Seattle Schools Community Forum

 I will be taking a hiatus this week to do other things.  Charlie may or may not be able to provide the Open Threads for this week. Monday, September 8th Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting from 4:30pm - 6:30 pm.  Agenda

 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...

Monday, September 30th Growth Boundaries meeting at Meany from 6:30-8:00 pm Tuesday, Oct 1st Special Education Advisory and Advocacy Council Meeting from 6:30-9:30 pm at JSCEE, room 2700 Growth Boundaries meeting at Ballard High School Commons from 6:30-8:00 pm Wednesday, Oct. 2nd School Board Meeting from 4:15 pm to 8:00 pm.  Agenda . It's quite a light agenda and this should be a fairly short meeting.  One item of note is acceptance of work performed for Montlake and Thornton Creek.  It's of interest because of the number of times the district performs upgrades to old buildings like Montlake and, if  you totaled all the money put into these buildings over the years, it would have been simpler and better to just rebuild.  Another item is the acceptance of all the portables purchased, moved and set-up for various school sites.  The costs is nearly $1M.  This part of the project will provide 25 classrooms for 10 schools.  (The o...

I was mistaken when I previously said there were no district meetings until August. Wednesday Audit and Finance Committee meeting of the Whole from 4-5 pm.  The only agenda item is to debate any last issues on the budget for 2013-2014 and presumably move it forward to the Board meeting. Public Hearing on the 2013-2014 Budget Your opportunity to weigh in on any topic in the budget.  If you have a real concern, it really is important to get it on the record.  You may sign in to speak starting a half-hour before the hearing. You will have three minutes to speak. Special Meeting of the Board from 5:15-6:00 pm Just one action item - voting on the new budget .  They will be taking public testimony so there are speaking opportunities for any topic.   The City Council will be debating and voting this week on whether to create a separate fund for the money from the school speed zone tickets.   So if these are about safety around schools and the City w...

Superintendent Banda has sent a letter to Pinehurst families about their school that leaves things pretty up in the air but on a downward trend.  He tells the families that they had been considering moving Pinehurst to Broadview-Thomson K-8 but that it will NOT happen.  Pinehurst will stay where it is for one more year and they will have "discussions over the summer about the school's future beyond the 2013-2014 school year." District, just pull the band aid off.  It might be kinder.

Apparently two NE parents met with Marty McLaren recently to plead with her to consider a revote on the amendment on the interim plan for 2013-2014. To whit: In order for a re-vote to happen, a Board member who voted in favor of Amendment 2 (McLaren, Patu, Smith-Blum, or Peaslee) must motion for a re-vote.  That motion can then be seconded by another Board member.  The desired outcome of a re-vote would be for the Board to reconsider their January 31 vote and, hopefully, vote in favor of opening Jane Addams as a comprehensive middle school now rather than waiting a year.    Yes, I'm sure it is desired but they DID take a vote already.  To re-vote, based on NO new evidence would be wrong and seriously undermine the Board's credibility.   The e-mail goes on to encourage other parents to contact any of the four who voted in favor of the amendment to put it forth again at the next Board meeting (next Wednesday the 6th.) The e-mail te...

I hope this to be the last word on capacity issues at Eckstein (but I suspect not as these parents are quite persistent).  From the  DPD/FMO.  (I am not posting the entire thing but here's pertinent info.) "During inspection, staff walked the halls and observed class sizes and hall traffic between classes.   No signs of overcrowding in halls or classrooms was observed with respect to allowing safe exiting in the event of emergency. " "For purposes of safe exiting, the more doors you have off (classrooms and offices and hallways), the more people you can have in the building.  Based on current building code standards, the size of the rooms and number/proximity of exits, Eckstein Middle School could safely handle over 4,000 people for purposes of exiting." "Portables with one door are limited to 49 occupants but portables with an additional exit can have more." Re: pedestrians - " The topic of student safety is important and should be discusse...

From President Smith-Blum: SCHOOL BOARD TO VOTE ON CAPACITY MANAGEMENT PLAN AT JANUARY 31st SPECIAL MEETING The School Board is expected to vote on the Short Term Capacity Management Plan during a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 31st at the auditorium of the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. On January 23rd, the Board decided to delay the vote by a week to review 2013-14 enrollment projections, which are expected the week of January 28th. District staff will review the options to address our growing enrollment for next year with this additional data. Enrollment is projected to grow by 7,000 students over the next 10 years. The Capacity Management Plan addresses immediate capacity needs. If approved by voters on Feb. 12, renewal of the Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy would provide capital funding for long-term growth. Even though public testimony was heard on the Short Term Capacity Management Plan on January 9th and 23rd, ten p...

I attended today's Operation Committee of the Whole where some important issues for school year 2013-2014 were discussed.  Those would be transportation and what to do in the NE middle school region. The regular Operations Committee meeting went over some sundry items but President Smith-Blum, who came in late, explained she had been at a meeting about Yesler Terrace.  Apparently there will be a large number of very low to moderate income level apartments coming in there and this is something for both the Board and staff to consider in the future. The Transportation presentation was a bit confusing as there several new options in addition to the current one.  The long-term goal is to get to three tiers - each an hour apart - so that they can flip elementary and high school start times, with high school getting a later start time. Staff had recommended shifting 26 elementary schools 10-15 minutes earlier and 30 minutes earlier for four K-8s.  This, according to...

I am blessed to know people who also work hard to understand our district.  Many of these sources have analytic skills far beyond mine and I am so glad they are willing to share their knowledge and understanding with me.  What I put forth comes from conversations with a couple of these people.  (But we don't all agree.) In terms of capacity management for 2013-2014, here are a few things to consider as the Board has its Operations Committee of the Whole meeting today where they will be discussing this issue.  (Also, keep in mind that as we have been discussing the NE middle school region a lot here, there will also be capacity management happening in West Seattle.  For some reason West Seattle folks haven't weighed in much on that and I would guess they feel what the district has put forth for their region is reasonable.) Let's flesh out what is the cold, hard truth - big change is coming to enrollment patterns in the NE.    For elementary, for mid...