Seattle Schools Community Forum

UPDATE :  I checked in with the district as the Times had confusing information about whether ACEI has a lease for the Columbia Annex.  The district has confirmed that there is no signed lease right now.  They are negotiating for ACEI to provide direct services to students and must meet certain criteria for reduced lease rates. End of update. This just in from the Central District News: Seattle Police say they have made arrests and are searching the building as groups occupying the Horace Mann school are being cleared from the Seattle Public Schools property on E Cherry near 23rd. SPD says that three  four adult males were arrested as police continue to search the building after entering the barricaded facility Tuesday afternoon. CDN is reported that the police began the raid around 1 p.m.  The police had been planning a careful raid, making sure there were no children at the site.  They report only four ment in the building, all were arrested...

It's a fairly light week but given the seriousness of the Board meeting on Wednesday, perhaps better that way. Wednesday, November 20 School Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm.  Agenda As I previously mentioned, this will be a long (and hard-fought) meeting to slog through.  I can't say for certain, one way or another, if the speaker list will run long again.  On the subject of the Growth Boundaries , I would say that, for the Directors, it is likely all over but the shouting.  However, there are other items - like the Special Ed Corrective Plan - that many parents will want to speak out on.  So even if the public testimony list is 20 people, I suspect there will be questions on the Special Ed issue and Pinehurst (both of which are right before the Growth Boundaries).  I don't think the Board will get to the Growth Boundaries before 6:30 p.m. What will happen is that the motion will be made to accept the Growth Boundaries.  From what I rec...

Water/electricity/heat are shut off.  Illegal tenants have a generator running and "guards" at the building.  There are many more signs up on the fence and black plastic draping the stairs. Naturally, there have been no classes going on and most educational materials are being stored in the portable at the site. KIRO reported receiving a voice mail asking them to not shine their camera lights on the building as the guy on the roof has an "itchy trigger finger."  KIRO claims the call came from a cell phone in the building but the illegal tenants say it was someone trying to create drama.  (One of several reporters on the scene seems to think an ID can be made of the voice but that information has been passed onto the police and they can figure that one out.) I think many within the district are tiring of this situation and it is likely to be resolved before the end of the week.

From the great and thorough coverage at Central District News.

Here are a couple of photos, all taken in the same room at the Mann Building, that show why some of us are confused about what the real mission is for Africatown.  I do not know when they were written but they were left up during the press conference I attended. Mann as a "safe haven for radical thought" or an art space or a fashion academy or a "cannibis farmer's market". They clearly want to help African-American kids but it also seems they believe that their neighborhood is changing in ways that they feel are wrong/unwanted and that taking the Mann Building is the first step in keeping it an African-American neighborhood. Ideas about teaching African-American students It is very hard to know what to think or if this represents the thoughts of an entire neighborhood. 

The Latest: Based on information I got today at the BEX Oversight Committee meeting, I knew that it was likely that an attempt would be made to clear the Mann Building.  I observed the building for a period of time late this afternoon.  I saw several people stop and look at the still-locked gates including a construction truck and private electrician company truck.  I saw no one come in or out of the building. In the Open Thread it was reported at 6:43 that there was a Tweet that Banda had a Notice to Vacate the Property that said everyone had to be out by 6:00 pm today or they would be considered to have been "trespassed."  The Tweet was a rally to come to the building.  Someone Said reported police and power trucks there.  Then at 7:52 pm, Someone Said reported that KIRO-tv tweeted that the Seattle City Light workers were "turned away" by Horace Mann occupiers but no police were there.  Power had gone out at my home so my family and I left an...

