Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times is reporting that the district is using the Bill Clinton school of language to explain what the word "support"means in matching funding from the Alliance for Education for the IB program at Rainier Beach High School. The Times includes footage of the Alliance event where the announcement was made by President Patu.  It must have come as quite the surprise to her to learn what "support" means.  Despite great fanfare at the announcement that Seattle Public Schools had made an agreement to fund International Baccalaureate (IB) classes at Rainier Beach High earlier this month, the district says promising to support that program does not mean giving it extra money.

The Seattle Times is reporting that the decision from the City on the use of $1M of a transportation fund set aside for low-income citizens will be used to pay for ORCA cards for all middle and high school students in Seattle students (no matter where they live from their school.) This decision came largely because of the unwaivering efforts of the Rainier Beach students who made it a front and center issue from last summer on.

From Sped PTSA: Please be assured that the October Seattle Special Education PTSA meeting IS STILL BEING HELD on October 20th 7pm - 9pm at West Seattle High School (in the library).  Confirmed speakers are: Israel Vela Executive Director of Schools Southwest Region Seattle Public Schools And Mike Starosky, Chief of Schools. *Please Note - There is some confusion as our meeting was to originally be held directly after the Seattle School Districts SpEd Regional meeting.  The SPS SpEd Department cancelled their meeting. They have rescheduled their Regional Meeting to Nov. 10th. The Seattle SpEd PTSA has decided to keep our meeting as it was originally scheduled on Oct. 20th. Please help spread the word, and pass this information on! Thank you. We hope to see you there! Rainier Beach High School  RBHS is holding a transportation summit on Thursday, October 22nd around the number of kids at the school who have to walk there thru unsafe terr...

Update :   Mayor's press release Chappelle will seek to form stronger strategic partnerships with Seattle Public Schools, institutions of higher learning and other education stakeholders throughout the region, with an eye to improving outcomes for all Seattle children. Well, well, it certainly looks a Trojan horse coming thru that no longer needs its cover. From Dr. Nyland: We are so proud of Mr. Chappelle and are thrilled that the mayor has chosen someone with such integrity, accomplishment, talent and dedication to equity. Mr. Chappelle has been a positive, transformative leader at Rainier Beach High School over the past four years. He has worked side-by-side with students, families and the dedicated Rainier Beach staff to create a college-going culture, elevating expectations for students by bringing in the International Baccalaureate Program. Under his leadership, graduation rates have soared and enrollment has almost doubled. As Director of the Department of Educatio...

A fine article from a Rainier Beach student, Ifrah Abshir, writing at Occupy.com about issues at RBHS.  Ifrah didn't just write this article to complain but had spent the summer working with Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools at RBHS  to try to address the issues at Beach.

From the "there goes that idea" - Expedia is moving its corporate headquarters  to the Amgen campus .  Several readers had thought that might be an ideal spot to share space with a business and an SPS high school.  (This is considered a huge win for Seattle as Expedia is leaving Bellevue.)  Sen. Maralyn Chase (D) and Senate President Pro Tem Pam Roach (R) will lead a bipartisan press conference Thursday afternoon followed by an exposé of the Common Core educational standards adopted by the Legislature in 2011.

 Update: I realize my original headline that did contain ("no thanks to the district") and  was not fair.  The district DID create the IB programs at Ingraham, Chief Sealth and now Rainier Beach.  It just that they don't support them in the way those programs should be supported if they expect them to thrive.  Again, the district creates programs they do not support (like IB and dual-language.) end of update The Times owns up to something good happening in Seattle Public Schools (without charters or a state turnaround order).  Tangled in bureaucracy and tradition, public schools need years — often the better part of a decade — for real turnaround, so skeptics may wave off the spike in graduation rates at Rainier Beach High as a mere blip. Or ignore its ballooning enrollment. Or shrug at the dozens of students on track to leave with college credit for advanced studies. No marker is more stunning than Beach’s 25-point increase in graduation r...

