Seattle Schools Community Forum

The School Board has a new form letter response: " Thank you for contacting the School Board Office. Please be assured that we take the issue of sexual assault seriously and are continuing to work with all parties involved -- including state and federal agencies and the family -- to address the concerns that have been raised and ensure that the appropriate legal process is followed. The family has filed complaints with several oversight agencies, and we trust that resolution of those actions will be fair and equitable.   Kind Regards ," The Board wants us to be assured that they take the issue of sexual assault seriously? Really? Telling us that they care about it isn't convincing at all. They need to show us. Here are seven things that the Board can - and should - do to assure us that they take the issue of sexual assault seriously.

Tuesday, Feb 4th Special Education Advisory and Advocacy Council Meeting starting at 6:30 p.m., JSCEE, room 2700 Wednesday, Feb. 5th Parade for the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks 11 am (I put this in because if you are going to the district headquarters that morning, you might be aware of this because of the traffic.  The parade is to end at Century Link Field which is only about a mile north of JSCEE.) School Board Meeting , starting at 4:15 p.m.  Agenda .  There are some major issues in this agenda and many of them have to do with what really irritates me - when staff leaves out information the Board should have (both informational and in order to take a vote).  I'm going to go over the Agenda at the bottom of the page for those who are interested (allowing anyone else to see the rest of this thread more easily.) Saturday, Feb. 8th Community Meeting with Director Carr at 8:30 am to 10:00 am at Bethany Community Church (enter off playground) SPS News ...

I attended the Executive Committee meeting last week. The minutes from the previous meeting on June 12th were somewhat telling.  They reflect some discussion of the new Seattle Teacher Residency program.  Michael Tolley noted that it had been assigned to the Audit and Finance Committee and not the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.  That's interesting because I would think training teachers would be C&I but there was not an explanation in the minutes. As well, Duggan Harman said that "costs have not been finalized."  Remember that for the future because the STR program may well cost much more than we suspect and the money has to come from somewhere.  As well, this item WAS to be on the August 21st Board agenda and the Superintendent pulled it.  I suspect it is because the Board was not going to vote for a program with no budget attached.  Rightly so. I note that Directors were updated on conditional certifications for TFA teachers and ...

The more we consider the situation with Contemporary Issues/World Literature, the 12th grade humanities class at The Center School, the more puzzling it becomes. While there are a number of missing details from the public record, the elements in the public record simply don't reconcile. We are told that the District is following some kind of process in response to a complaint, but the process they are following is not the complaint process. We are told that the complaint was about personnel, but the curriculum has been subjected to suspension and review. Nothing adds up, the people who should be involved have not stepped up, people who should not be involved are deeply involved, and none of the people who are supposed to oversee this mess are doing it.   If we break it down, then maybe we can make sense of it.

I recently became aware that just like start times, lunchtime varies widely from school to school.  There is a Board procedure - H61.01 that states: "Meal periods shall be long enough for students to eat and socialize – a minimum of 10 minutes are provided to eat breakfast and 20 minutes to eat lunch with additional time as appropriate for standing in line". "It is the policy of the Seattle School District, that each school located in a District building participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Providing quality, nutritious meals that appeal to students in a safe, clean, pleasant dining environment shall be a priority." As Charlie likes to point out, a procedure or policy is only as good as those who will enforce it.  In this case, that would be the Superintendent.  What has come to light is that a growing number of elementary schools are having lunch periods of 20 minutes or less.   While some kids eat quickly, others don'...

Monday, November 26th Superintendent Banda's meeting with the Latino community from 6-8 pm at El Centro de la Raza. Feedback, concerns and questions are welcome. Tuesday, November 27th Work Session: Strategic Plan Guiding Principle s from 4:30-6:30 pm.  No agenda available. Work Session: Ethics Training from 6:45-7:45 pm.  (I'm not sure who this is for - the Board or staff or both.) No agenda available. Wednesday, November 28th School Board meeting starting at 4:15 pm.  Sign up first thing Monday morning if you want to speak. Agenda. Action items reflect the 2013 Legislative agenda, approval of "superintendent evaluation instrument: the CSIP approvals, voting in a new Policy 1400 about Board meetings. To note about Policy 1400, it appears the start time is to remain at 4:15 p.m.  It also changes the policy that saying that any changes in the prepared agenda may be requested by the Superintendnetn or a Board member and is approved by majority vote (an...

