Seattle Schools Community Forum

New attachment to the BAR, Nyland's letter at end of attachments. I am ceding my speaker time to Sarah Sense Wilson, a leader in the Native American parent community tonight but in my prepared remarks I stated I was puzzled.  Because weeks ago, one director had said that they wouldn't be considering any kind of raise/extension until AFTER the State of the District and the release of the District Scorecard.  Neither thing has happened. SPS parents have to pay for basic supplies. The district can't afford ORCA cards for RBHS students who truly want to be at school on time. Maintenance can't even set the clocks in all the school to be on time. Is anyone really impressed with his offer?  I'm not.

Yup, Superintendent Nyland. Here's the BAR about this from the Board agenda.  This is an Intro item with a vote at the next Board meeting in two weeks. They propose a 5% raise (based on COLA and other management raises) which would raise his BASE pay to over $289K.  And they propose extending his contract to June 2018 (it is currently 2017.)

I believe that this year is to be a pivotal one in public education - for our district, our state and nationally. I'll go in reverse order.

The agenda for the regular legislative Board meeting on December 3 has been amended. The scheduled vote on the motion to offer an extended contract to Dr. Nyland has been changed from December 3 to a Special Board meeting on December 10. The special meeting is already on the Board Calendar and other scheduled Board activities for that day have been re-scheduled. Immediate action is no longer in the best interests of the District. I can only presume that Board President Peaslee acted unilaterally when scheduling the special meeting and re-scheduling the other activities. Board Policy 1400 gives her that authority: " Special meetings may be called by the President or on a petition of a majority of the Board members ." Moving the vote to December 10 still allows only half of the usual amount of time between introduction and action on a motion. The Board is meeting on December 17th as well, the usual two week gap between introduction and action, but President Peaslee did ...

If you haven't met Superintendent Nyland, here's your chance.  I think it worth your time especially as he is considering whether to apply to be the permanent superintendent. From SPS Communications: Dr. Larry Nyland, who was appointed by the School Board in June to serve as Interim Superintendent, has outlined several opportunities this fall to meet with community members. These informal gatherings will include a few short remarks from Dr. Nyland, followed by time for an open question and answer period.

I spoke at last night's Board meeting.  My remarks were about the MOU with the Alliance for Education (more on that in another thread as the Board discussion with Charles Wright was telling) and to welcome Superintendent Nyland and ask for his help. My remarks to the Superintendent: I want to say welcome to Superintendent Nyland.  Please understand, you may truly be the guy in the white hat who just rode into our district. You can be a figurehead, a follower or the change agent that our district needs so badly. The change? Creating a headquarters that is well-run and, in turn, a district that is well-run.  Our district is not well-run. We need a central headquarters staff that follows policies and procedures and that any deviation from that will be handled appropriately.  That attitude needs to funnel down to the last staff member in every single school. Because the Title IX issues - and the case they stem from - are appalling.  Everyone wants to be ...