Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update 2: it appears someone has either tried to hide the Holland donation to Jones or sent it back (AFTER this thread was posted) because it's no longer posted at the PDC.  Hmm. As well, look who else joined the party...Vulcan just kicked in $2,000. End of update  Update: A few interesting developments. 1) Remember those donors to Jones' campaign, Clyde and Rena Holland,who also gave money to Tim Eyman? Know who else they gave money to? Donald J. Trump for president (via the Puget Sound Business Journal.)  Now, Chris Reykdal got rounded criticized for mentioned Trump in a donor letter but apparently, he wasn't too far off the mark. 2) Once again, I am getting heat for reporting what a candidate said.  There are even a couple of people who think Senator Carlyle is not telling the truth.  You have to ask yourself, "Why would he lie?"  That Jones remains silent on this issue should tell you something.  I also note that I would have to wonder...

At Seattle Channel's Seattle Speaks event a couple of weeks back, Senator Michael Baumgartner, in passing, mentioned "the McCleary wars."  I was taken aback but I shouldn't have been. I mean you'd have to be blind not to see that the conservatives in this state don't want to have to find the money.  I think they purposefully have dragged this out so that they can make it as hard as possible for the liberals to get this done.  In other words, make it a bloody fight where everyone gets a little something but, in the end, there will be those who lose.

Let's start with charters. You may recall the "yet another faux ed reform group" called Act Now for Washington Students .  This group is organized by the usual suspects - LEV, Stand for Children, DFER and the Washington State Charter Schools Association.  All these get money from the Gates Foundation. They have formed a PAC that hopes to raise (and presumably spend) $500,000 just for this legislative session to influence legislators on charter schools.  They have already spent $20K on 13 House members (each got $1,000) including Seattle's charter cheerleader, Eric Pettigrew.  This is in addition to the number of print and tv ads running.  It is not cheap to run a local ad during football Sunday. 

I may have mentioned it but to clarify, this "new" group, Act Now for Washington Students, is an astro-turf, Gates-funded group made up of DFER, League of Education Voters and Stand for Children.  You don't get more ed-form and Gates-guided than those three.

From the Washington Post's Answer Sheet (partial): Along with the Common Core, the big winners in terms of issue were charter schools — especially in Washington state (where Gates helps finance a campaign to win voter approval of charters) — and online and technology-based learning initiatives.

It appears that you can literally buy influence at Seattle Schools around who is selected as principal at any given school.  I have two examples.

Those two factors - a hot summer night and a full moon - might just set things off.  Word is that many Middle College supporters will be at the meeting and want to be heard.  Here are some updates from the supporters (and that includes me):

Scratch art by Ava Code-Williams Two SPS students were named Regional Award winners at the Regional High School Art Show that is sponsored by the Puget Sound Educational Service District.  Those students are Ava Code-Williams from Garfield and Huo Xian Wu from Franklin.   I love Code-Williams' haunting "You have your mother's eyes."  In a battle of the titans, the state boys basketball title went to Garfield who beat Rainier Beach High School, 64-51 last weekend.  Congrats to Garfield and a good effort by all.  (RBHS had beat Garfield for the Metro title but Garfield turned the tables on them in the state finals.) SPS was also awarded a 2014 Gold Star by Governor Inslee for getting students signed up for the College Bound Scholarship program.  SPS signed up 100% of eligible 8th graders.  Yesterday was the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting.   I wasn't able to go but I know that Director Peters was going to try to get the SBA...

This will be Part One of a thread about the Pre-K "mission trip" that several Seattle schools' employees took as well as one Board director. Part One will be the Narrative of what happened.  Part Two will be the day-by-day planning for this trip.  Mirmac1 got e-mails via public disclosure and they paint a very damning picture.  Because of my concerns over this troubling incident, I wrote a full report to the State Auditor.  I can only say that I believe there may have been some illegalities in what happened but that's not my call. I DO think whether or not funds were misused, some of it feels unethical and it is clear there is a heavy push - from outside the district - on those inside the district for more and more pre-K in Seattle Schools. There are a couple of SPS individuals who are either myopic or simply do not care about how their push for pre-K could affect/impact other programs and that money is scarce.  There was very much of a "just find me 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.

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...

It appears that the Washington State legislature NOT voting to change the teacher evaluation law doesn't entirely mean the issue is done.  Apparently Duncan is still mulling options and talking to Washington State officials.  Superintendent Randy Dorn is still willing to talk but apparently doesn't think the waiver will be granted.  We'll probably hear something by next week. I received an odd press release this week from the Association of Washington School Principals announcing that South Shore PK-8 principal, Keisha Scarlett , has been named Washington State 2014 Middle Level Principal of the Year.   This is great; Principal Scarlett is a good, effective principal who works very hard. What's odd is that a couple of things were left out/mis-written in the press release. First is that the school is in partnership with SPS, the New School Foundation and the City of Seattle.  Uh, the New School Foundation merged with League of Education Voters and took t...

A couple of readers asked about some people and organizations that they feel have been perhaps too quiet.

