorporated as a non-profit on 1/25/11.  The agent name is "National Registered Agents, Inc." which is a national registry group.  The address is in Tumwater. What's interesting is if you Google "MLK Family Arts Mentoring Enrichment Community Center", it pulls up a new business listing for a group in Tumwater that handles auto sales and repair.  Very strange.  It has the same address as the address for the incorporation.  Okay, let me first say that the MLK building sale has been troubling from the start.  I wa...

Update:  The Times' editorial board weighed in today on this subject.   They are shocked! and appalled! to find this kind of thing happening.  Well, it may have happened under MGJ but some of the stock players are still there.  They end with this: The school district is developing a grim reputation for sloppy stewardship of tax dollars. A legacy with consequences. No kidding. It appears that Ron English, the interim General Counsel, is peeved over the Seattle Times' article about the sale of the MLK, Jr. building to First AME church. He is asking the Times for a retraction and a copy of the audiotape of the interview with him.

Updates:  first, I was wrong about the grant money for the purchase of MLK, Jr. bldg to First AME Church as partially coming from the Department of Commerce (where Fred Stephens now works).   I had gone off of a news report and did not double-check it myself.  It turns out it is a state fund that formerly had "commerce" in its name ( not the federal Department of Commerce) and there was my confusion.  My apologies.   Also, the KING 5 story says that someone in the community is going to the Auditor.  As of this date, only I have filed a request for them to look into it.  If you want an audit of this sale, fill out the form here at the State Auditor's website.   Keep in mind, I feel certain the sale is a done deal BUT it may be a good idea to make sure everything was done properly.  We don't know precisely how Fred Stephens recused himself, if it was just something verbal, then he may have felt justified in receiving update e-mails on the...

KUOW 94.9 FM will have several K-12 superintendents talking about budgets and budget cuts on tomorrow's 9:00 a.m. Weekday program. Tentatively, it will be Renton and Spokane with a third one not yet known. It could be interesting to hear what other districts are doing in the face of falling budgets. Also, KING-5 tv will be doing a story on the sale of the MLK, Jr. building to First AME Church and I believe it will appear on tomorrow's (3/11) news starting at 5 p.m. I heard Michael say, "I thought we had settled this." That was before Pottergate. The whole unfortunate racial aspect of Pottergate and Fred Stephens extremely close association with First AME Church (the eventual winners of the bidding) makes the sale worth revisiting.

The Weekly has a story about Fred Stephens and First AME. It's pretty much stuff I knew (and I suspect most of you know) but there are a few notable items: First AME Church's secretary says Fred Stephens is still a member Michael DeBell defended the Board's choice and said Stephens didn't play a role but that it was "entirely managed by Ron English." He also said that what the Board unanimously voted for was similar to what happened to University School, Phinney Ridge and West Seattle. I like Michael but that's just plain disingenious. They are not similar efforts except that they all, in some way community based. First AME is a church and the other groups running those community centers are not. I don't have time to work on this one but there's something there. I told the Board I thought based on Fred Stephens and the current crisis, they should revisit the First AME decision.