Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update : KIRO is reporting that the district says about 5,000 students walked out.  As well, apparently other districts - Highline, Lake Washington are two - had student walkouts as well. End of update I received a press release this morning about the high school student walk-out.

Rep Reuven Carlyle shared this e-mail he received today from an SPS student: Dear Sen. Carlyle,  today on the first day of school my mom told me to write to my state legislator because I came home so upset.  I expected my first day of 8th grade to be awesome, but I walked in the door to find that the school was packed with over 1200 kids. Hamilton is a gr eat school and I love the teachers and fellow students, but when 3 of my 6 classes were in portables and I had to sit with 5 other people at a 3-4 person desk, it did not feel like the school that I looked forward to coming back to. 

Reminder of the boundary meeting at JAMS tomorrow night at 6:30 pm.  Please email stories, information and questions to 2017boundaryadvocates@gmail.com Audit and Finance committee meeting agenda for Thursday's meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm.  The documentation is 383 pages but a number of pages are part of the EEU contract.

 Update 4/1: more than a dozen states are also having testing problems.  From KSL.com:

The agenda is up for the Curriculum&Instruction Meeting on Monday at JSCEE from 4:30-6:30 pm. At the bottom of the agenda, there is a note explaining that due to the new website, they can't attach links and so the documentation for the agenda items is contained in the agenda link.  Among the topics:

Happy Birthday, to space hero Sally Ride.  Today would have been her 64th birthday. I sent this story - via t he Washington Post ,  along to the Board - Six of the nation's largest school districts dump polystyrene trays .   These districts are banding together for volume savings to do better for their districts.  Great new area at the Fordham Institute for Advancing Educational Excellence - Eduwatch 2016 - with quotes from presidential candidates on education (which I believe they will be keeping updated). Rand Paul has an interesting idea about student loans for higher ed: Let’s let college students deduct the entire cost of their educations over their working careers. Let’s make college tuition entirely deductible.  Bernie Sanders: Promote creative learning by doing away with 'fill-in-the-bubble' standardized tests, and instead evaluate students based their understanding of the curriculum and their ability to use it creativel y. It's 2015 but ap...

I see that Ballard High School is celebrating two big sports wins. The girls Fastpitch team took the Metro championship beating West Seattle. The boys soccer team took the Metro championship, beating Roosevelt. As well, the Chief Sealth girls track team members of the 4x100 won first in the Metro-All City Track meet yesterday. Update: Nathan Hale's girls varsity Ultimate team took the Metro championship beating Franklin. Good job to all who the students who worked so hard and competed.

 Wednesday is the next School Board meeting .  Agenda includes: proposed calendar for 2015-2016 everything on the Action and Intro lists is about capital projects save one on " Plaques, Name Plates and Donor Walls" that the Superintendent has asked to be postponed until May 20th This should be one short Board meeting.  As well, since the overwhelming majority of the agenda is capital projects, well, you can come and talk to the Board and Superintendent just about anything.   Thursday is the Operations Committee meeting starting at 4:30 pm.  No agenda is yet available. There are no Saturday Director meetings this week. Of note: - Rainier Beach High School principal, Dwane Chappelle, was named Metro Principal of the Year for 2014-2015.   Congrats to to Principal Chappelle doing yeoman's work at RBHS. - Roosevelt AP Human Geography teacher Richard Katz has won a Distinguished Teaching Award from the National Council for Geographic Educat...

Yesterday's media event about opting out in Seattle Schools at the NAACP headquarters was quite the happening.  All the media outlets showed up for a very lengthy press conference.  At first, I worried about how many speakers there were - community leaders, parents, and, most of all, teachers on the front lines - but each had an important story to tell. Basically, from what I can draw from various sources, the majority of opting out is happening in high schools.   This figures as high school parents have been around longer than younger parents AND high school students are savvy and more likely to stand up to authority and say no. My belief is that after the first year is done - and the scores come out - then next year even more parents will say no.  This is exactly what is happening in NY and NJ with thousands of kids being opted out. Apparently, State Superintendent Randy Dorn is falling back on the old standard "change is hard" and says the test will improve ...