From the Gates Foundation website: LEV Foundation Date: October 2013 Purpose: to build capacity for a state-wide public charter school support organization in Washington State Amount: $4,200,000 Term: 24 Topic: College-Ready Regions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA Program: United States Grantee Location: Seattle, Washington So let's review. Lisa Macfarlane co-founded the League of Education Voters.  She now works as the Washington State Director of DFER (Democrats for Education Reform).   (Their advisory committee membership is telling:  Chris Eide, Dan Grimm, Erin Kahn, Robin Lake, Steve Sundquist and Megan Wyatt.  It's kind of funny how these people all serve on each others' boards.) Chris Korsmo is CEO of LEV but also a Board member of the Washington State Charter Schools Association.  Mary Beth Lambert who is the press person for LEV is also the press person for the Washington State Charter Schools Assn....

Almost a year ago I did a thread on South Shore and compared it to the other K-8s.  I found in reading, SS is about the same as most K-8s but the math is worse.  So I did a comparison today with South Shore, Roxhill and Maple from 2009 to today and there seems to be two issues.  One, something seems amiss from 3rd to 4th grade at South Shore .  The children in third grade do really well only to see those scores drop (and I mean drop) by 4th and into 5th.  Two, there is a bit of a mystery about South Shore.  No one mentions the long-time partnership that started South Shore (with the New School Foundation and now LEV).  Not at their school website and barely in the district's own pages.  You'd think this would be some shining example of (1) what you can do with smaller class sizes and (2) public/private partnerships.   Why doesn't the district talk about SS more when confronting legislators over funding?  I note the district d...

I do plan on doing a thread on the latest Charter Commission meeting but there is some other charter news. From the Everett Herald, there's a story about Jim Spady and his efforts, over the last 20 years, to bring charters to Washington State.  As an activist, I can only admire their drive and tenacity (even if I don't really support the outcome).   The article does bring up two issues I had wanted to call out. One, the lawsuit against 1240 is very much alive, according to Rich Wood of the WEA.  According to the article, it's "in the works" but the WEA is concentrating on McCleary first.  (Good call.) Two, Mr. Spady is to be part of the new Washington State Charter School Association .  This association is a line-up of the usual suspects.  Funded by Gates Foundation ($800k)?  Check.  Chris Korsmo of LEV, spokesperson for the group? Check (but let's hope they make her more camera-ready than she has been in the past).  More LEV ...

One of our sharp-eyed readers linked an op-ed that LEV's leader, Chris Korsmo, wrote for the Times.  It is quite the tale and one that she tells frequently.  The last time I heard it, though, she was screaming at a room full of people based on a comment that Charlie had made.  I'm thinking this was about 2010 when we had Dr. Goodloe-Johnson.  C.R. Douglas was moderating a live discussion that was being taped about the Strategic Plan.  It was a great show because it was completely under the control of Seattle Channel and not the Alliance.    What was interesting was that a lot of the room was filled with the usual ed suspects and we all knew each other.  So C.R. would ask questions and get answers/comments from the panel and audience but he didn't have time to have the audience members ID themselves.  So, the at-home audience didn't know who we were. At one point, Charlie got up to say that the discussion was ignoring the issue of pover...

If you missed it, Superintendent Banda ordered the administration at Garfield to give the MAP today.  I don't know if that means administrators will give it or if they in turn will order the teachers (and see what the outcome is) but it may mean some high drama at Garfield.  I do know that many students are going to walk. What's happening in SPS this week: Wednesday School Board meeting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda.    Among the items: - recognition to LEV for South Shore K-8.  I wonder if Chris Larson, who funds LEV for South Shore, will be there. - update from school counselors - vote on Creative Approach Waivers for Cleveland, Nova, Queen Anne, World School and Thornton Creek - vote on Transportation Service Standards.  I really apologize for letting this one fall through the cracks.  I did mention it briefly when there was a Work Session that included this topic.  There are time changes coming but I suspect that the whole thing may chang...

One reason for this blog - and that has always been the case since its earliest days - is discourse and encouraging activism.    I said this recently in an interview and I frequently have parents tell me that it's the only place they can really go to ask questions.  I am glad that enough parents know about it that they feel comfortable to come here and raise issues.  (Some also e-mail Charlie and me and that's fine as well.)  One topic that came up in the Eric Lui interview was about how parents can be involved (and how deeply) in their children's education.  Eric pointed out that many parents don't want to speak out.  I've said this before - my belief is most parents just want a good school that they have confidence in the staff and where they feel welcome (either as a volunteer or a parent who visits occasionally).  I don't think most parents want to be activists.  I think most parents want to be advocates for their child's education...

Here is a link to a story on the LEV blog with the headline " Washington among the worst when it comes to Black male graduation rates ". The story - written by the League of Education Voters - says: "The Schott Foundation has released individual report cards revealing the graduation rates of Black male students, and Washington is among the worst performers." Later in the story, however, the LEV admits: "The national graduation average for Black male students in the 2007-2008 school year is 47 percent, which technically means that Washington is slightly above average." Waitaminnut. Does LEV know what the word "worst" means? If Washington State is, in fact, above average, how can LEV claim that it is "among the worst"? Washington isn't even among the worse, let alone the worst. If this article is reflective of the LEV's ability to interpret data, then they stink at it. Now, I'm not proud of the state's 48% gradu...