As I get all my writing together for my upcoming threads, I thought you'd want to see some photos from last night's jumpin' Board meeting.  I want to thank and credit all the children who came and, to a kid, were well-behaved and attentive.  I felt for them when one woman went off; I'm sure it was quite shocking to young kids but that is civics.  The latest from Mann; gate closed and chained with these broken crates lining the fence.  This is at both gates.   Wedgwood was there in force.  Pinehurst was there in force including a cute robot costume.  Woman shouting to the Board and the room about inequity.  Despite President Smith-Blum's requests to security to escort her out, it took a good three minutes and the Board nearly left the room themselves. Kimball out in force, advocating for their Beacon Hill neighborhood. Eckstein sign (sorry, couldn't get it to rotate)

 Update:  The Superintendent has asked that the Mann Building item be pulled from the agenda.  I'm not sure if I'm glad or sad but I do know it's not good.  I suspect that the Mann building is NOT cleared so there may be some other news about this in the next couple of days.  Whether the Superintendent goes forward with these leases or not, he still needs to clear that building.   End of Update Between the Growth Boundaries Intro and the Mann building, it stands to be quite a night for a School Board meeting. There are 63 people signed up to speak (they will also 25). The majority are about the Mann building and I expect some pretty fiery rhetoric. (I plan to try to split my time - 1 minute whole minute on boundaries and one whole minute on Mann. I note that Charlie is also speaking and he's always entertaining.)  One tip: whether you speak or not, the Board likes to have your comments in front of them.  The Times has finally gotte...

District staff have put the the Action Report for Intro/Action at Wednesday's Board meeting for the "Approval of lease of space to Africatown Center for Education & Innovation." I have NEVER read such a disjointed and ridiculous Action Report  - with no less than six question marks.  There should never be question marks in an Action Report.   The staff either knows or doesn't know the information.  If they don't, then they have no business submitting such a report. I suspect the issue is that they cannot get clear answers from Africatown leadership and/or staff can't get information they have requested to be provided to them. There is a long and tortured history of what has been going on at the Mann Building (and I believe both sides would say it is not entirely accurate).    It is ridiculously long. Here's what I believe from this Action Report and its woefully state.  Staff is worried about blowback from having to ask police to help...

Let me begin by setting a foundation. EVERYONE agrees that African-American students have been mis-educated by Seattle Public Schools and by public school districts across the nation. Black students have been presented with inadequate and inappropriate academic opportunities, they have been denied equitable access to programs and services, they have been disproportionately disciplined and disproportionately referred to Special Education. The outcomes have been academic under-performance, the "school to prison pipeline", and the continued economic and political disenfranchisement of a significant portion of our nation's people. It has been a tragic shame. It has been happening since the start and it is continuing. It is an ongoing emergency that urgently demands a response.

Will have a more full report later but there is one new item to the agenda (but sadly, no handout): Columbia Annex and Mann Portable Lease Agreements Resolution This should be interesting.   Also quite the discussion about students who bring/show weapons at school and how they should be treated.  There is an RCW around this (one year required suspension for a firearm) and they are trying to proceed from there.  There is both a School Board policy and Superintendent procedure around this issue. Update: As I said in the first post, a lot of talk around weapons brought to school by students.  I found this a baffling discussion but it has to do with the concern around suspended students and what happens to their education.  Director DeBell drily pointed out that if a student brings a firearm to school, he probably is going to be more concerned about the other students (and staff) and their safety. The issue also is that for students who get suspen...

I'm thinking it was a lot of smoke and mirrors on the part of BOTH the "tenants" and the district, these so-called negotiations.  Because that building is wide open, being used in multiple areas, has advertised activities and classes and well, just doesn't look like a building that is shut down in preparation for being renovated.   I checked and I took photos.  Not closed by any stretch of the imagination. I'm thinking it was a lot of smoke and mirrors on the part of BOTH the "tenants" and the district. I've asked and asked the district staff about this and read various Facebook pages and webpages and my conclusion is that there is much more going on here than anyone wants to admit.  When you see people make an "enemies" list that includes the district, the City, and the contractor who is to do the renovation, it makes you wonder. I have asked but have not seen any kind of temporary lease agreement (but now, it's onto public dis...