From SPS Communications: Rainier Beach High School will resume classes tomorrow,  Friday, Nov. 14. Classes were canceled today due to a power outage after a small explosion occurred while fixing a transformer. There were no injuries. Power has been restored and the building systems are operational.

Tuesday, April 22nd "Open Mic Night" on Special Education , from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Rainier Beach High School, 8815 Seward Park S.  Families of Seattle Public Schools are invited to join experts from Louisiana State University and the TIERS Group (Teams Intervening Early to Reach all Students) during two Open Microphone Nights to give feedback on Special Education services. Seattle Public School’s Special Education Department is undergoing a Comprehensive Corrective Action Plan (C-CAP) to help improve results for our students in special education. As part of this plan, the department is working with experts from Louisiana State University and the TIERS Group for consultation on activities related to C-CAP targets.  They will be visiting the District the week of April 21 to collect data for initial analysis on the Special Education department. Part of their data collection will incorporate family input. Families are invited to give feedback orally or in wri...

Sharon Peaslee has been elected President of the Seattle School Board by a vote of 4-3.  Sherry Carr was also nominated. Betty Patu was elected unanimously to be Vice-President. Marty McLaren was elected unanimously to be Member-at-Large. Superintendent Banda conducted the elections. I'll have a longer wrap-up of the Board meeting but a few notes. Blanford recused himself from two votes that involved his wife who works for the district in CTE. Blanford, Martin-Morris and McLaren won't be having any December community meetings (for various reasons - Martin-Morris was unable to find a space).  They all said you could contact them via e-mail.   The majority of public testimony to the Board were on three topics.   One, allowing current 7th graders at Hamilton to stay on and finish 8th grade there.  One speaker said that they had been told there was not space but now the finding is that there would be space.  As well, they said Laurelhurst 7th...

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 am thrilled to announce that Rainier Beach High School , over three years of hard work, yesterday received their official authorization letter to be an International Baccalaureate high school. From Colin Pierce, the IB Coordinator at RBHS: We are extremely proud of RBHS's new designation as an IB World School, and it is gratifying that the IB Organization - an organization responsible for setting the international standard for high quality curriculum and assessment - has recognized the hard work we have been doing over the past three years.  Their stamp of approval is an affirmation that we have the staff and systems in place to offer the level of challenge and quality of learning required for an IB education.  Our parents, students, and community are beyond excisted to  engage the opportunity this program presents us with.   From the district: International Baccalaureate is a college-preparatory program that includes two years of courses in six subje...

Well, color me surprised because I just did a spot-check of graduation requirements at some of our SPS high schools.  SPS requires 20 credits to graduate.  I'm not printing everything required but here are some basics: LA - 3 credits Social Studies - 3 credits Science - 2 credits PE - 2 credits What I jogged me to look this up was a comment I read that The Center School is a "prep" high school and has higher graduation requirements than SPS.  So I checked.  Indeed they do. They require 22 credits.

In what is an interesting coincidence of stories, I learned today that Rainier Beach High School , after three long years of work, is on the cusp of receiving their endorsement to be in IB school.  Good for them.  That now makes three Seattle public high schools with IB; Ingraham, Chief Sealth and RBHS. What is the coincidence is that tonight, at 7 p.m., the Lakewood/Seward Park Community Club is having a forum about education featuring discussions of the RBHS IB program and charter schools. Guess who is going the charter school presentation?  Bree Dusseault. Lakewood/Seward Park Community Club 4916 S. Angeline St Also of interest, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth March this Saturday, January 19th.   It starts at MLK, Jr. Park at 2200 MLK, Jr. Way and ends at the Garfield Community Center at 2323 East Cherry St.  Refreshments are provided.   This year's theme is "I am more than ___."  All teens are welcome. For more information, please...

