Seattle Schools Community Forum

I met with Wyeth Jessee last week (it was arranged thru Communications so there was a Communications person in the room who was not part of the conversation.)  He was the former head of Special Education and now, thru a realignment,  has a new role.

Update:  Packed auditorium with SEA members with lobby nearly filled as well. Kudos to Washington Middle School volunteers - big applause. Following by big tension after Bernardo Ruiz finished his presentation on the annual Education and Racial Equity.  A man stood up and shouted at Bernardo to tell the truth about Middle College.  He wouldn't stop and President Carr said she would clear the room if need be.  He shouted, "*** you!" to the Board and left in a fury. As for the transfers of money, I note that the presentation on the movement of money from the Capital Budget to Operations budget changed and asked Ken Gotsch about him.  He knew nothing and seemed confused. I am VERY suspicious of what is going on with these dollars for the Interfund loan and the Operations and Capital budgets. end of update  Tonight's School Board meeting looks to have one of the longest agendas I have ever seen (and therefore, possibly one of the longest meetings ev...

Yesterday's media event about opting out in Seattle Schools at the NAACP headquarters was quite the happening.  All the media outlets showed up for a very lengthy press conference.  At first, I worried about how many speakers there were - community leaders, parents, and, most of all, teachers on the front lines - but each had an important story to tell. Basically, from what I can draw from various sources, the majority of opting out is happening in high schools.   This figures as high school parents have been around longer than younger parents AND high school students are savvy and more likely to stand up to authority and say no. My belief is that after the first year is done - and the scores come out - then next year even more parents will say no.  This is exactly what is happening in NY and NJ with thousands of kids being opted out. Apparently, State Superintendent Randy Dorn is falling back on the old standard "change is hard" and says the test will improve ...

Sent March 5 Dear Principal Hudson and the Nathan Hale Senate: We, the undersigned teachers of Schmitz Park, join with the Nathan Hale Senate in its concerns over the validity, reliability, and equity of SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) including the questionable cut score strategy.  Like the Nathan Hale Senate, we are also concerned with the loss of instructional time devoted to this questionable test.  We stand with you in asserting a commitment to a judicious use of valid, reliable, and equitable assessments.  We urge parents to inform themselves about the tests their children are taking and the validity of those tests. Thank you for putting students first. Sincerely, (signed by the majority of teachers at Schmitz Park)

Just a heads up on Director Blanford's community meeting tomorrow at the Douglass-Truth Library from 10 am to noon.  I was told that at the Work Session on Capital Projects (which I am sorry to have missed because it sounds like there were not enough hard questions and more than enough funny lines) that Director Blanford was looking for info to back the district's position on Wilson-Pacific.  He said he felt it would come up at his meeting tomorrow and wanted to have an answer.  One thing to keep in mind is that the ed specs for Wilson-Pacific are the floor, not the ceiling.  There is NO reason it could not have an auditorium.  Money?  Well, the district, to appease Sealth back when they were being co-joined with Denny found about $1M+ to keep them happy.  I'm thinking the district has the money but does not want to spend it there.  (Apparently they do want to spend it on GC/CM contracts for capital projects.  This is a general contracto...

I had reason to check in at the Nathan Hale website and discovered their fine student newspaper , The Sentinel .  Very long (I haven't seen such a long student newspaper since I was in high school) and boy, they pack the news in.  (I note that The Sentinel took first place at a Western Washington University student journalism competition recently.)  From a front-page article, it seems that staff may ask the district/state for a waiver on the extra hours as they believe they are already " successful in all the parameters they're looking at compared to other schools..."   Their article on the change for several SPS high schools to the Metro football league is a great and informative one.   I also found great amusement in the first-person column of the Features editor about his relationship with time and being on time.  " I was born without a sense of urgency ." They mix the important with the sublime (a first-person plea about a treaty in...

Update: well, this is interesting.  So SPS is not going to field test any students in grades 3-10.  The only schools that were participating were Ballard and Roosevelt.  Ballard has bowed out for 11th grade and that leaves Roosevelt testing some 11th grades in the math test.  It's a bit confusing because we here at the blog know - from reading newsletters at Hale - that Hale wanted their students to take this test but maybe Hale was trying to test the waters (pun intended) .  So we have just one high school field-testing the Smarter Balance math test. End of update. It's a busy education news day but this is important news. The testing consortium for Common Core assessments that Washington State belongs to -Smarter Balance - announced today that they need a one-week delay for the field test. The testing window was to start on Tuesday, the 18th. I have not found out yet how many Seattle schools were participating (I only knew of Hale and Ballard) but the ...

