Seattle Schools Community Forum

Or, as more commonly referred to, the SAP. Background The district created a new Student Assignment Plan in 2009 that was approved by the Board.  It was a big change, primarily because the district went from a choice plan to a neighborhood plan.  I know that many of you don't like this form of SAP but, at the time, many parents were clamoring for a neighborhood plan because of the assurance of knowing what school their child would be assigned to.  The interesting thing I wonder about is that under the choice plan, 90% of people received their first choice.  That's a pretty good percentage but was that their desired choice or just the best choice they felt they could make in terms of knowing where their child would be?  I haven't heard any numbers on the choice within the neighborhood plan. Then, with the explosive growth in the district, the plan had to be tweeted and so there was a Transition Plan.  What is confusing to me is that the district is stil...

I almost - almost - didn't go to the Curriculum&Instruction Committee meeting and then the COW of the Operations (Committee of the Whole - that acronym is a scream).  But I did and I am glad I did. To the biggest news - did you hear about the University of Missouri president who resigned under protest from students about lack of sensitivity/action on racism issues?  How did that happen? Big, steady, continuing pressure. And so it goes for the Student Assignment plan.   Staff has rolled back what they are doing in a major way AND the Board is pretty clear that this is what they want.  I cannot tell you how the support of the Seattle Council PTSA has mattered in this case.  I am so proud of that group and their graceful (and seemingly fearless) leader, Cassandra Johnston.  I truly believe that their support on this issue for transparency and clarity on this issue - along with many of you - have carried the day. What was said at the COW tonight: ...

Prior to last week's Board meeting, there was a Board Work Session on the 2012-2013 Student Assignment Plan (vis a vis capacity management).  Highlights: they will be trying to link schools with fewer ELL services to those with more to provide more access to students who need those services they will be starting the new " World School " for SBOC at Meany.  I'm not sure exactly what this entails for Special Ed , they are going to try to do the same linking idea as for ELL students.  for Advanced Learning , they want to try to figure out what is a "real" ALO and what guidelines are given for schools that want ALOs.  Good question but you'd think AL would be able to answer that one right now.  Kay said she wants to see consistency in ALOs.  Tracy said the IB process at RBHS is moving along well. for International Education , they have feeder patterns set up except for needed two more elementaries for Denny.  The Superintendent said these woul...

I have put it in the other threads on the Transportation Plan meetings but the location for the Feb.8th meeting has been changed. It was at Denny and will now be at: Chief Sealth High School, 2600 SW Thistle .

What did we see this week? The Board passed the Transition plan which apparently, instead of being just a guide through one year, is rewritten NSAP material . Meaning, they have taken away choice via Open Choice seats. I sincerely doubt that after a couple of years of "transition", the Open Choice seats policy will go back to how it was written in the Board-approved NSAP. Keep this in mind because it means both the district and the Board will promise, say and write one thing as policy and then change it whenever they want. This is deeply troubling. One member of the leadership team apparently forgot to publicly disclose something he should have. I am very disappointed but not surprised. If the Superintendent went along for months believing she was above disclosure, it would follow that others might feel the same way. (I'm giving it a couple of days to see if a correction is made.) Directors Carr and Maier are having community meetings tomorrow, both at Bethany Comm...

Looking at the School Board agenda for tonight's meeting, there are many changes. (One thing that hasn't changed is that there is no information what the Superintendent's update, CAO update or COO update will be about tonight.) One big change is that Kay Smith-Blum has withdrawn her amendment . Her statement seems to reflect having listened to her constituents and finding their reasoning plausible. First, I have withdrawn my amendment from tonight's agenda. I greatly appreciate your input and sincerely apologize for any anxiety caused. My amendment would NOT have reassigned any student, but I appreciate neighbors who would like to see their children continue to be assigned to the same school and greatly appreciate the upheaval the NSAP/TT Minor closure has had on the neighborhood. The numbers the board received LAST NIGHT from Tracy Libros show that Steven's enrollment will be up from the already 111% capacity, and do not include siblings of current Stev...

