Seattle Schools Community Forum

Two interesting items about growth and boundaries from readers.

It might have gone unnoticed by some parents but the issues with Wilson-Pacific are near dire. This matters for two reasons.  One, there is a ripple effect to nearly every single capital decision in this district.  Two, next time, it could be your community.  - The district will have a " community meeting on Tuesday, May 13, 6:30 p.m., at the Wilson-Pacific building’s SeaMat Center where information will be shared about the project and the schools’ designs."  You'll note that it is fairly clear this is for information, NOT for questioning the design. Note - the vote on the W-P design took place tonight but the meeting is after the vote.  I'm not sure there will be pitchforks and torches but frankly, it's a little ridiculous to think a PowerPoint and a smile will soothe folks. The Board voted tonight to approve the plans for the Wilson-Pacific project, with Director Peters voting no and Director Patu abstaining.  Despite well-reasoned arguments f...

Monday, March 17th The wearing o' the Green.  Happy St. Patrick's Day. To note: signups for public testimony for the School Board meeting start at 8 am this morning. Tuesday, March 18th Audit&Finance Meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m.  Agenda Wednesday, March 19th School Board meeting starting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda . I see a LOT of audit update items here that I am unclear about -might be worth attending. Items of interest:   - the winning bid for the work for Lincoln comes in at $828k.  What's interesting is that the district decided it needed wainscoting in all the new toilet rooms.  What's more interesting is the variance in cost to do it with the company bidding highest for the overall cost bidding the wainscoting at the lowest cost ($972k for overall, $3500 for wainscoting) and the winning bid at $812k putting in the wainscoting at the highest additional price, $16k.  The average cost for the wainscoting was about $9500.  How...

Had a great time at the Network for Public Education conference in Austin this weekend.  Very inspirational and got to talk with two education heroes - Diane Ravitch and Karen Lewis, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union.  More on this later especially about Common Core. To note, the district and bus drivers have reached a tentative agreement so there should be no bus drivers strike. Also to remember, this is the last week of Open Enrollment.   It ends at 4 pm on Friday, March 7th.

I recently wrote to the Board with some of the bigger ideas that I have heard here and percolated up from the Growth Boundary meetings.   Here's what I told them about Wilson-Pacific: What I hear from parents is that they do NOT want to share their valuable neighborhood space with any program if they don't have to.  APP is NOT a beloved program and it will not be welcomed with open arms anywhere in the N/NE.  Why set up a situation like that especially if it may end up that the program might need to be exited? I honestly believe the right course is to leave APP elementary North at Lincoln.  Permanently. (Clearly, not the whole building but it sets up great possibilities.)  You could even have an APP 1-8 there and believe me, it would make many people (pro and con APP) happy.  But what about Lincoln as a high school?  Look, it is really close to Roosevelt already, has virtually no field space and needs massive updates.  So the sol...

A reader with background in planning and with much knowledge/background on the district and facilities offers these thoughts on what may be coming for high schools and growth.   ( Gray areas are my thoughts as we go along and the rest is the reader's.) To understand: coming up fast is the possibility of very overcrowded high schools.  Not 5, 10 years out but probably three years.  But a three-year plan may be all that is possible at this point especially since the needs/growth is very different for each region of the district. And guess what?  Nearly out of inventory.  Where will everyone go?  Will the district go to shifts (and they have done this in the past)?  Portables?  The reader's basic thoughts: get this out to the Seattle legislators.  We need help. get high school on the table now.  High schools are high stakes for students and parents. fix the worst of the BEX mistakes.  There were many but all of the stuf...

FYI, the next FACMAC meeting is this Friday, Dec. 2nd from 10-noon at the Stanford Center, Room 3802.   I am sorry to say this but I think there is a lot of confusion still and frankly, this meeting only served to exacerbate it.  That's my impression.

The following was information sent by Kay Smith-Blum to Lowell parents.  Please note these are considerations only .  Also she still references an "Advanced Learning" taskforce so I'll have to ask her about that as the consensus here is that it is for APP only. Staff has considered ALL of the following in recommending the move of majority of the cohort (sans the walk zone Lowell students, who will have the option of going to Lincoln if they provide their own transportation - similar to the way we handle matriculation to Hamilton as a choice without transportation for those students graduating Lowell now): the condition of Lincoln, making it “friendlier” for elementary students transportation for those south of ship canal, routes will cross Ballard bridge and Fremont rather than getting stuck on I5 for QA & Mag students library and other resource beef ups, mitigation funds will be used up...

The Lowell PTA is looking for questions and ideas about the Lowell split. This form will help the Lowell PTA organize those questions, issues and concerns to facilitate advocating with the district. In addition, we will keep a list of the questions on the Lowell website and any responses/resolutions from the district.

From our readers: Dear Lowell Elementary families, After hearing from the Lowell community at our community meeting last week, in addition to feedback from an online survey and personal conversations, we have decided to move APP students in Grades 1-5 to Lincoln for the fall. I want to apologize to our students, families and staff for the timing of this decision. I know this has been frustrating for many of you. We are putting proper systems in place to ensure this will not happen again. Moving APP to Lincoln for the 2011-12 school year not only provides a short-term solution while we look long term at our growing APP program, but it also presents an opportunity for additional capacity at Lowell. We will be looking carefully at how we can work together to ensure that the ALO and Special Education programs at Lowell will be vibrant and successful. We will work closely with you and the community in the next school year on these issues. We are working on the details...

Okay, let me just state that when I took a head count at 7:00 pm at the meeting, it was about 75 people.  Imagine my surprise when I got up to speak and saw many more people had come in.  So yes, the crowd was larger than my 75 count. I'm just going to go thru some highlights, review what I was hearing from the first thread and let's see if we can find some ideas to put forth.  (Also, please do not hijack this thread on another topic.  I'm asking nicely.)

Despite school being over, a couple of key meetings this week: Monday Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee from 4-6 p.m.  Some key items on the agenda: Highly Capable grant Wallace grant (this is the arts grant that the district won jointly with the City that was mentioned at the Superintendent/Mayor Town Hall last week) adjustments to school report Walk to Math Disciplinary Appeal Council Interventions Report Attendance Policy The APP Meeting at 7 p.m. at Lincoln auditorium .  Lincoln is at 4400 Interlake Ave North.  We have discussed this quite a lot but key questions include: If the district does move APP students from Lowell, what grade levels would it include? How long would the move to Lincoln be (probably just a year if SBOC is to move in school year 2012-2013)? What will happen to APP in school year 2012-2013?   What is the plan for the ENTIRE Advanced Learning Program?  Will there be ALOs available in schools without Spec...