Seattle Schools Community Forum

Let's start with the local which would be the Work Session on Seattle Schools becoming a charter authorizer.  This work session on was April 8th and the staff leads were Ronald Boyd (Legal),  Erin Bennett, Director Policy and Strategy Research, and Clover Codd, Executive Director of Strategic Planning & Partnerships. All the Board members were present as was Superintendent Nyland.  Nyland led with "From some time ago, the Board opposed them (charters) and that was then and this is now."   He said something about SPS being the biggest district.  He said the deadline to apply to to be an authorizer was in June and "we have just enough time to get on-board."   He also said SPS had " no option of not playing" as part of future levies will be going to charters (which is true).  He said SPS would want to know about charters located within district; what their focus is, location, etc.  He failed to mention that that information can be easily...

Looks like three people have filed to start campaigns for School Board , each in a different region. Ruben Van Kempen, a 35-year teacher and head of the drama program at Roosevelt High School , is retiring.  I can't say enough about this man, his energy, his hard work to build a stellar drama program and, most of all, his belief in students.  A fund has been set up to raise money to name RHS' theater the " Ruben Van Kempen Theatre ."   Who got the Federal Reserve building?  Long-time developer Martin Selig.  No word on what he'll do with it. I had been waiting to see what tomorrow's Work Session on Charters/Strategic Plan was about and now I know. The Board is actually considering being an charter school authorizer.   The Presentation reads like a campaign ad for 1240 and includes "best interests" of the District and discussion of continuum of partnership and collaboration .   And guess what?  Not a single Director or staff ...

Let's start with what raised my antenna - the memo staff gave to the Board about Seattle Schools becoming a charter school authorizer.   Staffer Clover Codd, who wrote the memo, told the Board: We have formed a cross- departmental working group to better understand the implications for the district. The working group includes representatives from Budget, Enrollment, Facilities, Legal, DoTS, Policy and Strategic Planning. So I wrote to the Board this morning after I was cc'ed on an e-mail from Ms. Codd to President Peaslee. Ms Codd wrote: Just to clarify, the District does NOT intend to submit a LOI by the October 1st deadline. We do have this school year to learn more about the pros/cons of becoming an authorizer. Staff wants to be sure we provide you with all the information you need to make informed decisions. Seven people in SPS formed a group to work on this? Why, don't they have enough to do with the schools we have? If you read Ms. Codd's e-mail, it se...

Here are the documents that school districts will use regarding charter school applications.  One is a letter of instructions . Another is an application (I-V). Still another is a s tatement of assurances.   This one had one thing that I hadn't really seen before -  that districts not only have to solicit applications for new charter schools but for conversion ones as well.  To me, any district that says "hey we have this school that we've tried everything with.  Come take it over, send the students in all directions and take our building."   That would be one interesting solicitation. That was not my reading of the initiative (but, as the AG's rep says, she finds something new every time she reads the law so I'm not alone).  This document - Charter School Authorizer and Approval Process - is lengthy but chockful of good information. This Wednesday, May 8th, a couple of members of the Charter Commission will go to the State Board of Educa...

Back down to 12 school districts applying to be charter authorizers as yesterday Eastmont School district in Wenatchee dropped out.  From The Wenatchee World : “I think this isn’t the time,” said Steve Piccirillo.. “We don’t have the time, staff or money,” said Annette Eggers. Both are members of the five person school board. “It seems like an awful lot of work to become an authorizer when they have the option not to go to us. If we were more in control of our destiny, I would support it,” said board member Chris Gibbs.  No kidding.  It's a big job to even apply and I can see where smaller districts might not even want to try. Superintendent Garn Christensen said the district wasn’t advocating a charter school as much as wanting to have the option of involvement in any plans to start a local charter school. “We wanted to keep the door unlocked if this is something we want to pursue. We want to be involved in the review,” Christensen said.  Bu...

In a somewhat old-school turn of events, Yakima School District has been added to the list of 12 districts that have filed letter of intent to become charter school authorizers.   Now the State Board of Ed didn't specify how the letter was to come to them so, according to their office, most of the districts send their letter via e-mail with a few following up with a hard copy via the mail. Yakima, though, sent theirs thru first-class mail (with no signature required) and yup, it got lost in the mail because the SBE never received it.  So, when the announcement of who had applied came out after the April 1 deadline, Yakima was perplexed as to why they were not on the list.  But all's well that ends well and they have been added to the list. In my spot-check of districts that have filed letters of intent, several have stated they are buying time.  Time gives them the chance to consider what the pros/cons would be to being an authorizer.  Could a dis...

So not all the Charter Commission picks have been happily received and there have been some surprising things said about some of the newly minted members. The two primary targets are Kevin Jacka and Steve Sundquist.  Superintendent Jacka is from Springdale and leads the Mary Walker School District.  He is suspect because he signed a No on 1240 page (I can't discern if it was the No on 1240 campaign or the WEA campaign.)  Nonetheless, many superintendents, out of concern for their districts, did sign the petition.  (And indeed, even some of the districts recently signed up with a letter of intent to become authorizers are still expressing concern.)  Steve Sundquist, well, we all know he ran in November 2011 as being against charters.  He filled out a King County Dems questionnaire and said he was against them (as well as vouchers).  But he lost and by January 2012 was at his Legislative district meeting touting them.   Over at the Washingto...

From KING-5 news: A dozen Washington school districts have sent letters to the state Board of Education indicating intent to authorize charter schools starting in 2014, beating a Monday deadline. The twelve districts include Bellevue, Battle Ground, Eastmont, Highline, Kent, Naselle-Grays River Valley, Peninsula, Port Townsend, Sequim, Spokane, Sunnyside and Tacoma. Kent, Spokane and Tacoma are the second, third and fourth largest districts in the state.  (Note: Spokane and Tacoma have gone back and forth for 2nd/3rd.  I did check their websites for their latest numbers and this is what I found.) These letters of intent basically act as place-holders while these districts ponder this question. Tacoma School Board member Catherine Ushka said the letter of intent does not change the district’s previously stated position against charter schools. “The draining of public funds and other issues are still true,” said Ushka . However, Ushka said the board acknowl...