I attended the press conference today about the Transition Plan for 2011-2012. Tracy Libros was there along with the new(ish) head of Customer Service, Brandon Holst and Teresa Whipple of Public Affairs. The media was represented (in person) by me, Phyllis Fletcher of KUOW and Jerry of KING-5 tv. (By the way, I think KING-5, followed by KIRO-7, do the best job for tv coverage. KOMO and KCPQ always seem awol on these issues.) On the phone were reporters from the West Seattle blog, PI-online, Seattle's Child and The Stranger. Two of the most important things before Q&A. Again, as I posted previously, the deadline for issues/concerns to Board members in order to create amendments is FRIDAY, JAN. 7th (tomorrow), not Monday, the 10th. Steve Sundquist abruptly changed this date. Second, I asked and Tracy verified the following point. There used to be an amendment to the enrollment plan called the Waldman/Barnhart amendment. Basically it was a hold safe amendment. Yo...

I just attended the Transition Plan press conference. Lots of good info that I will post later today. I did want to get one thing out now because it is a change. It was stated by Michael DeBell to the SCPTSA that the Board would be accepting amendments to the Transition Plan until Monday, January 10th. Steve Sundquist changed that (last night? yesterday sometime) so amendments to the Transition Plan will only be accepted thru FRIDAY, JAN. 7th. So if you have an amendment you want to plead to any member of the Board, get it to them/that person no later than tomorrow, January 7th. I understand the rationale of being able to see amendments far enough in advance to vet them, talk to other Board members,etc. However, giving parents the weekend (given the vote isn't until Nov. 19th), would have seemed more fair. I don't know why Steve changed this but please let other parents know about it.

The Wednesday Work Session is to be about the Strategic Plan and not Integrated Planning (which would include the NSAP Transition Plan). I cannot urge you strongly enough that if you, your friends or your school have specific concerns or issues about the Transition Plan and how it may affect your neighborhood/school community, let the Board know by the end of this week. Go to the Wednesday drop-in session with Tracy Libros and let her know. No one will be working or paying attention to this huge issue over the holiday break. The Board will be seeing the staff's plan on January 5th and that will leave only 2 weeks until the next Board meeting where they will vote on it. The Board doesn't like to back-load staff recommendations with amendments so really, the time is now .

At today's board workshop on Integrated Planning , the district has removed its recommendation to close the AS#1 program and repurpose the Pinehurst building into a sped Pre-K. The new proposal is AS #1 •Keep current program •Engage and work with the school community to develop an action plan •Set specific timeline and outcomes for increased enrollment and academic achievement •Executive Director will monitor It is possible to get heard - it just takes a monumental effort from parents, staff, and the community. The AS#1 community has had the misfortune of proving this year after year. If your message is true it is possible to be heard. Congratulations to the AS#1 community on another hard fought victory. Thanks to the board for pushing back and getting the staff to change their recommendation. (my family is no longer at AS#1 but we still value the unique option that the school provides to families in the district) Why is AS#1 worth saving? Check it out: http://as1seattle.wordpress...

Apparently the staff is integrating budget and capacity management. (Which is fine.) However, they didn't make that clear to the Board at yesterday's Work Session and I wanted to let anyone know who was planning to come to today's Work Session. It will NOT be just about capacity management but will include the budget. I attended the Board Executive Committee meeting this morning and a couple of the Board members let it be known that they had not expected this to happen without some notice. From the Board webpage: Note to Public: The board and district leadership are taking an Integrated Planning approach to the 2011-12 student assignment plan transition, long-range capacity management, program placement for 2011-12, and budget development for 2011-12. Upcoming work sessions and workshops may focus on one or two areas per workshop but may have information on all topics. This calendar will be updated as the work moves forward. Those work sessions are: Tuesday, Novemb...

A Roundup of Meetings and Activities: School Report Community meetings , co-sponsored with the SCPTSA, start this week. The first one is on Monday, Nov. 29th at Roosevelt High School from 7-8:30 p.m. (These are going by region so this is the NE region meeting. You can, of course, attend any of them but your region's school won't be represented by your principal or regional director.) There's also an APP Advisory Council meeting : * Monday, November 29,* *at Garfield High School (in the commons)* *6:30-8:30pm* This will be an opportunity for the APP community to learn about Garfield capacity issues and possible solutions, the proposed APP high school path to Ingraham, and to express all your questions, concerns, and hopes. The next School Report Community meeting is the SE Region on Tuesday, Nov. 30th at South Lake High School from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 30th is the Board Work Session on the Budget from 4-8:00 p.m. Director Maier has a communit...

