Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Seattle Times is reporting that the previously-desired-by-the-District Federal Reserve Building may somehow rise taller under its new owner, Martin Selig.  The article also corrects/contradicts earlier reporting that the roof was part of the historic landmark status; it's not.  Reading what has to be done in order to build higher is pretty much convincing evidence that SPS could not have made this into a school.

Sorry for the late notice; I received this event notice from School Board candidate, Leslie Harris (who keeps up as much or more than I do). Members of the Metropolitan King County Council will be joined by their counterparts on the Seattle City Council for a special discussion that will focus on the challenges of meeting the educational needs of youth of color as a step to help reduce their numbers in the regional criminal justice system: Wednesday, July 29 New Holly Gathering Hall 7054 32nd Ave South, Seattle Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.

This fell off my radar when I saw it weeks ago but the City invited Oakland educators who have a proven program to help solve the issue of disproportional discipline for minority students in a holistic way.

From ACLU of Northern California: SACRAMENTO, CA  – Today California becomes the f irst state in the nation to eliminate suspensions for its youngest children, and all expulsions for all students for minor misbehavior such as talking back, failing to have school materials and dress code violations. Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing today of AB 420 caps a landmark year for the movement away from harsh discipline policies and toward positive discipline and accountability approaches that keep children in school. AB 420 places limits on the use of school discipline for the catch-all category known as “willful defiance,” which also includes minor school disruption. Willful defiance accounts for 43% of suspensions issued to California students, and is the suspension offense category with the most significant racial disparities.  For the next 3.5 years, the law eliminates in-school and out-of-school suspensions for children in grades K-3 for disruptive behavior currently c...

Yesterday, Google and Mayor Murray surprised Highland Park Elementary with a major announcement about their request via DonorsChoose.org. Google "flash-funded" classroom requests from every teacher in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties who had made a request at DonorsChoose .  From Seattle.gov: Google donated $338,000 for 388 projects resulting in 295 teachers receiving materials for over 36,000 students. - See more at: http://murray.seattle.gov/google-highland-park/#sthash.5JaQd8iB.OIwpVLVw.dpuf Mayor Murray joined representatives from Google today to announce that the company has fully funded classroom requests from every teacher in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties on the education crowd funding site DonorsChoose.org . Google donated $338,000 for 388 projects resulting in 295 teachers receiving materials for over 36,000 students. “There’s no better way to start off the school year than with this surprise funding for our local teachers. This generous donatio...

I asked the Department of Education spokeperson about issues around Title IX and Seattle Schools and here was their statement: We can confirm that OCR is currently investigating a Title IX sexual violence case involving the Seattle Public Schools. As this is an open investigation, we cannot share any additional information. For more on how OCR handles civil rights complaints, please see our Web site here . The Department would not comment on any other Title IX investigations involving Seattle Public Schools. 

Someone asked a question in the Friday Open Thread about a Special Ed program and that led to SpedPTA president, Mary Griffin, to say this (and she calls it a rant alert and warning but really, it's a huge district-wide issue): I am not a fan of data sharing, but I am a fan of useful data collection and accessibility within the district. The district right now is suffering greatly from the lack of usable, easily accessible data.   Not having good data means that the Director of Special Education needs to spend two weeks going through all the student records identifying which students receive Special Education services.   Not having good data means they can't get their ducks in a row to even fill out the forms to request $12 million dollars to fund Special Education.  Not having good data interferes with enrollment predictions for next year and hampers communication about the location of classrooms.  Not having good data means even though t...

More news on race and children in America. I offer this information as news.  I have tried not to editorialize much here but to listen to what others are saying.  Somewhere in this country, people are suspending preschoolers and most of them are children of color or Special Education students.  (I didn't even know you could suspend a pre-schooler.)  This story from the Huffington Post.   It's a wide-ranging report that goes from preschool thru high school and examines not just discipline but offerings in districts throughout the country.  A staggering new report released by the Department of Education and the Justice Department on Friday highlights a troubling pattern of zero-tolerance school discipline policies that disproportionately impact minority students in general, but also trickle down to the nation’s youngest students. While black children represent only 18% of preschool enrollment nationally, they make up 42% of students suspended o...