Seattle Schools Community Forum

I'm off to the Washington State Charter Commission meeting this morning.  I'm most interested in the discussion about the latest lawsuit against the latest law.  I'm also interested to learn more about how Green Dot is going to provide free management services to Excel Charter School. I'm unlikely to stay for the entire meeting but I do want to learn about the Commission's funding and appropriations so I'll be there until just after lunch.

The Associated Press is reporting that a lawsuit has been filed in King County Superior court over the new charter school law passed by the Legislature in the spring. Teachers unions, parents and other groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday over Washington’s new charter school law, a measure that was enacted last spring after the state Supreme Court struck down the old law.  The group includes the Washington Education Association, League of Women Voters, El Centro de la Raza and several labor unions.

Update: as was noted by one commenter, the Times has an article in its Gates-funded Education Lab called, "You asked, we answered: What can charters do that other public schools can't." The article says charters have more flexibility and names these three items; 1. They have more control over whom they hire - and fire. 2. They answer to an appointed rather than an elected school board. 3. They are accountable to a charter authorizer rather than a school district, which allows them to define their own goals and metrics. On that last goal, they left out "define their own goals and metrics within the charter school law."  They don't get to just set whatever goals and metrics they want without guidance from the law and their authorizer.

I finally received one charter school's documents that I had requested via public disclosure; these were from Green Dot's Destiny Middle School.  Now it took some doing because initially a couple of charters did not want to give me anything, saying they weren't public schools.  When I pressed them on handing over documents that were created during the time that they were charter schools, then I got an okay but was put off to "March or April."  I'm still waiting for a couple of other schools.  (I note that Rep. Gerry Pollet also got this runaround which should tell you something.) Green Dot itself only sent them to me in hard copy which, of course, makes it more difficult to copy from and track.  They said they have to buy special "software" to send them to me electronically.  Guess what was in the huge stack of documents?  A letter dated October 2015 to a law firm saying that Green Dot would be sending them public disclosure documents...electron...

West Seattle Blog editor, Tracy Record, has discovered that it appears Green Dot is trying to remodel a church building in the Roxbury area of West Seattle.  Reviewing city permit application files today, we discovered a just-filed early-stage proposal to remodel and add to what is currently the Jesus Center/Freedom Church building at 35th/Roxbury, in the name of Los Angeles-based Pacific Charter School Development .  The one document publicly visible in the Department of Planning and Development system so far, dated December 31st, is a roughed-out site plan , showing the addition primarily along the Roxbury side of the 2 1/3-acre site. I note that the Pacific Charter School Development is a capital building/renovation group funded by the Gates Foundation, the NewSchools Venture Fund, Broad Foundation, Walton Foundation - in short, ALL the usual suspects.  It's based on this:    Venture Philanthropy These organizations support PCSD’s adherence to ...

About preschool and SPS, a few items: - Director Blanford has been working with the City on their preschool plan almost since he got elected.  (I know this from some public disclosure e-mails.)  Trouble is, I went back and looked at his campaign interviews and I can't find one that mentions it.  Not even in a very detailed questionaire from the King County Dems where mentions being the director of an early learning center.  That seems odd given this statement he made in an e-mail to Councilman Burgess, Sara Morris from the Alliance and Holly Miller at the Office of Education in January 2014 about joining them on the preschool junket Thanks for including me in this opportunity, which I'd like to pursue.  As you know, I have some background in Early Learning (as the Executive Director of the White Center Early Learning Initiative) and hope to be a strong and informed advocate for Universal Preschool in my position on the Seattle School Board.   ...

From the Washington State Charter Commission: The Charter School Commission (the Commission) announced today that four (4) non-profit organizations have submitted proposals in the second round of applications to open high-quality public charter schools in the state of Washington. Each applicant was asked to put forth a comprehensive and rigorous plan to meet the needs of the student population they wish to serve. Proposals were due by 5:00 PM on July 15 th .  The Commission has received proposals from the following organizations (organization, school name, location): Bilingual Charter Academy, Bilingual Charter Academy, Clark County Charter Schools of Sunnyside, Sunnyside Charter Academy, Sunnyside The Ducere Group, The Village Academy, Pierce County Green Dot Public Schools Washington State, Seattle Charter School, South Seattle

Update: I asked the Washington State Charter Commission staff about the letter of intent as I had gone back, read the WAC and realized that anything in it was "nonbinding" (including the fact that the letter of intent doesn't mean anyone has to follow-thru).  Here was their reply: The purpose of the Notice of Intent (NOI) is two-fold: First, they help us as staff plan for the upcoming application cycle. Second, per WAC 108-20-010 (1) a NOI is a requirement of the application process.  As you pointed out, the NOI is nonbinding.  Information submitted on an NOI does not prevent an applicant from submitting a different application from what is suggested in the NOI. End of update. As I previously reported, Green Dot has submitted a letter of intent to the Charter Commission to open their second Puget Sound region charter school this time in "south Seattle."  A couple of readers alerted me that Green Dot had two open houses this week, one in the SW and one in...

