Seattle Schools Community Forum

The district has its own internal auditor and apparently, that person just abruptly resigned today. Should make for an interesting Audit and Finance Committee meeting this afternoon. Also, on the Board meeting agenda for Wednesday is the final decision from the Board on the use of Brave New World. I had thought, per the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting last week, that the deliberations would come right before the Board meeting. No, it is to happen directly after Public Testimony. Now this should be really interesting. You will have all the Board members trying to publicly suss out a pretty important issue. This is where you will see judgment and thought-processes in action. My feeling is that they will, of course, side with the Superintendent. I actually wouldn't mind if only they said that the use of Brave New World is suspended until all the professional development that BOTH teachers and district staff say should be done. After that, I think it's fine to u...

There was a student at Hale who went to her parent with concerns over a book being used in her child's LA class. The book was Brave New World written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley. The parent and student are Native Americans. (Just to interject here; I mistakenly thought there was no Board policy attached to this review and I simply erred in not scrolling down the page. My apologies.) Basically if a parent or guardian has an issue with instructional materials they are to go to the principal and staff member first. If that fails, any party at step 1 may request the administrator in Charge of Curriculum and Instruction meet with those involved to resolve the issue. After step 2, the principal shall furnish the party not in agreement with a copy of the "Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials" form. When that is received, a "Reconsideration Commitee, is formed to reconsider the material. (The committee is made up of a parent of a child at the gra...