Seattle Schools Community Forum

From  Seattle Spec Ed PTSA : first meeting of the year - Tuesday, September 27, 7:00-9:00 pm at t he John Stanford Center. There will be some time devoted to an open forum to discuss member concerns/ideas, Parent Partners will be joining us, our own Hannah Marzynski will present on the new SPS Spec Ed website and Wyeth Jessee will be our featured speaker talking about all the recent staff changes in special education. And there will be plenty of time for some Q and A. Please join us! From The Stranger on Mayor Murray's budget and public education: He's also pledged to "triple public preschool classrooms by 2018 and undertake several education programs focused on racial inequities." He proposes expanding “My Brother’s Keeper,” a mentoring program for African American male middle school students, increase slots in summer learning programs, and expanding efforts to improve attendance and behavior in schools.  No word on where he's going to put all t...

My impression of politicians who constantly beat the drum on a single issue is that they either have invested an awful lot of personal capital into the issue and/or they are great self-promoters. I see this in Councilman Tim Burgess who has made pre-K a key issue in his roster.  He was even able to get the Times to print a "news" story today that has no real news in it as a way to remind people it's his issue.  (I'm wondering why the Times felt compelled to print this story rather than allowing Burgess an op-ed.) His latest newsletter is a litany of "composite" stories about kids who live in the north end and kids who live in the south end.

It would seem a simple enough premise - Mayor Murray cares about students in Seattle and wants to find new/effective/supportive ways to help students enrolled in Seattle Public Schools (heck, maybe even the kids in so-called charter schools but that's unclear.)  Here's what's been happening so far. The agenda was published this week.  (See below.)  The Summit is this Saturday, starting at 9:00 am.  T hey have moved it to Garfield High School's Commons due to popular demand.  ( I am a bit mystified about that location, despite it being in a central location.  The street Garfield is on - 23rd - has major construction going on and Garfield has very little of its own parking.  They are warning people about the traffic and have a list of parking lots for attendees to access.) They will be serving a free lunch. So the first half of the Summit is sitting and listing to a lot of people talk?  And why Michael Tolley and not Steve Nielsen or the Superi...

And why not? He's a long-suffering SPS parent as well. In this particular column, Westneat asks some hard questions in his usual gentle manner.   He's writing about the Mayor's upcoming Education Summit and how the Mayor seems to be figuring out what he might think needs to be done for/to Seattle Schools.

Concerns about traffic around Bailey-Gatzert makes the Capitol Hill Times. Surrounded by arterial streets and now First Hill streetcars, Bailey Gatzert Elementary can be a dangerous destination for students, a majority of which walk or bike to and from school daily. Luckily, it is high on the Seattle Department of Transportation’s list of priority schools in need of improvements. “It’s like an island surrounded by these really fast streets,” said Brian Dougherty, SDOT Safe Routes to School coordinator, who also attended the walkabout and offered suggestions for noted trouble spots. Several community groups plan to work with Bailey Gatzert parents, teachers and the principal to develop a plan for requesting funding to possibly study traffic issues in the neighborhood or make quick improvements, such as improved signage, striping at crosswalks and enhancing visibility. Dougherty told the Capitol Hill Times he will wait to receive Gyncild’s report from the meeting and th...

Teacher of the year (hint: from SPS), what's in the Mayor's budget for public education, breakfast on the go and the bell times taskforce. Great news - the Washington State Teacher of the Year is Lawton's Lyon Terry .  From OSPI : Lyon is a National Board Certified Teacher. He has taught at Lawton since 2005 in 2nd, 3rd and multi-age classrooms, where he focuses on creating confident, hard-working and compassionate learners. Lyon wants his students to learn how to be both kind and smart. During his time a Lawton, 4th-grade writing proficiency rates on the MSP have risen over 10 percentage points.   Lyon has served in numerous leadership roles in his school and district, most often in the areas of writing and literacy, and also as a union representative. The Mayor announced his budget today.  I was particularly interested in the new Department of Education and Early Learning ( DEEL ). 

I checked Rep. Reuven Carlyle's b log as (1) he actually keeps it up, (2) he actually answers comments and (3) he cares about public education. Do I agree with all he likes/puts forth? Nope, but I have found him to be someone who listens to input. Here's his latest on the school district. He graciously gives a shout-out to the bloggers, parents and others who have been diligent on this story. He is suggesting an education summit. The responses seem lukewarm and who can blame them? These summits, blue-ribbon committees and reports never seem to go anywhere. My suggestion was for parents (maybe via PTA or any other group), teachers (via SEA), principals (via PASS) and any other groups convene in their groups and have three tasks. what, for your group, would do the most to restore your trust in the leadership at headquarters? what actions does your group believe would do the most to help our schools, short-term and long-term? besides lack of trust, what actions/programs/...