Seattle Schools Community Forum

One story the Times did cover was that the state Supreme Court said a 14-year old Bethel High school girl who was raped - off-campus - by another student, who was an older registered sex offender, can sue that district.  The older student had been "acting an an unofficial coach and mentor to younger students."  The school knew his background but did not tell staff. It was a 5-4 decision.

Board Policy 3208, Sexual Harassment, calls for an annual report from the Superintendent. There never were any such annual reports until two years ago. The first one, delivered in August of 2014, was completely inadequate and utterly failed to meet the requirements of the policy.

We are not North Carolina and this has got to be a no if only because of the financial ramifications (but, of course it isn't only about money.) From The Stranger: Washington State could lose as much as $4.4575 billion annually in federal funding—and much of it for the state's public schools—if voters pass anti-trans bathroom initiative 1515 , according to a new report.

From SPS: The district is distributing prevention materials to families and students this week. The materials were selected by the Task Force for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault and were shared with principals and assistant principals at leadership learning events earlier this year.

The minutes from the last Operations Committee meeting shed some light (if somewhat dimly.) From the December 17, 2015 minutes: FACMAC:   Resurrecting FACMAC was discussed. Dr. Herndon explained that the FACMAC was a superintendent advisory committee working on the operational side which is different than the BEX Oversight Committee, is a professional advisory board appointed by the Board of Directors. The committee expressed concerns that the former FACMAC had been primarily run by two people and did not represent the school district equally. Dr. Herndon will be discussing the committee with the superintendent in the next few months when current workloads have lessened. 1) Which "committee" expressed these concerns - BEX Oversight or FACMAC?  2) Who were the two people?  (I have my own thoughts but I don't really know.) 3) Finally, it would be GREAT to see FACMAC back but that "discussing in next few months after workload lessens" doesn't exactl...

As soon as the Title IX news moved off the headlines, the Title IX work in Seattle Public Schools moved off the agenda. The annual report required by Board Policy 3208 has never been submitted. Never. The Board has never asked for it and the superintendent has never offered it. There is no Title IX coordinator. There was an interim person, then another interim person. There's no one doing the work right now. There was a report by the interim Title IX coordinator. No action is planned in response to that report. Despite promises to revise the sexual harassment policy and procedure, that work remains incomplete. Title IX training has come to a stop. The Board has lost all interest in completing the Title IX work that they made such a show of starting. They do not respond to emails about the stalled work on Title IX.

From U.S. News and World Report on the uptick of reported assaults:

The Garfield student protest over the possible loss of their beloved choir/musical director was held on Wednesday.  There were about 100 students, many with signs that read, "Bring Back Burton" and "Hurtin' for Burton."  Their statements are included at the end of this thread (these were supplied to me by them).  Here's their ask: We are calling on Seattle Schools, especially Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland to take into consideration the legacy Ms. Burton has built and her day to day performance as a devoted, caring, and invaluable teacher. We encourage friends, former students, colleagues, and the public to send letters in support of Ms. Burton and her positive impact to the email: superintendent@seattleschools. org .

Interesting notations in the March 12, 2015 update to Superintendent Nyland from OSPI on the Consolidated Program Review 2014-2015 .  This report includes " commendations, technical assistance, noncompliant items and actions required." The district has 45 calendar days which makes their follow-up date April 27th. Among these notations:

I am tired and so frustrated over this issue but here we go again. Seattle Schools is paying out $249,999 (to avoid hitting $250k which would have triggered School Board approval) to a former student at Eckstein who says a computer teacher sexually abused her verbally and physically.   This was about the time one of my sons was there and I am appalled and saddened because I thought the teacher was a good one.  Maybe he was a good teacher but this settlement seems to say otherwise. I have no idea if the Board knew this was coming. From the Times :

Quite an interesting and packed agenda for the Audit and Finance Committee meeting on Thursday.  (It's also interesting that the Executive Ctm meeting, normally in the morning, is at the exact same time so it won't be possible to attend both.) Items of interest : Washington State Auditor’s Office Entrance Conference (Technow)  Always interesting to hear from the Auditor.