I attended the NE Regional Meeting on the NSAP transition plan last night. I estimated at least 65 people in attendance. Tracy Libros of Enrollment led the meeting with Phil Brockman, NE Executive Director for the NE there as well as Ann Chan, the new Chief Talent Officer (although I note that the district doesn't label that office as such). I would have loved to talk with her about TFA but not enough time. I did manage to hand out information about TFA to about 25 people and only one of them had heard of it (and he was a teacher). I had to leave before the "reports out" but here's what I wrote Tracy: I think maybe you should not do as big/long an overview. I think parents were confused and it seemed to take a lot of time. It's not that it wasn't good information but I think parents want the time to ask questions and/or discuss. I think the number of transition plan topics are too many. I think you should be asking about geographic zones, open ch...

Update: the district did final put out a press release . The Regional Meetings are: NW - Thursday, November 4th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Ballard HS SE - Monday, November 8th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Rainier Beach HS NE - Wednesday, November 10th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Roosevelt HS Central - Monday, November 15th from 6:30-8 p.m. at Garfield HS West Seattle - Tuesday, November 16th from 6:30-8 p.m. at West Seattle HS No child care but there will be books and drawing materials provided. All Regional Meetings will be led by the Executive Director of that region. Drop-in Sessions Friday, October 29 from 3-5 p.m. at JSCEE, Room 2700 Saturday, November 6th from 10 a.m. to noon, JSCEE Auditorium Thursday, November 18th from 1:30 -3:30 p.m., JSCEE, Room 2700 Tuesday, December 14th from 6-8 p.m. at JSCEE, Room 2750 Board Work Sessions Wednesday, October 26th from 4-8 p.m. in JSCEE Auditorium (note: this Work Session also includes graduation topics) Wednesday, November 3rd from 4-5:30 p.m. at JSCEE Audit...

Just to be clear about the grandfathering of siblings, here's the official word from the SPS News and Calendar piece on the Transition Plan : In-coming kindergarten siblings: The School Board and staff at Seattle Public Schools have a sincere desire to enable incoming, non-attendance area kindergarten siblings to be assigned to the same school as their older sibling if requested by the family. While we are not able to guarantee sibling grandfathering, we are fully committed to making every reasonable effort to accommodate as many kindergarten siblings as possible in their older sibling's school. The Transition Plan outlines a series of steps to accomplish that goal. For families whose preference for the Kindergarten sibling to attend the older child's school cannot be honored, we are committed to a "safety net" so the students will not have to attend a different school. (bold and italics mine) STEM STEM Open House @ Cleveland Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:30 am –...

Okay, so I have watched about 2 hours of the Board meeting (and boy do I feel for those parents who came to hear about the Transition Plan). At about the 2 hour mark, they got to the Transition Plan. But I stopped watching (my brain was tired and full) so I'll watch it and report back tomorrow. However, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson said something important about the Plan previous to the actual discussion. Many speakers this evening were parents who were unhappy about lack of any real assurance about whether their children would be together in one school under the Transition Plan. What Dr. G-J said, was this (and I paraphrase but I listened to it twice): If all the measures they have put in place to have the entering kindergartener at the older sibling's school don't work, then the district will assure parents that the older sibling will be at the entry sibling's attendance area school assignment. Okay so that means two things. One - all siblings will be kept together (at l...

A couple of updates before the Board meeting tonight. One, is that there is a Board Work Session before the Board meeting on what the district will be doing with the MLK, Jr. Elementary building. There have been several bids from various groups (both public and private) that were discussed here in a separate thread. It will be interesting to see what the decision is. Two, the speakers' list is full. The majority of comments will be about the SAP Transition Plan . I predict another long meeting given how much detail there is to the plan. Three, the idea to rename Old Hay with Casper Sharples has been rejected. Apparently the family did not want the building named after their relative. From discussion at previous Board meetings, I believe the issue is largely that the Sharples name was originally attached to a middle school and the family is unhappy that now the district wants to use it for an elementary school. The new name that is being put forth by Dr. Goodloe-Johnson is...