Seattle Schools Community Forum

 Editor's note: They renamed PROGRAMS and not the buildings that will house these programs.  I also hope that one of the buildings at Wilson-Pacific will be named after Native American leader, Robert Eaglestaff.  It is unclear to me in the naming of the Pinehurst K-8/Indian Heritage program if any Native American parents, staff or leaders were consulted.  I'm checking. Update: I confirmed that yes, Native American leaders and parents were on the Pinehurst K-8/Indian Heritage program, did work together and the vote was to name the program, Licton Springs K-8. From SPS: Superintendent José Banda has approved new names for the Jane Addams K-8 program and the Pinehurst K-8/Indian Heritage program. • Jane Addams K-8 is newly named Hazel Wolf K-8 • Pinehurst K-8/Indian Heritage combined program is newly named L icton Springs K-8  As a result of the voter-approved Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) capital levy in 2013, a number of schools are being built or...

From the Urban Native Education Alliance: "Hello Community Members, family and friends, You are all invited to attend the premier of a documentary on Robert Eaglestaff and Indian Heritage School. This documentary has been in the making for the past 8 months and we are excited to announce the premier date May 22nd @6pm at Indian Heritage Seamat building (Wilson-Pacific). Free event. Dinner and panel discussion to follow the viewing. Special thank-you to Struggling Productions and the many people who participated in the interviews and planning for this documentary. We want to honor the late Robert Eaglestaff and his family and hope the community will benefit from learning about Mr. Eaglestaff and the Indian Heritage school." Trailer for Eaglestaff

First, there will be a meeting - called by the Superintendent - for discussion around renovating T.T. Minor to be the new home for World School .  The meeting is tomorrow night, Monday the 18th, at JSCEE at 5:30 pm. I'm not sure what form the discussion will take.  The issue is two-fold.  One, World School has been consistently ignored by the district and the Board (or takes a backseat to almost every other program, take your pick).  At one point, their BEX III money had disappeared.  When it reappeared, it was less than had been allotted with no explanation. But the concern is that T.T. Minor may not end being their permanent home.  Data indicates that the Central Area growth will need that space.  At the Work Session last week, it was suggested if that happens, the district would be able to add a wing to Bailey-Gatzert.  This may be true but for two issues. One, B-G is not in the same place as T.T. Minor - it seems like this would add more...

At the Board meeting last night, the fate of the Pinehurst program was discussed. There was an Intro item on the agenda to end the program.  Before I left the meeting, I was handed a sheet that outlined the idea of AS-1 and Indian Heritage joining together.  It's a pretty thoughtful piece of work that would co-join the goals of both programs.  (They want to be at Lincoln for the interim and them move to W-P; that part confuses me because they want to be K-8 and that wouldn't work at that location.)  The Indian Heritage High school would be part of Ingraham which has the largest number of Native American students in the north end.  They would then move to the new Lincoln High (or again at W-P but it won't fit).  I think this could have legs but it would take more than one Director to get any traction. Ron English ran through the issues - that Pinehurst costs $8k per student compared to $5k at larger schools.  They could put Pinehurst at Va...

Listening to speaker after speaker talk about the Indian Heritage Middle College program, I thought, "Well, add them to the list that includes Special Ed, Nova, and World School."  What do these programs have in common?   They get moved around as though they were furniture.   Each and every one of them deserves a permanent home. I spoke to Sarah Kelly, one of the speakers, and asked her about someone in their community doing a guest post about the history of their program.  (I was surprised to learn that Pathfinder K-8 used to be a feeder school for the program.)  One thing I told her was that once we had a history - one that is written by those who know it - it would be here for a long time.  The district may purge some history from its website but at least here it would have a home.  I'm hoping I will get that guest post within a couple of weeks. Also, there is an issue over the feeder patterns in West Seattle from middle to high sch...

The district loves to do an end-of-school-year flurry of activities.  It's like parents are just about out the door and the district says "have a good summer and oh, we are changing XYZ". Bryant's long-time child-care provider (17 years)  is getting the boot (but can reapply but good luck).  Parents are rightly suspicious as the answers they are receiving on why this is happening don't quite mesh.  The district says it is compliance issues but it seems that may not be the issue (the provider's license is fine).  Their PTA had no notification this was coming and the Bryant administration does not favor the decision.  Over in West Seattle, it suddenly got announced that the Middle College program that has been at South Seattle Community College for nearly 20 years is getting the boot because SSCC needs the space.  Interestingly, the district has never paid a cent of rent to SSCC and it might have been that with tight times, they asked for some mone...