There are three letters of intent for new charter authorizers districts- Tacoma, Highline and West Valley in Yakima.  In 2013, there had been 13 school districts from around the state that submitted a notice of intent to become authorizers.  Only Spokane followed thru.  Tacoma was in that first group but not Highline or West Valley. Spokane School district has three letters of intent. Moose Project (Magic of Oral and Signing Education for near-deaf/deaf students but all students may enroll) is one of them but I am working on finding out who the others are. Update:  the other two applicants for authorization by Spokane are iLEAD (K-8),opening in 2015, and Spokane International Academy, also a K-8.  Their letter of intent does not say when they want to open. iLead has two other charter schools in California. End of update (There is some irony about these charters starting up in Washington state because I'll outline in another thread how charters are fal...

First application - CAL Elementary - is denied, 8-0.  Commissioners cited the evaluators' "deny" and noted not financially ready with little community support/input. Second application - Cedar River - is denied, 8-0.  Third application - Coral Academy of Science - the probable Gulen-based charter - is denied, 8-0. Cyndi Willams, Commissioner said it was a good application but not wide-ranging for a 10-year existing school group and that the Commission had made a real decision with charter applications with groups with prior models to look at their outcomes for evidence.  They also left out Title I dollars in finances and that showed a "real lack of knowledge." Steve Sundquist said that the group could be Gulen and it was something they could look into in the future. Fourth application - Evergreen Academy - denied 8-0. Fifth application - Excel - is first Charter Commission approved charter application but with a 6-2 vote .  Extensive discussion over...

 Updates: It seems there are three Charter Commission members with conflict of interest issues with charter applicants.  Two seem simple and one is quite problematic. Trish Millines Dziko is in a leadership program with the founder of Summit.  That one is a big of a tough call to make because the relationship could be either just professional or just collegial but if not financial, I think she could vote.  On the other hand, if she's in their their program, she probably supports how they operate. Chris Martin has some personal friendship with the founder of Pioneer.  I would say straight-up, no voting on that one. The last one is that Larry Wright has taken a position with a non-profit funded by the Gates Foundation.  Not only do I think he would have to recuse himself on several applications, he probably should step down as a Commissioner.  Why? 1) Bill Gates funded most of I-1240. 2) The Gates Foundation is the primary funder of the Washin...

Items of interest: - the Charter Commission is going to have a phone-in meeting tomorrow, the 28th from 9 am to 10 am.  The agenda vaguely says " discussion of resolution process" and "bills currently under consideration."  Dial-in number is 800-245-9874, Access code 7784207. - the Charter Commission will have a regular meeting this Thursday the 29th, in Seattle, from 8:30 am to 5:50 pm at TAF Headquarters, Bethaday Community Learning Space, 605 SW 108th St.  Agenda This should be quite the meeting as the Commission will be announcing what charter applications have been approved (if any).  They seem to be expecting a crowded meeting as they will be putting in speaker spots by lottery (after sign-in).  (I'll have more to say about this public speaking process when I cover the charter applicant forums I attended.)

I guess hope springs eternal for some charter school operators.  Or they don't think anyone will check their backgrounds (and to those I say, welcome to Washington State).  Over at KUOW , they DID check. But a KUOW analysis found that the six established out-of-state charter organizations that hope to open schools here are failing to consistently meet state standards where they operate.   Pioneer Youth Corps' military charter school in Springfield, Ore., is currently ranked in the bottom 5 percent academically among Oregon schools. The organization is pitching a similar school in Washington. CAL Elementary, which has filed to open a branch of its Ohio reading- and math-focused charter school in Seattle, has an "F" rating from that state's department of education. And in Texas, the state has notified the Por Vida charter chain that it is falling so short of state standards at one of its three schools that its acc...

