Seattle Schools Community Forum

From a parent who attended the SCPTSA meeting on Monday, Flip Herndon told several parents that they are considering an annex for Hamilton.   There is space at JAMS and Eckstein but rather than admit the enrollment made a mistake by sending 5 feeder schools to Hamilton, the smallest, least flexible middle school, they are going to plow ahead with an un-workable and expensive facilities solution to an enrollment planning goof. At least two letters in support of the Africatown MOU say that Africatown should be returned to "Horace Mann upon completion of the renovations."   One of these was from the head of the Seattle/King County branch, Gerald Hankerson.  I asked him about it and he said that former Superintendent Banda gave an "verbal agreement" this would happen.  And if it doesn't? Is Africatown going to sue the district? Those of you with suggestion that more room for Garfield could be found at Mann may just be out of luck. Why would Director McLa...

Went to the BEX Oversight Committee meeting this morning. In terms of notable people at the meeting, Director Sharon Peaslee was there, Lead Counsel Ron English was not. Issues mentioned/discussed - Seems to be some kind of portable placement issue for Blaine and Laurelhurst .  No specifics given. - Only $1M for technology left in BEX IV .  Head of Technology, Carmen Rahm, gave a presentation where he noted that 75% of SPS schools don't have wireless.  But he repeated, again and again, that for the here and now, you still need "wired" buildings for all kinds of reasons.  Meaning, to have a totally "wireless" building for technology is not the desired outcome. There was this interesting back-and-forth with Director Peaslee and Mr. Rahm over smartboards.  She was under the impression that they were $10K apiece.  He said no, you could get 5-6 of them for $10K.  I looked this up and it really depends on what you want to spend.  But the total ...

Friday, July 11 BEX Oversight Committee meeting , 8:30 am-10:30 am. Unfortunately, whoever runs this group does not put up the agenda nor past minutes in a timely manner so I can't tell you what will be discussed.  I've asked if that could happen and told it would but it doesn't.  The last minutes are from the meeting in April and have some curious notations.

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...

I am beyond baffled about what is going on with the district, the ACEI, Nova and the Mann Building.  I am saying - upfront - that I believe there is much more to this story than we know (there's a backstory there somewhere).  I continue in my belief that it will not turn out well.  I am also dismayed to see this all happening so fast as I wonder if African-American parents - throughout the entire district - have not been consulted and, as has been pointed out previously, no one group is monolithic so no one group can claim to speak for everyone. As we know there was this hastily thrown-together, unadvertised taskforce around some of the groups that were squatting in the Mann building.  Then, I read about the ACEI's plans for the outside of the Mann building and the votes taken on what the district should do.  The district's notes from the last taskforce meeting are here (partial):

In advanced of tonight's School Board meeting , a few updates: - packed speakers list.    Unfortunately, Mr. Garrett, who is one of the leaders of the groups at the Horace Mann building, is on the list.  He generally is not the most graceful and tactful of speakers so I expect that to be an unpleasant two minutes. As well, there are plenty of TFA people, including three of the four new ones up for conditional certification, on the speakers list.  This baffles me (as it has in the past).  Are they speaking to do a pep talk to the Board about themselves?  And, their fearless Seattle leader is speaking as well.  Unless charters come on-line soon (and I don't see this happening), TFA is going to be in trouble.  They are still running the UW program in the red as their numbers stagnate.  Most districts just don't seem interested.  And, with the new Seattle Teacher Residency program, I wonder how both UW and SPS can afford to invest in...

From the Times : The candidates who were there had some tough talk for Seattle Public Schools. State Sen. Ed Murray said if he were mayor, he would forge a new partnership with the school district to increase the graduation rate. “The school district has to change,” he said, vowing to make improvements in the graduation rate and how money is targeted — or, he said, “Please yell at me and vote me out of office.”   Usually, the school district blames the state Legislature for district problems, so it was interesting to hear that. Ed Murray is my senator and yes, I am a bit surprised to hear him say this.  He hasn't said a lot about Seattle schools in any pre-mayor bid venue.  His advocacy has been limited (and appreciated) to the Legislature.  Without specifics, this isn't much (and I'm still waiting to interview him so we'll see). Also, note to the Times, the district does not blame the Legislature for all its problems; just the funding ones.  ...

Monday, May 13th Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting, 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14th Special Education Advocacy & Advisory Meeting from 6:30-9:30 p.m at JSCEE, Room 2700 Wednesday, May 15th Rally to save the Indian Heritage program (from press release): SPS is eliminating an entire program which has served as an anchor and support for Native learners and community. The district needs to reverse this decision and engage Native community. We have solutions and recommendations which will revitalize our Native focused programs and strengthen services, district seems intent on eliminating services and support programs which will serve to widen the acheivment gap and further marginalize our Native learners. Please plan to come out to the SPS Board meeting and support our community rally to SAVE INDIAN HERITAGE on May 15th starting at 3:30-5:00pm and public testimony 5pm . Call in for testimony is Monday 8am,  252-0040. Also bring your signs, drums, and please ...

I want to support BEX IV. I know that the District desperately needs to build additional capacity to meet the demands of increased enrollment. I would be a lot more comfortable supporting the levy if I could just get a few questions answered.

 Monday, April 30th  Seattle Council PTSA meeting: Navigating SPS: Steps for Positive Advocacy JSCEE from 7-8:30 p.m. Speakers: Ron McGlone, SPS Ombudsman, Adie Simmons, State of Washington Ombudsman, Bernardo Ruiz, SPS manager of Family and Community Engagement Tuesday, May 1 Community Conversations with ELL and Special Education Directors  6-7:30 p.m. at Jane Addams K-8, 11051 34th Ave NE Please join Veronica Gallardo, Director of ELL and International Programs, and Becky Clifford Interim Executive Director for Special Education at one of their upcoming Community Conversation hours. Wednesday, May 2nd Board Work Session on International Education from 4-5:10 p.m. at JSCEE School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m. Agenda .  This is one of the last meetings at 6 p.m. as on June 6th, Board meetings will start at 4:15 p.m. with public testimony at 5 p.m. Announcement of an offer to a superintendent candidate with a final approval - if accepted by the...