Seattle Schools Community Forum

Friday memos , the gift that keeps on giving.

The district's info on buses and inclement weather for what may be an up-and-down weather week. Also, two items of note to put on your calendar. One, a community meeting on Cedar Park and its designation as an Option School.   This is on Thursday, December 15th at Cedar Park Elementary from 6:30-8:30 pm. The other is an Option School Fair that the district will be holding on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Cleveland STEM High School from 10 am-2pm.  Monday, December 5th Student Assignment Plan meeting from 6:30-7:30 at JSCEE.   At UW, Education and Society Film Series : Starving the Beast.  Sponsored by University of Washington College of Education Master in Education Policy program Kane Hall 120 from 7-9 pm. Some of the most pressing issues facing America's educational systems will be discussed during the "Education and Society" documentary film series. Watch "Starving the Beast" and join a conversation about the funding of public hig...

The big news is that the City of Seattle announced three new homeless encampments to be established in early 2017 and one of them is right by the Wilson-Pacific complex that will be home to Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, Licton Springs K-8 and Cascadia Elementary.  The location is 8620 Nesbit Avenue North and it will have up to 50 tiny homes, serving 60-70 people (Nesbit is one block east of Aurora.) The other new encampments are down in Georgetown and White Center.  (The one in White Center will also be near an elementary school but with enough distance that it's not the issue that Wilson-Pacific campus is.) I think we can all agree that the homeless crisis in Seattle is a major issue.  But I am shocked the City would choose a location in an area that is already problematic AND has so many school children nearby. As I previously reported, RESMS planning principal Marni Campbell announced at a community meeting this week that the City is giving the district $1M gr...

I attended the community meeting for Robert Eagle Staff  Middle School on Tuesday night.  There were maybe 5 parents there including one father with his daughter.  Marni Campbell gave the presentation with Executive Director, Jon Halfaker, in attendance.  There were no handouts. She led with the phrase "dream ambitiously."   She also referenced the heritage of the Wilson Pacific site that SPS wants to honor. 

Despite it being a holiday week, there are SPS meetings happening.

I'll do the School Board meeting in two parts because even though the Growth Boundary amendments were the big show, many other interesting things were said at the meeting. But to the Growth Boundaries.  HUGE thank you to Kellie LaRue who sat thru the whole thing (something like 6+ hours; I wimped out at 4 hours) and reported back on the votes.

The Board will be having the Operations Committee meeting on Thursday, the 17th, from 4-7:15 pm.  Why such a lengthy committee meeting?  For one, it's a packed agenda but there are a couple of high profile issues that could take some time. They are: - Approval of the Student Assignment Plan for 2017-18 (F. Herndon) - Transportation service standards and contract (P. McEvoy) As well, there will be a COW (Committee of the Whole) session for Special Education Placement Update.  That they want the entire Board at this meeting must mean something.  (Frankly, it would be great if the entire Board was there to hear about the other two big issues as well.) I have not read thru the SAP info but reader Lynn has:

The district is seeking parents, staff and community members to be part of the K-5 Gender Identity Materials Task Force .   (I have a call in to ask how many members there will be on the task force.) This year-long Task Force will be vetting materials and helping create literacy-based lessons with gender-focused books appropriate for K-5 classrooms. Specifically, the focus will be on gender expression and gender identity. Task Force members will be selected to represent diverse perspectives.   If you are interested in applying to be a part of the Task Force, please complete our online application process before November 14, 2016. Also, from the Soup for Teachers Facebook page, a link the Transgendered Language Primer .

Put up without comment because I know many of you will have your own:

Over at the Community Forum for HCC (APP) in Seattle Schools, there are some concerned parents asking questions about capacity in the building. I'll preface that Hamilton is a bit of an anomaly for middle schools.  It has a fairly small footprint and even a renovation didn't add that much more capacity.  It always seemed to be apparent that there would not be much breathing room in the building. From the HCC blog:

Reminder: meeting about boundary changes in the far NE region: Olympic Hills Elementary Parent Teacher Association invite media to attend a Seattle Public Schools community meeting to discuss race and equity issues surrounding 2017 boundary changes February 9th, 6:30-7:30pm in the Cedar Park Elementary cafeteria.   From SPS: In September of 2017, a new middle school will open in the NW Region.

The story from Phinneywood Blog : Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, Cascadia Elementary School (Advanced Placement Program) and Licton Springs K-8 will serve about 1,700 students total, including students from Greenwood and Phinney Ridge. Many students will have to cross major streets, including Aurora, 85th, I-5 and 105th/Northgate Way. The survey is being conducted by Licton-Haller Greenways , Greenwood-Phinney Greenways and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways . At the end of the survey, you can enter a drawing for raffle prizes for gift certificates from Woodlands Pizza, Fred Meyer and other local businesses. Take the survey here

Another week and no budget from the Legislature . Disgraceful.  (I'm marching in the Pride Parade on Sunday in support of Leslie Harris and Jill Geary for School Board and if I see any legislators there, I'm going to give them a cheerful earful.) If the state shuts down - even partially - it will have real effects on the population.  For one, the state parks will close and that will be terrible for those planning their 4th of July.  Naturally, the bigger issue, especially for school districts, is the inability to clearly plan spending without knowing how many dollars are coming in.  At the last Board meeting, the Board voted to name the two new buildings at the Wilson-Pacific site.  The middle school will be the Robert Eagle Staff Middle School and the elementary school will be named Cascadia Elementary .  (It was explained at the Board meeting that the spelling of Eagle Staff's name was corrected by the family and this is the correct spelling.) Th...