 Two more updates. This from the Board agenda as a change to the BEX list - an addition of RBHS for seismic issues and I note the new amount is at $694.9M. Also, below are notes from a parent who attended a meeting at Jane Addams last night.  This is THEIR reading of what they heard. Anyone else attend who heard the same or different? Here are a few details about the BEXIV bombshell delivered last night at a meeting at Jane Addams. District Staff present included Pegi McEvoy, Lucy Morello, Kim Whitworth. Sharon Peaslee was also there, as were at least two FACMAC members. The Jane Addams K-8 community rejected the Oct 10th proposal, because the enlarged Pinehurst building proposed to house their program was only adequate for 2 classrooms per grade at elementary and 3 cohorts per grade at middle school. The Jane Addams K-8 BEX Task Force group met with District Staff on Friday, and explained to them that the program must have 3 classrooms/cohorts per grade, ...

From SPS: Seattle Public Schools will host three community meetings on September 20, 24 and 27 to share information and ask for comments about building construction projects to be included in the Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy package.  Once approved by the School Board, the BEX IV Capital Levy resolution will be submitted to Seattle voters in February 2013. The community meeting dates are: Thursday, September 20, 6:30-8:00pm at Whitman Middle School Monday, September 24, 6:30-8:00pm at Madison Middle School Thursday, September 27, 6:30-8:00pm at McClure Middle School For more information on BEX IV, please visit: www.bit.ly/SPSBEX On this topic, Rep. Reuven Carlyle weighed in on it at his blog .  McClure Middle School is in his neighborhood and he feels that people don't attend it (despite the elementaries around it being full) and that's because of the building.  He could be partially right but m...

I hope to post a photo later in the day of the event at the White House honoring twelve Champions of Change including Carlina Brown of the Rainier Beach High School PTSA.  From her essay at the White House website: Parents must be recognized as experts of their children, and be present at the table when building foundations not after the building is built. We pride ourselves on our broad network of well seeded leaders in our city. Our names are synonymous with our school and our PTSA. Thank you to Rita Green, LaCretiah Claytor, Pam Berry, Valerie Fisher and Taloyna Greene, the executive team of RBHS PTSA Seattle, WA. This kind of representation takes a sisterhood/brotherhood that is strong and unified and we are one when we speak. Traffic heads up for this weekend.  Seahawks game on Saturday night at 7 p.m.   This from the Seattle Times: The southbound I-5 offramp at 85th Street , north of Green Lake, will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday until Aug. 27, ...

Lots of news: - the Rainier Beach PTSA is being honored with one of twelve Champion of Change awards  next Friday at the White House.  From RBHS PTSA: We will travel to Washington, DC and stand together as we accept one of the most significant public honors for this community in some time.  Recipients of this award will enjoy a guided tour of the East Wing, Policy briefing, lunch, Champion of Change event, photo opportunity and story featured on the White House website. Yes, yes and yes!  Congrats to those wonderful leaders at RBHS, Carline Brown, Rita Green and LaCretiah Claytor.  This is how we get it done.  - it looks like Bryant has posted its teacher list at The Source.  Check it for your teachers as well. - from the Columbia Legal Services , the number of homeless students in Washington State has gone up by 19% in 2010-2011.   All but nine counties have a greater than 2% population.  Almost a third are in rural ar...

It's becoming apparent that those who fight for charters have their own agenda. I say that because they are not making the argument based just on the merits of charter schools.  And, they are certainly not fighting on the merits of this particular charter bill (on which they all seem strangely silent except to say "tool in the toolbox"  and "let's try them."  Those who are the leaders in this effort seem to be fighting on two fronts. One person is Nick Hanauer who believes he speaks for many Dems (and he may be but he offers no evidence). He blames the WEA and he blames Dems for being "stooges".  He says the union has not backed any initiatives or any legislation that would challenge the "status quo." I know this is not true. What is likely true is that the union did not back the measures HE thought they should. Now it would seem that people of good faith and in the same party should be able to sit down and find common ground and ...

I attended part of the Board retreat last Saturday and part of the (kind of funny) School Board meeting last night.  If you've been around this district awhile, you could definitely feel a change.