Seattle Schools Community Forum

Almost a year ago I did a thread on South Shore and compared it to the other K-8s.  I found in reading, SS is about the same as most K-8s but the math is worse.  So I did a comparison today with South Shore, Roxhill and Maple from 2009 to today and there seems to be two issues.  One, something seems amiss from 3rd to 4th grade at South Shore .  The children in third grade do really well only to see those scores drop (and I mean drop) by 4th and into 5th.  Two, there is a bit of a mystery about South Shore.  No one mentions the long-time partnership that started South Shore (with the New School Foundation and now LEV).  Not at their school website and barely in the district's own pages.  You'd think this would be some shining example of (1) what you can do with smaller class sizes and (2) public/private partnerships.   Why doesn't the district talk about SS more when confronting legislators over funding?  I note the district d...

South Shore PreK-8 came up as a topic during a discussion over conversion charters .  I, like many, believe it would be a target (a willing one) for a conversion takeover.  I suspect you could get the parents or teachers to agree and I'm sure LEV, who now directs the foundation money that South Shore gets, would also be agreeable.  That leaves the community and the district that may not like the idea of losing a $73M building to a charter entity. One thing to keep in mind - ALL charters are their own districts .  If they take over a district building, they can decide the parameters - within the law - of public use just as SPS does.  If you use a school building for your local community meetings or Boy Scouts, you might have to find someplace else to go.  I also don't know what it would mean for the joint-use agreement that SPS has with Parks for SPS playfields.  I would assume if a charter group takes over the building and its grounds and is its ...

From the Eastlake Ave. Blog, concern over by TOPS from neighbors about a new development that says it is just 5 units but: "...neighbors note that it will actually have 39 individual units grouped around common kitchens on each floor (a basement and four other floors, with one kitchen on each floor). The neighbors also question locating such a project, which they fear will have transient occupants, just two doors from the TOPS@Seward School and two houses away from a daycare center."   There are also concerns around parking (which really is difficult around TOPS).  DPD seems to think it about the size rather than the number of units and that it part of the Residential Urban Village (under the Comprehensive Plan).   I've heard of this kind of "apartment" which is basically a small room with a bathroom (smaller than a studio).  I'm sure it fills a need but it seems like the City should take into account how many people could potentially live there...

From Dr. Enfield to the TOPS community: I am excited today to announce the appointment of Chris Scott as your new principal, effective July 30, 2012.   Dr. Scott comes to TOPS from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he is currently the principal of a gifted and talented magnet school. Dr. Scott earned his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he focused on social justice and equity in public education and conducted research addressing educational opportunities of American Indian students.   Dr. Scott was selected after a hiring process that included interviews with a team consisting of four parents, three certificated staff and one classified staff member. The process was comprehensive and the members of the committee were nominated through the TOPs site council. Candidates also participated in a site-visit.  The selection team committee was particularly impressed with Dr. Scott’s both his personal and professional dedication to social justice. Dr. Sco...

Looks like the assistant principal at TOPS, Jeanne Kuban, is moving to be the assistant principal at Kimball.  The new assistant principal at TOPS will be Sarah Morningstar who was an assistant principal at RBHS.  I know Kimball is fairly large but I didn't know they needed an assistant principal.  So there's Bryant and Kimball with K-5s with assistant principals.  Does Lowell?  Any movement at your school?

Note: I pulled this out of one thread because I thought it important for parents to see and let their views be known to someone in SPS in a position to do something about it.  Thank you to Maureen from TOPS for this info. If anyone thinks their 8th grader is prepared to skip 9th grade Physical Science (Seattle Girls' School? TOPS? Others?), please email the High School PTSA and Science Director, Elaine Woo (ewoo@seattleschools.org), and let them know right now. You can also email me at maureen at germani dot org so we can coordinate. TOPS grads cover 100% of the 9-12 Physical Science standards and at least 75% of the 9-12 Life Sciences standards. Their teacher is certified K-12. There has never been a reason (or a way?) to make sure they get HS credit for what they cover but I spoke with Elaine Woo yesterday about the possibility of piloting a HS level Physical Science class at TOPS (not that I have to authority to do anything about it). It makes more sense to allow...