Looks like three people have filed to start campaigns for School Board , each in a different region. Ruben Van Kempen, a 35-year teacher and head of the drama program at Roosevelt High School , is retiring.  I can't say enough about this man, his energy, his hard work to build a stellar drama program and, most of all, his belief in students.  A fund has been set up to raise money to name RHS' theater the " Ruben Van Kempen Theatre ."   Who got the Federal Reserve building?  Long-time developer Martin Selig.  No word on what he'll do with it. I had been waiting to see what tomorrow's Work Session on Charters/Strategic Plan was about and now I know. The Board is actually considering being an charter school authorizer.   The Presentation reads like a campaign ad for 1240 and includes "best interests" of the District and discussion of continuum of partnership and collaboration .   And guess what?  Not a single Director or staff ...

A couple of things that may extend beyond one school - if you know this is happening at your school, could you please let us know. Update: on the SAT testing story, at the end of the thread is a letter from Roosevelt principal, Brian Vance. Key passage: In the following weeks we received no indication that there would be a consequence for our timing error and even after speaking with College Board and Educational Testing Services after the exam, we received no information that would lead us to believe they would invalidate the test scores. The first indication that there was an issue came last week, when students were not able to access their scores. In the end, the College Board invalidated our students' scores.  It sounds like RHS was trying to figure it out but the College Board took their sweet time in making a decision.  Not good. end of update  First, I received this e-mail from a reader about recent SAT testing at Roosevelt on Feb. 25th: Evide...

Now this is exactly what should be happening - a notable activity at a high school evolving to bring in more students.  From the Times : But these weren’t your typical drama kids. When one girl wanted to talk, she used her hands and a sign-language interpreter. Others didn’t speak at all. One girl walked slowly, her gait uneven because of cerebral palsy. They are members of a new drama group at Roosevelt, open to special-education students and their typically performing peers. On Thursday, the group will give its first performance of a play, “Voices,” they helped create. Called “ unified drama,” the after-school club is based on a similar, successful sports program at Roosevelt and a similar drama class at nearby Nathan Hale High . It’s also part of a wider effort to include special-needs kids in more regular high-school classes, and regular extracurricular activities.

Roosevelt and Garfield jazz bands both made it into the Essentially Ellington competition in NYC...again.  Congrats to both programs. And because I love high school newspapers - news from the Rainier Beac h student newspaper, Viking Shield. I received a press release today from the district announcing that  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will visit Sanislo Elementary's  3 rd -5 th graders  tomorrow .   From the press release:

I get our local newsletter, The Roosie , for all things Roosevelt/Ravenna.  They had a lengthy article on the fate of the Roosevelt Reservoir in their latest issue (which, unfortunately, is not up at their website yet). Highlights: - the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association is putting together a working group to gather info and design for community input - SPU says that there is a drinking water study being done to be completed by April 2015 to answer the question: Will the new Maple Leaf Reservoir provide adequate water for surrounding communities?  Then, a seismic study will be done on Seattle's whole water system and that may be another year.  So, no decisions on the use of the RR will be made until at least the middle of 2016.   If the RR is decommissioned/surplussed, SPU's must receive fair market value per state act.  If Parks, for example, wanted that, they would have to find the money to buy it from SPU.  There would be a "property di...

From SPS Communications: Garfield and Roosevelt high schools are ranked in the top 10 for students receiving the Washington State Honors Award. Garfield is ranked 8th and Roosevelt is ranked 9th – tied with Brainbridge High School. The  Washington State Honors Award Program  honors the top 10 percent of the current year's graduating class from Washington state. To qualify for the award a student must rank in the top 10 percent of this year’s high school graduating class. The ranking is determined by an index, which considers Grade Point Average and college prep test scores. Furthermore, a student must have completed at least 75 percent of the credits required for graduation and be enrolled in at least three academic core subjects in Grade 12. Of the 260 school districts in the state, the following heads the list for having the most recipients. 1. Newport High School - Bellevue School District 2. Skyline High School  - Issaquah School District 3. Mercer Island...

