Seattle Schools Community Forum

I have never asked the school district to do anything that they didn't promise to do. The fact that I have to ask them to do things so often is a testament to how rarely they do what they promise they will do. We hear - all the time - about how there is a division of authority with the Board focusing exclusively on policy and governance work while the administration and management decisions are delegated to the superintendent. If that were true, then the school assignment decisions should never have been subjected to a Board vote. Drawing attendance area boundaries is clearly an administrative or management decision - not a policy decision - and should have been delegated to the superintendent. Policy 3130 is nearly all that the Board should have to say about student assignment. One mistake leads to others. Putting it before the Board for a vote made it a political decision. The more political the decision, the less it is based on data and reason, the more it is influence...

I have heard from a few parents who are confused over SPS attendance policies, particularly around excused absences.   This has been discussed here before but here's the link to the Truancy Office.  It is headed by Ruth McFadden, Program Manager. On excused absences, this is pretty much the bottom line: In general, family vacations of any duration may not be considered excused absences. The school principal has the final say on whether your planned absence, including family vacations or return to visit family in another country, will be excused. It is a very good idea for the PTA and/or parent to make sure they know at the beginning of the school year what your principal's policy is going to be.  The principal should put this information out but if not, ASK.   And, get it in writing.  I still think it a bad idea to give this over to principals because I'm sure the tolerance level may vary from school to school and that's neither consistent nor f...

The agenda looks fairly light on Wednesday but with a few notable items.   (I note that today - Saturday the 13th - the agenda is not accessible at the SPS website but I had already downloaded it yesterday.  I'll post it when it comes back up.) Update: here's the link . The agenda was reviewed at the Executive Committee meeting held earlier in the week (which no School Board candidates attended which is unfortunate as it's where you see the real work done).

District One Candidates were interviewed on KUOW yesterday on Weekday .  They were interviewed separately and each had different questions.  (I get this for incumbents versus challengers but overall, I'd like to see the answer from all to at least one question that is the same.) Sharon Peaslee was first up.  She came across to me as strong and confident with ready answers.   She was asked about her assertion that there was too much "top-down" governance and what she would change.  She said she would bring back site councils or strengthen BLTs, put the needs of students and schools first and allow math teachers to use whatever materials they needed to teach math.   She also mentioned replacing MAP testing with another called ALEX(?) which I couldn't find info on so if someone has a link, please let us know. Peter Maier was next and like all incumbents spoke well (although I felt he mumbled a bit and I was having a hard time understanding what he was s...

If you wish to speak on the Board agenda on Wednesday, the 6th, be sure to call 252-0040 and leave your name, phone number, e-mail address and topic you wish to speak on. The agenda has several interesting items of note.  one is a renewal of an agreement with Microsoft for software.   There is one puzzling item which I'm sure someone here can explain to me.  "Allows District staff access to the most current version of MS Office for home use."   Does that mean so they can take it home?  Work from home?   a huge item - approval of the budgets.   General Fund for $577,741,503; ASB for $4.4M; Debt Service fund for $85M and Capital Projects fund for $101M.  Adding all those up you get roughly $770M.  That's a lot of dough. Final vote on the attendance policy. The change I see is this: This motion has been discussed at the 5/23/2011 and 6/27/2011 meetings of the Curriculum & Instruction Policy Committee. On 5/236/27/2011, after ...

Despite school being over, a couple of key meetings this week: Monday Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee from 4-6 p.m.  Some key items on the agenda: Highly Capable grant Wallace grant (this is the arts grant that the district won jointly with the City that was mentioned at the Superintendent/Mayor Town Hall last week) adjustments to school report Walk to Math Disciplinary Appeal Council Interventions Report Attendance Policy The APP Meeting at 7 p.m. at Lincoln auditorium .  Lincoln is at 4400 Interlake Ave North.  We have discussed this quite a lot but key questions include: If the district does move APP students from Lowell, what grade levels would it include? How long would the move to Lincoln be (probably just a year if SBOC is to move in school year 2012-2013)? What will happen to APP in school year 2012-2013?   What is the plan for the ENTIRE Advanced Learning Program?  Will there be ALOs available in schools without Spec...

 Updated 9:54 am From SPS Parent: Re: Attendance policy   (the vote postponed at the Board meeting) The reason given was that staff's going to take another look at the policy and submit a possible revised version for the next meeting.  Old policy New policy If you have problems with the new attendance policy, now is the time to make your voice heard.  Write to the Board, schoolboard@seattleschools.org . Or attend one of the last Director Community meetings of the school year. Peter Maier - 10:30 - noon - Bethany Community Church, main building Director DeBell has canceled his meeting. Also, the Budget book is available for light reading.  The public hearing for the 2011-2012 Budget is Wednesday, June 22 from 4-5 p.m. 

The Board Directors are busy attending high school graduations this week so the district is fairly light on meetings. There will be a Work Session with the topic "Strategic Plan Refresh" on Wednesday before the Board meeting . The Work Session is from 4-5:30 p.m. with the Board meeting starting at 6 p.m. There are no presentation materials yet available.

Monday No school, of course, for the Memorial Day holiday.  However, if you wish to speak at the Wednesday Board meeting, they are still counting Monday as the day they use to see who signs up.  So if you wish to speak at the Board meeting, do not wait until Tuesday (the next business day).  Sign up on Monday starting at 8 am, boardagenda@seattleschools.org or 252-0040.  I note a more sternly written instruction for being on the list: Provide your " full legal name, topic you will be speaking on, telephone number, and email address.  If complete information is not provided, you will not be included on the list. " Interesting that "full legal name" stuff.