Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended the Board Work Session yesterday on Capital Programs and Plans.  It was both informative and annoying. Attending were Directors McLaren, Patu, Blanford, Peters, Peaselee and Martin-Morris.  Director Carr, like at last week's Board meeting, was not in attendance.  Staff included Superintendent Banda and the head of Capital/Facilities, Flip Herndon.  Dr. Herndon gave the entire presentation. There was a good laugh before the meeting when Director Blanford said that he had a lot of people asking him if he was Richard Sherman or Marshawn Lynch of the Seahawks (the only similarity is that they are all three black men with long hair - they don't look like each other at all.)  I later asked Director Blanford if anyone asked him if he was Lawrence Fishburne - a joke based on an entertainment reporter who this week was interviewing Samuel L. Jackson and thought he was Lawrence Fishburne.  Jackson's reaction was priceless. Dr. Herndon did two good th...

Second Update:  I erred in some of my reporting here.  As I told someone, sometimes I get a narrative in my head based upon what I know and forget that others might be starting from a  different place.  My apologies. Corrections: -  Policy 4260.  To understand, there are Board POLICES and Superintendent PROCEDURES, that mostly go hand in hand.  However, ONLY policies are voted on while the Superintendent just puts forth his procedure to enact said policy.  Naturally, it behooves the Superintendent to make sure they line up or have a plausible reasoning for why staff believes a policy should be enacted.  The Board was only voting on Policy 4260 which was to amend rental of school facilities.  This was vetted by quite a few people, including the SCPTA, and it's fine.  It passed. The issue, however, is that district legal staff inserted a paragraph into the Superintendent's procedure 4260 that would make after-school groups liab...