Seattle Schools Community Forum

So much to talk about but I did want to put up some interesting highlights from last week's Audit and Finance Committee meeting on Jan. 13th. There was some discussion of how to get Director Patu up to speed (as she is new to the Committee and, seemingly, finance). Enrollment: district is up by 188 kindergarteners and over 900 9th graders. Wow. There was some discussion about the various ways that BEX and BTA dollars were being spent as well as the bond sale late last year to get even more capital money for the reopened schools. I tell ya, the money just gets moved around and around. So those who were waiting on the item about the Audit Response to AE3.1 conflict of interest issue. It was reported that: this was about NWEA which the Superintendent did not disclose that she was on their Board. What was said at the meeting is that the district noted that this was a specific item and not just "you did not fully disclose all the boards you sit on". the wording on audit re...

Just a few things to start our week. First up, do not forget to participate in any surveys available on curriculum adoption , the new SPS website or to apply to be on a curriculum adoption committee . Monday The survey on Parent/Teacher Conferences is only live through 4 p.m. on Monday the 3rd . Also, sign up for the School Board meeting speakers list starting at 8 am on Monday , 252-0040 or e-mail: boardagenda@seattleschools.org. Wednesday There will be a School Board Executive Session from 4-5:30 p.m. before the regular School Board meeting at 6 p.m. (The public cannot attend Executive Sessions; this on is on "contract negotiations" and an "employee appeal". I'm thinking the contract one may be about the principals' contract.) Agenda the Superintendent will be speaking about TIF, the Teachers Incentive Fund . Things have been quiet on this front so it might be interesting. the CAO, Susan Enfield, will giving an annual update on CTE (Career-Techni...

I have a message for the Board regarding my ethics complaints. The Board will soon have to make a decision about two ethics complaints that I made about a District employee. This District employee has seats on the boards of two non-profit corporations but did not properly disclose those relationships and, in violation of state law and the District Ethics Policy, participated in the discussion and decision to enter into contracts with those non-profit corporations. The question before the Board will not be one of fact. It is an indisputable fact that the employee has the seats on the non-profit boards. It is an indisputable fact that the employee did not properly disclose those relationships. It is an indisputable fact that the employee did not include them on the annual disclosure and statement of financial interest. It is an indisputable fact that the employee participated in the decision to enter into contracts with these non-profit corporations. In short, there is no question that...

They are breaking out like a teenager! Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson was, and is, a member of the Board of Directors of the Council of Great City Schools . This relationship has never been disclosed in the minutes of a Board meeting. This relationship did not appear on her annual disclosure statement . The District awarded contracts to the Council of Great City Schools to perform a variety of audits and reviews of District programs and processes. She did not recuse herself from the decision to select the CGCS as the vendor for these contracts. She did not constrain herself from recommending CGCS to decisionmakers about awarding these contracts. These failures individually and together represent violations of RCW 42.23.030 and RC W 42.23.040 and, by violating those laws, they are violations of the District Ethics Policy E11.00 . I have, this evening, made a written complaint to the District Ethics Officer, Noel Treat. I gotta say, this doesn't look good for her.

By now, I think that we are all aware of the rules around conflicts of interest for school district officials. There are other prohibited activities as well. A question has arisen about whether Dr. Goodloe-Johnson encouraged other education folks, in this case the Council of Great City Schools, to use the MAP test as a measure of academic achievement in a study they were commissioned to do by the Gates Foundation. Did she try to sell MAP to CGCS on behalf of NWEA? There's no problem with that in general, but she shouldn't use her Seattle Public Schools email account to do it. More deeply concerning, some folks think her email contained a hint of quid pro quo in which CGCS would use NWEA's MAP for their study and Seattle Public Schools would, reciprocally, use CGCS to do the Alternative Education Review. There is also a lot of reason to dismiss those concerns. Nothing is spelled out that clearly. In fact, the pitch that she made to Mike Casserly at CGCS wasn't much o...