Seattle Schools Community Forum

On October 19th, 2016 hundreds of Seattle teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, nurses, instructional assistants, librarians, and other educators will be wearing Black Lives Matter shirts to school in an unprecedented action, “ Black Lives Matter At School .”  That's how the Seattle Equality Educators' FAQ document starts.  I have previously only seen the day called "day of solidarity" but now it seems it is officially "Black Lives Matter at School." There are a couple of con fusing things. 

Second Strike Update: As of an hour ago, SEA says no movement on negotiations.  I'm going to go to the press conference that is to be held at 3 pm. ( Strike update: nothing from SEA as of 10:15 am today, Sunday the 13th; SPS has a press conference today at 3 pm.  Maybe they are hoping there will be something to say then.) 1) In some of the biggest news for public education in Washington State - namely, that the Governor is assembling a "work group" to get McCleary done AND doesn't want the overturned charter law part of the discussion (AND he still doesn't support charter schools) - and yet the Seattle Times has said nothing.  Zero. Zip.  (At least I can't find it.) The Stranger reported it.  The Puget Sound Business Journal reported it.  And that was two days ago.  But the Times has time to write about the Justices who sit on the Supreme Court.  Hmm...

Bravo.  From the Seattle Council PTSA Board, who once again, are clear and concise in their concerns which I consider valid (bold mine):

In case you didn't notice, the number of MAC members who filed their own opinions went up from 1 teacher to 3 more on the committee. I believe there may be three certain votes against the adoption of enVision.   I think there could be a fourth vote but again, hard to discern. My concern is not that some members of the Board will agree with the recommendation (or the process used to get to this point) but they will hear the eternal siren call of the staff "hurry up, gotta get it done, money will be lost."  It seems to work for some Board members every -single - time and I have to wonder why. My hope is that if the Board goes along with the staff rec, that at least some of the Board will state that they will no longer accept work that is not objective and complete from staff within a stated timeframe on any future votes. It appears that the principals group board (PASS) is supporting the recommendations of MAC. The SCPTA board is taking a more nuanced view...

Well, that was interesting.  I'm sorry there were so few people there (but my experience is that many people never go to SCPTSA meetings anyway, choosing to go to their school PTA meeting). As usual, they had food (so no one goes hungry) and welcoming faces.  I note that the Board is a multi-racial one.  (SCPTSA President Katherine Schomer later mentioned that they have been unable to find a rep from either the NW or NE.  So much for that theory that the NE runs SCPTSA.) Much of the entire senior staff was in attendance including Superintendent Banda. President Schomer started the meeting by acknowledging their contact list has problems and they have been struggling with it since fall.  Apparently the state PTA has had issues of sending SCPTSA updated information on what PTAs are members and who their contacts are. As well, the SCPTSA is working on a new website . They did talk about the state PTA convention coming up from April 25-27th over in Belle...

Monday, April 7th Seattle Council PTSA General Meeting on Monday April 7th from 7-9pm. This will be a good one as the Superintendent will be there, along with top staff to answer questions.  Curriculum and Instruction Meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m., Agenda Wednesday, April 9th  A really long day for some Board members that includes these meetings: Executive Committee Meeting from 8:30 am-10 am, Agenda Oversight Work Session: Teach&Learning Part 1 from 4-5:30 pm.   This will cover ELL/International programs and Special Education.  There is no mistaking that this is NOT enough time to go over a program and its issues AND allow Board members to ask questions.  It's a very frustrating experience to see this process continuing on.   Presentation: ELL/International programs .  To note: under Threat/Risks: Clear shared vision and mission that is concrete for all SPS staff  - well that's not good. I reviewed the presentation and i...

From the Seattle Council PTSA: Dear Seattle Council PTSA Members, As you probably know, our state constitution requires ample funding for education.  The Washington Supreme court has directed the legislature to show real and measurable progress by 2018--the McCleary Decision--, and yet, our schools are still underfunded. Please take a few minutes for kids and complete this quick s urvey  .   Your survey reply will be printed into a postcard.  These postcards will be hand delivered to your Washington State Legislators (your Senator and 2 Representatives) plus Governor Inslee on Washington State PTA Focus Day on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 in Olympia. Our kids deserve a twenty-first century education.  The  survey  takes less than 3 minutes but time is short and we need your response by Tuesday, January 28th, 2014. Thank you very much, Eden Mack, SCPTSA Legislative Chair Heidi Be...

 Board Amendment Work Session Wed. November 13th, 5:30 pm John Stanford Center for Excellent Education at 3rd and Lander in SoDo This will be the first preview of proposed, first-draft Board Director Amendments.  Note that whatever is presented today may not see daylight in the end.  The Seattle Council PTSA hosted a meeting last night with district staff.  Here is what one person heard: "It is clear that there is going to be pain involved for almost every school in the district. It was like an opera of issues.   The schools that were the happiest were those that got to meet with the district and work out solutions they could live with.

Not much happening this week in SPS meetings but many education events this month.

First up, Ramona Hattendorf, the SCPTSA President, is stepping down to take a job as the Washington state PTSA lobbyist. That sounds like a good job for her. Lauren McGuire is the new president. Also the SCPTSA sent out another eNews bulletin about TFA entitled " Debate, Round II: Teach for America" . Can I just say there is no real debate going on except here. Here's a brand new program that directly affects classroom teaching and there's no debate at all? So this bulletin once again has what proponent say and opponents say. What bothers me is that the PTSA does not flesh out a lot of details and much gets lost. For example, saying that TFA recruits get 5 weeks training, become teachers and then go on to get full certification. Well, that going on is while they are teachers. I find that a lot for a first-year teacher to be taking on. What really bothers me is they put a case for TFA (provided by TFA) and a case against (provided by the SEA). No one else h...