Seattle Schools Community Forum

Monday, October 15th Superintendent Banda will be busy as he bounces from the Seattle Special Education PTA meeting and the Seattle Council PTA meeting .  Both are from 7-9 p.m. The Seattle Council meeting is in the auditorium but it is unclear where the Special Ed PTA is meeting.  I'll find out and post it. The Seattle Council PTA meeting includes Q&A on I -1240.  It also includes a presentation of the BEX IV levy. Tuesday, October 16th Operation Committee Meeting from 4-6 p.m.  Agenda .  To note, Pegi McEvoy will give an update on the BEX IV levy to the group.  Other items include the Student Assignment plan for 2013-2014. Wednesday, October 17th School Board meeting.  Agenda . A rather important one as this will introduce the BEX IV levy list AND the Board will vote on a resolution of a NO against I-1240.  I suspect quite a run for the speakers list especially from those supporting charters and the downtown folks. To get ...

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:

A quiet week in the district but it may be the quiet before big events/news pop up. Wednesday, Nov. 2nd Board Work Session on Demographics and Capacity Management from 4-5:30 p.m.   There are no agenda or presentation materials attached to this at the website but I will keep checking back.  School Board meeting from 6-9 p.m.   A previous thread went over some of the agenda .  This will be the last School Board meeting before the election.  At the next School Board meeting on Nov. 16th, one or more directors could be lame ducks.  (Generally, the new directors, if there are any elected, are installed in early December.)  Thursday, Nov. 3rd LGBT Families Dinner from 6-8 p.m.  at the NOVA/SBOC (Meany building) at 300 20th Ave E.  All District families and staff are welcome to attend.   Dinner and entertainment will be provided through community donations.  Please RSVP to Lisa Love at the Health Intervention Off...

Back to school, kids. Monday Curriculum and Instruction Policy Committee meeting from 4-6 p.m.  The agenda includes: SEA tentative agreement on calendar (this may be about the shortened Mid-Winter break) textual materials adoption for high school science, social studies, middle school LA and elementary music anti-harassment policy and procedure promotion/retention policies homework policies credit/retrieval/summer opportunities Tuesday Latino College Night, a workshop to prepare students for college, 6-8:30 p.m., Rainier Beach High School.  Dinner is provided.  Workshop topics include: high school graduation requirements vs. college entrance requirements; post-secondary options; and funding post-secondary education. Wednesday Two School Board Work Sessions 4-5:30 p.m. - Budget 7-7:30 p.m. - Governance Policies

First up, congratulations to Green Lake secretary, Debbie Passi , the Washington Education Association's Educational Support Professional of the Year.  Also, congratulations to Sandi Whiton, the Academic Intervention Specialist at Chief Sealth High School who received an award from the private college, Whitman.  Her award is called the Distinguished Elementary/Secondary Teacher Award and is given at their commencement exercises to honor an outstanding teacher who contributes significantly to the intellectual development of students.  My puzzlement comes from two places.  One, Ms. Whiton is an academic intervention specialist and what does that mean?  This is something every middle and high school should have.   As I mentioned previously, at the Alliance Breakfast they showed a Denny Middle School video that mentioned an "early incident specialist" who works there.  So obviously these intervention employees exist at some schools but which ones ...

One article is about the growing number of colleges and universities that are admitting students but not right away; the student has to wait for a semester or even a year.  The admission is gauged on the student going to another college or university and maintaining a certain GPA.

According to the Times, the terms of GET (Guaranteed Educaton Tuition)  - the state's program for pre-paid tuition rates - may change soon under a bill in the Legislature.  This program has been and now, with looming changes, even more popular.  From the article : The program is bringing in $1 million to $2 million daily and adding about 200 new families each day, on pace to be at or above the biggest year for the program. Tuition is going up so fast the state may have problems paying out everyone in full.  There seems to be mixed messages on whether this will really happen or not. The increase in GET purchases helps buoy the program financially, Lochner said, because it gives the state more money to invest. GET contains about $1.4 billion in assets, and the money is invested in stocks, bonds and other investments, much like a pension fund. There are nearly 129,000 GET accounts; a student can have more than one account. Although the deadline for creating...

Monday the 21st Reminder of the lecture on water tonight at by Robert Glennon for the Chief Sealth Int'l High School World Water Week.  Doors open at 6:15 for music and refreshments with the lecture at 7 p.m.  Robert Glennon is the author of "Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It." Tuesday There is a discussion at Jane Addams about serving their advanced learners .   This meeting is a Jane Addams school community discussion around how best to serve their advanced learners. Current Jane Addams families, and families considering the school are welcome to join the conversation.  It runs from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the library.  Please note this is school event (not district) with the discussion about Jane Addams only. Wednesday Oversight Work Session on Human Resources Department from 4-5:30 p.m.  This should be interesting as I haven't seen a work session on human resources previously.  Then there is an half-hou...

There's a YMCA program, College Goal Sunday , to give parents and students free professional advice about completing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as well as other financial aid resources and services. A couple of events locally have already happened but there's one tonight and others in the coming weeks.

I saw the announcement about the two-hour late start but they mention this: The plans that six schools had for early release today have been cancelled, so those schools will release at the usual time: Eckstein, Madison, McClure, Hamilton and Whitman middle schools and Roosevelt High School. Anyone know why those 6 schools were having an early release? I checked Roosevelt's website but couldn't find out. FYI, I did see this at the RHS website if anyone is interested. WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IS HOSTING “INSIDE GUIDE TO COLLEGE ADMISSIONS” Western Washington's Office of Admissions is pleased to offer Inside Guide to College Admissions, an exclusive look at the college admissions process! The event will take place on Wednesday, January 19th at the Bellevue Hilton from 6:30-9:30pm. Join respected WWU Director of Admissions and Enrollment Planning, Karen Copetas, and find out what Western and other colleges look for when selecting applications. This intera...