Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times (finally) had an op-ed that wasn't for mayoral takeover or promoting 1B.  That was written by Seattle Schools parent, Rita Green, is even better.  Rita is a savvy, smart, dedicated parent and advocate for Rainier Beach High School.  My hope is that she may run for the School Board soon (before it becomes an appointed job). Her POV is that 1B likely won't help low-income students and may even hurt the situation.  She supports 1A. Now I believe voters should reject both but, since you can name a favorite (or the lesser of two evils), you probably should vote.  My vote, like Rita's, would be for 1A.  I'll highlight her thoughts but my basic one is that, after consideration, I think more low-income children would receive the benefit of 1A and that's where I want my tax dollars going.

  Summary : About the Gates Foundation grant for a preschool at Bailey-Gatzert.   Several on the Board want a more careful explanation about who is in charge of what (like curriculum, alignment, costs) while a few on the Board want to grab this opportunity.  There seems to be confusion over what early learning is in SPS.  The Board will not be voting on this grant until November 19th, well after the election vote on the preschool props, 1A and 1B. About the downtown school .  Some on the Board pressed for costs around finding room at other schools and the actual numbers for space for students in Central/downtown.  It is unclear what will actually happen but one thing that I believe is firmly settled is that the Board is not going to vote in to take on more debt to renovate the Federal Reserve building.  So unless some generous donor(s) come forward, it seems unlikely that the district will be given the Federal Reserve building.  However, the ...

I am back and it seems to be quite a busy week. Ballots are dropping this week for the November 4th election.  I'll have more to say on the ballot measures on preschools but, from being out on the campaign trail, I see that it seems to be shaping up somewhat like the charter school measure.  Meaning, unions against wealthy ed reformers. I will be speaking about the two preschool measures at a voters forum this Thursday, Oct. 16th at Horizon House, 900 University Street, starting at 7:30 pm.  This is co-sponsored with the League of Women Voters who have already recommended a no vote to both measures.  (Meaning, vote no on the first question and send idea back to the drawing board which is my position as well.) The agenda for both the Operations Committee meetings this week on Thursday the 16th are still not available.  That seems odd but I suspect it's because the Board may be considering finding funds to accept the Federal Reserve building and renovate it...