I started this in Charlie's thread's comment section but it got too long. So, to add to the discussion, here are my notes (I left as Charlie arrived). From my notes: -the Board office has two new hires so both Joan Dingfield and Pam Oakes are gone. I'll miss them; they are nice people. One new thing; the addition of the first 5+ people on the waitlist to the agenda so you can get an idea of where you might be on the waitlist -Lots of energy from TOPS parents who very calmly and clearly explained their issue about transportation. Over 50% of their students will lose their transportation, mostly from the southend. They are asking for a community stop model for buses so their students can continue on. Their hope is for the district to fulfill this request for 3 years. (This time request has something to do with a promise the district made, I believe.) - it was pointed out that a member of the BEX Oversight Committee is doing business with the district and this has not...

Someone had requested this thread. I just saw yet another story of school violence, this time at TOPS. Unfortunately, it was characterized as a "brawl" when it was between two students. It also sounds kind of sketchy like the officer who got called - yes, they called the police - couldn't quite figure out the whole story. So what to make of all this? I'm sure the reality is that on any given day in SPS, with over 10 high schools and 9 middle schools and what? 8 K-8s, that there is likely to be some kind of violence. It's hormonal, high emotion time in middle and high school. I'm not saying that violence is okay but we can't overreact to the fact that it IS a fact of life. Kids get upset and act out. Does the district keeps accurate stats and if they do, are they available? I don't know. I know the head of security, I could ask her. I wonder if schools have to report everything or just things of a certain uptick factor. Screaming and yelling...

( Update : Charlie and others discuss the meeting on the thread I wrote about the Transition Plan vote. Check there for more.) I have not finished watching my tape of the School Board meeting. There was an article in the Times this morning about it. Apparently the Transition Plan passed, 6-1 (with Betty Patu voting against). Both Director Martin-Morris' amendment for Thorton Creek and Director Carr's amendment for JSIS passed. And, South Shore got its own Geographic Zone amendment for next year. Nice. So here's an open thread for the meeting. Here are my notes: I must have missed it but apparently Kaaren Andrews of Madrona is leaving mid-year for Interagency. There were several speakers about this including many children. This mid-year stuff strikes me as hard on everyone and particularly for the poor principal coming in. A good point was made when one speaker said that Ruth Medsker, the middle school director, told a parent that "it was in the best inte...

I attended the Budget/Transition Board Work Session yesterday (well, 4 hours of it before I left). I had seen they were going to discuss the Budget and, as usual, the Board bit off more than it could chew in one sitting. The budget portion went long and the Transition Plan got started late. I regret I couldn't stay for all the Transition Plan (and yes, grandfathering was at the end). However, I saw several familiar faces there and I know they will fill in. As it turns out, it was good to hear about the upcoming budget issues because my belief is that the budget and the new SAP are on a collision course. We are headed for a huge budget crisis of proportions we haven't seen since the Olchefske era. We are losing almost $24M from state money alone. The gap as of yesterday was $35M BUT, if they want to enact the new SAP, it could rise to nearly $45M between the new SAP and what is called Budget Enhancements. They are likely to dip into reserves again. This is going to last...

I pointed out recently that in the SPS calendar, there were two school start times that were incorrect. It says that all the K-8s start at 8:20 a.m. Now we here know that it's not so; TOPS and Salmon Bay have a different start time. I had called around at the district yesterday, trying to find out how this happened but I got a very irritated person in Transportation saying the calendars were not their doing. I spoke to someone in Communications who said they would have Tom Bishop of Transportation call me back. I pointed this at to the Board, both in an e-mail and at the Board meeting. I told them, "One thing you need to get right is the time you expect parents to have their child at school." I ran into Mr. Bishop as I left the Board meeting. He explained that yes, two K-8s don't start at the same time as the others. He seemed very calm and not a whole lot concerned. I told him the calendar reflected that they all start at the same time. He said thanks for tel...