The Times is reporting that First A.M.E. Church operated a daycare at Seattle Central Community College - rent-free - for 16 years .  (Yes, I know - how is that possible?)  The daycare was allowed to do this by a program at SCCC called Seattle Vocational Institute whose students' children were to have first-in enrollment.  The daycare ran from Sep. 1997 to June 2013. From the Times: First A.M.E., which closed the daycare in June, paid no rent to the Institute - a value the school estimates would have exceeded $650k over 16 years.  It also paid no utilities or janitorial costs, worth an additional $158k or so.  SCCC president, Pual Killpatrick, said the college had identified this problem contract and that the church was notified in Jne they would need to vacate.  The church did end up paying for utilities and janitorial services from Sep. 2012 to June 2013. Troy Niemeyer, the auditor's whistle-blower manager, stated, " It amounts to the state giving ...

For continuing information on the situation at the Mann building, and the broader issue of the crisis of education for African-American students, interested readers can visit the More4Mann web site . There is a Twitter feed as well at @More4Mann. Other news sources include Africatown Education and Innovation Center , and  Creativity Not Control . I don't know if we will report much on the ACIC or the Mann building going forward, so folks should rely on these other sources for news.

I attended the final meeting of the Horace Mann African-American Community Task Force this evening. The meeting was not as well attended as the last one I witnessed, but it was productive. They have a deal. The ACIC is still in the building and operating, but they will leave peaceably so construction can begin. The District would like them out by the end of next week. You may be surprised to learn that they have not made any preparations to move. They haven't even begun to plan their exit. They asked if they could stay until December 31. The answer was no. Africatown may lease space at Columbia or Van Asselt for a year and they may lease one of the portables at the Mann site until February. That remains to be seen. They don't want to cease operations, but I don't know if their financial resources will extend to leasing District property. The deal, such as it is, was actually made between Mark Perry and the NOVA community and the Africatown community. The District is m...

To note for today: - Diane Ravitch , talking about her new book, Reign of Error, at UW's Kane Hall at 7 p.m.  It should be full so I would advise getting there early. Diane will be on KUOW at 1 p.m. today.   - another taskforce meeting on the Mann building from 5-7 p.m.  at JSCEE.  You'd have to call the district to find out which room because it changes.  I am not surprised they are still having these meetings since no one at the district will verify what is happening with that building and its occupants. - School Board candidate debate at the Vera Project at Seattle Center from 6-8:00 p.m.  My caution here is that it is co-sponsored with City Club by the so-called Our Schools Coalition and the Alliance coached the students who will act as the panel. 

Well, sort of an update.  I am still waiting for a reply to what did or did not happen on September 18th at the Mann building. I am more confused than ever.  It is clear that - for whatever reason - the terms of the lease were  enforced by the district.   I have no idea what is really going on because the terms of the lease are fairly clear.   There was a letter sent to Superintendent Banda on August 1, 2013 from the group, NPARC, the Non-Profit Anti-Racism Coalition, outlining the situation and that they wanted to stay in the Mann building. In the first paragraph, it is noted that NPARC " is an alliance of mainly human service organizations in King Country who are committed to identifying and dismantling institutional and structural racism."  It goes on to name "partners" such as Wellspring Family Services, YMCA, Childhaven" and a couple of others.  The letter then launches into a history and explanation of the situation at Mann. There are no...

Here's a link to a blog with more information on the activity around Horace Mann, including Twitter feeds you can follow and a Facebook page you can like.

The Horace Mann African-American Community Task Force meets for a fourth time tonight. The Central District News has covered the story well and reports progress , though not as much progress as their headline claims nor as much as they originally reported. The article also says " In response Seattle Public Schools formed a task force last month to rethink plans for the 110-year-old school. " But, as was revealed at the third Task Force meeting last week, the District never intended to change course on the Mann building.

There were two issues discussed at the third meeting of the Horace Mann-African American Community Partnerships Task Force. The two issues are not closely linked. The immediate issue is about the Mann building, but that is actually the smaller issue. The Mann building issue was created to bring urgency to the big issue: the failure to educate African-American children in Seattle Public Schools. There isn't much of a natural connection between these two, so it is easy and appropriate to regard them separately.