Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have now written three e-mails to the Board today. The first one I sent was about the issue of the school calendar, namely October 9th.  That I have asked - three times via three methods - and there is no reply tells me something is wrong.  There is not really a good reason to not have the calendar nailed down by now. The second e-mail was about FERPA and the ability to opt out of releasing data on your student while still allowing your student to be in the yearbook, newsletter, etc.  That this issue is ALSO not nailed down is wrong. The last e-mail was something that many of you have been plaintively asking for months - where are the SBAC scores?  For all the issues with giving them, parents got the promise of fast results that could be used to help their kids.  Crickets. From Annoyed's comment: Why doesn't the district live up to its own promises and why doesn't anyone hold them to them (and that goes not just for this but for many things). Yes...

Well, I just finished listening to the Mayor's press conference for the announcement of the new Education and Early Learning department. Is Murray "thinking" about a governance takeover OR has he "considered" it in an abstract way? The press conference video indicates he is aware of what other cities do (he compared the East Coast to the West Coast ) and said that " power is diffused in the West." I believe the Times - in their never-ending vendetta against the Seattle School Board (no matter who sits on it) - took the Mayor's statement about it might be easier to get things done if the City ran public education out of context. It was not any signal but an acknowledgement of how it could be different, but not necessarily better. The Board was NEVER mentioned.   By anyone.

Over and over again we see that the problem is not inadequate policies or procedures but the absence of any enforcement and the absence of any accountability for those who violate the policies and procedures. And who has the job of enforcing policy and holding staff accountable? The Board.

The School Board has a new form letter response: " Thank you for contacting the School Board Office. Please be assured that we take the issue of sexual assault seriously and are continuing to work with all parties involved -- including state and federal agencies and the family -- to address the concerns that have been raised and ensure that the appropriate legal process is followed. The family has filed complaints with several oversight agencies, and we trust that resolution of those actions will be fair and equitable.   Kind Regards ," The Board wants us to be assured that they take the issue of sexual assault seriously? Really? Telling us that they care about it isn't convincing at all. They need to show us. Here are seven things that the Board can - and should - do to assure us that they take the issue of sexual assault seriously.

Seattle Public Schools - the District, not the schools - is poorly governed and poorly managed. Let's not pretend otherwise. The evidence is all around us. The routine violation of policy and regular violation of state and federal law are ample evidence of poor governance. Seriously, read the auditor's reports, read the policies, or talk to the families of students with disabilities and you'll know about the culture of lawlessness in Seattle Public Schools. Governance is shredded where it exists at all. The poor management is equally obvious - there are almost no meaningful performance metrics, timelines are rarely met, inefficiencies are inadequacies are readily acknowledged, and the District is actively undoing decisions made just a few years ago. So what are the solutions? How do we fix the governance and how do we fix the management?

I had a good interview with Senator Ed Murray recently who will be in the General Election against current mayor, Mike McGinn.  We sat down in his campaign offices to talk. I asked him about what he believes t he role of the Mayor is vis a vis Seattle public education. He said that he believes it has changed from what it was traditionally as something of a cheerleader position to a more visible one.  He believes that the Mayor should push for discussions about changes needed in the district AND in city government to find better academic outcomes.  He said, "Only the Mayor has the position to pull stakeholders together." I told him that sounded a lot like mayoral takeover of the district.

The annual Board Evaluation , presented on July 3, 2013 made it clear that the Board would focus, over the coming six months, on defining the role of the Board. Two of those six months have passed, but I haven't seen any greater clarity on the role of the Board nor any overt effort to reach consensus on it. But Seattle isn't the only Board seeking clarity about their purpose.

Tuesday, August 6th Primary election including Mayor and School Board.   I hate this "dead of summer" primary so every vote truly does count.  I especially urge voters in District IV and District V to get in their votes for the School Board rep.  I think this will be quite the interesting General Election and I will have some thoughts when the Primary is over. Wednesday, August 7th BEX IV meeting from 7-8:30 pm about Arbor Heights Elementary renovation at AH, 3701 SW 104th Street. Note:  I had been looking at the September calendar when I stated last week that there would be a Board meeting this week.  There is no School Board meeting this week; the next one is Wednesday, August 21st.