When the Board adopted policy 0030, Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity , there was a bit of a stir because, at one point, the word "Racial" had been removed from the policy title. I guess some folks were concerned that if there was no reference to race in the title of the policy, there would be no focus on race in the implementation of the policy. The content of the policy was not in question, just the title.

Monday, June 25th Curriculum & Instruction Policy Committee Mtg. - 4-6 p.m.  Agenda This should be a jam-packed meeting as well as one fraught with varying agendas.  They will be discussing the Program Placement policy which guides what new programs get created, where they are placed and who nominates/decides.  It seems like staff is making noises about "community input" but that's not where the action is.  Also on the agenda for policies; nutrition, "ensuring educational equity", student discipline, advanced learning.  There will also be discussion of the partnership agreement for the Families and Education Levy and the Creative Approach Schools Board oversight process.   Wednesday, June 27th Public Hearing on the Budget from 4-5 p.m. This is a legal requirement of the district for any citizen who wants to weigh in on the budget for 2012-13.  Note that you sign up right before the hearing and they only have the hearing as long as there a...

The Board's Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee met on Monday, May 21. The meeting started just after the scheduled start time of 4:00. All three committee members, Marty McLaren (chair), Sharon Peaslee, and Harium Martin-Morris, were present. No other board members were in attendance. They quickly approved the agenda without amendments and then approved the minutes from the previous meeting, also without amendments.

Monday, May 21st  Curriculum&Instruction Policy Committee Mtg from 4-6pm, JSCEE Agenda .  Promise Neighborhoods MOU with Neighborhood House 2163 School Policy, Supports and Interventions 4110 Superintendent procedure, Family and Community Advisory and Oversight Ctms Policy 2200, Equitable Access to Services and Programs Teacher College Contract NWEA Contract Cost increase for Social Studies Adoption Policy 2420, Running Start and Homeschool discussion 2163 -not sure what they want to change here 4110 - as Charlie as pointed out, this one doesn't always get followed so I'll be interested to see what is said here 2200 - must be new as I don't see it under the current policies 2420 - at the Board webpage, this seems to be about grading so I'm confused here  Promise MOU - this one hadn't been on my radar but it's an agreement with Neighborhood House, Seattle Housing Authority, City of Seattle and SPS to support families and schools in the so...

Since the holiday break in December, the Board meetings have been somewhat sleepy affairs with the speakers list not being full and just a little jousting as the School Board adjusts to its new make-up. Tomorrow night (and two weeks in the future) should be somewhat different.  What's the difference? Well, for one, the Board is finally voting on the now infamous Policy 1430 - Waivers of Basic Instructional Materials Policy.    There were two amendments, one of which is incorporated into the new policy wording.  That amendment came from Director Peaslee and would allow schools an appeal to the Board should the Superintendent deny a waiver request.  I am glad this is part of the policy even as I believe it will be a rare day when the Board would override the Superintendent's decision.  The other amendment, to allow for district funding for schools that cannot afford to pay for materials on their own, was dropped by Director Peaslee.   However...

It's a fairly slow week. Wednesday, Feb. 1st - Work Session: Facilities from 4-5:30 p.m. No agenda available yet. - School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m. Agenda .  (note; normally SB meetings are two weeks apart but, because of the snow, this one occurs just one week from the last one on Jan. 25th) The agenda includes: - Creative Approach Schools MOU - as I previously mentioned I support this effort but it cannot go forward without the Board having some oversight ability. Without that, we are giving away our public schools and their oversight. Director Peaslee has introduced an amendment towards that end. - The Waiver for Basic Instructional Materials policy . The agenda indicates that the action report and policy has been updated but I have not read it yet. Director Peaslee is offering two amendments; one is to allow the school principal the right to appeal to the School Board if the Superintendent denies a waiver request. The other amendment is to allow the district ...

Other stuff did happen at the Board meeting.   But this was quite fascinating (and confusing).  It was like watching a long tennis volley, back and forth with different points. I will say that I think everyone made good points but clearly, the policy is being viewed through different lens.   I'm not sure anyone is wrong in this case.

