Seattle Schools Community Forum

Tuesday, September 30th Meet Superintendent Nyland from 6 pm - 7:00 pm at New Holly Community Center, 7054 32nd Ave S Wednesday, October 1st Meet Superintendent Nyland from 8:30 am-9:30 am at John Muir Elementary, 3301 S. Horton St. School Board meeting , starting at 4:15 pm (note: there is to be an Executive Session on Potential Litigation from 8-8:30 pm Agenda On the Consent Agenda are various Board policies that have been revised.  Of note is that the Board will not be posting their agenda three "working" days before the meeting but three days.  Under the old policy, you could see the agenda on Friday (with Friday, Monday and Tuesday being the three "working" days) but under this new policy, you may not see the agenda until Sunday.  Action Items (partial) Race to the Top money for Pre-K-3.   Parents, we need to have a very serious talk soon about the district's PreK-3 Action Plan.  I did not know this existed until today (and it's in i...

It's the end of spring so, I'm spring cleaning.  That means going thru my vast SPS files and throwing out/reordering. Naturally, I found some interesting stuff (but threw out two bags of paper).  Among the things I found: - Did you know I was an education activist in high school?  Me, neither but apparently I wrote, for the school newspaper, an op-ed in support of a bond measure to building onto our school.  I mention that our high school was built for less than 1,000 students and we had over 1500.   We had 30-year old stadium lights that leaned like the tower in Pisa.  We needed science labs and a new auto shop. It was for $3M but I don't know if it passed.  - Did you know the Alliance for Education - at least in 2011 - actually included Spectrum in the feedback they received from folks attending their State of the District luncheon.  " Increase access to Spectrum and ensure consistency across the district."   - Did you k...

I don't believe this project is going well.  It's interesting because it got roundly defended by Director Carr at last week's Board meeting.  But all the engagement she noted was before it was decided that Pinehurst would be part of the mix.  I almost wonder if the Board feels like the district gave in on that one and so they won't argue about the auditorium.   I also believe that, like the World School at TT Minor, Pinehurst won't be at W-P very long.  (I'm not speaking out of turn or endangering either program - I'm saying what is perfectly obvious given the growth in this district.)  To say that an auditorium would be underused and not worth the space, given you are talking about two schools next to each other, in an area without a community center space and the multiple uses that schools with auditoriums find, I'm not buying the district's arguments against W-P having one. Think about signing this petition because (1) it really is a good...

First, there will be a meeting - called by the Superintendent - for discussion around renovating T.T. Minor to be the new home for World School .  The meeting is tomorrow night, Monday the 18th, at JSCEE at 5:30 pm. I'm not sure what form the discussion will take.  The issue is two-fold.  One, World School has been consistently ignored by the district and the Board (or takes a backseat to almost every other program, take your pick).  At one point, their BEX III money had disappeared.  When it reappeared, it was less than had been allotted with no explanation. But the concern is that T.T. Minor may not end being their permanent home.  Data indicates that the Central Area growth will need that space.  At the Work Session last week, it was suggested if that happens, the district would be able to add a wing to Bailey-Gatzert.  This may be true but for two issues. One, B-G is not in the same place as T.T. Minor - it seems like this would add more...

I am going to attempt to slog through all my notes but I expect Charlie, Kellie and Meg to chime in here as we were all sitting at the back taking notes.  (And, I had to take a phone call during part of the APP middle school discussion.)  Staff has done an incredible job in creating the various plans.  No one can truly know how long it must have taken and the tedious but important job of determining walk zones, ripple effects (if this, then that) and all the other issues they had to take into account. So why so messy and why so much confusion? My view (not shared by Kellie) is that the main flaw WAS the public engagement.  Kellie believes the problem was never truly expressed so the answers were always to be confusing and flawed.  I believe that I think I know what staff problem staff was trying to solve but that they never engaged their stakeholders correctly in the first place and so, never had real buy-in AND created mistrust. The old set-up for these...

I still have to get the whole Growth Boundaries discussion done (but other fires to put out). BUT, you need to know the following information from the Board comments (and other sources): - All amendments to the plan HAVE to be to Flip Herdon and Tracy Libros by tomorrow, Friday the 9th.  That's so staff can research and vet each one.  So, you will have to get your thinking cap on and get going. - Apparently, Michael DeBell seems to think that the figure of 270 is some kind of cap for APP at JAMS.  He said that the original ALTF said this in our report but that was a floor size to create the cohort.  But another staff person said that DeBell knows that's the floor but he seems to want a cap number for any given school.  That might be true but it should not be the lowest number possible.  He may be using this for any amendment he has on JAMS. - I think President Smith-Blum may introduce an amendment around moving World School to TT Minor.  Her c...

From North End Mom: Here is a link to the presentation from yesterday's Growth Boundaries work session. There is a new staff proposal to "implement full grade assignment in year one." (see slide 24 and 25). Basically, it is assigning JAMS and JAMS/Eckstein APP, grades 6, 7, and 8, to JAMS, in the JA building, beginning next fall. The APP kids living in the Eckstein SA would have the choice of going to Eckstein as GenEd or going to APP at JAMS. JA K-8 is relocated to John Marshall, so no co-location with JAMS for the K-8. Wilson Pacific would start up (grades 6, 7, and 8) in John Marshall 2016-17. They give enrollment numbers for all the north middle schools, and it looks like the building utilization would be pretty good, if everyone does what they want them to do. End of NE Mom post.  (Thanks!) Here's what the agenda looked like: Work Session: Growth Boundaries–Presentation Discussion of major issues: •T. T. Minor •Washington Middle SchoolBoundary •Acce...