The Alliance recently had an press "event" during a national urban school board directors convention held here in Seattle in late July.  The theme of the convention was "Building Educational Communities to Close the Achievement Gap" but that was not what this event was about at all. I had hoped this would be a press conference but no, it was really a dog-and-pony show to somehow drive home this point of what Seattle's School Board should be.  There was a smattering of press with Directors Peaslee and Smith-Blum in attendance as well.   I was confused as to who was in the room until I realized that some attendees from the convention had joined us as well. The speakers on the panel  - billed as "experts in the area of school board research and effectiveness" - were: Roger Eskine - on the Alliance's "School Board Task Force" and former Executive Director of the SEA Thomas L. Aisbury - Ed professor at Seattle Pacific University - ce...

With the blazing headline , " Will election be a solution to Seattle School Board turmoil ?", the Times lights into the current Board.  Some of what is said is pretty face value, that some Board members "don't trust top district staff."  Actually, that's not what any Board member said in the survey.  (I can go back but I don't remember that said.) What I believe was said is that staff felt the Board didn't always trust them.  And who can blame the Board given how many issues of trust have come up?  The Board's job IS oversight and yes, watching over the shoulders of top staff until the Board has regained its confidence. Again, you have earn trust. It is also stated that the Board is "supposed to stick to policy and oversight."  And that oversight does include accountability so yes, they must be sure their policies are enforced.  As well, the definition of what the Board is to do is in the RCW which is widely interpreted in board...

I am going to attempt to do some live blogging from the Board's Work Session to evaluate their work. I had wonder how this might go and I already see some unfamiliar faces sitting in the Board waiting area (they look like consultants) and the facilitiator, Bob Ness, that the Alliance likes to use. Quite by coincidence (I'm sure), the Alliance released some study they did on "effective" school boards.   I only read the executive summary but didn't see anything particularly new or striking in the work. The meeting starts in a few minutes so let's see how this goes. The consultants are from a firm on Mercer Island called Mercer Island Group. Everyone is quite jovial. But that seems to be changing when they see the scores they gave themselves on their self-evaluation. On a scale of 1-4, with 2.55 being average, they come in about 2.7. Worst one?  Is the Board working together effectively?  1.3.  And boy, they certainly don't believe someone el...

  Friday is the deadline to file to run for any of the three Board positions on the ballot in November.  Director Patu has indicated she is going to run.  Director Smith-Blum seems to be on the fence.  Director DeBell, after eight hard years of service, is stepping down.  There is only one candidate registered so far and that is for DeBell's seat. I hope that every single seat has at least two candidates.  It is vital to have the important conversations that only competition for a seat can bring.  As well, I do not like the idea of anyone just walking into office, unfettered.  Over at Publicola , they are asking legislative leaders about their budgets.   Here's part of what would be cut using the Senate's budget: $9.5 million in health care savings (that includes cutting a federally mandated $8.7 million child autism care program); $166 million in supposed (this makes Hunter apoplectic) "Overspending?!? Really?!?" on K-12 school const...

I had heard of this but never checked it out before - the online Visual Dictionary .   It could be helpful (and fun) for kids who are visual learners.  If only we had known this sooner about Michelle Rhee .  Interesting article from John Merrow- Who Created Michelle Rhee?  Turns out, all of us.  From Ed Week , School Board Transparency in the Digital Age. As online and digital interactions increase, so too does public concern that officials have more opportunities to violate state open-meetings and open-records laws meant to prevent them from communicating secretly. Maryland is among several states that are taking other steps to bring such laws into the 21st century. The legislature set up a joint committee on transparency and open government in 2011 to examine how Maryland can promote government transparency—in the state capital, Annapolis, and locally. Committee members evaluate current policies and practices on meetings and records and make recommendat...