Seattle Schools Community Forum

I note that the next week is the Mid-Winter break but only Monday and Tuesday with school resuming on Wednesday, Feb. 17th.    Monday, Feb. 8th Curriculum&Instruction Policy Committee meeting at JSCEE, from 4:30-6:30 pm.  Agenda I note from the minutes of the last C&I meeting that there are now 21 Racial Equity teams .  It would be interesting to hear more about what these teams are doing and how much variation there is by school. I also see that the district is asking for a waiver of the 180-day school year requirement of three days so that elementaries and K-8s can have parent-teacher conferences.  This is nothing new but the one thing that caught my eye is that the district saves about $120K by not operating buses to elementary schools on those three days.  Wonder what they do with that savings? Looking thru the documentation, I see a document from the Alliance for Education that the district is accepting a grant via the Nesholm Family ...

This meeting turned out to be more interesting than I thought but that was mostly due to parents who asked some fairly pointed questions about the waitlist.  Ashley Davies, the director of Enrollment, was the lead for the evening.  (Flip Herndon was at a Work Session and it will be interesting to see if he handles any of the other community meetings.) There were about 50 parents who came to Ingraham for the meeting.  There was an issue right from the start because Ms. Davies had brought copies of the Board-approved 2009 SAP and the 2013-2014 Transition Plan which are the documents the district is attempting to combine AND streamline.  The issue was there was no current document available and Ms. Davies did not convey that point to parents.  She did not say when it would be (but the board was told "before Friday.")

From SPS Communications: Seattle Public Schools is updating attendance area boundaries to accommodate enrollment growth and new construction. An initial draft of boundary changes was provided in September, offering families, staff and the community time to weigh in and give feedback. After hosting five community meetings and receiving thousands of emails and suggestions, new recommended boundary changes are being proposed. These can be found at: http://bit.ly/GrowthBoundaries . For more information, including supporting documents, see the following: ·          October 16 Board Action Report ·          Attachment B : Reference Materials ·          Attachment C : Summary Information on Public Input We are asking for new feedback on the recommendations via a survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7BKFRS3 . Please take this survey by Oct. ...

Let's hear your thoughts (I haven't read them yet.)

Let's hear your thoughts (I haven't read them yet.)

Let's hear your thoughts (I haven't read them yet.)

Let's hear your thoughts (I haven't read them yet.)

I have not read one word of it yet.  Read away. Attachment A:  Recommended Growth Boundaries, Feeder Patterns, and Option School Geozones Attachment B : Reference Materials Attachment C: Summary Information on Public Input

If you had an idea and community support for a new school program, what would you do?

This Work Session had a larger-than-normal audience which is a good thing because now there are other witnesses to what was discussed.   Charlie and I both went and came armed with ideas for the Board to consider.  (He outdid me, of course, with his sheet with 23(!) questions.  He checked them off as they went along.  At least five of them got asked but not necessarily answered.)  I gave them a sheet with comments copped from Charlie's previous thread.  And, with apologies to all other programs, somehow Advanced Learning/Highly Capable got the lion's share of discussion. Michael Tolley started the session, outlining the higher level thinking.  However, the presentation, on slide 3, says that one goal of the process is to " include access to services and programs as a key component in boundary revisions."   To which Charlie wrote in the margin "except Montessori."  And, he's right.  Montessori is in neighborhood schools but i...

I attended the press conference today about the 2012-2013 Transition Plan and short-term capacity management options.   (I also listened to the public input from the Board meeting about this issue.) It was actually a full house of reporters so look for something on the tv news.  There was nothing new but here are some of the highlights:

As I started this thread, I went to look for the handouts that were available.  Here is the link to the agenda for the handouts.  However, I am very annoyed that I cannot easily locate the one that I thought was the most interesting.  What this means is tomorrow I have to call Tracy and then have someone send me the link because, of course, you can't find a darn thing at the new website.  This also means sending a letter to the Susan Enfield (and the Board)  to request that every single thing staff hand out be posted.   (Sorry to be grumpy but it's tiresome to have to do this multiple times in a week.)  More on the interesting handout at the end of this thread. 

