Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Times has two editorials from this weekend that leave a lot to be desired. One is about forced teacher placement at schools.  We get a story trotted out about what, yes, sounds like a terrible teacher.  The parents in one classroom at West Woodland kept their kids home for some number of days in 2011 because of her.  But what the editorial lacks is what happened from there.  What did the district do?  Did the principal really, in the face of what sounds like constant complaints, really sit back and do nothing?  That's on the principal who does have the power to exit a poor-performing teacher. The writer, Jonathan Martin, then pushes Senate Bill 5242 that the Senate Republican ed reformers (and our not-a Dem Senator Rodney Tom).  This bill would give principals the sole discretion over who gets into their building, no matter the teacher's background/skills.  That means HR could think a teacher could be a good fit but the principal could sa...

What a week.  Confusion over the interim plan for the next school year, GHS teachers/staff take a stand against MAP and a chance of snow flurries?  Support GHS teachers (and encourage other SPS teachers/staff) to say no to MAP at their Facebook page .   Don't forget the following activities this weekend: Saturday, January 12th Kick-off for Schools First campaign for the SPS operations and capital levies (Props 1 and 2) from 10:30-11:30 am at McKinstry's Innnovation Center (just sw of Costco), 210 S. Hudson St. Director Carr Community Meeting from 8:30-10 am at Bethany Community Church, 8023 Green Lake Dr North - Main Sancutary Bld, Classroom A Director Martin-Morris Community Meeting from 9:30-11:30 am at Diva Espresso, 8013 Lake City Way NE Director McLaren Community Meeting from 10:15am - 12:15 pm at Delridge Library, 5423 Delridge Way SW Sunday, January 13th Washington Ceasefire march/rally starting at 1:30 p.m .  We will walk from Westlake...

There are four schools which are cheated by the District every year. They are South Lake, The Center School, The NOVA Project, and The World School. These are high schools which are not funded in accordance with the Weighted Staffing Standard used to fund every other high school. Instead of getting the funding that they are supposed to get, these schools get much, much less. High schools with enrollment under 800 are supposed to be funded with these staff positions: High School Staffing for schools with less than 800 students (AAFTE) Principal 1.0 Asst. Principal 1.0 Admin. Secretary (260) 1.0 Data Registrar (220) 1.0 Attendance Spec. (201) 1.0 Fiscal Specialist (220) 1.0 Activity Coordinator 1.0 Nurse 0.8 Counselor* (per 400 students) 1.0 Librarian 1.0 Academic Intervention Specs 1.0 These schools, however, are not allotted these staff positions. These schools are singled out to be intentionally underfunded. You might think it is because they are small schools, but Rain...

Folks who watch school board meetings have probably heard students from The NOVA Project speak to the board about how their school is funded. You may wonder what the heck they are talking about. They are NOT talking about the 15% reduction in funding that the state grants to Alternative Learning Experience schools. This has nothing to do with decisions made at the state level. Instead, they are talking about how the District unfairly under-funds NOVA, along with The Center School and South Lake High School. The story is not hard to understand, but it it is tricky because it doesn't make any sense at all. Nearly every school in the district is funded through the Weighted Staffing Standards. There are, however, a few schools which are not. It might make sense to fund and staff schools like the Homeschool Resource Center, Interagency, and Middle College differently from the way that other schools are funded. They are not organized or structured like other schools. But if you were to...

Good news from both the district and the Times , West Seattle Elementary has a brand-new library with new books, paint, carpetings and 10 iPads via a partnership between Target and the Heart of America Foundation.   The projected cost was $200k.    Mayor McGinn attended the ribbon-cutting.   Motivational quotes are part of the new library:  She pointed to new motivational quotes on the library's walls such as "Un libro es un amigo que nunca te dara la espalda" (Spanish for "A book is a friend that will never leave you") and "It is important to remember that we all have magic inside us" (from J.K. Rowling). Ballard High School student Meron Kasahu , along with 826 Executive Director, Teri Hein , were awarded the 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from first lady Michelle Obama at the White House on November 2nd.   The award is the highest recognition for community-based arts and humanities programs, such as 8...

It wasn't quite the barnburner I thought it would be, this Construction Management audit . However, it was, for me, quietly defeating. It confirms my belief that the Superintendent would like to consolidate more power to staff and that many staff see the Board as something of a pesky fly to bat away. It did turn out to be a performance audit which meant they were not looking for anything illegal but rather asking was the district doing its job for construction management of BEX projects. There's an awful lot I could report but I think I'll just give the highlights for now and a separate thread on Board reaction and reflections. The audit is not yet available to the public but I will post it when it does. Highlights All the Board, except Kay Smith-Blum, were in attendance along with the head of Facilities, the Superintendent, the COO, two district legal counsels and the head of BEX Oversight Committee (the volunteer committee made up of construction and property manageme...

I attended the BEX Oversight Committee meeting on Friday. As usual, interesting stuff. No Board member attended. Here's a recap. the problematic Small Business Hub program seems to be dismantled and nearly shut down. What is interesting is that they absorbed all the 4 employees into the Facilities department. I don't want to be unkind but why? If that program is no longer going to exist, why did we need to keep four people? (This is the program that the State Auditor called out for having morphed from a policy that the Board created to make sure the district did outreach to small/minority businesses wishing to do business with SPS into a $1M a year, 40 class program. Most of the people attending these classes never did any business with SPS which is why the audit said it was improper use of capital funds.) Nearly 2 million dollars will leave our Operations budget and go back to Capital. So we don't even have to wait for the state to cut funding to our district - we do it do...

From the Rainier Valley Post : Last week, South Lake High School counselor Carol Johnson was honored in a surprise school-wide rally with the “Champion for Youth Award” from Atlantic Street Center, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Seattle’s kids and families thrive. It feels like she works every waking moment trying to better the lives of the people she comes into contact with,” notes Ralph Fragale , Atlantic Street Center’s counseling department program manager. Fragale routinely works with Johnson to provide students and their families with the resources available through Atlantic Street Center’s programs. South Lake is a small re-entry high school near RBHS (and adjoining South Shore K-8). It's good to know there are fine staff at every school including those reaching youth who need extra help and guidance.

I've attended a few meetings and received some information from other sources that may be of interest. First Item - Math Placement Apparently the district math department (via MAP scores) sent out honors math placements to middle schools based on winter MAP scores . The placement lists were done BEFORE all 5th graders had taken the Spring test. Teachers had been assured that the Spring MAP exam would determine placement . I was told that, for example, at one school 80% of the kids would have qualified using the Spring scores versus about 50% with the Winter scores. There seems to be an issue with seats but if we have qualified kids, they all should get the placement. The district will probably get a lot of blowback on this issue but may try to dodge it some other way. Second Item - Facilities I attended the BEX Oversight Committee meeting on Friday. I was particularly interested in hearing what was happening with South Shore. I arrive a few minutes late and wo...