 Updates: - there were full tables and most were about one school or area.  There was a Coe table, a Beacon Hill table (with some hard facts about the changes for that area), a TT Minor table, Montlake, etc. - I found these to be people who knew their facts and, if they didn't, wanted to find out more.  One man pushed back against the format, asking why staff couldn't explain who thought up the boundaries and explain them.  He was told they just wanted "comments and feedback."  I don't think many were satisfied with that answer. -Rep Jamie Pedersen was there and he spoke as a father of four (one in school).  I think he's getting a good picture of the issues. Takeaways : - this region HAS had a lot of push-pull from the district.  I honestly had not realized how bad it has been.   And, like other regions, the boundaries are NOT taking into account established "community boundaries or geographical features.  For example, one are...

Saturday sees three Director Community Meetings: Community Meeting with Director Martin-Morris at Diva Espresso on Lake City Way from 9:30-11:30 am. Community Meeting with Director Smith-Blum at Capitol High Library, 425 Harvard Ave. E from 10 am-11:30 am Community Meeting with Director Patu at Caffe Vita, 5028 Wilson Avenue S. from 10 am to noon. From Central District News, a story about unhappy Central area parents and elementary school choices.  What's interesting is either no one checked in with the district on the use for TT Minor or chose to ignore what the district is planning (to reopen TT Minor for World School).  I think there are valid points here, though. Parents and residents in a northern swatch of the Central District, from Madison Avenue to Cherry Street and from 14th to 23rd Avenues (called Areas 42 and 43) are hoping to influence the school district to reopen TT Minor as the area’s elementary school. The group’s impetus for forming is a rec...

Next week is the first of the BEX IV community meetings (Thursday, the 20th at Whitman at 6:30 p.m.).  It now looks like a real battle brewing and the Board will certainly have a decision to make. For your consideration: - the Downtown Seattle Association has made the unfortunate decision to continue to pressure the Board/City Council for a downtown school.  To their credit, they took a meeting with me and I outlined why, at this juncture, it was bad timing.  I also gently put forth that if one of the South Lake Union businesses would donate a couple of floors, the district could roll out a K-8 or K-5 one year at a time and, by the time BEX V came, then they would get a real building.  (I mean it's just plain funny to ask for money for a building when there is NO land to build on.) They also apparently do not understand the severe and pressing needs elsewhere in the city despite my efforts to explain the overcrowding elsewhere AND the number of rundown schoo...

Earlier in the month the Board had a Work Session on BEX IV.  Here are some highlights and commentary. The beginning of the meeting saw staff go over the input from the BEX IV community meetings .  It was surprisingly thin.  All that was said was that there were 510 oral and written comments and that Option #2 received the most yes votes (although I later saw the numbers and it was close between #2 and #3).   Director Martin-Morris had to ask about how this informs the Board what the community is thinking on this issue.  Pegi McEvoy said that info in was in a Friday update that had been published two weeks prior.  Here's a link to the webpage on the community meetings for BEX IV. Head of Capital Building projects, Lucy Morello, said they would be carrying over some major maintenance from BTA III.  This puzzles me.  I thought we had a separation of BEX and BTA precisely so that each has its own discrete area.  This goes to the issu...

The Times is reporting that Hamlin Robinson, a non-profit private school that serves students with dyslexia and other language-problem issues, may be leasing the TT Minor building. They had previously put in an application to buy the MLK, Jr. building but got beaten out by another private school, Bush School. The use of TT Minor by Hamlin would likely be only 5-7 years as the district feels they might need it back by then because of enrollment trends. Hamlin seems okay with the deal and the Board expects to vote on this by the end of the school year. On a separate topic, did anyone attend the district Budget Meeting yesterday? Any of the community meetings?

By request, a thread on the effort to save TT Minor from Mr. Lemur: "A concerned (and tireless) parent has been speaking with the school board and has received a commitment from School Board President Michael DeBell that if she can find 300 students to attend the school, he will keep TT Minor open. They have received 200 plus signatures so far but they need more! The intent is to keep TT Minor open as a regular elementary school with an further emphasis on art and foreign language instruction. There is talk of partnering with Pratt for art and other partners for music instruction. The free pre-school would remain as well. There are forms to fill out available at Tougo Coffee or you can call 206-323-7413 for more information."

An interesting slog. It was a packed house with many Cooper and Summit parents, a smattering of TT Minor and AAA (although vocal) and APP parents (Lowell and Washington). Director Martin-Morris was not there and there was no reason given for him not being (although I know that every director did not attend every public hearing so he probably had a conflict in schedule). This meeting, combined with listening to the KUOW interview with Dick Lily, Michael De Bell and Mary Bass yesterday, has really turned some of my thinking. I do believe that I agree with Dick Lily; the district needs to table this for at least a year . It has gotten so convoluted. Phase II did not go through so this could happen but I believe it would damage the relationship between the Board and Dr. Goodloe-Johnson so they will continue on. However, after listening to the KUOW interview, I think there will be some changes to the final list (although no new schools added). Highlights from the interview Michael De ...