Seattle Schools Community Forum

From SPS: Seattle Public Schools seeks members for School Family Partnerships Task force Seattle Public Schools is starting the process of revising the current School Family Partnerships District Plan. An important part of the review is to engage with our families, staff and community members and gather as much feedback as possible to help revise our school family partnerships efforts over the next three to five years. A key element to gathering feedback is the formation of a School Family Partnerships Stakeholder Task force . The task force, made up of approximately 40-50 people, will be a diverse group that includes families/guardians, teachers, principals, District staff, community members, city officials and university representatives. Task force members will offer feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the District’s School Family Partnerships Plan, give feedback on the vision, mission, and core beliefs of the District on School Family Partnerships, and make...

I, along with other citizens, had written to the State Auditor several years back, complaining about the BEX capital building program. When you write to the Auditor, they log your letter and make sure you get a follow-up (I know that seems odd to have a public entity actually listen and keep track of your concerns but that's just how the SAO rolls.) The letter said some points made in the audit like: District facilities staff was unable to provide all requested documents in a complete and timely manner. We could not always determine whether the documents did not exist or whether they could not be located. Project documents were not store consistently, and some were in multiple locations. But they also said this: We were unable to address your specific concerns related to the District's decision to select specific school projects for inclusion in its BEX III program because we discovered larger issues related to the BEX II projects. I find that interesting because I wondered...

The District sent out a press release on the State Auditor's report of the BEX audit that was full of happy talk. The District has already posted the audit findings and response to the audit response web page .

So SPS: Why is there no news and information on the News and Calendar page for 2011? Not one item. Also, no new SPS Schoolbeat e-newsletter since December 2, 2010? ( Update: so on a hunch, I went and checked the new SPS website and lo and behold, there was calendar information for Jan. 2011. So now, until the old website is gone, we get to check TWO websites for information. I thought the link to the new one was just for observational/input, not that it would have information not available at the old one. It would be nice if the district had told people this.) In the job description for the new communications director, there is mention of a "School Board communications point person." Who is that? Why doesn't the job description for the new communications director mention something like "effectively communicating information and issues about SPS to the parents, community, voters and elected officials?" It seems odd that communicating with your ...

I started this in Charlie's thread's comment section but it got too long. So, to add to the discussion, here are my notes (I left as Charlie arrived). From my notes: -the Board office has two new hires so both Joan Dingfield and Pam Oakes are gone. I'll miss them; they are nice people. One new thing; the addition of the first 5+ people on the waitlist to the agenda so you can get an idea of where you might be on the waitlist -Lots of energy from TOPS parents who very calmly and clearly explained their issue about transportation. Over 50% of their students will lose their transportation, mostly from the southend. They are asking for a community stop model for buses so their students can continue on. Their hope is for the district to fulfill this request for 3 years. (This time request has something to do with a promise the district made, I believe.) - it was pointed out that a member of the BEX Oversight Committee is doing business with the district and this has not...