Seattle Schools Community Forum

I will be reviewing the School Board agenda for the Board meeting coming up this week on Wednesday.  It looks like It looks like Concord, Roxhill and Graham Hill  may be losing some of their bus service.  Transportation standards item from agenda here .  (The changes are fairly extensive as there is sunsetting of some standards.  One thing I wish that staff would do, especially for exceptions to standards for some schools, is explain WHY these schools get an exception.  There could be good reasons but again, when you are looking at equity issues lack of clarity doesn't help.) And it appears there will be further cuts to Graham Hill.  I am puzzled by this especially for a school that has already had its share AND given serious safety concerns that parents have repeatedly brought before the Board. There seems to be equity issues arising from the assignment plan in terms of how many options some parents are able to get their children to school, t...

Finally sat down to listen to the Gates Foundation preschool grant discussion from last Wednesday Board meeting.  Many adjectives come to mind; disingenuous (Cashel Toner), tardy for the party (Director McLaren), integrity (Director Patu), rationality (Director Peters) and dumbfounded (for Directors Carr and Peaslee). Folks, our Board not only okayed a grant that had been signed off months before by the Superintendent (and more on that in a moment) but most agreed it lacked clarity in one key issue.  Astonishing. It seems that staff was able, somehow, to negate to the Board that going into Years 2 and 3 of this grant, it is completely unclear what will happen.  Both Sue Peters and Betty Patu asked, over and over, and yet no real answer. Here's the crux of the problem as both Patu and Peters pointed out. The district is doing this backwards.   The MOU with the City should come FIRST and then any agreements.  Because what IF an MOU with the City is n...

I'm confused.  What part of kids and a crosswalk do drivers not understand? Last night at about 6:30 pm, a 7-year-old girl was hit, not once but by two different cars and both cars left the scene.  Apparently she was with a group of people (kids?) and she got hit.  This is both near a park and a Boys&Girls Club.  She was (naturally) severely injured.  From Publicola: Since 2007, SBB reports, at least 32 major collisions involving a pedestrian or cyclist occurred within 10 blocks of that intersection since 2007, including one in which the victim was killed. MLK only escapes being considered the most dangerous street in Seattle because Rainier Ave., a few blocks to the west, takes that dubious honor; just a few weeks ago, a driver plowed through a hair salon and Greek restaurant at the north end of Columbia City, injuring numerous people. Last week, I was driving right by Roosevelt High School. There were two teen girls crossing 15th NE to get to t...

As for the title of this thread, I am hearing some rumblings of a rather large change that may come to the district very soon.  I am trying to learn more and when I know for certain I will let you know.  I hesitate to say anything specific.  There are two reasons for me saying anything at all.  One, because I believe parents deserve a heads up early (if only to brace yourself).  Two, because I rarely get any credit or acknowledgement from the regular media, I'd like to be able to say I was the first one to raise the red flag. We have all seen the shifting sands of principal movement.   I asked the district some questions about this issue and here are the questions and replies.

In contrast to what is happening for Graham Hill and South Shore , here's the principal process that Wedgwood had (as reported on their webpage): Wedgwood is getting a new Principal. This is a really exciting time for us. The goal is to hire a new Principal that best meets the unique needs of our kids and our school. The Wedgwood BLT (Building Leadership Team, comprised of five elected staff members representing all grade levels and the PTA President) met with Kim Whitworth, Executive Director of Schools for the Northeast region recently to discuss the hiring process. Wedgwood’s hiring committee, limited to 10 people, will consist of the BLT (6 people), three additional Wedgwood staff (for diversity of position) as well as our newly elected PTA VP Davina Inslee. The District is currently working to recruit a pool of principals for Wedgwood and other schools. These candidates will go through an initial vetting process, then Wedgwood will be given six potential principals to ...

South Shore K-8 is losing its award-winning principal, Keisha Scarlett.  Their new principal will be Dr. Laurie Morrison who had previously served as assistance principal and was the principal at Graham Hill Elementary.   Ms. Scarlett is going to be the district's "principal leadership coach." What is odd is that a survey was sent home Thursday night to parents about input on the principal.  It had also been available on the SS website but it's unclear for how long.  It seems odd to do that unless you didn't have any community input on the selection of a new principal.  (To note, the district's previous agreement with the New School Foundation that help to fund South Shore included a notation that New School had a say in the principal.  I wonder if the agreement with LEV has the same notation.)  There is also an article in the Rainier Valley Post on Graham Hill parents who are very unhappy with leadership changes at their school that see their ent...

You can watch the Public Testimony portion of the School Board meeting here .

It was a lively meeting to be sure.  I stayed until after the discussion of the introduction of the TFA item.  Here are links ( Part 2 - testimony, Part 3 - rest of meeting). The testimony was more varied than I might have expected as TFA was not the only issue discussed.  In fact, testimony about Graham Hill's preschool led to discussion at the Audit & Finance Committee meeting the next day and Sherry Carr's community meeting yesterday.  I will sum it up here but it deserves another thread of its own as it is a larger part of the discussion about the budget. I am going to write a separate thread on the TFA testimony as it is quite telling to the discussion about ending the contract. 

FYI, the next FACMAC meeting is this Friday, Dec. 2nd from 10-noon at the Stanford Center, Room 3802.   I am sorry to say this but I think there is a lot of confusion still and frankly, this meeting only served to exacerbate it.  That's my impression.

I get my regular copy of the district newletter, School Beat.  Imagine my surprise to learn that we now have an Interim Deputy Superintendent .  That would be General Counsel Noel Treat .  So now, the General Counsel is Ron English.  (I never thought I'd write that sentence but life is strange that way.) Mr. Treat is to serve in this capacity until June 30th.  There is no explanation why this appointment is necessary.  I'd have to go back and check but I don't think we have had a deputy superintendent since Mona Bailey (and I think that was the '80s).  We also have an Interim Director of Capital Programs, Doug Nichols.   Now I know that COO, Pegi McEvoy is now also Facilities head so what does that leave former Facilities head, Bill Martin, to do?  The Seattle Special Education PTSA is honoring two educators; Maki Ichikawa at B.F. Day and Carlen Luke, a teacher at Stevens at their May 17th meeting. Graham Hill Elementary is n...

I thought that all schools would have the same size libraries (in terms of books) but live and learn. Many elementaries don't have as many books as others. I do recall that there was money spent so that each K-2 (or 3rd) would have a small class library in each classroom. Here's a plea from SPS Parent. From Rainier Valley Post: “I think we have a LOT of challenges, and with the economic situation being what it is, some problems seem hard to solve,” said Graham Hill parent volunteer Anna McCartney in an email to the community. But she added that there is at least one idea that strikes her as fairly simple, and that’s collecting as many new and gently-used books as possible for the budding readers at Graham Hill and other schools. In her plea to the community, McCartney underscored the importance of every classroom having a wide array of interesting books at a variety of levels so students are challenged without being bored or frustrated. She asked community members...