 Monday, April 30th  Seattle Council PTSA meeting: Navigating SPS: Steps for Positive Advocacy JSCEE from 7-8:30 p.m. Speakers: Ron McGlone, SPS Ombudsman, Adie Simmons, State of Washington Ombudsman, Bernardo Ruiz, SPS manager of Family and Community Engagement Tuesday, May 1 Community Conversations with ELL and Special Education Directors  6-7:30 p.m. at Jane Addams K-8, 11051 34th Ave NE Please join Veronica Gallardo, Director of ELL and International Programs, and Becky Clifford Interim Executive Director for Special Education at one of their upcoming Community Conversation hours. Wednesday, May 2nd Board Work Session on International Education from 4-5:10 p.m. at JSCEE School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m. Agenda .  This is one of the last meetings at 6 p.m. as on June 6th, Board meetings will start at 4:15 p.m. with public testimony at 5 p.m. Announcement of an offer to a superintendent candidate with a final approval - if accepted by the...

A request was made for a thread about high schools and parents' experiences with them.  I did a quick check and it appears most high schools are having at least one daytime tour and one evening tour (Roosevelt and Hale seem to be the only ones with a single tour.)  Again, while the tours aren't always the most fun, it is a very good way to get a feel for a building, see what gets emphasized, and, if it is during the day, to see the energy at the school.  My students attended Hale and Roosevelt.  I think they both received a good education and were prepared for college.  Each was a good fit for each son.  (This is one reason I really feel unhappy about the lack of 10% set-aside seats under the NSAP.   High school IS a big deal and you want your student to feel good about the school he/she attends.  They need to feel a part of that tribe.  That said, I know people who easily switched high schools so it can be done.) One observation I h...

I hear that Eckstein had to lose a .5 FTE.  I find it hard to believe they lost enrollment but maybe they overstaffed believing it would be higher?  Anyone? And then there was this in another thread: "I just got my robo-call from Hale high school saying that they've been given 3 new staff based on student enrollment. Chemistry, Algebra II, and a 10th grade "core" teacher. Some students will see a schedule change, but classes will be smaller." That's worth looking into.  I'd love to know if Hale got filled following their new rebuild because 3 new staff is quite a lot so good for them if they did.  

Tuesday, August 30th Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Nathan Hale building from 2-3 p.m. (There is going to be just a tour for the media at this event but Hale will be having a Community Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 15th  with public tours of the building.)   Hale's rebuild came in phases but ended up costing about the same as the other high school rebuilds, around $90M. Back to School Event: Community Celebration of Learning from 4-6 p.m. at the Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion.  Program starts at 4:30 p.m.  From the district: At this celebration, you will have an opportunity to learn about valuable resources, services and programs that will be available to support students and families during the 2011-12 school year. Mayor McGinn will be in attendance, some/all of the School Board, the All-City Band and "a few surprises."  You'll receive a ticket as you enter and there will be a drawing for several prizes. Wednesday, August 31st Seattle School...

Lots of interesting information from this meeting of the BEX Oversight Committee on June 10th. Highlights: They still don't have the Committee Charge draft to open up applications for this Committee.  They really need new members as their numbers have been dwindling.  At some point this will be sent to the Operations Committee who will forward it onto the full Board for approval.  I'm thinking the earliest that information will be available will be sometime in August.  I am hoping that if you know someone who might like to serve, that you will forward the information to them.  We need more community members who know the district on the Committee.    The Committee, as constituted, as good input from construction professionals but they also need community to balance it out.  Asking this Committee to provide accountability when the only information they get is from staff is not plausible.  Barbara Kelley, an SPS parent, had a good idea about ...

Not a big crowd for the School Board meeting last week but traffic was lousy and it's the end of the school year.