Is this discussion over enrollment numbers and school funding still happening where you are? Because apparently, it's still an issue for Nathan Hale High.  Hale parents are being notified, via a Hale parent group, that the district is underestimating their enrollment (by less than 20 students) and it will reduce their funding.  They say they have had a waitlist for years and don't understand why this is happening.  Unfortunately, this issue is pitting school against school as the notification goes on to say that the district is not moving their waitlist because some of the students on the list would be from the Roosevelt High School area and Roosevelt would then lose students.  I don't follow this line of thinking because it presumes that Roosevelt is lobbying for Hale's list not to move.  Are schools really looking over their shoulders at other schools?  Could be. But if the district is not moving waitlists (and looking to see if a school has had a w...

I do want to note a couple of items before attending to the subject of the thread. Director McLaren was not in attendance at last night's meeting. Also, the student speaker, Mallory Richey of Roosevelt , told the Board and Superintendent that they are working more on school pride and have "Rider Pride" cards that they send home with students to their parents, letting the parents know a good thing - either kindness, leadership, etc. - that their student did that contributed to the life of the school.  Great idea. After attending part of last night's Board meeting, I feel somewhat differently about later start times for secondary students becoming a reality at some point in the near future.  Here's why. Most of the speakers for public testimony were speaking in support of later start times and boy, did the supporters find some good speakers. One was Michael Vitiello who is a UW professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.  From his UW page: Dr. Vitie...

It's going to be a very tough time in the neighborhood.  There is no way it will not possibly affect Roosevelt and its community. I just attended a community meeting at Roosevelt High School about the building of the light rail station that will be directly west of the school. First, as a resident, it is definitely NOT going to be fun.  In fact, despite promises about mitigation, I (and many at the meeting) believe it is going to be a traffic nightmare.  Despite, several good suggestions about trying to help the traffic situation, we were told "we'll see how it goes" and "Ask SDOT."  Not so reassuring. The real down and dirty work starts in late spring/early summer 2014.  It will continue until the station finally opens in 2021.

A bit of a stir at the Roosevelt High graduation on Wednesday night when author David Guterson apparently gave a somewhat downbeat speech , talking about death repeatedly.  He got heckled by a few parents and students.  Story at the Times.  (Link to speech via The Stranger Slog.) (I read the speech and while I might not like some references, to me, it would be one of the more interesting and blunt commencement speeches.  I think it better to be challenging (if you can't be funny) than boring. I like this part: From these philosophical and political roots, the primacy of the individual has grown and spread to subsume nearly everything, and that, in the end, has not brought us happiness, because the you that matters so much every second of every day is in fact mortal and even ephemeral, and you know this, and isn’t it sad, even tragic, to know that in the end all of your hopes, dreams, and aspirations don’t amount to much, that they take you nowhere, and t...

Roosevelt High School's Jazz Band placed third at this weekend's Essentially Ellington competition in NYC.  Congrats to all! Ballard High students in their video program won two major prizes at the Dominique Dunne Film Competition in Colorado Springs.  The competition only awards four prizes and the judges are a who's who in Hollywood  so this is huge honor for Ballard.  Good job!  Pinehurst K-8 is circulating a petition about their proposed relocation to Broadview-Thompson. From the petition: Pinehurst K-8 at Broadview-Thompson provides the district with a much-needed Option School in the northwest area.  As Pinehurst K-8 community members, we consider these requests to be reasonable for the success of the co-location: • That we retain our principal, administrative staff, and instructional staff to ensure stability for our entire community during the transition; for initial negotiations with Broadview-Thompson staff regarding scheduling...