You can visit the District's Title IX web page for the latest news about Seattle Public Schools Title IX compliance efforts. The latest developments include the hiring of an interim Title IX Compliance Officer, Barbara Nahouraii, her addition to the Title IX Task Force (in place of Michael Tolley), and the adoption, on December 9th, of a new superintendent procedure, 3208SP, on sexual harassment . On that same day, December 9th, I sent an email to Ms Nahouraii with eleven questions about the current status of the District's Title IX compliance efforts. They were all questions that I presumed she would be able to answer off the top of her head. She replied with a brief email promising a response "shortly". I have yet to receive that response. It's only been about two weeks. I guess it still qualifies as "shortly". Here were the eleven questions:

In one of the stranger press releases I've ever seen come from SPS, comes this one today on field trips.  It starts with this general district-wide information below:

Since the District settled with the family of the student who reported a rape during a Garfield field trip, the press attention on Title IX compliance has dropped off considerably. What about the District's attention to Title IX compliance? During the summer and fall it seemed that the District's response was more in reaction to the press attention than a recognition that they had some internal issues that needed resolution. Now that the press isn't watching as closely, what is the District doing?

From SPS: Lunch/Recess Times -          We understand the concerns of parents regarding lunch and recess times. This is an issue we are taking seriously and are working to address. -          A Wellness task force has begun looking into the concerns and issues surrounding lunch times throughout the district. The purpose of this 18-month long task force is to examine nutrition, physical education and physical activity. -          The task force will provide recommendations to the superintendent at the end of this time period. -          Creating daily school schedules has become increasingly complex, due to multiple factors and requirements. This includes: o   State Board of Instruction required educational hours o   Recess times o ...

 Anybody get a call from the Gates Foundation survey folks?  My household did. According to my son, they asked some general questions and then got very specific.  What did he think of the efforts of the Gates Foundation in public education?  What did he think about the Gates Foundation's efforts around Common Core? They really need a poll to figure out what they are doing wrong?  I am assuming the Gates Foundation is doing the poll because 1) they fund everything and 2) who else would fund a poll on them? From SPS Legal about Title IX (bold mine): At this point the staff commitment is to create the very best Title IX program we can, complete with notices, training, and effective responses to incidents. This requires a clear chain of responsibility. Our first step was to create a Title IX web page, designating the key individuals. We are updating it frequently. We've recently provided sexual harassment prevention and response training to every school a...

Monday, October 13th Curriculum&Instruction Committee meeting from 4:30-6:30 pm at JSCEE. There quite a jam-packed agenda here including discussion of Advanced Learning/Highly Capable programs and discussion about the Board endorsing Prop 1B, the City's preschool measure. I note that the name of this item has changed: BAR for P-5 Schools Aligned with Seattle Preschool Program Universal Pre-K Initiative It a bit amusing as the City rebrands the name of their preschool initiative over and over.  But again, pre-k is NOT the district's state mandate nor are they state funded for it.   At Publicola, there is one person saying that Cashel Toner, who is the district's person for Early Learning, has been working with the Gates Foundation on aligning SPS with this effort via a $750K grant.  (This person says there are e-mails to show this and I hope to see them soon.)  I can only say that in e-mails I have obtained, Toner is very in the loop with many City peo...

What is the case about? Our goal was to ensure that in the future, District students are safe by having the District recognize the problems that led to our daughter’s sexual assault and recognize the deficiencies in the District’s Title IX compliance. 

From SPS:   Below is the announcement on the district’s field trip procedures and the Garfield High School mediation. **Please note, the school district will not be providing any interviews.** District continues to improve overnight field trip procedures

The Seattle Public School District is currently conducting a general review of its Title IX Compliance program. They have promised to do a lot of work. They have made claims that a significant amount of that work is done. It is less clear what, if anything, has actually been done. The Board Audit and Finance Committee has asked to get an update on Title IX Compliance progress at each of their meetings until further notice. That Committee will be meeting tomorrow, so let's preview their checklist.