There will be a lot of catching up to do this week from the loss of time from the snow days.  Also, much has happened in the media since the postponement of the School Board meeting last Wednesday the 18th to this Wednesday the 25th.  I expect that many more media may be at this meeting. I am also delighted that the speaker list carried over from last Wednesday's meeting.  I expect that some listed speakers may get pressure to give up their places to people pushing the Board policy 1620B but I think many speakers who signed up for other reasons (like Whittier) may stand their ground.  Good for them.  (I, too, remain on the speakers list.)

I hadn't had time to write about the Executive Committee meeting last week but it ties in nicely with a recent article in the Seattle Weekly about why Dr. Enfield is leaving. I noticed that after the election, Michael DeBell really seemed down.  I can understand; Steve Sundquist and Peter Maier were not just colleagues but friends.  But he is an elected official and election change comes with the territory. Then, scant weeks into terms of Peaslee and McLaren, I was hearing that he was unhappy.  That he thought that some members of the Board (who shall remain nameless) were asking too many "micromanaging" questions of Enfield.  It's unclear to me whether it was asking too many questions or asking questions that stepped into Enfield's realm of action. Then Enfield said she was leaving, said it had nothing to do with the election results but would not say anything else. But it is clear from Michael's actions recently that he is struggling with not only lo...

I see a lot of support among the District leadership for clear job descriptions and duties for everyone in the District - everyone, that is, except the District leadership. Each Board member will acknowledge that the Board has the duty to enforce policy yet no Board member will allow that duty to be explicitly stated in any document. It does not appear in the newly adopted Series 1000 Policies. It does not appear in the policy that describes the duties of the Board. It does not appear in the policy on governance. Now the Board is going to adopt two more elements of Board policy that should mention this duty yet fail to do so. The board policy preamble on the Board meeting agenda this week is an ideal place for it, but instead the preamble makes reference to it only vaguely and euphemistically as "governance tools". It says that policies can be used by the superintendent to hold staff accountable but it neglects to say that they can be used by the Board to hold the superinte...

Wednesday, Jan. 4th Second part of a Work Session around Board policy Series 6000 from 4-5:30 p.m.  This series is about operations including budgeting, revenues, purchasing, etc. School Board Meeting - 6-9 p.m.  Among items on the agenda:

I attended the C&I meeting on Monday.  There were some interesting discussions.  Sadly, I missed the one on innovation schools as I misheard and thought it was struck from the agenda.  Turns out it was moved to the end of the agenda and there is an MOU between the SEA and SPS that I will write a separate thread on at a later time.

Looks like Sharon Peaslee has made a little headway on Peter Maier's lead but if not by Monday, then it's probably a lost cause.  On the other hand, Marty McLaren has retained her lead and, by reading the Times this morning, not a minute too late.  The Times' has this great story about how the district never intended for principals to have broad oversight over student newspapers.  (Say what?  Did they read their own policy?  Yes - they - did.)  And the reasoning?  More laugh ensues. Seattle Public Schools officials now say they never intended to give principals broad oversight of students' newspapers, saying a controversial proposal resulted from the "crazy" time frame they are working under as they revamp hundreds of district policies this year. The board is pushing district staff to work at an accelerated pace because the current policies are out of date and not universally followed, School Board President Steve Sundquist said. "It's i...

The agendas for the Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday morning and the Audit& Finance Committee meeting (Audit) on Thursday afternoon have been posted. Executive Committee Agenda -  There is an item for Government Relations (no details), Community Engagement (no details, no surprise), and then Discussion. Under Discussion there is: Ethics Policy - I believe Mr. Barnett from the City may be giving this update. Update on Public Survey from Director DeBell (not sure what this is referencing) Board retreat follow-up Intermediate Capacity Management Plan - status and legislative calendar IT Strategic Plan Parents Bill of Rights  Program Placement Policy Board calendar/workplan Communications/community partnerships That's a lot to cover in two hours. Audit & Finance Committee (Audit) agenda - Audit response, Department of Internal Audit work plan,  Series 5000 Phase II policies.   There is one vague item - Special Attention Items (no de...