I previous attached the documents from this Work Session to another thread.  I'll put forth what was said but right up front - it is so frustrating but I believe I understand the method to their madness. I'll be blunt - I think the district is growing and will continue to grow.  We have a new student assignment plan that added another layer of complexity to that growth.  What that means to some schools is that they are going to have to man up and buck up.  Portables, using your school's stage, whatever can get you through the next 3-5 years.  I believe the district has sympathy for these schools but really, they've got bigger problems.   Somebody once said that "change is hard" and my friends, that means you get to be the ones to suffer through this change.

I attended the joint meeting yesterday morning. There were a handful of other interested people including Ramona Hattendorf, the Seattle Council PTSA President. The entire City Council was there except Sally Clark and the entire School Board was there except for Michael DeBell. The Superintendent was also in attendance. As I mentioned elsewhere, I saw Tracy Libros, head of Enrollment, before the meeting started and asked her about the district decision to enlarge the enrollment at both Ballard and Roosevelt. I asked her how many students that might be. She said up to 25% of the functional capacity of each school except if the school did fill with attendance area students, they would need to keep the 10% Open Choice seats. A bit confusing but I'm sure it will all become clear by the end of May. I had forgotten that all City Council meetings have a public comment portion at the beginning so I did get up and speak. I just told the Council that as someone active in the distric...

Option Schools Fair THIS SATURDAY March 13, 10 a.m. - noon at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence (District Headquarters), 2445 3rd Avenue South, Seattle, 98134 UPDATE: Queen Anne Elementary, and the Accelerated Progress Program (APP) will also be represented at the fair. (QAE: http://www.queenanneview.com/2010/03/04/new-queen-anne-elementary-to-focus-on-tech/) (APP: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/advlearning/program_app.htm) Come and learn about all of Seattle Public School District's unique and inspiring options for your children! A Family-to-Family Event Meet with families from throughout the school district. Parents will be on hand to answer questions about the schools and programs, with valuable firsthand knowledge. Talk with enrollment personnel about how Option Schools fit into the New Student Assignment Plan, and find out how to enroll and apply. Open enrollment for all schools is March 1-31, 2010. Registration available onsite. Represented schools will ...

There several upcoming meetings of interest. There are two Alliance for Education meetings on teacher quality , both on Wednesday, the 10th. CAMP Central office El Centro de la Raza 722 18th Avenue from 6:30-8:00 pm 2524 16th Avenue South from 6:30-8:00 pm There is a third, this Saturday the 13th Eritrean Assn. of Greater Seattle 5511 15th Avenue S. from 6:30-8:00 pm. Also, there is an School Board Audit and Finance Committee meeting this Thursday, the 11th from 3:30-5:30 in the School Board conference room. I'll bet the budget is the top discussion here. There are two Director community meetings this Saturday, the 13th . Director Carr's is at the Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center, 8515 Greenwood Avenue North. Director Maier's is at the Bethany Community Church located at 1156 N. 80th - Classroom A (upstairs). Both meetings are from 8:30-10:00. (Note: the Board will be at a Board retreat ...

Tracy had 75 slides. Holy cow! She was very careful to try to cover every situation and it showed. Okay, what do we suppose is one the barriers to our NSAP and the transition? Yes, it's the VAX. Mr. Kennedy says they are making progress but it's still a problem and yes, they will be using it for assignments (hopefully) one last time. (Sherry really gave them an out by saying, "You'll let us - the Board - know if we bumps into any VAX issues in our questioning." I mean, you could blame the VAX for almost anything. Handy.) Slide 6 reflects "We are unable to support additional scope (scope creep). Coding is currently underway and changes would result in project failure and our inability to support Open Enrollment." Slide 8 started the discussion of the Transition Plan and I find it somewhat vague. This is for one year only and there will be subsequent transition steps in years to follow. How they follow depends on the enrollment patterns. The...