A couple of fun things coming up for this weekend for kids so put them on your calendar. First up, the FIRST FRC Seattle Regional which is a high school robotics competition.  It's March 18th and 10th (Friday and Saturday) at Qwest Field Event Center, from 9-4 pm (with a lunch break for the participants from noon to 1 p.m.) It's free to the public.  From the website: Event is for all ages. Self guided Robot Pit tours are available, but closed toed shoes will be required (no sandals or open footwear). Eye protection is required and available for loan. Baby strollers not allowed in Robot 'Pit'. Seattle is represented by teams from Franklin High, Ballard High, Nathan Hale and Cleveland High.   They are looking for volunteers if you are interested in helping out. Also to note, students from Coe Elementary will competing in a national robotics contest using Lego in Carlsbad, California in May. (Not to plug Legoland but it's a far be...

There was much of interest discussed at last week's Operations Committee meeting. I think the Capacity Management issue will be a bigger item of interest but as I stated previously, I'm still waiting for some documents to be on-line so that I can link to them. There were three documents related to Facilities (not including the monthly summary which is almost useless). Two were labeled "Annual Report" but I'm not sure anyone would think of them as reports. (One page, both sides? Considering all the work done in a year on facilities, how is that a report?) The first was was an annual report on " BTA Related Information ." It reviewed the work need to be done in seven weeks to get BTA projects done on Queen Anne, Rainier View and Viewlands. (The seven-week period was not specified so I don't know when they are talking about. Summer?) They point out that there are many unknowns in the work. Now look, I get that some of these b...

It wasn't quite the barnburner I thought it would be, this Construction Management audit . However, it was, for me, quietly defeating. It confirms my belief that the Superintendent would like to consolidate more power to staff and that many staff see the Board as something of a pesky fly to bat away. It did turn out to be a performance audit which meant they were not looking for anything illegal but rather asking was the district doing its job for construction management of BEX projects. There's an awful lot I could report but I think I'll just give the highlights for now and a separate thread on Board reaction and reflections. The audit is not yet available to the public but I will post it when it does. Highlights All the Board, except Kay Smith-Blum, were in attendance along with the head of Facilities, the Superintendent, the COO, two district legal counsels and the head of BEX Oversight Committee (the volunteer committee made up of construction and property manageme...

UPDATE: Here is the Powerpoint link. Item 8: There was some confusion/frustration over an item on page 12 ( Strategic Plans: Moving Forward ) about the item " School Performance Framework (to include MTSS) . Thanks to Kay who said, "What is MTSS?" Turns out that RTI is now MTSS ( multi-tiered system of support ; a response to intervention) Susan Enfield talked about using what they have learned works and taking it out to other schools. This generated a lot of discussion. The item has its original cost at $8.7M and its proposed cost at $0-3.1M. The focus here has been on Level 1 and 2 schools and the interventions scale-up for all schools. Duggan said that of the $5.2 current budget for 37 schools, they have revenue for $2.1M so they need $3.1M to keep up. But Sherry could not follow the bouncing dollar signs (I couldn't either). Duggan said the $8.7M is in the gap. MGJ said that in a Dece. 15th conversation (I believe it was another ...

Just a few things to start our week. First up, do not forget to participate in any surveys available on curriculum adoption , the new SPS website or to apply to be on a curriculum adoption committee . Monday The survey on Parent/Teacher Conferences is only live through 4 p.m. on Monday the 3rd . Also, sign up for the School Board meeting speakers list starting at 8 am on Monday , 252-0040 or e-mail: boardagenda@seattleschools.org. Wednesday There will be a School Board Executive Session from 4-5:30 p.m. before the regular School Board meeting at 6 p.m. (The public cannot attend Executive Sessions; this on is on "contract negotiations" and an "employee appeal". I'm thinking the contract one may be about the principals' contract.) Agenda the Superintendent will be speaking about TIF, the Teachers Incentive Fund . Things have been quiet on this front so it might be interesting. the CAO, Susan Enfield, will giving an annual update on CTE (Career-Techni...

The district has its own internal auditor and apparently, that person just abruptly resigned today. Should make for an interesting Audit and Finance Committee meeting this afternoon. Also, on the Board meeting agenda for Wednesday is the final decision from the Board on the use of Brave New World. I had thought, per the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting last week, that the deliberations would come right before the Board meeting. No, it is to happen directly after Public Testimony. Now this should be really interesting. You will have all the Board members trying to publicly suss out a pretty important issue. This is where you will see judgment and thought-processes in action. My feeling is that they will, of course, side with the Superintendent. I actually wouldn't mind if only they said that the use of Brave New World is suspended until all the professional development that BOTH teachers and district staff say should be done. After that, I think it's fine to u...