Seattle Schools Community Forum

Wednesday, June 4nd School Board meeting , starting at 4:15 pm. Agenda . It is quite a long agenda with a longer-than-usual Consent agenda.  I was surprised to see a item like this not being discussed with Intro and then Action but they need to get work done on the North Queen Anne  Elementary School as soon as possible for the move in of the Cascade Parent Partnership Program.   I find this also disturbing in its rush as there is no contract attached to this Consent item (and may not be until Tuesday).  Not a lot of time for public review on spending over $400k in capital dollars.  The very odd notation for where the revenue is coming from is "capital funds."  BEX IV?  BTA III? CIP?  What?  I also raise the concern over BEX IV funds being used to replace the elevator at Jane Addams Middle School. This elevator has been problematic for several years and yet it was NOT on BEX IV.  The BEX IV funding for JAMS is very small at $7.3M...

From SPS Communications: Superintendent Banda made several principal appointments Feb. 7 , including: • George Breland, Cleveland High School ; • Maria Breuder, McGilvra Elementary School ; • Dedy Fauntleroy, John Stanford International School ; • Robert Gary, Madison Middle School ; • Jo Lute-Ervin, Kimball Elementary School ; • Mary McDaniels, Madrona K-8 ; and • Dan Sanger, Bryant Elementary School . I see a couple of principals who seem to rotate every couple of years.  I'll note in reading through the bios that some note that parents and teachers at some schools were part of the selection committee but not at others.  The district seems to be depending on "surveys" but don't say what the survey was specifically about in the first place.  Again, why is that? From Superintendent Banda: I am pleased to announce that Carmen Rahm has been appointed Executive Director of Technology. For the past 10 years, Mr. Rahm has been Assistant Vice President for I...

The Seattle PI online reports that at the Board meeting last night, they voted 7-0 to continue the the graduation requirement with a C average. Here's a story link . Here's what Cheryl Chow had to say: "(The data) very clearly is stating that when students start getting lower grades in the 9th grade, by sophomore year they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "We need to get our PR better because a lot of work has been done for close to two years on this issue. It's unfortunate that a headline made us back up and take more time because that many more kids are going to drop out of school." Michael De Bell also noted the staff's hard work. Okay, but clearly the public and parents didn't like the idea. What does it say - to an employer - if we change this policy? So, maybe we didn't all understand the underlying reason for the position but we all see the public face ramifications. I'm glad the Board recognized ...