I am obviously way behind on this thread as the next Charter Commission meeting is this week.  It was held at the Technology Access Foundation headquarters in White Center.  Very nice building and great staff.  One of the Charter Commission members, Trish Millines Dziko, runs TAF and its programs.  Chair Steve Sundquist, in his chairman remarks, stated that the Commission had sent a letter to the Board of Education.  The Commission would like to influence the BOE on the issues of timelines and fee schedules.  It appears they did get what they wanted.  One, there will be a requirement of a letter of intent to apply for a charter .  This is great because it gives everyone a heads up to who is coming and where they intend to apply (either through the Charter Commission or a school district).  Two, t he timeline for extending the deadline for decision-making has been moved to Feb. 24th.   The BOE rejected their ideas on the fe...

A very nifty flowchart from our friends at the Seattle Education blog (Sue Peters and Dora Taylor) showing the "lines of influence" both nationally and locally.  They created this awhile back and admit it needs updating like the line between Gates and the Alliance, that Goodloe-Johnson is gone, and there are even more connections than ever in 2013.

The Times has an article in this morning's paper about what we might expect about what charters come in first. They get it right in the opening paragraphs (with some irony): The first charter schools in Washington probably won't be run by the nation's best-known charter groups with years of experience and strong reputations. During the successful campaign for Initiative 1240, which will allow as many as 40 charters to open here over five years, supporters talked about wanting Washington students to have a chance to attend the kind of schools operated by the nation's top charter operators. But the highest profile chains are in such demand that most won't be looking to expand here anytime soon — if at all. Some national charter-school experts say the wait-and-see stance of many big charter groups is not surprising. Of course not.  No high-profile charter group will want to come into an uncertain situation.  It costs them time and money and those ar...

It was interesting to say the least and I can honestly say I learned something and walked away better informed. The auditorium at MOHAI was filled (and not just the usual suspects). I saw Councilman Tim Burgess as well as Board President Michael DeBell. (And Councilman Burgess was introduced as the brains behind this event. The Councilman has decided to step into Seattle education. Welcome, Tim.) So the moderator, Adam Porsch, works for the Gates Foundation and used to work in the D.C. district (but he didn't reference Rhee so I don't know if he worked with her). With him were Richard Barth, CEO of the KIPP Foundation; Timothy Daly, President of the The New Teacher Project; and Steve Barr, Founder and Emeritus Chair, Green Dot Public Schools. The discussion was organized around the guests giving a overview of their group's work, a few central questions and then questions from the audience. (Just as an aside, and I don't mean this badly, but there they were, ju...

I hadn't posted about this before because,well, it fell off my radar at one point. But I'm going and while I'm pretty sure what I'll hear - a love fest for charters - I want to go and listen. Here's the info: On Monday, October 25 at 6 p.m., LEV will be hosting a panel discussion at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) . There are three speakers on the panel: Richard Barth, CEO of KIPP Foundation, Timothy Daly, President of The New Teacher Project, and Steve Barr, Founder of Green Dot Public Schools. The discussion will be moderated by Adam Porsch of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Who are these guys? Richard Barth runs KIPP (a charter system, Knowledge is Power Program. He is married to Wendy Kopp who runs and started Teach for America. There are 99 schools in 20 states. KIPP is considered one of the better charter school systems although it is a more difficult model in that the schools start early and run late and have a longer school y...

Another interesting article in the NY Times, this one about a terrible high school in LA (shockingly bad) that got taken over by a large charter organization, Green Dot. The beatings, rapes, gangs, etc. have gone away and now the grounds are cleaner and the test scores have inched up a nudge. The biggest deal? Kids who previously would not go to school (fear of walking to the school, indifferent teachers, gangs, etc.) are now coming to school. It sounds like a great success story and a "mecca for reformers". But the pricetag? But progress is coming at considerable cost: an estimated $15 million over the planned four-year turnaround, largely financed by private foundations. That is more than twice the $6 million in federal turnaround money that the Department of Education has set as a cap for any single school. Skeptics say the Locke experience may be too costly to replicate. Wow. And that's just one high school (albeit with, gulp, 3200 students). So what did ...

I found this article , from last year no less, on the Broad Foundation and LA public schools. (Let me just say I am a bit unclear of the source of the article - it isn't exactly neutral.) From the article: "The charter school movement in Los Angeles received a $23.3 million boost today from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation through new grants to three leading charter school organizations: KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program), Aspire Public Schools and Pacific Charter School Development, Inc. These grants bring the total Broad Foundation investment in Los Angeles charters -- that will serve 25,000 total students -- to $56 million since 2000. " So in less than 10 years, the Broad Foundation has pumped $56M into charters in L.A. "High-quality public charter schools in Los Angeles are showing dramatic results in improving student achievement, and we need to do what we can to make sure the best models are available to as many students as possible," said Eli Broad, f...