Seattle Schools Community Forum

It's quite the mash-up of topics for this week's Board Work Session on Wednesday the 24th from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm: Early Learning/Seattle Preschool Program 4:30 pm- 6 pm SMART Goal #4 - Early Hiring 6 pm - 6:45 pm SMART Goal #6 - Customer Service 6:45 - 7:30 pm Each of the presentations is quite different. Early Learning starts on page 3 of the agenda.  Staff claims that there are 60 students in the three SPS-located City Pre-K.  But they also claim that there is space available at all three locations.  Which naturally begs the question - what is the stated class size limit for these classrooms? (Answer: 20 students per class so I'm unclear how there is still space available.  (The graph shows 20 students in each location.)  They also don't say that it has taken months for the two City-enrolled SPS classrooms - Original Van Asselt and Van Asselt - to get to this level.   Then, there are pages of "data" that I'm not sure adds much to the...

The district has updated its website with a new feature for every department.  It's called the " How Do I...?" for parents/community.  I cannot supply you with a specific link to this story because there is none available.  From the announcement: We want to help! As part of Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland’s 100-Day Plan for Customer Service, we’ve created a quick and easy list of the most Frequently Asked Questions. Each department across Seattle Public Schools has identified and provided the answers to your most pressing questions. Some of the most Frequently Asked Questions include: I’ve just moved into the Seattle School District. How do I sign up my child for school? How do I find out if my child qualifies for gifted education? And, our favorite: What is the process for getting started as a volunteer in Seattle Public Schools? To view the Most Frequently Asked Questions and learn more about our departments, please visit the new “How Do I… ?” tab at the...

 Update: where's this story at Crosscut?  My link still works but somehow - after just one day - the story has disappeared from Crosscut's main page.  There are many older stories still there.  Hmmm. End of update. Over at Crosscut, the director of the (mostly)charter think tank that is the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Robin Lake, weighs in on customer service at SPS. She doesn't directly reference the program she is writing about (why, I don't know) but she's talking about Advanced Learning.  Her funniest line? These are minor inconveniences, though, compared to the flippant way the system responds — or doesn’t — to students’ special needs. No matter how evident it is that your child’s situation merits individual consideration, your inquiries are met by maddening emails that repeat the policy and assert that there are no exceptions. "Your child's situation merits individual consideration.."   My answer to that was: "Y...

I had a chance to sit down with the district's new Ombudsman, Ron McGlone and talk with him about his new job.  (And a shout-out to Noel Treat for suggesting the district try out this idea again.) The district news release set out the long history that Mr. McGlone has with our district.  He has been in SPS since 1990.  He has worked as a non-teacher substitute (and even knew the last previous ombudsman), a family support worker and also worked in Customer Service and Enrollment.  He also served in the U.S. Army (which explains his great posture and firm handshake). 

The District is moving forward with the customer service initiative in the Strategic Plan, "Excellence for All". Like everything else the District does, this is all about accountability. As you know, accountability means having objectively measurable goals and assessing performance relative to those benchmarks. Now they need people - lots of people - to make those assessments. They need people to act as secret shoppers to check and report compliance with the customer service protocols. It's not a big commitment - a few minutes of training, a few minutes of asking for service and a few minutes to report on your experience. Did the staff respond promptly? courteously? correctly? If you're willing to be one of the army of hundreds of secret shoppers they need to assess the standard of customer service in the District, please contact Bernardo Ruiz at bjruiz(at)seattleschools.org.